I have an ex Friends Life with profits investment bond now under the ownership of Aviva. This was transferred to me by my mother. Over the past three years I have made a number of successful partial withdrawals on the policy without issue. This all changed when in early September of this year, I submitted another partial encashment for £3000. After not receiving the money within 10 days I contacted Aviva and was told that due to a technical issue sufficient units could not be cancelled to action a payout. Therefore, the process was delayed. To exacerbate, the issue, I had a building project which was underway and tradesman and materials need to be covered. Towards the end of September I decided to encash and cancel the whole policy. I was reliably assured that this would not be hindered by ‘the technical issue as it was a full encashment. I submitted a claim for a full encashment for £28000. Once again, after 10 days I still had not received my funds I contacted Aviva. This time it was claimed that I needed to submit certified copies of my passport and bank statement despite Aviva having paid out in the past from the policy to my bank account, Aviva suddenly needed to check my documents. I had these stamped by the bank on Friday 12th October and sent them off. On Friday 19th October, I was assured that all was fine and that the payment was on the way. Having not heard further I again phoned on Wednesday 24th October only to be told that actually the payment was delayed again as they needed on the verification documents, the contact details of the person at the bank who stamped the documents. I would therefore have to resubmit new verification documents again. Even at that stage I felt that the handling of the matter was unacceptable especially with different customer agents giving confusing and contradictory assurances and information. However, I resubmitted new verification documents this time stamped with contact details of the person verifying them. On Wednesday 31st October, I was informed that the documents had now been verified and payment would now be authorised the next day and sent out. On Tuesday 6th November I phoned Aviva again to check on the progress of this payment. I was told that the payment had just been authorised but it would be with me in “3-5 working days” By Tuesday 13th November I still had not received any money I contact Aviva, yet again. I was informed that the payment was definitely on the way and I should contact my bank to see if it was coming through. On Friday 16th November, Aviva finally admitted that there may be a problem and that my money could be missing. My bank told me not to worry and that they could trace it if given a payment reference number. Despite requesting this on both Friday and today, the Aviva/Friends Life call centre have been extremely reluctant to furnish me with this simple information which would help Barclays easily trace the money. Today it is Monday 19th November and a payment that I was due to originally receive on September 15th is still delayed with no one seemingly knowing where it is. Any suggestions would be most appreciated as I have lost all faith in the ex-Friends life branch of Aviva and am starting to suspect there has been a misappropriation of funds. Two weeks ago, I was offered and given £100 compensation for the stress and inconvenience caused by the initial delays but I think any objective person would agree that in the circumstances, £100 is extremely paltry compensation. In short, you have to remember that the original request was submitted in early September. We are now in late November and I still have not received any of the money from the policy (apart from the £100 compensation!) Also, I needed that money to pay bills and tradesmen as soon as possible. The two-month payment delay has led to me having to resort instead to credit cards to pay for my £50000 renovation project as the builders became fed up with my excuses as to why their labour and materials had still not been paid for. The cost of this interest has been astronomical. This has been so stressful, but I believe I can’t take this to the financial ombudsman until Aviva close the matter (?) so any suggestions would be very much welcome.

Hi everyone. I'm hoping I might be able to glean some information and guidance from this great community. The problem is one you may have heard many times involving benefits and concerns my daughter: Factoids My daughter is 22 years old and lives with 1- year old daughter and fiance in two-bed Sanctuary Housing flat (council housing association). Fiance has no income and is on a company training course with the promise of a job at the end of February. This is their first home and lived there since May 2018. Father (me) is also her Power of Attorney - she has severe mental health issues and I speak to authorities regarding her bills on her behalf. Benefits ESA (currently in receipt of payments but in review) Child Tax credits My daughter made her first application for housing benefit in May but here we are in November and still waiting for a single payment. The keep asking for more information and then tell her she needs to reapply because her ESA payment may be affected. She's been passed from pillar to post several times now and she's concerned about demands for Council Tax and rent which she's fallen behind on paying. Now she has received a letter telling her she has to see someone to review her ESA at the end of November, so any payments for other benefits (Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit) will be on hold until December at least. Predictably, I'm certain if the ESA is resolved and maintained Housing Benefit et al., will make her reclaim again taking her into January or February of 2019. Her mum and I are helping her in any way we can to keep her from caving into demands and stress. However, I find it disgraceful how a young mum and daughter can do the right thing in getting a home and being a family, yet be so disgustingly treated by the authorities there to assist her. I can see no end to this merry-go-round of passing the book and it's six months since making her application for Benefits and she still has not received a penny. If anyone can offer any guidance I would be very grateful! Many thanks for reading. Craig

I'm hoping that someone can give me some advice. Long story cut short, my 20 year old son is covered from head to toe in a severe rash, probably psoriasis. Its even in his scalp. it's affecting him both physically and mentally. , This started in May last year, various creams were prescribed to no avail. GP referred him to Dermatology in about June. A letter arrived with an appointment at a health care centre for July, we arrived to be met by a nurse who took the family history-He had already given that to the GP, she took some photographs and said she'd email the Dermatologist. A letter arrived a couple of weeks later saying that the photos weren't clear and diagnosis unclear but he would be referred to Dermatology clinic. Another letter has arrived, the appointment is at the same health centre to see a lady and the name is given. Her name is not on the GMC site so I doubt she is a doctor. The name is unusual and I have googled her name and she appears to be some sort of health care practitioner. I have no problem with health care practitioners but my son needs to see a doctor, a specialist as a matter of urgency. My son rang the health centre and asked if she was a doctor and the person on the phone said that she was. I doubt she is. I don't know where to go from here, should I make a complaint?

