Hi all! So I purchased an air purifier from Amazon, it's a Fellowes AeraMax DX95, it cost me around £199 in total. It was bought in October 2016. I've had the device replaced 2 times now, due to ongoing issues that I and others have, which make the device unusable. The main faults that I and others have noticed, is there's a capacitor inside which eventually blows after 6 months+, rendering the device unusable. This happened on both devices I received and now I'm on my third one, it's got the same symptoms as the first two Namely at random there will be a beep, as if someone has pressed the fan button, the speed will then increase to the next level, requiring you to reset it back. It's doing it roughly twice a day now so at some point it's just going to switch off and not work like the last 2. There seems little point in sending it back, as the next one will more than likely do the same thing and I think the odds of it being a manufacturing defect or fault, are reasonably high. But I'm left wondering if it's even worth trying to fight for a refund, or even a partial one with Amazon?

Hello to all. Been a while since I was last on here. Always view your Twitter page. Keep up the great work you all do About 10 years ago I got into trouble paying my credit card bills. I managed to full and final settle and write-off on all bar one. Nat West would not agree I started paying them £5 pcm against a debt of some £6000. I remember writing to them at the time, saying that all I could afford was £5pcm and requesting for the debt to become interest free (although, I have no copy or acknowledgement of this.) This direct debit has now been occurring for all this time with absolutely no follow-up communique from NW whatsoever. Any suggestions on what I should do with this? There is nothing showing on my Noddle credit file. I am never likely to be in a position to pay the debt, although I am NOT in receipt of any benefits. 1: Should I continue with the £5pcm and hope the bear remains asleep ? 2: Should I just stop paying and see what happens? 3: Should I contact them (Urghh - the thought of it)? If they do respond, I can only ever pay the same £5pcm. But will I be opening a can of worms for myself? Many many thanks.

Hi all, Receiving the usual CRS monetary demands after they're claiming that I am in arrears. I have looked for advise as a lurker on this forum before and have sent one letter to them but it's gotten to the point where I would like personal advise on what to say (if anything at all) to Harlands. The second letter I received from them is a bunch of waffle that seems to want to scare me into paying but I am not sure what to reply with - hence me coming here. Some background - I joined Xerise4less (Hull branch) on a 12 month contract in September 2015. I fulfilled the contract and e-mailed Xerise4less requesting cancellation on to two separate occasions: on 29th October 2016, and 12th November. I only received an e-mail back on 15th November telling me that my cancellation was being processed. Worth noting that I didn't attend during the last 6 or so months of the contract. Due to monetary concerns and the fear that I would be charged another £9.99 (one month according to the contract), a fear that I felt was founded to their lackluster response time, I cancelled my direct debit with them a day or two after receiving the e-mail. This triggered the CRS dispute and now they want £207.47. Fast forward to 7th February 2017 and I receive a letter stating the following: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter no.1 from CRS Dear Mr.XXX, We've been employed by Xercise4less as your membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to you (NB - I did not receive a prior letter). As a result of this, our fees totalling £102.50 have been added. Therefore, your account balance now stands at £207.47. We want to reach an amicable resolution with you! (NB - What followed was the usual giving of options for me to pay or continue with my membership) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Receiving this was quite the shocker so I went online and stumbled upon people experiencing the same issues on this forum. After reading the countless threads and following the advice of mst notably slick132, I sent them the following letter back: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter from me Dear sir or madam, I refer to your letter of 7 February 2017, referencing: CRS Ref No. xxx, xercise4less Ref No:xxx. This is the first letter I have received regarding this matter. For clarification my current address is: xxx I joined on minimum 12 month agreement in September 2015 and paid the full 12 months as well as an additional month. I sent an e-mail requesting that xercise4less cancel my membership on 29 October 2016. I received an e-mail back on 15 November 2016, notifying me that my cancellation would be processed. Because of this late reply and my current financial hardships I cancelled my direct debit mandate soon after to ensure that no further money would be taken. This was also adequate notice of my cancellation of the xercise4less agreement, as per the case of The OFT v Ashbourne Mgt Services Ltd in 2011. However, I now realise I should have given Harlands or the gym a month's notice before cancelling the direct debit. I now offer to pay one final month's fee of £9.99 to end this matter. I will not pay any unlawful admin fees added by Harlands/CRS. Before I pay, I need you to confirm in writing that my payment will be accepted in settlement of all that I owe. My offer is valid for 14 days and, if you make demands for any higher amount, I will pay you nothing. I look forward to your reply. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- After reading the multiple threads I knew I was in for a fight. The second letter I received is the one that caused a bit of concern - my mum is worried about bailiffs although I've assured her that they won't come. This is it (warning long post): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter no. 2 from CRS (8th March) We wish to advise that cancelling your direct debit was not adequate notice of your intention to cancel. The terms of your agreement specifically state that you must give notice in writing. We have received similar claims before. You are mistaken with regards to Mr. Justice Kitchin's ruling. Such a statement does not appear anywhere in Mr. Justice Kitchin's judgement. A legal precedent can only be drawn from a ruling but the statement you rely upon appears in the Penal Notice issued specifically to Ashbourne Management Services Limited, advising them what they must and must not do. This only applies to Ashbourne Management Services Limited because contracts 1-13 examined in this case were found to be unfair and thus unenforceable. Xercise4less contracts have not been supplied by Ashbourne Management Services Limited and have never been deemed unfair by a judge. There is, therefore, no reason to believe that the terms regarding how a member may terminate their agreement will not be enforceable in other instances. We are unable to accept your offer of £9.99 as sufficient to settle this debt because more than one month has passed without payment. As you did not complete the cancellation procedure, the club were bound by the contract to hold your membership open for you. A service has been provided during this time, at cost to the club, whether you attended or not. With regards to your comments that our charges are penalties, it is our position that all charges applied to this balance are to over actual and necessary costs and thus are not penalties. Lord Dunedin, when considering whether charges stipulated at the outset of the agreement were penalties, set out in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Motor Co Ltd (1914) that: 'It is no obstacle to the sum stipulated being a genuine pre-estimate of damage, that the consequences of the breach are such as to make precise pre-estimation almost an impossibility. On the contrary, that is just the situation when it is probable that pre-estimated damage was the true bargain between the parties (Clydebank Case, Lord Haisbury; Webster v. Bosanquet, Lord Mersey).' The above applies to the charges of £25.00 applied by Harlands and also in regards to our own collection fees of £66.50 both of which are pre-estimates of the average costs incurred from defaulted agreements, but which vary from case to case and cannot be precisely calculated in advance. We believe, therefore, that these charges do not constitute a penalty and are this fully enforceable. For the above reasons it must remain our position that the balance of £207.47 is correct and due. We may be able to negotiate on this sum, but would require you to contact one of our telephone negotiators on 01444 449 165 in order to do so. Payment can be made (NB - Address, no. etc. they give with intent for me to pay) Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle -------------------------------------------------------------- I guess my request is - Was my first letter sufficient? What should I respond with? Should I respond? Help is greatly appreciated Thank your for your time!

