Hi My wife and I recently made, and had accepted, an offer to buy a property. The first line of the particulars said "A most spacious five bedroom detached family home with approximately 3,000 sq ft of living accommodation..." There was a plan of the property later in the particulars but no dimensions on it. There were dimensions on a room by room basis included as part of the description of individual rooms. I had a full survey done. That states "The overall internal floor area extends to around 2085 sq ft". We have withdrawn from the sale principally because the property is a lot smaller than we thought. At a minimum I would like to recover my lost survey fee. The selling agents are members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme. Worth going to them? Or straight to small claims court? I have some experience of the small claims court and am comfortable bringing claim on my own, and I am thinking probably is worth going straight to court. What is basis of the claim? This looks like a clear breach of Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations but can I claim my losses under those regs or is it best to go under general law of misrepresentation? On this - I was induced to enter into a contract with the surveyor by the misleading particulars - is that what I need to establish to succeed ? Put another way does it matter that I did not have any contract with the estate agents themselves? Any thoughts gratefully received. Many thanks

Any advice gratefully received. I had a contract lease hire car for 2 years from a company, when the car was returned I received a further bill for about £900 which I disputed however they proceeded to instruct solicitors to pursue the matter which they did through the Small Claims Track. Fast forward 2 years and they have now served a Notice of Discontinuance (N279) 7 days before we were due to attend court. As you can imagine I have spent a lot of time and some money preparing and filing court documents etc, but as I understand it I cannot claim any costs for wasted time. So is there anything I can do to recover any costs, can I claim for damages, or do I just smile knowing its cost them a lot more than me.

Which? found nearly half of people (46%) who came to the end of their mobile contract did not switch immediately, collectively overpaying by a total of £355 million per year – an average of an extra £92 each towards handsets they had already paid for. Most contracts combine the cost of the tariff and the handset over the minimum term, usually 24 months. But this is not always split out, so people don’t know how much each element costs or when they have finished paying for their phone. Six in 10 (60%) people we surveyed told us that having a provider who separates its bill so you can clearly see the tariff and handset costs was important to them when switching. O2, Virgin Media, Tesco Mobile and Utility Warehouse have tariffs where the handset and airtime costs are separate while giffgaff have never bundled the handset in. Customers on Vodafone, EE and Three still continue to be charged one bundled price. For example, a contract with O2 Refresh for an iPhone 6 costs £49 a month for 5GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts. Of this, O2 is clear that the handset part of the bill is £25, so when the contract is over you only pay £24 per month. On a similar plan with Vodafone (4GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts) it costs £48.50 a month – but that price doesn’t change once you come to the end of your contract and have finished paying off the cost of the handset. Which? says "All mobile phone operators should separate out the cost of the handset so people don’t continue to pay after the contract comes to an end." http://press.which.co.uk/whichpressreleases/millions-of-pounds-wasted-paying-for-mobiles-people-already-own/

Hi all, I've been referred by my friend to this forum to get some advice. I have been taken to court over a property dispute with a neighbour. Despite repeated evidence that we are not liable and potential fraud committed by the claimant submitting a modified copy of the land registry documents to court and us to make it appear we are liable she is still going ahead with the case This has been going on since Feb this year and the final hearing is tomorrow. I'm a bit annoyed for spending this year thinking about this case, hunting for evidence, drafting letters, speaking with various people for advice etc even though it was blatantly obvious she is out to make a quick buck on someone elses expense. The reason for my post and apologies for this lateness but my friend mentioned that I could potentially claim costs for wasted time etc. I haven't incurred much cost as I only mailed one letter and dropped off the others by hand (as the claimaint had done to keep costs low). My biggest annoyance was the stress and time I've wasted thinking about this case. So can I claim back any costs? If so and if any one can point me to some guidelines for claiming I would be ever so grateful.

Wow. What a bunch of bullies these guys are. I have just gone through the various threads and have a similar story with Erudio student loans. I have supplied them everything under the sun to request a deferment and they keep on rejecting it. My income is only 15k a year but the guy on the phone was saying that since your bank statements show an higher income we will take that as meaning its over the allowance! My response was that I am self employed so someone pays me for a job out which I make only 5-10%. No we don't agree. Send us your Tax return which I have and they want the form from HMRC which I don't get for another 2 months! Supplied them my tax return documents which show my income - Not accepted Supplied them my Tax return from my accountant - Not accepted Supplied them my bank statements - Not Accepted I have wasted a good 3-4 hrs on the phone with them and what a bunch of idiots they are. I have read the threads and will fight them. What should I do next? Also I want to be able to claim expenses them for the time wasted. Any suggestions?