Good morning, first of all this is the first time i’ve Used a forum so pardon my ignorance. I was a member at lifestyle fitness on Hagley road, Birmingham. I paid for a 12 months membership and only went twice. I cancelled my membership and received a “Sorry you’re leaving” email. Maybe a year later I rejoined. The building having changed Hands to “TheGymGroup”. I was paying by the month and I was using the gym. I got really fed up with the gym and the lack of equipment . I quit my membership through the members app. Again I received a “Sorry you’re leaving” email. That was maybe 4 months ago. My lifestyle membership i think ended sometime in 2016. I realised to my Horror last week that the Gymgroup are still taking my £18.99 a month! I have contacted them and they said because I no longer have the email, there is nothing they can do. To make matters worse, she said that my lifestyle membership was still running! Now i’m Terrified that they have also been charging me for 2 years without me realising! I don’t even know how to contact lifestyle as they no longer run the gym . I have now cancelled my direct debits, which I will do in the future. I feel such an idiot. I just trusted the companies were professional! I feel so upset and totally powerless. It’s such a mess and I don’t know what to do

Good afternoon all, I hope that the good posters in this forum will be able to advise me on how to resolve a problem that my neighbours and I are experiencing with the electricity meters for our flats. Please bear with me while I give you the background to this problem. In our apartment block (total of 9 flats, 3 on each floor) our meters are in a locked/coded room, with the management company's logo on the door. Residents are given full access to the room. On Monday 16th July 2018, I experienced several power outages. When I investigated further, I found an electrician working inside the locked room on behalf of one of my neighbours, who were having power issues of their own. He turned off the isolator fuse switch underneath the meter that was clearly labelled for flat 125 (my flat is 137). This cut the power to my flat completely. Their electrician explained that the meter that is labelled to my flat is actually supplying electricity to flat 149. The meter that is labelled for flat 141 is actually supplying electricity to flat 125. My neighbour in flat 149 is unsure which meter should be theirs. Chances are my neighbours and I have all been either dramatically overpaying for our electric or massively underpaying. In the case of my neighbour at 141, he had what he believed was a pre-paid meter. This meant that even though he was topping up the meter, he was actually paying for 125! From speaking with the neighbours about this they are all with different suppliers: 125 - British Gas 149 - Spark Energy 137 (myself) - nPower 141 - British Gas I first notified my management company (I am the lease holder of my flat) about this on 16/07. They were adamant that it was my energy provider's (nPower) responsibility and nothing to do with them. nPower then confirmed that the MPAN for the meter labelled as 137 was registered to my flat, completely ignoring what I told them about it being physically incorrect. Interestingly, speaking to my neighbour 149, Spark Energy are adament that my meter is registered to them but for 149. Since then I've had two nPower meter people out. The first one was a complete waste of my time. The second basically replicated the issue and said that there was nothing more that he could do. After a 3 hour phone call to nPower on Friday morning the manager I spoke to (who was dealing with my complaint) said that the only way to resolve this would be to get an electrician in myself. I do not have the money to pay for the no doubt large 3 figure sum involved to put this right. I've also been told by several people (including a Customer Service Agent at my DNO) that a private electrician wouldn't be "allowed" to change any of the cables. I've also confirmed with my neighbours that we are unwilling to pay for something that isn't our fault and has likely been the case since the apartments were built in 2006. What would you recommend to do next? Really don't know how to proceed. Thanks Jamie

Here's the back story so far: 1. I order a washing machine from John Lewis online. 2. It arrives & is installed by John Lewis. 3. It starts leaking an hour or so after arrival. I call JL straight away & they tell me they can't refund or replace and suggest I call the manufacturer of the machine. 4. I call the manufacturer & they don't answer the phone for hours & it keeps getting cut off. I call back JL, they call the manufacturer for me. JL still insists upon a manufacturer's engineer visit, the next one is 8 days away. 5. A week later, engineer arrives at a unexpected time. He can't find anything wrong with the machine & doesn't understand why it's leaking. He can't wait 2 hours to watch it start leaking when turned on so I show him photos of the leak. He asks me if I use tablets in the drawer, I explain I don't. In fact I only use liquid capsules in the drum, he says that's fine. I explained it leaks even without detergent, so it's nothing to do with that anyway. He says he doesn't understand it. He leaves. 6. JL contact me to say the engineer thinks I used tablets in the drawer & that I should stop doing that then it will stop leaking. I explained I do not & it leaks even without detergent used. 7. JL tell me I have to arrange another engineer visit but might have to pay £90 if again no fault is found. I decline. I explain a second engineer visit won't make a difference & it isn't just about money, it's the time & hassle involved. I explain it looks like a design flaw- the water leaks under the drawer during filling up & drops down over the front of the machine after a couple of hours. JL refuse to do anything more about it. 8. I can't survive without a washing machine so I purchase a new washing machine from the same manufacturer from elsewhere, which works fine & doesn't leak. JL still refuse to do anything more. End result: I've had to pay for 2 machines, one leaks & I'll have to sell describing the problem with it, on ebay, making a loss. What are the consumer rights regarding this situation? Thanks

I need some help urgently as I'm really on the verge of a breakdown with this. Until Sept I had a near perfect credit record and then as I was looking to take advantage of a renewing a few 0% credit card deals I started to be rejected. It soon became clear that I had a default for £4,600 on my credit file. I enquired with the company concerned and it relates to a property that I owned and had to take possession of in April 2013. It's a long story but it was derelict after it was abandoned by a previous long term tenant. Because I could not get insurance I sold it within 3 weeks of the possession order to a local builder. I also asked the utility company to remove the meters as with the property empty and falling apart it was the safe and right thing to do. So I thought it would be straight forward after I explained to them but not at all. After numerous calls and letters they say that it was in my name since Nov 2011 and sent me a bill with my name on. This could only have been obtained by the land registry or added on since I asked them to remove the meters in 2013. I have not been able to obtain finance since Sept 2017 and am falling into arrears with my finances. I'm in constant tears - I know this might sound irrational. I have just issued a summons for the costs and absolute distress for over £2,800 because I'm getting absolute desperate. I'm not greedy but this is really tearing me apart. I've kept the name of this major supplier off here as I can't think straight and don't want to say anything that might damage my case. Any thoughts please?