Hi, I bought some items from Thomann.de in December last year. Paid by Paypal. Got 'Payment accepted' notice and items arrived. A few weeks ago I get an e-mail from Thomann asking me to pay an outstanding balance. I thought it was some sort of phishing [problem], but after checking it out, everything seemed legit. I replied asking them what I owed them money for (at this point still assuming the order that was completed 4 months ago was, indeed, completed..) Apparently, my Paypal payment didn't go through at the time, but they sent the items anyway and opened an account.... I never received the supposed e-mail, and (as I pointed out in my reply) never responded to give this the OK... Thomann clearly weren't happy with that response as the next message contained a threat of a debt collection agency: In my response, I expressed my disappointment in them so readily resorting to threats, but also continued on the path to resolution: That was sent to them on Thursday (13th April). All the correspondence above were on the same day with messages about an hour apart. Today I get an e-mail from debt collectors.... I responded immediately with: Then I started searching the net for advice and found this place. Probably should have done that the other way round! So, where do you think I stand on all this? I think the two resolution offers I gave to Thomann are more than fair and reasonable considering the circumstances. They clearly disagree, but surely they don't have the right to pass onto a debt collector at this point?? edit: Forgot to add, the amount is £87.52

Six years ago I found the details of someone else with the same name (almost as she is a Miss and has a middle name unlike me) and dob on my credit report, I was able to have this removed and have an excellent credit score. However, over a year ago Lowell started ringing me and sending me letters about this woman's debts. I've not had any accounts or involvement with any of the companies who have passed on these debts. The first one I ignored and they subsequently passed it onto a debt collection agency who told me they had proof that the goods were delivered to my address. Action Fraud took this on as a possible fraud and Lowell's response was to write off the debt but still imply that it was mine. The next three debt letters arrived a few weeks later and I sent the template 'prove it' letter. They wrote one off still insisting that it was mine, I'm still waiting for a response to one and finally got a copy of the original credit agreement for another. This clearly gives the other woman's address and actually includes a copy of a letter to her, at her address, stating that she had asked for a copy of the agreement and they are still asking for repayment. Lowell have also done a search on my credit report and found nothing (that must have been disappointing for them!). I'm getting really fed up now of having to do all the work here to prove that these debts are not mine and this other woman is having her debts written off and I don't know what else to do at this point. Is there any point in complaining directly to Lowell or should I take it to Trading Standards.