Hi everyone, Can anyone help me with my problem please. On Feb 14th 2014, the Crown Court ordered the CPS to pay me nearly £2000 in wasted costs but they will not pay me. Anyone know how I can enforce the order? Thanks Valgem

About two weeks ago I received notice of from Domestic and General about need to renew an insurance policy on my Freezer (a proline UFZ180P6). I notice that the cost was £66/yr and that it would renew automatically if I did nothing. The freezer is now over 4 years old so I thought spending that much is not good value. I'd prefer to get a new one if it broke down, or get a refurbished one at near to same cost of £66 (yes British Heart Foundation are doing some good deals). But I notice that to cancel the insurance means I'd have to call an 08444 number which costs me 5p/min. I don't like that- even though I could afford to spend 100 times that in a day because I'm rich. It's just the principle that offends (can go into that another time). So I get onto their website where I spend 15 min cancelling (or so I thought) their insurance. But the email confirmations I get next day don't reflect cancellation. So two nights later I decide to try again and this time it seems to be cancelled. Yes - I have loads of time and my principles tell me that for the greater good of all I spend my time like this. So that's say 30 min total. Which is not great but I'd rather spend that time than give them 5p I thought, if it's worth cancelling. But no. Read on. This morning I receive two pieces of correspondence both undated - and it seems that this is now standard practice in this country of late. So you can't really work out when correspondence is generated - advantage to 'big business' methinks. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44694[/ATTACH]1st opened correspondence says "Ensure continued protection of your Freezer" - renewal date 27th June 2013. Annual fee "£66.00" - as it was on correspondence about two weeks ago. So methinks fine that's just them plugging that which I refused. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44693[/ATTACH]2nd correspondence opened tells me that "Your freezer is now Protected by Domestic and General". So I'm like wut! (and holding back from telling you the expletives that were running in my mind. Don't want to breach forum rules ). My time has clearly been wasted going online. I'm not happy. But I note that it's the same policy and same freezer but now the price I've been billed was £29.00!! The date of issue was 15th June 2013 (but that's not the date on the correspondence - which is as I said undated). I call D&G on their 08444 number spending my 5p/min now. They introduce the call as being recorded for quality and monitoring purposes, so I decide to record the call too - and I let them know this later on. The phone takes 5 min to answer. So you bet - I was firm but in no shape or form abusive. After giving all the relevant details they go "That's cancelled... on our system". And I go (WTTE) 'well you say that now, but I could have no knowledge of that and your conflicting correspondence'. I outline that I've wasted my time online and now the cost of my call and my personal time chasing an issue that is their fault. So I've spent in total about 40 mins and paid for the 'pleasure' - if you see what I mean. It's not fair!! At this point - and it's the usual - with most call centre people - I start getting cut up in mid-sentence. So I say "I notice at this point that your cutting up what I'm saying and that predicts that you're about to label me as a hostile customer and put down the phone, but as I am recording this call and your company is too, I must let you know that I have not been hostile to you and have used no abusive language. I expect you to listen to what my dissatisfaction is". So I explain that it is about the confusion and the waste of my time. I then say that I expect to be compensated £5 for the waste of my time and the cost of my call. The woman then goes (WTTE) 'I don't know what you mean'. I respond, 'you know exactly what I mean' and I repeat myself and state that I expect a check for £5 within 10 working days. I then put the phone down with 2 seconds notice. I'm not about to explain the meaning of words to a person on the other end who is fully fluent in English. I stated my case. Some who read this may think this is about £5. I'll let you know now it isn't. I don't care much about £5, it is the principle of how large companies waste our time. If I spend 30 min on line I expect to get it right. I don't expect to have to be followed up by conflicting correspondence, then have to make a phone call that costs me 50p. It's pure rubbish. Just to let all know I spent similar amount of time with Tesco for £1 mismatch on their price, and on that occasion they offered me £5 for my time - which I did not in the end accept (simply because it was sufficient that they offered as a recognition of getting it wrong). This is about how big companies play a numbers game. Game you wonder. Yes - did you notice that the price at D&G was £66/yr - and that following my attempts to cancel the evidence leads me to conclude they quickly renewed before 27th June at £29. My second online attempt to cancel must have gotten home and that's why at 24th June (today), it appears on the system as cancelled. This is a numbers game, cuz I reckon that of 1000 customers companies treated in this way, probably at least 10% get hooked. Something is wrong with business in this country - and something is also wrong about consumer vigilance. That's why businesses know that with a certain percentage they will 'get away with it'.