Please can someone shed some light on this for me. Long story short, I have a credit account that was opened in 2010, it defaulted in 2011, CCJ in 2012 and interim charge order in 2012, This account has only been reported on my credit file from 2014. no info is showing for 2012 or 2013 therefore no default shows up and the account is reported as 6mth late payment. Is this correct? if I pay the debt in full does the whole debt fall off my file as it was over 6years old in 2017 or stay for another 6 years after payment. The company say that the default was issued in 2011 and that they will continue to update my file with 6mth late payment until I pay the debt In full even if that’s for another 20 years. Surely this is unethical, are they able to do this? Thanks in advance

Hello, Hopefully someone can provide some solid advice! We agreed and signed for a property after viewing on the agreement from the management agent that various jobs would be completed prior to our official move in date. Upon picking up the keys we went to check the property again to ensure these had been done - none of the jobs had been other than cutting the grass. Upon further examination it also turned out that: - There were no electrics - There was no hot water - No heating - No smoke alarms - No CO2 alarms - Property not cleaned as agreed (to the point there are dead insects lying around and there was remains of food in cupboards) - Some furniture has been left over when renting on unfurnished basis - One rear external door to the property does not lock and therefore we cannot appropriately secure the property - Some rooms have curtain rails, others do not and are just full of holes - There are patches of paint worn off (after agreeing someone would repaint) We have two very young children (1 and a half and almost 3) with us and we were subsequently unable to move into the property on the agreed date due to the issues. We contacted the letting agent and were told the landlord was arranging the electrics to be sorted and the boiler - no one showed up to perform the work until 4 days later, meaning we could finally move in on the 5th day after our tenancy start date. There was not and still has not been any mentioned of any other works other than the CO2 and smoke alarms have now been fitted. As things like CO2 alarms and smoke alarms are a legal requirement for landlords to provide, would this mean there is a breach of contract or just that the landlord was breaking the law without initially putting them in? We paid for a van on the initial move in date for a for the weekend - as we were physically unable to move into the property due to the issues stated, are we within our rights to claim this cost back? As the property was not cleaned as agreed, we paid to have a cleaner come round. Can this cost be claimed back? Are we within our rights to claim for the days of rent paid where the property was uninhabitable due to these issues? It's been such a stressful situation and we are VERY lucky that we had a little bit of overlap in our current tenancy otherwise we would have been homeless or extremely cold for almost a week!

Hello all, I just wanted to gather some advice regarding this, as I am currently thinking of taking it down the route of small claims court. Around about 2 years ago (23 months to be exact) we had to have a new meter installed at our flat due to the monitor on the then existing one breaking. No worries, that is absolutely fine, crack on. Slowly but surely we started to see a dramatic increase of the price of our bills. From when we were paying on average £40/50ish (one bed flat), started to become £100, sometimes £200 plus. Obviously to any rational human being that would flag as something being rather wrong, you would think, but not to N-power, oooohhh no, that seemed around about what we should be paying. After around 6 months of arguing with N-power I got rather bored and went to the ombudsman, this wasn't being we now had a bill in excess of £1000 (If not more, can find that later if important but at work at moment). Now we sit and twiddle our thumbs expecting Ombudsman to come back with some fantastic news that it was all incorrect.... Na, not a chance! They ruled with N-power and stated that we were using the amount of electric they said. At this point me and my partner were rather deflated, but knew in our heart of hearts that this could not be right, it just couldn't be! We accepted a deal with them in which we were then paying £120 a month to clear the debt in order to take some of the strain off ourselves, and frankly get some breathing space as they started threatening legal action. Whilst still arguing and debating with N-power we were not getting anywhere (Why should we, we were in debt to them and the Ombudsman agreed with them), then one morning we got an email stating that our direct debit was going up and we would have to pay £350 a month Well, that was it, I ordered my partner to make a cup of tea whilst I sat in bed and started typing a review on N-power Facebook. I had the added advantage that I saw the head office (Or a N-power office) was based in Solihull, I thought this is brilliant, I'm going to be working near that for the next few months, I shall tell them I will pay them a visit. Surely enough they took notice of this, and arranged for someone to test our meter. This gentleman who came to test our meter was nice, one of a kind, told me at that even though he wouldn't have the results right away, the meter was fast. Two weeks passed and we got a call from N-power, yes they confirmed, your meter is clocking up too fast! HOW FAST?!?! I asked barely able to contain my excitment..... 58.8% fast!!!?! WOOOOOOW. Now the gentleman from N-power was nice and said don't worry, give him a few weeks as he has to adjust every bill we've had since installation of this meter. No problem, that is absolutely fine thinking this is the end. Took our meter reading for that month, that'll be £52 please, yes that seems about correct! Was it the end??? No. They only went and messed up the figures and we were still left with £1200 to pay. A little confused, I emailed back my figures based on 58.8% deduction, plus the excess we would have paid. Nothing. I have now gone back to Ombudsman but they are not sure they can take the case as it relates to a previously ruled on case. I asked them even with the knowledge that we were correct and N-power were wrong??? They said they would have to check with the powers that be. They are currently doing that (To be fair they said it would take a few weeks due to Xmas and New Year). Now, that is a very light hearted post I have written whilst killing some time at work. I really cannot stress how stressful the whole process has been. Me and the partner have argued, tears, stress, literally wanting to kill N-power, sitting in the freezing cold not wanting to waste any energy and a magnitued of other things. My question is, if ombudsman rule they can't look into it again, would be have a claim for small claims court? More out of curiosity than anything, because I am not going to let this go without a fight. Also, this is on another forum also, but I had never heard of this forum until around an hour ago and having looked through stuff you guys seem to know your stuff! Hoping to get all the information I need to absolutely hammer these clowns.