Seller Refused Mediation Issue I purchased a used quad bike from ** A MAN WORKING FOR HIMSELF ESTABLISHED AS A COMPNY ** 7h May I paid the deposit of £2050 (£2000 off quad and £50 fees) on my credit card to **THE MANS COMPANY **, I attended **THE COMPANY ADDRESS WHICH IS ALSO HIS HOME ADDRESS** 11th may with remainder of cost in cash £2000 I was not given a receipt at the time of purchase I was issued a receipt later on after several requests The Quad bike became faulty 2nd June when I contacted the seller, he told me the sale was between myself and the last registered owner of the quad bike as shown on the V5 and was not a sale by him or his company. I have never seen or spoken to anyone else about this transaction, other than ** THE MAN WORKING FOR HIMSELF ESTABLISHED AS A COMPANY ** he is the man / company I gave all my money to and it was his business / home where I collected the quad from, there was only 3 people visible in his yard (myself, THE MAN and a friend of mine who had traveled with me to collect the quad) **THE MAN WORKING FOR HIMSELF ESTABLISHED AS A COMPANY** was inspecting the quad as I arrived to collect it,the inspection was being carried out in the workshop he has established as his business within his personal dwelling At the point of collection I was told he found a few small issues (parts that needed replacing) to which his company provided me with replacement parts (I don't recall paperwork but certainly the packaging tape from him established business was used The quad bike was sold to me as a used machine, the quad was 2.5 year old with 5k ish on the clocks, I was informed the quad had a manufactured rebuilt engine recently, I was told the quad was in good condition Repairs carried out so far Repairs carried out so far Part’s supplied by seller Replacement hand/foot brake cable Stater motor Voltage regulator Part’s purchased by myself 3 Set’s Of brake pads (needed on the day of collection but wasn’t mentioned I paid for these parts) Part’s I have replaced but will accept as fair use and wear on second hand quad Water pump gasket CVT Belt after 2nd June the quad was sent to a dealer for repairs, Various repairs have currently been carried out costing a total of £1355.96, I have secured £718.92 for repairs via section 75 via credit card company leaving a shortfall **THE MAN WORKING FOR HIMSELF ESTABLISHED AS A COMPANY** after the issues had been brought to his attention gave my personal mobile number to the previous registered keeper who he states was the seller of the quad, although all payment's were made to THE COMPANY Total Looking To recover £30.00 Mediation Fee's £100.00 Labour To fit faulty parts supplied by seller £637.04 Shortfall difference on repair bill £45.00 Brake pads £45.00 Labour for Brake pads £90.00 0181-314000 Gear Motor £40.00 Labour To Fit Gear Motor £200.00 Gesture Of Goodwill (misuse of my personal data) Total £ 1187.04 **THE MAN WORKING FOR HIMSELF ESTABLISHED AS A COMPANY** stated to MEDIATION COMPANY that the sale was between myself and the last registered keeper, THE MAN offered details of a third party PREVIOUS REGISTERED KEEPER and suggested talking to a finance company aswell ? I am trying to establish if the sale was legally between myself and **THE MAN WORKING FOR HIMSELF ESTABLISHED AS A COMPANY** I need to know which court's I apply to England (where I live) or Scotland (where seller live's) I need to know would the judge allow the cost's of mediation I need to know would the judge allow the gesture of goodwill for misuse of my personal details I need to know would the fact I have received a section 75 claim for part of the repair effect the outcome ? I am not applying for the money the S75 covered just the shortfall which cam after THE COMPANY refused to communicate with me, prior to requesting mediation I was given details for THE COMPANY solicitor, they have ignored all letter's sent to them via recorded post, is this acceptable ? Sorry for the longer post, I hope that everything can be seen clearly, I just need to find which court I should apply to I have done everything I can to try and resolve the matter

Howdy all! Long and short of it is, for years I had an account with Abbey National, then changed to Abbey obviously. I went to Uni and had an overdraft with them of about £1500. When I left uni I didn't have the money to pay off the overdraft, but stupidly had my pay put into another basic savings account which eventually Abbey decided to swipe £700 pounds out of to service the other debt which by now had defaulted (I believe). After that I didn't go near Abbey accounts again and set up one elsewhere. The question I have is, the debt hasn't been transferred to a DCA but I get yearly statements from Santander saying that the balance is "X" and the letter says they have to send me this yearly to keep me up to date. I'm certain there are charges on this account that I could claim back but not enough to wipe out the debt, so I'm wondering if the debt is unenforceable despite the fact it's only an overdraft - does it work the same as a credit agreement? An overdraft is a form of credit, no? Any advice would be great and I'll try and answer any questions as best I can. Thanks

Hi All Is there a representative from Scottish power on cag ? Andy

My partner too has now received two letters from Lowell, the first from "Lowell Portfolio 1" and the second from "Lowell Financial". They are citing a debt they have purchased from JD Williams, the original account having been opened in 2002. My partner has never heard of JD Williams, let alone purchased anything from them. They said that they had used a credit reference agency to find her address (we have lived at our current address for over 20 years), but having paid for a £2 Experian report (a company they advertise on their letters), there is no reference to a search by anyone other than the Identification Generic Check by Experian themselves. Interestingly Lowells have addressed her as Mrs, when all mentions of her in the credit check are Ms. She subsequently sent them a letter (electronically signed) stating that she has no knowledge of any debt owed to JD Williams and that unless they could provide evidence of liability for the debt in question, they should make no further contact. This letter was sent by recorded delivery and delivered on 7th October 2015, the date of the second letter from Lowells. I am interested that the wisdom of the replies is that this is a fishing attempt and that it should be ignored. Unfortunately this situation is causing my partner some anguish and telling her to ignore it is proving difficult. My intention is to ignore this second letter and should further correspondence be received, send a letter based on the CAG "You know nothing of the Debt / Prove It" template, but I would appreciate advice as to this being the best course of action. Best regards, squill

Hey all, my Brother-in-Law went to an interview today with Company A. He is currently suspended pending a Disciplinary at Company B (over an accident in the workplace that severely injured my Father-in-Law). At the interview the manager conducting it said they would not be able to offer him the job because they know that he's under investigation at Company B, and went on to say he knew of it because he knows someone that works at Company B. Is he allowed to do this??

