when I put my flexible working request in I sat down and first made a list of ALL the reasons they could come up with to say no then came up with a sound business way of countering it

seriously not happy got my bill sent to me tonight and 2 services I cancelled last year, namely 1571 and caller id, due to the fact that they were going to start charging for them and I never use them, have been added back onto my bill and charged for! and to add insult to injury spent 28 mins on hold waiting for them to answer the phone and guess what, on the dot of 8pm the message of "thank you for waiting we are exceptionally busy and your call is important to us" guff the message changed to we are now closed I guess my call isnt THAT important to you if you cut me off after queuing for 28 mins! When I worked in customer services many years ago that queue was ALWAYS cleared before we left for the day!

they have hit me twice with this since I took my contract out 16 months ago, thats more than once every 12 months and yes I am going to OFCOM

an agreement signed by myself and my boss, witnessed by an HR rep and thanks, feel SO much better

luckily they agreed with me, I have left with a clean sheet and they agreed to everything I asked for

when I say compromise I mean an agreement that my reference will be neutral and it will save them money, if it went to disp then I would be putting grievances in with regards to my boss and also with regards to their treatment of me whilst acknowledging I am suffering from work related stress they would also be saving 2k in wages as well

have been advised by ACAS to call HR when they open and offer a compromise agreement with my leaving them with immediate effect (thus saving them money and effort) in return for a neutral reference if they wont then it will be a months notice and fight my corner in the disp thb they will send this to a full disp as they have been trying to shed staff for ages thanks for the reply Emmazzi

Hi all really need some advice I have been suspended on full pay (has been explained to me that this is not to be seen as disciplinary action in itself) pending an investigation into gross misconduct my investigation hearing is today previous to this all kicking off I applied for another job as I was wanting to leave the company anyway and today I have received an offer in writing my concern is any reference the company I am about to leave will be not the greatest I am going to hand my notice in today and am hoping it will be with immediate effect as frankly I cant face walking back into the building if I hand my notice in before the hearing would that mean that I wont get any mention of disciplinary proceedings on my reference seeming as suspension is not deemed to be a disciplinary action? many thanks Morteee

it is highly unlikely they will have a copy of your agreement trust me, been down this route with them http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?214128-morteee-v-DLC-round-2&p=2977044&highlight=#post2977044 thats my thread they are full of it

it was but for some reason it was in my maiden name (which I went to after I left my ex husband AND not the name I had when the card was taken out by my ex husband LOL!) oh dear

5-6k if I remember rightly, not heard a thing from them for a while and the amount kept changing LOL! wasnt even my chuffing credit card!

Statue Barred as of the 9th June bye bye DLC

yep, thats what I meant, ta star

awwwwww shame oh well am hoping they call when I am in anyway as I am going to have some fun with them to get them to remove my number

right, I am a LONG term battler against DLC (please feel free to read my original threads for reassurance) I am going to tell you straight from direct experience of these people they are a DCA who haven't got a clue, in the early days I was scared silly of them then I came here, got some sterling advice, became empowered and now I find them to be highly amusing in the most condescending manner you can imagine MCB ARE DLC just under a different name, have dealt with both. if they havent sent you a valid CCA (they sent me an application form and then acknowledged it was an application form in their letters bless them) then dont pay them, after a while the letters die down to the "annual statement" then peter off totally, I dont even get an annual statement anymore and its SB this year anyway ignore threats of doorstep collectors, they are glorified monkeys who turn up and pretend to be all serious, although I cant see them actually sending one, they never did to me (but that could have been due to my Landlady aka mother sending them a VERY nasty letter stating at no time were they to place a toe on her property without a court order, we are still waiting for the court order lol) they are all wind and hot air and tbh if they have sent you a "discount" letter it 99% of the time means they havent got the correct paperwork to back it up in court, an example of just how on the ball they are, I went back to my maiden name 5 years ago, its fully traceable etc however they were still sending me letters in my old married name. GREAT BACKGROUND CHECKS THERE! keep all letters in a file just in case and if they haven't sent you a valid CCA with all the legal requirements then just fire them one simple letter stating until such time they DO send you one, you will not be entering into any correspondence with them now open a bottle of wine and enjoy your evening, ITS FRIDAY

good evening all, I think you are all going to enjoy this I have come home this evening to 2 messages on my answerphone asking for the person who had my telephone number before me (it was assigned to myself 8 YEARS ago) this message named the person in full, said the call was from LRC Ltd and gave a reference number now am I correct in thinking this is a CLEAR breach of the data protection act as not only have the identified the persons FULL name but also the fact that a debt collection agency is trying to contact them as well? by the way I have never updated the answer machine msg on my line so it still says "hello, we are not able to answer your call right now so please leave a message" so they have no way of identifying who the telephone number belongs to! if they have breached oh BOY am I going to have some FUN with them via OFT, ICO and watchdog amongst others