Hi all, I'm hoping for some advice on how to proceed further with Very.co.uk. I received a broken bed for my three year old son on 22 May (after delivery was delayed a week due to the bed getting lost in the warehouse). Half the parts that hold the slats to the bed were broken and unusable. I immediately rang them - they took the details and said their parts team would send out replacements. I also sent a message via my account at the same time. Having heard nothing I rang them again on Thursday 25 May and was told that the parts had been sent out and would take 7-10 days. I was about to query the length of time but I was abruptly hung up on (a common occurrence when you call Verys customer service). The following day I received another message asking which parts were broken - contradicting the man who had told me they were on their way the evening before. I then called them again on 30 May to be told that they had just ordered the parts the night before. Having been told this before and it turning out to not be the case I asked them to return the damaged bed. They refused telling me I had to wait for the parts to arrive and asked me to wait another 7-10 days (which would take us to three weeks since the bed arrived broken). I messaged them again via my account reiterating my request for a refund and also emailed a complaint via Very.co.uk to which I have had no response. The customer service has been appalling. My poor son has been without a proper bed for two weeks now and there is no resolution in sight. I am completely appalled given threat the goods were damaged they should be providing a refund. I have never dealt with such an awful company so I am at a loss what to do - other than seek advice from the ombudsman.

hi folks, in a bit of a predicament regarding an accident back in July 2016. I am insured through Allianz through safeguard for my motorhome insurance, back in July i had a buyer for it, so decided to use it one last time before parting with it. on my way home, passed through a town not far from my home address, is a narrow street, with cars parked down one side, in designated parking bays, but these take up half of the road lane, meaning anyone passing will have to straddle the other lane of the road, the wrong side, the other lane has double yellows, so no parking. This was the lane i was travelling along, when approaching near the end of line of parked cars, this driver decided not to wait or give way to avoid an accident, the road is clear to see if anything is coming, and parts where you can pull into to allow the oncoming traffic to carry on their journey. My motorhome at its widest point is just under 9ft wide, taking up its presence on the road, the main street is that narrow at points, it is not safe to pass, as their is just not enough room, when i realised this driver was not going to stop, i slammed on my brakes, almost at a standstill when he hit my mirror, smashed it, dented the door, and scrapped along the coach body of the motorhome. i pulled into the space right across the road from me, where he should have pulled into, he admitted he should have gave away, then saying he was as far over as he could go, meaning if one of the parked cars opened their door, he would have taken that off, as well as hitting me, exchanged details, to find out later he is disputing the claim saying it was my fault, when he was on my side of the road, nowhere for me to go to avoid him, other than mounting a pavement or driving into a building, one of the local businesses seen what happened and gave me his contact details for a witness. My problem now is, the insurance company say they have not received anything from him and him saying he has sent them it twice, and without this statement i would have to accept responsibility or go 50/50, i have even given them a dash cam vid of the road and where the accident happened, not a clip of the actual accident, but more to show the condition of the road, and space with passing cars in both directions, they are now saying that they can check this on google, and because the clip is not of the actual accident, it would not count. Now google cant show the road conditions, of passing cars, and the clip was done to prove this fact, seems to be a known area for this happening, informed them the repairs would not be done until it had being resolved. Recently got a call from the bodyshop saying the insurance company has now authorised the claim, and booked it in, i presumed it had now being resolved and the 3rd party had accepted responsibility, no letter, call or email from my insurance to tell me this, when it has not being resolved and i would have to pay the 300 excess, depending on how the 3rd party goes, it would be claimed back from their insurance. I feel now they have taken the upper hand and forced me into a position, where i have told them i will not accept any responsibility for the accident, and prepared to take it to court, where i was informed it would not go to court as the claim was under 1k and my only option is to accept a 50/50. I have also had a lot of out of pocket expense, as the motorhome is now not worth what i had a buyer for it last year, and as they have not got the witness statement, then i have no case to answer and will have to accept 50/50. I rang the motor legal protection i had on my policy, found out this is a complete waste of money as they offered no help at all, and said it would be better to just accept 50/50. i have being up a few times to see the witness, even leaving him a copy of the witness statement for him to sign, has asked me to come back for it next week, but if i have problems getting this off him where do i stand, what can i do, as it will also affect my future insurance, and for an accident where i was at no fault at all and thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated

Hi all wondering if some one can help me Back in November I went to the local hospital with my son around 9.30pm I went in to the a and e car park which normally is a barrier ticket on arrival system which sometime later at night is kept up So In my rush to go in I didn't notice due to work it had been removed and replaced with pay and display there was a board running threw middle of car park which meant I had to go up stairs to find a space up stairs was in complete darkness I went in to a and e and when I came at at 4am there was a ticket on my car still not understanding why I seen a sign on way out of car park saying to pay and display the ticket was only 20 pound but due to my above story I was determined to appeal but with it being close to xmas my husband working away I forgot. W weeks ago I received a letter from a solicitor fine is now 190 so I been trying to figure out what to do and then yesterday another one comes threating ccjs is there anything I can do or do I just except my bad luck and pay it? Really want to do something good to sort today lost sleep over it last night thank you

My Fiance bought an Aquarium Air Pump from our local branch of The Range. Within 48 hours it packed up and stopped working. We took it back (lost the receipt though) and asked for a replacement. They couldn't find the transaction on their system even though we could clearly show the payment had been made using a debit card as it was on the online bank statement. They still refused to replace the faulty pump as they said we could not prove we bought it from them. They told us to contact the manufacturer Interpet to get a replacement from them. In the meantime we went out and bought another air pump from a local pet shop. I contacted The Range customer services by email asking them to find the transaction. I provided all the information they needed to do this and they found the transaction. They said they would contact the store with the contract of sale and that we should get a refund. We went back to the store today and they knew nothing of the contact from customer services, we had to provide all the details again by going through the online statement and calendar dates. They found the transaction then the tills went offline. They took our details and said they would phone once the tills were working again. Got a phone call an hour later saying the tills were up and running again. we head back to the store again. The assistant dealing with the case takes the air pump and says she wants to test it. She takes it off the shop floor for about 10 minutes before coming back and telling us the pump works fine so no refund. We took the pump home and set it up. Yes it works but at a much reduced rate. You should be able to see air bubbles appearing clearly from the air stone but we can hardly see them. A phone call to customer services got me no-where. I was told if the store says it works then thats it. Where do we go from here?