Hi My husband and I have both had contracts with vodafone for many years. When it came time for me to upgrade 2 years ago, vodafone offered a discounted deal if I took my phone as a second phone on my husbands account. This was a decent deal so my contract ended and his had both our phones. Two pay monthly contracts. Fast forward 2 years and my husbands contract for his phone ended and he upgraded to a new contract with vodafone. April this year the second phone contract ended (my phone). I waited a few months to decide what I was going to do as I will still happy with the handset. I then decided to take a new phone contract out in August in my own name with vodafone. I called them to advise I wanted to keep my old number. I explained the situation that my old phone was a 2nd phone on my husbands account. No problem they said. Here is a PAC code... Ever since then it has been a nightmare. Apparently what should have happened was that my old number should have been converted to pay as you go to allow me to keep the number and port to my new phone. Instead for over 3 weeks nothing happened Then, after countless phonecalls and different pieces of advice we were told that it would be sorted... Again, nothing. Then my husband discovers he cannot make any calls. Lo and behold they had switched his number to pay as you go instead of mine. Commencement of another endless number of calls. My husband spent HOURS at his work phoning vodafone because they would not talk to me as the 2nd phone (my number) was on his account. Having said that, some of them spoke to me so not a hard and fast rule clearly. I then spent HOURS and HOURS and HOURS and DAYS and MORE DAYS on the phone to many many different departments and indeed countries. Several times I was assured it wolud be sorted. Indeed, the last person even got their manager to apparently sprint down to the floor below to speak with a superuser who was going to wave his magic wand. And still nothing. I was assured phone calls back. Nothing. Still nothing. S o, my husband, who needs his phone for work, is still on a Pay As You Go. My old number is still active so we are STILL paying this contract even though it should have ended in August. My new phone I am paying for but has a new number. It is also not receiving calls. I only receive the odd call and the remainder of the time when people try to call me it goes straight to answer phone. I can be holding the handset when someone calls and it doesnt even ring. Someone told me my old number had now been lost then someone else told me that wasnt right. I was told my husband was no longer PAYG and was back on contract the I was told this wasnt right. Seriously, are they actually just taking the absolute...... ? I cannot bring myself to waste another entire DAY to explain the situation again only for nothing to happen again. I need vodafone to cancel my old contract and reimburse my money (or to my husband as was on his account) I need them to reactivate his contract and cancel his Pay as You Go as this phone should never have been touched. I need them to transfer my old number to my new phone. I need them to find out and fix my phone so it receives all calls. The internet is also much slower than my old iphone 5 (this is an iphone 6) I need all monies reimbursed that are owed to us. This has been ongoing since August 21st with no resolution and not a single call back from anyone who said they would. PLEASE HELP!!!!

Afternoon all having been a long time lurker on this forum I thought I'd post and ask for some of you experts on here to give some advice on a situation with K & Co (Shop Direct). The background to the situation is as follows. My mother in law opened an account with Great Universal some 20 years ago. They have now changed to K & Co and are part of the Shop Direct Group as you are all aware. The problem arose when a customer of my MIL (in fact my Sister in law) ordered a number of items on BNPL one of which was a note book computer type thing. My SIL states that the notebook was fully paid for within the interest free period, but despite this K&Co applied the full interest amount to the account balance (which i note from the statements I have they seem to do as a matter of course one month before they state the interest will be applied). This caused a dispute and my SIL refused to pay the interest amount therefore the minimum payments made were lower than K&CO requested on their statements. This started in April Last year. My SIL bless her has endeavoured to sort it out through telephone calls (eek!) to K&Co "Customer Excellence" and has as you can imagine been fobbed off at every pass. She has written to K&Co numerous times about this dispute and eventually escalated the compliant to the FO who were next to useless but in fairness having seen the letters I do not think enough info was provided by my SIL or enough evidence to back up her claim. As the minimum payments have been lower than requested my MIL has accrued a number of charges on her account. My MIL's position is that as my SIL was her "customer" and K&Co were fully aware of that fact then they should be pursuing my SIL for the notebook not my MIL. K&Co however deny all knowledge of my SIL as a customer of my MIL and therefore state that my MIL is liable for the entire debt. No-one is denying that money is owed, they simply dispute the amount and the validity of charges imposed when K&Co were fully aware that the balance amount was disputed. The matter has now been referred to NDR and my MIL has panicked and asked me to look into it. I have told her that NDR are just a trading company of Shop Direct and I have written to NDR (cc K&Co) explaining that my MIL will not be speaking to them on the telephone as the account is in dispute and that no payment arrangement other than the one currently in place (£84.00 pm) will be entered into until the dispute is resolved. Therefore my questions are: 1. K&Co final decision letter was written on 30 June last year. Can we still CCA and SAR them? 2. Is it worth sending a CCA as there obviously is an agreement in place (goods ordered/received etc) or is it best to go straight to SAR? 3. Does the fact that the FO was involved mean that no further action can be taken? FO involvement ended abruptly in Nov/Dec last year when MIL and SIL fell out over this. Any suggestions very much appreciated!