erm no, what he does with MY personal information (others peoples as well mind you but they can sort that out) IS my business AND my concern! I have already taken this to HR before, they were given privacy screens and he refused to use it..... as for watching the watchers, trust me I am covering 4 peoples duties at the moment, I haven't got the time to watch anyone apart from my own work load! as for my being off, it clearly stated on my sick note from my GP "Stress and Depression compounded by work related issues" and 3.5 weeks is NOT a month, its my first time off ill in 9 YEARS of being with the company so please don't jump to conclusions and read between the lines, many thanks for your input anyway I decided to grab the Bull by the horns and I decided to have a "chat" with him as he was a good friend before being my boss and its sorted, we had a quiet beer after work, like the good old days, and talked it all though, since then I have had a good appraisal and offers of more support, he has also apologised and stated he felt a bit out of his depth as he has only recently been promoted and was receiving very little support himself until now, so moving forwards we have agreed to support each other

Hi all am looking for some advice on raising a grievance with regards to the conduct of my line manager This is particularly awkward for me as my line manager (before promotion) was a good friend however I am getting really down in the dumps with his behaviour Since June this year he has treated me with very little respect or regard resulting in my being signed off for 3.5 weeks In June I started to get really stressed and deperessed due to some personal issues, I spoke to my GP and also to my line manager and HR to request support etc HR, I have to say, were very good and therefore despite my GP wanting to sign me off there and then, I continued to work of course my performance was affected (not to the detriment of my results you understand) but I wasnt my usual dynamic and pro-active self My line manager, however, despite paying lip service to the support program that was set out for me, continued to place me under increasing pressure resulting in the worst PDR grading I have ever had (despite having some of the strongest results in the company) and was told that my grade had been pre-determined giving me the impression that using the appeals process was a waste of time. When I highlighted the strength of my results I was told this was due to my having an "easy job" and that (depsite having no evidence - there is none!) people were "carrying me" Shortly after that I went back to my GP for a routine check as he was monitoring my mental health (and my soaring BP) very closely, he took one look at me as I walked in his door and promptly signed me off for 3.5 weeks, I looked that bad! On my return to work I was offered a phased return, which I turned down apart from a request that exta duties and extra monitoring me set aside for a few weeks so I could settle back into being part of the team and regain my confidence in the work place, this was agreed by my line manager and HR Within days my line manager had scheduled me in for non-routine work reviews, had people monitoring me and I discovered that depite me only telling one person (apart from my line manager) the exact reason why I was off and for how long, the whole office seemed to know (they were actually very supporting apart from 2 people who dont like me anyway so not bothered about them) now to whats happening now we work in an open plan office and my line manager is constantly leaving confidential information lying around (appraials etc) where they are viewable by anyone, in fact this morning they are in such a place that the cleaners could easily read them let alone anyone else He is always leaving his desk unattended and his PC unlocked (contrary to the company IT Policy) with personal info showing on screen, not just mine but everyones. I have complained about this to HR in the past and all line managers etc were given privacy screens to use but he refuses to use his and to cap it all, he has had a go at me (in front of the whole team) about "looking at his screen as I walked past his desk when he was sat at his desk", I was actually looking at something beyond his desk! I can only assume that when he did this he had realised that once again his screen was unlocked and there was personal info of some sort on it. We have also had hours changed with less than a working days notice He is constantly breaching data protection with peoples personal info by his refusal to lock his screen/leaving appraisal forms and documents on display, he is constantly demeaning my performance (I am actually doing a role now he has no idea about and the "usual rules" dont apply to it) and he is now either not doing my appraisals in a timely manner or doing extra! Does this all fall under possible whistle blowing due to the DPA stuff? or would a grievance apply as I am starting to get ill again and I really dont want to be going down the route of being signed off again, I just want to do my job and be left alone to succeed! I have kept a log of all instances and I have a co-worker who is willing to testify all I am saying is correct (I also have photographic evidence of the info being left lying around)