approx.: 10 months ago we had a leak in bathroom. called Royal sun alliance Insurance to make a claim. claim exceeded a fixed amount of money Royal sun alliance handed over to Cunningham Lindsey as their loss adjusters. 10 months have passed and still no works completed. I have attached a letter that I intend to send this week to loss adjusters. we want to know if we are entitled to compensation due to all the stress & inconvenience we have had to endure, such as doctors & hospital appointments. Cunningham Lindsey letter of complaint - Copy.pdf

On Wednesday, 4th Nov 15, a JobCentre Workcoach at Seven Kings Jobcentre, instigated a full scale row with me about my apparent job search failure, even though I applied for 33 vacancies for period 21/10/15 – 4/11/15 - so she's clearly insane and her judgement is off at best and worst she doesn't listen to reason nor pay attention to months of evidence. (This is my 2nd complaint against this particular Work Coach for bullying – the first complaint being the 10th September 2014) She battered me about why I hadn't secured interviews for the amount of jobs applied for, I explained that many job sites sold advert slots to recruitment agencies, and that many jobs aren't offered to me due to me being over qualified, and too old for entry-level posts. At precisely 12:40pm, she aggressively challenged me and said “If I'm so experienced, then I should be in work” - and she didnt mean it as a compliment either, she was goading me, doing her absolute best to wind me up, and she's clearly a lunatic of the highest order and unprofessional to boot. I mean, does she really think that repeatedly bashing out the same questions really helps motivate jobseekers or changes a job-market fluctuation situation that's completely out of my control – it doesn't. The 'Work Coach' also kept banging on about her 'job coach' credentials, she told me she was a qualified job coach (seems the majority of DWP staff do this too, but from what I've seen they don't have the skills/knowledge required to coach anyone) . Is the DWP sure they should be using self-appointed titles, as I thought their titles were Compliance/Customer/Client Advisor?? although the Work Coaches seems to think its fine to promote themselves and bully others.... (It seems the title of 'Work Coach' is an official title according to the DWP). She then turned to giving low-level CV tips, 'advising' that I should change it so its 'targeted'. Well, I've removed 4 positions to make it so – but this has now left a huge gap of 4 years employment that is tough to explain to interviewers, hmmm, great advice She then threatened to repeat the same pathetic questioning every time I attend my signing day, and I'm not being spoken to like that, nor will I stand for her ridiculous threats and told the Jobcentre, I will take this to the highest complaints level as this is the 2nd time these pathetic power games has occurred and the 3rd advisor complaint put forward by myself, although I couldn't be bothered to take it to the maximum complaints stage last time, but I will now.

Hello all, can someone help please. My daughter joined Xercise 4 less Nottingham in October 2015 for a 12 months contract. Before summer holiday she phoned the gym to freeze her membership as she was leaving UK to return to Jersey for summer holiday. She was asked to turn up at the gym to prove this and she did (with her flight tickets). In June, in Jersey my daughter joined another gym and injured herself, further examination her injury has happened before this membership (presumably during her time with Xersie 4 less). The injury sustained had made her unable to do any exercise for a good 2 years on her upper body until she is fully recovered. My daughter then wrote to Xersice 4 less head office to terminate her membership explaining the special circumstances and cancelled the last remaining 3 months direct debit at the bank. In November 2016 a letter came in the post at my address (in Jersey, CI), stating that Harlands on behalf of the gym had tried several times to contact my daughter at her Nottingham address. Also in the letter it said that now Harland had to pass this on to a Credit Resolution Service (hereafter ”CRS”), Harland’s sister company to collect and some additional fees have been added on this. a £30 gym fees now have increased to a whooping £182. Please note the gym was aware that she was not in UK therefore won’t be able to respond to any letter. Please also that the house’s Landlord had confirmed that no letters were received other than bank statements during summer holidays and after. After receiving this letter, I feel the need to take over the case as my daughter is currently focusing on her exams. I contacted CRS upon speaking to them to query this I was told that they are willing to reduce the fees by £50 giving the outstanding amount of £132. I further asked the breakdown for the full fees and these are what they have given me: a) £29.97 membership fees (3x £9.99) in line with clause 5 of her's agreement b) £50.00 administration fees (2 x £25.00) in line with clause 6 of her's agreement c) £66.50 recovery fee in line with clause 8 of her's agreement d) £36.00 trace fee in line with clause 8 of her's agreement I am not sure what to do please can someone help my daughter. Thanks