Sorry new to forums so hope I have posted in the right place. I am banging my head off a wall with npower and no longer know what to do to get things resolved. No one in exec complaints seems to know how to fix it. A really long story so think best to post email I sent to ceo and exec complaints. Apologies in advance as its really long but you couldn't make it up! Any advice anyone could provide would be much appreciated. Thanks. Dear Mr Massara, I am begging you to help me, in fact just now I am pleading with you to help me resolve the 2 YEAR complaint that currently have ongoing with your company. I am sure that once you have read my e-mail you will be just as shocked, disgusted and overall disappointed with the level of service that your company has provided me with on trying to get my account rectified. It is an extremely long and I feel sad story about the way the company has treated me. I hope you have the patience to read my e-mail thoroughly and come to a resolve for us. I apologise if I get some of the timing wrong, as you would hopefully understand it has been going on for a long, long time. Let me begin....... July/August 2010. My young family and I moved into our new private rent accommodation. A small three bedroom ex council mid terrace house. The rent would be more expensive for us coming in at £450 a month but we needed the extra room as we have 3 young children. Having been customers of Scottish power previously, we thought them to be a little on the expensive side, and as we were trying to save money we decided to phone around the major energy suppliers and see who could provide us with our electricity the cheapest. We phoned up npower who told us over the phone that they could provide us with electricity for £40 per month. "Are you sure?" said we. "Yes absolutely." advised your sales agent. We even called back and spoke to another agent to make sure that this was correct. "Yes, this is correct!" Was the answer. We were delighted and signed up there and then. Very happy customers. But then.......... Appox 6 months later. We get a bill out for approx. £400. We were concerned and contacted your customer service team immediately. My husband spoke to a lovely young gentleman who advised him there was no need to worry. It was obviously wrong. He asked for our meter readings and told us everything was fine, the £40 direct debit would continue as normal. Brilliant, we thought. June/July 2013. I apologise that so much time has passed here, but you must understand we did not think there was any issue. My wife and I were both working hard full time to support our family. One day my wife was home and there was a knock on the door. It was an agent from Scottish power out to read our meter. He did so and left. But after that my wife got thinking. When was the last time anyone came out to read the meter. So, that evening she asked me when the last time I had seen one of these agents was. I told her probably about a year prior. That's a bit strange don't you think she replied. Come to think of it, when was the last time we received a bill from npower? Again, we immediately contacted npower to ask why we have not been receiving bills. Again we spoke to another lovely gentleman who advised us he would look into it and put us on hold. He came back to us and advised us that there was a major issue on the account. He did not know why, but for some reason there was a massive debt building up on the account but could see that the direct debit was in place for £40. He could also see that no bills were being sent to us. He then hit us with the bombshell that £560 was pending to come out of my bank account and advised us to cancel the direct debit immediately. There was a debt on the account that ran into thousands! My wife checked her account and noticed the payment had actually let the account. She was frantic. We don't have a lot of money and to us this was a huge amount. It left our family in hardship. We made an indemnity claim with the bank to get the money bank. It took a few days. We have a young family. I'm sure you could imagine how that felt. The gentleman advised us that he would raise this with the executive complaints team as a matter of urgency. August 2013. After we chased it up a few times, a member of the executive complaints team eventually got back in contact. I think her name was Kayleigh, but cannot be sure as I have spoken to so many agents. She advised us that she had been assigned our case. Not to worry as she would look into it and get things back to normal again. Brilliant, we thought. She told us that she would go away and look at it and she would be back in contact with us. She gave us a date and time she would contact us because as I have explained my wife and I are extremely busy people. And she contacted us exactly when she had said! In this conversation she explained that there had been issues with some accounts when npower moved to their new billing system and it looked as if we were affected. She had sent off for it to rectified. I told her I was extremely alarmed about this debt on the account as there was simply no way we could afford it, and as we were paying £40 per month direct debit without ever missing a payment that this was not our fault. She agreed. She advised that we were not to worry she would sort out the issue and the debt on the account would be wiped. The account would be reset and we would start afresh. She warned us that the direct debit might be higher going forward once the issue was resolved. We were delighted. It felt like a weight off our shoulders and the result we were looking for. We left it in what felt like her safe and capable hands. How wrong were we? After this period Kayleigh would be sporadically in contact over the phone or via email. But she offered no other information other than apologising that it was taking so long to rectify but it would be eventually resolved. We voiced our concerns over the length of time it was taking but we were assured that eventually the account would be reset for us. We would also get the occasional letter advising that the company was sorry it was taking so long to resolve and that they had passed their 8 week deadline. Then nothing. March 2014. We called up looking to speak to Kayleigh. She told us that they had activated the back billing process on the account so we would not get charged any further than 12 months prior. But we protested that she had been advising us that we debt would be wiped? She said she would look into this and that for now we should cancel the direct debit until the issue was rectified. But then we realised that the amount that was