lager sitting in pipes overnight will not produce the symptoms you are describing here, if there were cleaning fluid still in the pipes you would DEFINITELY know about it as most have a purple dye in them now (Prosan plus for example), which you would definately have noticed and the clear ones (protonate etc) would leave you with a soapy feel in your mouth and a sore mouth to boot if there was a really poor flush through as its highly caustic however IF it were the beer's fault an iffy tummy etc would more likely be down to the lines not being cleaned enough so there is a build up of yeast in them Beer lines should be cleaned every 7 days without fail and cask ale lines at the very minimum flushed through with water after every time a cask is changed AND cleaned once a week, you would be shocked at just how many pubs DON'T clean every 7 days without fail (I know, I work for a massive pub company and one of my jobs is to track the line cleaning reports of each pub and eugh!) however I would look to another possible culprit, norovirus is very prevalent at this time of year and this year especially and is highly contagious, there are other tummy bugs out there as well and they can all be caught with something as simple as you using a door handle after someone who hasn't washed their hands then putting your fingers in your mouth for any reason or prepping/handling food without washing your hands after being "contaminated" it doesn't mean you aren't a clean person but how many time do we all lick a finger after handling money for instance? luckily our immune systems are well adapted to cope with most basic things out there, it could be you just copped for something your system hasn't come across before either way though for the landlord to not offer you a change of pint suggests to me that you need to find another local, one where your "host" looks after his customers better!

make sure you inform the relevant authority that he is no longer living in your house and therefore ho longer needs housing benefit! plenty of people out there who DO need it!

at this rate your landlord is going to have a houseful of angry residents that he cant get rid of oh dear

Hi all need a touch of advice if your employer asks you for permission to contact your doctor/access medical records contrary to the terms stated in the abscence policy can they penalise me for refusing? the relevant part of our company policy is here 4.1 Medical Examination/Access to Medical Records In cases of long-term sickness absence (generally periods exceeding four weeks and/or where no expected return date is known), the Company will write to an Employee to seek their permission to contact their G.P./Specialist/Consultant and request a report on the Employees medical condition. This request will comply with the Medical Reports Act 1988 and will ask · The cause of the absence · The likely duration of the absence · The effects the illness would have on the Employee performing their duties · Any workplace adjustments that they may recommend · The likelihood of any recurrence of this illness · Any other questions as may be relevant The Company reserves the right to ask an Employee to undergo a medical examination by a Doctor appointed by the Company, at the Company’s expense. This will enable the Company, on the advice from the Company appointed Doctor, to make informed decisions regarding the Employees future employment with the Company. " the reason I am asking is I have soaring high blood pressure which is being heavily contrubuted by stress, part of which is work related and my GP keeps suggesting he signs me off work which I keep refusing at the moment however this morning when I came in and fed back to my boss about my most recent appointment he stated that if my GP signs me off they will ask for access to my medical records, I really dont want them to have access unless they have to as I am an extrememly private person I have been off sick twice this year so far (unheard of for me!), the first time for 2 weeks with a viral infection (signed off by GP) and the second occasion for one day of S&D and the company policy on this is as follows 4.1 Unsatisfactory Attendance Record If the Employee is absent from work due to sickness on more than 3 occasions within a 6 month period, then the Company reserves the right to invite the Employee to a formal investigation for unsatisfactory attendance, which may lead to potential disciplinary action being taken against the Employee. " the first period of sickness JUST falls outside the 6 month rule as far as I can tell unless my GP signs me off for more than 4 weeks (unlikely) they cant request my medical records as per their policies? it would also appear they CANT send me to automatic discplinary on the 6 months rule (which is another huge fear for me) am I correct in thinking this? many thanks

right have just spoken to the OP he doesnt know if it was an AST he knows it was for 3 months initially and then asked for it to be extended for another 3 months for the reason above, tbh I have a feeling this isnt an AST by what I am being told apparently he also cant check with his housemates as the LL has failed to give them a copy of their agreement after it was signed so they cant check theirs and it doesnt state anywhere that is an AST on his copy have advised him to get out asap as this LL sounds a dodgy as hell tbh also he has stated that there is a section about key money but no figure has been filled in and this was something he didnt sign either I'll see if he can scan it and put a copy up on here with his details redacted

OP has valid concerns, I know OP and was the one who directed him here for advice, it was a short fixed term let which he sought to extend whilst looking for more suitable accommodation, the LL response was to tell him to amend the dates on the original contract as that he (LL) would do the same, there is no mention of key money on the contract and despite the LL txt to the contrary the deposit is described exactly as that on the contract that was signed, a deposit and not a months rent in advance property IS as dire as described, if anything OP is understating the issues with the property OP is asking for advice here on if his deposit should be in TDS or not and of not what legal protection he has from being taken advantage of as LL is changing his story with regards to the money handed over as a deposit every time spoken to I very much doubt that LL has registered as multi occupancy but that's a separate issue, atm OP just wants clarification and advice on where he stands with regards to deposit status and legal protection surrounding it hope that clarifies

I am in a similar position apart from the fact I was using childcare but as my registered childminder vanished I had to use an unregistered one, because my registered child minder didn't issue me with any receipts or invoices for a few months they are now saying i have to pay ALL of last years back, I have to write to them before 4th July with any information I have on her (none) and with letting them know dates and circumstances then they will make a decision