Hi, First post here and i apologise for the length of this post. I have tried to keep it as short as possible but its such a long story. My electricity supply is with Utilita. We like them because they give you a handheld device on which you can check your balance/energy usage ect. One day i get a message on my device saying there is a fault with our meter and we must call the number shown. The electricity worked absolutely fine. we were having no issues at all but rang the number anyway. After 5 minutes on hold i hung up and decided i would call back the following day. The following day i completely forgot as the message had disappeared. it wasn't until a few days later when i tried to top up my electricity online that i was getting an error. It wasn't letting me add money to the meter for some reason and i was already almost up to the limit on my emergency credit. It was the following day that i assumed the electricity would go off until i paid the emergency and topped up, but it never went off. I rang again and explained my issue to costumer service. She told me she would get the relevant department to ring me back. They never did. a good few weeks past and the electricity still did not cut off and the smart meter was reading around -£100. It was then on the 24th July that they rang and said the fault with the meter needs sorting and asked if somebody could come around the look at it. I agreed no problems and we arranged a time for him to attend when i was home from work on the same day. They sent an engineer from a company called Trojan. He came in and looked at the meter. He took pictures of the meter then explains he has been told to replace it. I said that was fine as long as that when it comes back on i dont want to be without electricity and a -£100 balance as i didn't have the money to pay it off right away. He said dont worry the electricity will come back on then you will go into a debt with utilita and just pay it off slowly. He then carried on working but i noticed that he was now installing the meter outside instead of where it orginally was inside. I asked him why he was doing this and he explained that he has been told to. here is where the story gets good. you cant make this stuff up. It was 2 hours later i could hear him on the phone to his boss saying he was having problems. He was going over wire configurations over and over again. He must of made around 5 different phone calls to support because he couldn't get it back on. I went back out to see what was up he told me that my consumer unit may be faulty because the supple wasnt coming back on.. I assured him that my consumer unit is working 100% and it has done for 26 years. It was working when he arrived and now he tells me its stopped working within the 2 hours he has been swapping my meter. He said to give him a while longer. It was getting on 8 pm and it was friday night. The next minute i heard a van door shut so i ran outside and he was about to leave! i asked him what was happening and he said that he has now been told to leave it! i said you have got to be joking. You cannot just leave me here on a friday night. He passed me on the phone to him supervisor he told me its my consumer unit which is faulty and there is nothing more they can do. Now i know they are just trying to pass the blame here and at this point i was absolutely furious. i was on the phone to utilita and the engineer was sitting in his van. My phone battery was dying so i had to sit in my car to charge it up using a phone charger. Utilita was also trying to tell me its my consumer unit. i kept telling them they he cannot leave me like this. i had another word with the engineer and he admitted to me that there was no fault. He was called out because they suspected the meter had been tampered with. he said he found no tampering but was told to move the meter anyway. So how can the consumer box be faulty when there was no fault to begin with. Next minute 3 more trojan vans turn up and the guys dont get out there vans. I thought they had arrived to help get my supply back on. they just sat in there vans surrounding my house. 5 minutes later the police show up!! the police have a word with the engineer who was in his van. Then approach me and tell me they have been called out to a hostage situation. They had a call saying i was holding the engineer hostage in my house. All the Trojan vans then drive away and i am left here without a supply with two police officers at my house. They were really nice actually they knew what the crack was and they knew that there time was being wasted. In the end i called the housing trust because i rent from them and explained the situation. They sent around an electrician and he came and checked the consumer box and told me it was working fine. He agreed to look at the wiring that the Trojan engineer had done to see if he can help. He noticed right away that he had miss labeled two main cables. Swtiched them around and boom the supply came back on. It was the following monday that i complained to utilita and was apologised to. They told me they were wrong, the meter had not been tampered with and everything is back to order now. Only thing is it wasnt! the meter was still not letting me top up and the supply was still not going off. The meter went back -£30 again i rang up and explained. Was told the meter was not going back because it is in credit £50. Great by me. Left it at that. wasn't until the meter was back £-55 that i knew something was wrong again. it was 7th september at 12 midnight and the electricity supply cut off. i rang utilita at 7 am when they opened and they sent out another Trojan engineer. He checked the meter and looked soo confused. He told me the meter was hanging off the wall and wasnt even commissioned. i explained the story to him and he sorted it all out for me. The supply didnt come back on because he said you need to sort that with Utilita. I rang utilita and they told me the reason your supply went off at 12 midnight last night was because you tampered with our meter and you held our engineer hostage! I felt like crying at this point. I am so so innocent and i just cannot win with these. It turned out the guy didnt read all the notes. He had me on hold for 20 minutes then come back on and apologised. It was many many phone calls later that the supply did actually come back on. Everything seems to be working as it should now. I got a phone bill for this month and it is a staggering £100 over my norm. I found out it was the extra calls to utilita. I decided to give them an emailing explaining everything and assumed that they would pay it as its really not my fault i had to call these guys. i got a reply back from them yesterday: "I’m really sorry for the inconvenience this matter has caused you. I’ve looked in to this for you and can advise that upon listening to the calls made between yourself and our call centre it would seem that our engineer was kept at your premises against his wishes. The engineer was initially sent out as we believed there might be a fault or safety concern with the electricity meter. However upon the engineer’s arrival, we realised that the meter had been tampered with and the energy was being illegally sourced from the mains. As advised previously, we’ll not be reimbursing you for any cost incurred and should you wish to change suppliers, then the outstanding balance would need to be cleared. "" Words cannot describe how angry and upset i am. Can somebody please give me some guidance on what todo next. This is causing me so much stress its not even real. What makes this worse as well is that off the time of the orignal incident i was in the middle of chemotherapy. I had literally just come from having it when i let the engineer in. Sorry again for the length but i just dont know what todo.

Hi can someone help i bought a car and have had a letter from logbook loans stating the car had a loan on and they are coming to get it