owed would mean our electricity bills would be almost £300 per month. So there was another issue. Kayleigh never did get back in contact. We contacted npower again. We couldn't get Kayleigh and explained our concerns to the new agent. She was not willing to listen to reason We asked that the issue be escalated to a manager in the executive complaints team. It was, and we were told we would receive a phone call within 2 weeks. Instead we got a letter 2 weeks later from Elizabeth Gibson, head of customer relations. A very unhelpful one that told us that the issue had been resolved and that this was a deadlock letter. The company was no longer willing to help out with the problem and viewed it as resolved. Compensation of £640 would be applied against the debt. We beyond belief! We called up your customer services and pleaded with the agent not to pass us to the executive complaints team just yet. We asked her not to look at the debt on the account for now but to focus on the new issue. As mentioned before, we live in a small 3 bedroom terraced house. We were now being told that electricity should cost us almost £300. We are hardly in during the day. We are in bed most evenings by 11. We explained that we do have white meter heaters and knew that they could be expensive, but surely not £300 a month expensive? She agreed to look over the account. It took her over an hour but we were happy to wait as finally someone agreed with us that there could issue. Not just one, but a few. She advised us that she wasn't 100% sure but when the original agent way back in 2010 took our meter readings and entered them in to the new system that he put them in the wrong way round. She also said she felt there could be an issue with the meter as we were using lower than average during the day but more than 3 times the national average at night time. Plus there was also the issue with the system not generating bills. She advised that she would speak to the executive complaints team and raise her concerns. She said she would arrange for a test meter to be put in place to monitor ours. Finally, someone has cracked it. Or so we thought. Our case was assigned to another agent on the executive complaints team. They confirmed that someone would be out to fit a test meter. It took forever but eventually we got an appointment. But they failed to mention that they would need access to our neighbours house. Engineer came out. I took time off my work to be there. Couldn't get access to my neighbour's property. Wasted day. Back on the phone to the executive complaints team. We were advised that they would request another date. They also advised that this time a letter would be sent to my neighbour. Approx a month passed. I took time off work. Engineer came. No letter had been sent to my neighbour and she denied access. Another wasted day. Phoned executive complaints team again. They said that they would guarantee a letter would be sent for the next time, which thankfully turned out it was. It took months to get an appointment again, and the engineer felt like an old friend, and again I took more time off my work.Test meter was installed. We also decided to contact a local charity called I-heat. He said it was worst case he had ever seen. Sheer and utter negligence were his words. He looked at our meter and noticed that the time was wrong. It was showing it was 6 in the morning when in actual fact it was 2 in the afternoon. He contacted npower on our behalf and raised his concerns. He spoke to Michael in the executive complaints team and asked him to take note of what he was telling him. Michael advised that he would look into the account and take over it. You guessed it, Michael was never to be heard from again. Time passed and the test meter was taken out. Another day off of work. Engineer advised us that he had updated his system with the results and this would be passed on to npower. He also changed the time on the clock as we had pointed it out to him. We sat back and waited for contact. And waited, and waited. Yes, you guessed it! No one contacted us. We contacted executive complaints for an update but were told that npower never had the results. Unknown to us npower had been e-mailing us. But we hadn't been checking our e-mails. A bill is then sent out to us for thousands again. We are at the end of our tether. We contact npower executive complaints again. This time we get a call back from Simone. Simone advised us that they didn't have the meter readings back and that they would chase it up. She told us that she would see that it gets resolved and would make sure that contact going forward would be in the form of a phone call or a letter. She also advised us that she would contact us every two weeks with an update. Then we receive a bill today for £3,243.76 for the last 12 months usage. Correct me if I'm wrong but this works out a £270.31 per month for electricity in a small three bedroom mid terraced house. I invite you to come and see if you need proof? During the winter we have only been running two heaters as we are frightened that we are going to be charged a fortune for it. That bill is covering the period 13th June 2012 - 7th January 2015. It has been reduced from £6,646.18. At this point I would also like to highlight we were paying £40 direct debit without fail right up until March 2014 when we were told to cancel it until the issue is rectified by your agent. We contacted you again this evening but the executive complaints team is closed and we are now facing a bleak and anxious weekend until we can speak to them. Our personal projection for the next 12 months is £4009.79. That works out as £334.17 per month for our humble home plus we are being asked to pay back £3243.76. My wife has now left work and is a student and we struggle by on my call centre wage bringing up three children. We would struggle to pay £334.17 a month, our monthly rent isn't much more, never mind paying back such a large debt that we were not to blame for on top of it. So now I hope you can understand, why I am pleading with you to please get this sorted out. We are at the end of our tether. We have been patient but can take no more. I'm sure that you would agree on reading this that npower has failed us as a company and has not carried out it duty of care that it has towards us. I feel this is my last resort before highlighting our plight with the media and warning other potential customers not to fall for you like we did. I certainly can understand why you have been voted the worst energy provider. I hope that you can change my mind and bring an end to our absolute misery. Yours desperately,

Hi, I parked in a UKCPS car park in Leeds at the start of September. I paid the money for a day's parking and put the ticket on my dashboard. I parked in an end 'bay' that and all was fine. When I returned to my card I'd received a parking notice 'charge' for parking outside a 'marked bay'. There is a sign at the car park along the lines of "if you park outside a marked bay you enter into a contract to pay us £100 (reduced to £60)". It appears the bay I parked in wasn't classed as a proper marked bay. [ATTACH=CONFIG]53594[/ATTACH] I was parked in the same position as the grey car in the photo above. I appealed to the UKCPS stating that: 1) The marking of the bays was not clear 2) I'd paid for full day's parking so how could they ask for £100 when they haven't lost any money. I received a letter at the end of Sept stating that the appeal had been rejected, parking outside marked bays was dangerous, and I'd parked agreeing to the written contract on the sign saying if I park outside of a marked bay I had to pay £100. What should I do next? Just for information these are some more photos of the 'marked bays' in the car park in question: [ATTACH=CONFIG]53595[/ATTACH] As you can see some 'bays' have 3 white lines surrounding them, some 2 white lines.... for example can you park to the left of set of lines in this photo?? :- [ATTACH=CONFIG]53596[/ATTACH] Many thanks for any help. Jules.

Hey guys, Just wanted to know if this was possible? Have a dispute with the retailer, and the Ombudsman is delaying and delaying with giving its response - I've got to the point where I'm happy just to go to court. Thank you

Ultimately it was a chain of failures by Thomas Cook that lead to us making the complaint. Without going into too much detail - I raised a complaint with Thomas Cook about circumstances on the flight that exacerbated my partner's (insured) medical condition that is still affecting him. This was alongside being given very incorrect information by a TC rep that was supposed to help our situation but quite obviously didn't. We were then let down at the airport by the complete lack of rep to support us. I had offered to provide insurance documents and doctor's information to Thomas Cook but they never requested it. Today, exactly 28 days after the complaint was made, I received an email (despite asking to be contacted by phone) with no more than an apology. If that wasn't maddening enough some of information quoted back to me in the email was incorrect to the original complaint... Not massively incorrect, but enough to make me believe that the complaint was only glanced over. The question is - do I pursue this or will I just be wasting my time? I'm not wanting a refund or anything like that but we were expecting to be compensated for the inconvenience and the fact that my partner is still struggling now he's back to work. Any gesture more than an apology would have been enough for us but now we just feel angry. Like we've been swept under the carpet. Any advice or similar experiences would be a great help Thank you Kxx

Merry Christmas everyone. I have an outstanding debt that's been passed to cabot which I believe is statute barred. I've already fired off two statute barred letters to which they have replied that they belive it isn't. To cut a long story short, the credit card was taken out, transactions made but, no but no payment ever made as i was made redundant. the first late payment charge on the account was on the fifth of november 2007 with the account going into default in may 2008. This is the date that cabot are claiming the statute barred runs from. is this the case and if not when does it start from?

Hi all, hope someone can help me out, i bought a car on hp with advantage finance over a 36 month period. I had countless problems with the car when I got to the half way point I voluntary terminated the agreement. This was an easy arrangement between myself and the company, what followed was not so easy. when it came to returning the car at a specific point, I met up with a young lad from an outside company who checked over the car. He decided to take note that the two rear doors had been repainted ( although I had never spent any money on any work done on this car) because of this i am paying £67 a month for a car i no longer have, for work i never had done. is there anyway around this issue? As I can't think of a way to prove the work was never done. And surely I should not be left paying for something I never did whilst they have the car and have probably sold it on by this point. I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks .

I have dual fuel with EDF, and right now I have a massive problem with them which is spiralling out of control because of the sheer and utter incompetence of this company. It all began after Xmas this year, when I received a huge bill for around £700, even though I had been making regular payments by direct debit. I cancelled the DD because the bill stated that they were going to be taking out the full amount....money I did not owe them and which I did not have in my bank account anyway! I phoned up EDF who assured me it was an error and my account was in credit. So I thought no more of that and carried on making regular payments via online banking (I did not reinstate the DD, and I'm glad I didn't now. Forward on to April and I received another massive bill - queried it again, get told its an error blah blah blah. Thinking back, I should have asked them to put it in writing. So....when I got another massive bill for around £800 in July - and again with none of my payments being taken into account, I had enough and decided to go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, and that's when things took a turn for the worse. Fair play to the CAB, they are being marvellous, but there is only so much they can do as they are manned by volunteers and have limited opening hours. The advisor from CAB phoned EDF on my behalf and requested a full statement on my account, taking into consideration meter readings and payments made. He also pointed out a number of discrepancies in the meter readings, and EDF actually asked me to read my meter every day for a week and send them the readings, which I did. But....instead of sending me a statement as requested by CAB, the blundering idiots at EDF sent me a 'bill' for the past year for around £1,700 plus a load of incorrect meter readings and none of my payments included - of which I have proof via bank statements. Chap at CAB advises me it's time to make a formal complaint. That was 2 weeks ago. On Monday I had a call from a company calling themselves Grosvenor Services calling on behalf of EDF about my debt of £1,700. I was absolutely fuming and told the woman that I did not owe this money and I was seeking advice from CAB about this disputed amount. Said extremely rude woman did not appear to listen to a word I said because she kept insisting it was a live debt and I needed to make a payment.....I had to put the phone down in despair. This evening, I see someone park a black car outside my house and walk up my drive. A hand written envelope with my name and address gets shoved in my letterbox. It's from Grosvenor Services.....threatening to cut off my gas and electric and get a warrant so that they can gain access to my property and recover the money!!!!!!! I am really really fed up of this whole thing. A few weeks ago I suffered a major breakdown and ended up having an emergency psychiatrist appointment. It has even got to the point where I have contemplated suicide a few times (and the thought has fleetingly crossed my mind today). The idiots at EDF are well aware that I am registered disabled because of mental health issues. But I can't let them do this to me or my family. That's the only thought that keeps me going because I'm getting sick and tired of this fight. Oh well, it's time to start the legal action ball rolling....

OK Background. I rented a house off Gumtree from a private agent on 01.05.12 The rent is £450 pm and I paid £450 deposit. The house is fully furnished. Ive had problems with the landlord from day 1. I dont know how to deal with her, she is very nice but very passive agressive and I dont want to anger her but Ive got a feeling im going to get reamed when I leave (1 yr tenancy). So I am preparing myself now. Upon moving in, I was never shown safety certificates. But managed to get her to pay for some electrical repairs. (the copper pipes have not been earthed which was advised when I last had an electrician in) I also was not given an inventory which I was worried about. She came round one day and asked if she could have her pyrex, I told her there was no pyrex when I moved in, and she found mine and insisted it was hers. I told her where to stuff it because It was given to me by my grandmother and eventually she left pyrex-less. But she has done this numerous times. (1). If there is no inventory there is no way for her to try and claim my stuff? the majority of things i have reciepts for but some heirlooms i dont and im worried. (2). A few things (lamps) were broken when I moved in, she cant charge my deposit if there is no inventory? The major thing for me is the deposit. I dont think she has protected my deposit in an approved scheme. (3). When I have rented previously I have had letters from the scheme telling me they have recieved my deposit. I havent this time, is there anyway I can check? This woman really is a nuisance, she used to let herself into the house whenever she felt like it, until my partner argued with her. Even now she still lets herself in if she thinks no ones home (I have hidden upstairs once when I suspected this). And she has let herself in when my partner has been sleeping off nights. I know she doesnt have a front door key (her son does but wont let her have it), so I started leaving the back door key in the lock at an angle so she couldnt open it and she even had the cheek to bollock me for doing that! She comes round my house at 5am on bin days and puts my bin on the kerb because she is convinced I wont do it. Because one week i didnt put the bin out - it was empty. Advice please?

On my last medical certificate, my GP wrote it's ongoing and put no end date on it. I've now just received a reminder that my certificate will run out on the 16th. 2 days is nowhere near enough time to get a GP appointment. Is it right that my ongoing medical certificate is only valid for 2 weeks?

My issue started a month and a half ago when one day I turned my phone on and it turns itself off again immediately. Have had this problem ever since then. I had one repair job and received the handset back with a letter telling me there was nothing wrong with it. I turned it on and it turned off. Contacted Vodafone and after a few moans and groans, they agreed to replace the handset. I booked time off work and waited for the courier who was very helpful as he gave me more instructions than Vodafone customer services did about the exchange. I thought this would resolve my issue, but no....same problem. Contacted them again and after a few 'sometimes heated' exchanges with various members of their team, they agreed to exchange it again. This time I thought it was all over...........again, booked time off and exchanged with courier. Inserted sim and turned handset on....turned itself off yet again!! I have suggested to Voda that it could be the sim or the battery that is faulty, but they keep telling me no, it can't be. They only want the handset without battery, sims or covers. I seem to be collecting these covers lol. In this time I have been paying Voda £35 a month and am not receiving any kind of service. Have also had to go out and buy a cheap Nokia handset and this has not failed me once. Have emailed them again three days ago, but have not received a response as of yet....feels like there staff are inadequately trained for the job they are doing. I'm lost on what I should do next.... Gareth

I am a Natwest customer and been affected along with millions of others with this fiasco. I would like to point out though that this is NOT the fault of the frontline staff at the bank and having customers shouting at them does not help matters. I cannot praise the staff in my branch any higher after they helped me yesterday. They seem to be in the dark as much as the rest of us. Some of them are in the same position as the rest of us by not being paid. So if you do go in, give them a break, Don't shout just speak to them calmly and they will do their best to help. Save your rantings for the management who caused this problem in the first place

Hello there, this is my first time posting so i hope its in the right place. Approx 8 years ago - 2004 i think - i moved house and (stupidly) signed up for a 1 month AOL trial whilst waiting for my broadband to be installed. this was used for a day or 2 and then cancelled what i thought was the direct debit and now know was a recurring card payment. i started receiving £5 charges to my bank account though did not notice this until a good few months down the line. i called AOL and got through to a foreign call centre who did not have a clue what i was on about and just kept asking me for my username and password. at this point i had forgotton as only briefly used it. they refused to look up my account details through my actual name, address or bank details and as i recall ended up hanging up on me. To be honest i put it to the back of my mind. i was working and earning a good wage and didnt really feel the £5 loss. months later i noticed it had gone up to £9.99!! so again attempted to phone and reason with them, but got the same response, no username = no help over the months and years it was an annoyance to see the money go out my account every month for something i had never use but at the time i was younger, earned alot more money and had a million and one other things to concern myself about. the payments slowly crept up from 9.99 to 15.99 and then 25.99 when i lost my job when i was pregnant in 2007 money started getting tight and i then approached my bank (barclays) again to ask them for help to stop the payments. they attempted this but didnt seem to work. i tried to make it clear it wasnt a 'direct debit' but a continual payment but they always just said they would cancel it - then i would find out the payment was taken again the next month and so on.... 2010 - it was then i started to do some googling and found a complaints department i dont think it was ofcom - but something similar?? i left my home telephone number, mobile number and address with them. I then received an answerphone message to my home phone from an irish guy calling from AOL saying he was contacting me about my complaint and he would try again to contact me tomorrow. left no number for me to contact him, no attempts to call me on my mobile or write to me and most importantly i did not receive any other calls. at this point life rather got in the way and i had an awful lot more to worry about (wont bore you with details) 2011 - i approached barclays again and seemed to get through to someone who understood because she managed to stop the payments. fast forward to end of november and i get a letter sent to my mums from an unknown company asking me to contact them in regards to a debt. i ignored it as it seemed like junk and was sent in my maiden name which baffled me. Months later i get ANOTHER letter to my own address stating they had traced me through the voters register and could i contact them - intruiged i called them and it was debt collecters wanting to recover the ''debt'' i owed AOL by cancelling the payments i spoke to the company and explained the situation and also put it in writing to them Shortly after this, my partner and i split up, he kicked us out his house in February this year, im currently living in a council homeless accomodation with my 2 young children and forced to live on benefits and not doing so great. So im actually terrifed of phoning them again as i fear they will tell me to pay up then take it up with AOL - well that hasnt gone too well in the past..... i have done NOTHING wrong!! If anything AOL owe ME!!! What can i do? thanks in advance and sorry if i waffled.