I bought a brand new Toyota Auris (Touring Sports Design - Hybrid) in August this year and as soon as I picked up the car my troubles began. The car I test drove the week previous was the Icon-Plus which was being upgraded to the Design model but as the salesman pointed out this was in my favour as the new car had 17'' wheels, auto engine start and a better trim. So was taken in by this but when I picked that car up it did not have sat-nav. This was now an option and it was all my fault for not noticing this on the internal Toyota bulletin that they showed me but should not have seen according to memo's later. In due course I stood my ground and the dealership relented and retro fitted this but I will return to this story later. Whilst all this was going on I noticed that my petrol consumption was pretty poor and complained that I was only getting around 40 MPG when their own brochure indicated 70+. I started to complain about this and the dealership were very condescending and tried to blame my driving technique initially then tried tell me that the engine management computer needed at least year to settle down before scale of economy would work! I mentioned that I was already a hybrid driver (Prius) and was fully aware of both driving technique and consumption realities. both of which were ignored. I then complained to the finance company (yes you guessed it - Toyota Finance) and stated all the issues I had but they too pretty much ignored my complaints. Eventually, the dealership had to take the car back to fit the sat-nav and in doing so the car broke down (dramatically) warning lights came on the dashboard saying stop the vehicle now, major problem. As the Toyota driver limped back to my house the car was coughing and spluttering with smoke coming out the exhaust etc. This resulted in the car being towed away and lo-and -behold three weeks later was back in my possession and the general manager informing me that the sat-nav was fitted and a figure of 58.7 MPG was on the computer -NOT! For a start the sat-nav was the latest software version and the engineer who fitted had problems getting it to work. When I switched it on I could not turn down the voice announcements and or enter any details into it. so this was now a chocolate teapot! When I looked at the system computer is was still reading low consumption as it was before and where they got 58.7 MPG I do not know! So I got back onto the dealership and the finance company to complain again and guess what they repeated the same old garbage as before that the car was and always was in good working order, my driving skills were questioned again and the computer needed more time to find its brain. I have been trying to reject this car since I bought it, I have been very patient with the dealership although I came close to losing my temper with the sales manager who suggested that I 'didn't have a leg to stand on' and this was all in my imagination. The finance company I now know have a conflict of interest in being linked to the parent company so they will not help me apart from fill up my email box with nonsense. I did get an article published in the Auto Express that helped enormously with the sat-nav issue but that now is mixed blessings as I can't use it so now have moved onto the Ombudsman but this has now been running for months and no end in sight to when I get rid of the car. Any advice welcomed. NB by the way car now sat on my drive and not being used - as its costing a lot of money for petrol, gone back to my old Prius!

Hi, I hope somebody on here can steer us in the right direction before we lose our minds. My daughter was involved in a little pile up. A car two in front of her slammed on its brakes for no reason and the car in front of her bumped into it slightly. My daughter stopped and didn't hit anything but the car behind her didn't stop in time and hit her and the car behind that didn't stop in time and hit the car behind my daughter which caused that car to then hit my daughter's car even harder a second time. My daughter called the police because the car at the front and the one behind her quickly got out and checked their cars and drove off - refusing to be involved with the process. It turns out that the car at the front is putting in a PI claim. Police are now investigating them. The car that hit my daughter's from behind was a new car but turns out the driver hadn't insured it. She gave her first name and mobile number only both of which were genuine. She and her passenger were in a hurry to get away from the scene - either because she wasn't insured or there was something illegal in the car?? She then tried to avoid all consequences of the accident and even tried to sue to guy who hit her car even though he was insured but that's between him and her. She gave false addresses to the police when they contacted her and to the insurers when they contacted her. Turns out she's a law student. My daughter tracked her down using google and also found her new Facebook account which she's using under a different surname. She's definitely dodgy but we're not sure how other than her lies. Accident Exchange are watching her street to find out when she's around so they can confront her. My daughter has informed the police of all this info but they are frustrated in that the accident was in Surrey Police area but this woman lives in Met Police area and Surrey Police cannot just go to her house and arrest her. My daughter's problems started when her insurers - Sheilas Wheels - and the guy at the very end's insurers - LV - all started disputing liability. Several engineers called out and all give a ball park figure repairs about the same price. So SW decide to write off the car, and yet it's still ongoing with disputes here and there and claims for this and that and so on. Accident Exchange are involved and have got my daughter a replacement car as the one offered was no good for her needs which involve taking two baby seats in and out on a regular basis using the ISOfix system. SW have not replaced the car seats and have told my daughter to do so and present the receipts - well my daughter doesn't have £300 sitting around to spend on car seats, so the babies are still using the original ones. Her baby son aged one was in the car when she was hit but they don't care because there's no obvious sign of injury. My daughter got whiplash - genuine not just an excuse for a claim. Yet it looks like instead of repairing her car they are going to pay out almost what she would have sold it for, less excesses and so on. The accident was end July and her policy renewed in Sept. No renewal paperwork was received that we are aware of and now they are saying they will take approx. £1000 insurance fee from any pay out as this was the current year's insurance fee. Yet she didn't have a car since July. Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed with this? My daughter has been screaming down the phone to them again today, and is now saying that they must repair it (she can sell it for more than what they are offering to pay). She doesn't have motor legal protection, and I don't think they would have included it in the renewal. I have motor legal protection on my policy as standard but not sure I can use it for her (I'm with Co-Op). Help! please. thank you

I switched to plusnet in may this year to their phone and fibre service.. took initial payment by debit card fine no problems.. phoneline changed over really smoothly however, the broadband/fibre date changed without our knowledge.. hmm not happy they apologise profusely and say it was out of their hands....ok so i let bt openreach take the fall 6 months in failure to even get close to the 76mbps more like 12 on a good day. . checked via their bt wholesale web tool which proved my point entirely about speed. . nothing is changed there.. Payments.. hah they are a joke.. direct debit goes.. 1 min later they pay it back into my account then charge me £6.50 for the inconvenience:-x:-x.. and blame my bank saying debit had failed due to insufficient funds. .. i ring my bank about to explode as i know its in credit and they say nope they sent it plusnet sent it back with an error code.. i challenge plusnet on this who say its a bank problem.. hmm not entirely convinced about this. . this goes on in august and sept however octobers went fine then we reach november and guess what it does it again:mad2:.. and they once again say its the banks' fault .. barclays have provided us with proof which i have sent to plusnet previously showing that it isn't a barclays issue and they need to investigate this further as the extra charges are not good for my finances and they offered a £1.50 refund thats it!! at this point i'd have been better going with bt business fibre and getting screwed royally on money.. No one at plusnet is taking this issue seriously have raised several complaints via their online tools and get fobbed off each time.. Ofcom allowed me to raise an issue there but told me it would be quite sometime before they could come back to me.. I'm really at my wits end with anger frustration and out of pocket by their cock ups.. :mad2:

I had my benefit stopped in August claiming I was living elsewhere and had a nightmare getting it sorted. At first they said they would just get a copy of the appication made elsewhere for housing benefit and if the signatures didnt match then money would be restarted, no word on that and in the period I got copy of tenancy agreement from my landlord, and a letter stating I never moved out, and a copy of recent bank statement to show I still live here and letter from bank stating my address was never changed, letter from DWP stating my claim began on X date at the current address. Still refused so was told to give copy of utility bill for July to show I was living here, but I am on pre pay meters and only bill is landline/internet which I provide but it was paid late due to being overcharged so was told it was unsuitable, I then provided 6 months of phone bills and still got nowhere. They then ask for copies of bank statements which I provide. Still nothing, I contact again to be told the phone bill is unsuitable because its not itemised so they want a itemised bill. More time passes and they claim now to not have recieved any bank statements or utility bills so I phone again and advisor sents me out a letter saying in the meantime claim can be reopened as the other claim is closed but wants to see bank statements and utility bills again. I do this one last time and wait a few weeks and it is reinstated but not for the disputed 3 months from May to August. I contact again today to be told I have to prove I wasnt getting the money and to do that have to hand in bank statements and utility bills for the period which I have already done a few times!!! I am getting nowhere and the staff talk down to me as if I am lying. I did also try getting MP involved but each time it takes a week to get back to me and they just tell me the same as the council So I am the victim of identity fraud and I am also autistic and suffer from severe depression which is why I am on benefits in the first place and I dont need this!

I've been able to defer repaying my student loan from the 1990s as I earn way below the cut-off point for repayment, largely due to chronic illness. However, this year, although I submitted my income evidence straight away, I was asked to submit more evidence as SLC claimed they could not establish my income (even though it was very clearly stated in the documents, as in previous years). I then sent off more financial information straight away which confirmed my income. Nearly a month later no one at SLC is able to confirm whether the information has been received or not. I have sent in the evidence again, as well as emailing them and calling them. They never call me back as promised and it certainly seems as though they are just ignoring my income evidence so that they can start taking repayments. When I got through to SLC on the phone I explained my situation and how little I earned the guy said he would stop the first payment - that will put me in arrears but then I have 3 months to prove my income. At the time I thought this was a good idea as I can't afford to start making repayments on my income but further research has shown this could spoil my credit rating. Does anyone know if it will be possible for me to reinstate this Direct Debit agreement by phone so that if SLC don't confirm the deferment in time they will take the first payment? Having researched online, I'd actually rather now pay the first repayment and try to claim it back after proving my income as if I go into arrears I can imagine that SLC will try and ruin my credit record. The bottom line is though SLC have had plenty of time to establish my income and as it is way below the cut-off point they should issue a confirmation of deferment letter. My first payment to them is due in a week and I'm at my wits end worrying what will happen when this date arrives. I've just sent off all the information yet again to their Complaints Department - it might seem a bit early to open a Complaint Case but I thought it might at last make them sit up and notice all the documentary evidence I've sent them. As far as I know my loans aren't connected to Erudio loans which I've just been reading about. As far as I am aware, my loan was originally with SLC and then it was taken on by Honours Loans. That said, it certainly appears as though it is SLC who have to tell Honours Loans whether or not to defer the loan. I'd greatly welcome any advice on this, given my illness I have plenty of time to this sort this out but SLC have ignored all the evidence I've sent them in the last month. Calling them seems a complete waste of time as even when they answer they just say their screen will either show a yes to deferment or nothing - it's not possible for them to look into the case for an update or to check out if any documents have been received. It certainly seems as though they are trying to wear down the lowly paid into paying back their loan even when they very clearly aren't obliged to unless they earn £2400+ a month . I certainly hope I won't have to go through this hassle every year.

Hi everyone, Is there anyone else having trouble trying to get their license back and you just keep waiting and waiting and getting fobbed off with excuses when you phone the medical dept at DVLA. A quick summary of my case is on the 2nd Dec 2014 i had a freak accident in my HGV, in that I was going one way and another HGV coming towards me when both wing mirrors touched, usually not a problem, but this time the other guy's just smashed and mine came around and hit the side window and smashed the window, then the mirror detached itself and flew in through the cab hitting me at the side of the neck and then flicking up and hitting the side of my head. Luckily I seen it about to happen and was braking at the time of impact and my co-driver leaned over and pulled the handbrake on. I now believe I could have suffered a lot worse injuries. Ambulance came and carted me off to hospital with neck brace and back brace. At this stage I thought I had broke my neck. At hospital they did the works, scans etc and after 10 mins the doctor came to me and took off the braces etc and said nothing broken. He then returned a couple of mins later and said I had a bleed to the brain and we are keeping you in for observation. 2days later I 'm allowed home having no meds or anything just my pulse and blood pressure checked. I had a very sore head for about 6 weeks and was told by my GP not to drive as the hospital had said that they had informed DVLA and I had inform DVLA myself. So did paperwork and waited and was just about ready to go back to driving duties when DVLA on the 28th FEB 2015 revoked my license for 6 months, reason was that I had suffered a Serious Traumatic Brain Injury,(there is only one box on the DVLA web site for head injuries). So that brought it up to the 28th August 2015, thinking that should be able to at least get my car license back then, due to having to get myself medical evidence to get my HGV back. Well after many call calls and letters etc finally got the evidence in OCT 2015 and sent everything off to DVLA. Many phone calls later and on occasions nearly shouting down the phone etc, and being fobbed off with excuses, last week somebody told something near the truth in that my case was sent the the DVLA doctors on the 28th Nov 2015, but they are currently running about 17-18 weeks behind. That just about summed up DVLA. My personal view is that yes I got a whack on the head, but the only people that made it something serious when really it was minor was DVLA and they are still being pains. :mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2: