Hi All Ok, well i have read quite some posts here and seen the letters to be used for debt collection. Situation in brief: 2 debts outstanding with BG - 1 for Gas 1 for Electricity - each just under £100 In March i agreed to pay of £33 a month for each Unfortunately I cannot do that anymore and am paying £10 a month Phoned BG to re-arrange payment - they verbally refused - nothing in writing from either side (probably should have) So now BG has forwarded my debt to Central Recoveries. I got the letter from Central Recoveries before BG stating they were moving, even though BG is dated the 4th and Central Recoveries the 11th. I pay every month on the 3rd I was in the process of writing a letter but thought to use this site first for info. Good that I did! Couple of queries: 1) I never signed anything with BG. They supplied through my previous landlord who passed on my details. So i just started paying but cannot remember ever signing an agreement. Does this make me liable or is my previous landlord / BG in breach of something? Should I ask for CCA? and if they cannot provide what is next step? (bit confused there ) 2) Can BG refuse a new payment plan? Which is reasonable within my current financial situation. 3) Who should I deal with, BG or Central Recoveries (CR from now on)? 4) CR demands either full payment (with 15% discount!) or court action. Is this right? Shouldn't they accept also a payment plan or is that up to court to decide? 5) I keep getting unknown phonecalls without anyone leaving messages. I assume some are BG, as a 0845 nr matches. But no messages left. Isn't this getting in to harassment? In itself I do not really dispute the debt, because after all i was using gas and electricity. But part of the reason I moved as the Landlord was 'cr*p' (sorry for that, I know now not all Landlords are like that). Any ideas and help will be much appreciated. They are really chasing me so want to get this to stop! And actually get my act together. This is my only debt I have apart from my credit card (which I just have hopefully moved over to 0% interest @ Virgin). Cheers Little -------------------------- Reference: Central Recoveries - PO box 52, Hattersley, Hyde, Cheshire, SK14 3PQ (do I not need a real address?)

Lol this made me and my techie OH laugh. (He has bootstraps!) But on a serious note, this is what the techie suggests: If you have contiguous data and need an image then the linux/raid combination sounds like a good option. If you just need to safe files the external USB drives are great and depending if you have a month spare to sit and click and drag your files, you could use something like LaCie drives as these proved to be most reliable for long term storage (as long as you dont knock them over) Other then that avoid tapes - cheap but apparently difficult to get 2nd set of equipment to read the original tapes. Even problems with same equipment few months later! Depending on budget it might be wise to invest in a firewire 800 card as usb 3 isnt here yet. THis will safe you many many hours of transferring. These are the best cheap options depending on technical skill. Other then that the cheapest option is pop down to Woolworths and buy a large stack of jotter pads for your 1's and 0's (apparently you techies understand this) Ok i am totally confused by this but hope you understand what my OH was rambling about Good Luck LMS

Hi All Well my partner also has intolerance to gluten and we always try to buy rye bread (or as we also call it German bread). That he can 'stomach' We buy this at the moment from our local veggie delivery service (abel-cole) along with gorgeous fresh veggies. The bread is so fresh that even after 3/4 days you still dont need to toast it as it still tastes fresh. Other good places to buy are local country delicatessen, or if you are lucky, the local polish shops (which we have zillions of in our area). Hope this helps LMS

Mike -> unfortunately we paid cash (well one friend did). I know now we shouldnt have done, but that is knowledge we did not have before Zam -> we paid as much as it said on the signs i.e. the total of clamp, administration and tow car. The tow car guy was so nice to not charge us the £15 we should also have paid if the car would have been on the truck. As it wasnt we did not pay for this (which we used to buy some drinks for later in the evening ) Cheers for the replies. Hopefully there is something we can do because its a lot of money

Hi All Ok, my first post on this part, hopefully it makes sense. Any help will be much appreciated. This is to help out a friend. We all visited one of our friends on Saturday night. She just moved into a small estate where there is private parking, related to the people living on that estate. She had made arrangements with the owners of her block that we could park in front of the building. So my friend parked here and surprisingly was clamped within 10 min. Apparently he had parked in a space that was not linked to the apparment block of the friend we were visiting, but to other houses in the same estate. To us it looked like one big square were you could park, not really clear that different slots belong to different owners. As my friend assumed he parked legally (as he got arrangements from the friend we visited) he didnt read all the signs, as he thought that he would not be clamped. Although the area is full of signs we were not aware that there were different areas within this total parking ground for different appartment blocks. Also the signs were not lit and as it was dark, you wouldnt be able to read them, unless you were standing right in front of them. It is also not clear which slot is run by which company. The costs were very hefty. On top of my head we had to pay over £200 pounds. This was for clamping, administation fee and tow truck. Apparently the policy of this clamping company is that they clamp and immediately call out a truck for removal. We tried to argue for only paying for the clamp removal and not the truck, but they said, sorry the truck is called, its here within seconds, so we cannot remove that charge. So my question is, can we fight this????? And what is the best way to do this? Cheers LMS

Hi all thanks for the messages. Tom -> send you a PM Crutey -> landlord is dealing with them so hopefully it leaves me out of it Thanks for the advice LMS

as far as the letter states they are certified bailiffs or civil enforcement agents. And the thing is, i dont want them to have my details, that is none of their business. Why should i give it to them, they know the person doesnt live here anymore, Landlord has stated that numerous times, this agency just does not listen. And also a quick check with the council would show i live here and this person not anymore. I think the best thing to do is wait and see what happens. Just not opening doors to strangers My landlord has called the bailiffs to back off, and if they dont he is going to sue them for at least harrasment. LMS

Ok, to cut a long story short. I am getting tons of message from different debt agencies regarding problems from the previous tenant of the house I now rent. To make it all worse, today a letter came in stating that they will come next week to take possessions to clear the debt. I am in urgent talks with my landlord to get it dealt with, but what can I do in the meantime. I am sick of all these messages and getting scared that I have to prove I am not this person or know this person, to people I dont want to know who I am. It scares me to think what tactics they can do. All previous post has always been returned to them and above all if they would bother to check the council, they would see I live there now and not this person Please help in to stop these people hassling my life Any advice is hugely appreciated LMS (well not so sunny today) Any advise on how to deal with this? Thanks LMS

Hi Joa sorry bad wording there (blame to OH) What I meant was; before using the switch think about falling on your knees in case of a shock. So when you get a shock you fall on your knees. Being on your knees would break you off the current. When you think about something you have to do (instead of dont) you will remember that in case something happens. Trick of the mind. It is like instead of thinking "i must not forget my mobile" you should think "i must remember my mobile" Different wording but second is positive and gives the right outcome (well should do) Hope thats clearer LMS

Ouch, that doesnt sound good. But here some advice, my OH is engineer and gives the following tips: * if you get a shock from a lightswitch (hope not though), put in your head to fall on your knees. Because that will break you off the current. * the lights flickering is quite likely due to no proper earthing. Which means any electricity will go through the person touching the light into earth * if the lightswitch is metal, unlikely, do not use it * if it is plastic the contacts have probably worn out and pose a real threat of fire. Again better not use it! * give the landlord 24hrs to sort out this dangerous situation and if he doesnt want to do anything state that you will call for an emergency electrician and bill the landlord accordingly Dont worry too much, but be careful of what you plug into the sockets as well. Make sure that if you really need to plug in/out something, have someone around in case of problems. Hope this all sorts out quickly. At my old house the electrics were shambles also and the landlord sadly didnt do anything about. I just hope that a law comes in place quickly, both for the safety of tenant and landlord. LMS

I am not here to take sides but wonder the following. If stated that the landlord does not provide picture hooks or shelving on the wall, and in the contract it says you are not allowed to 'alter'/'decorate', will this mean that you have to stare at empty walls all the time? Sorry but that doesnt sound enjoyable to me. Imagine your own house and you dont have any pictures, paintings or mirrors hanging on the walls nor any clocks or whatsover. Do you still think its an enjoyable home. If you rent for only short term that is different, but if you stay for couple of years i would think that most people would like to hang something on the wall. I would, otherwise I would go crazy. I guess there are 2 options here: 1) landlords should provide houses with picture hooks, shelving etc 2) tenant asks permission to hang up pictures, shelving etc. To be honest I never thought this all would fall under alternations and always hung up stuff on the wall (but well fit and carefull where). Never asked the landlord for permission and they never complained during housing inspections. If it is against contract, why dont they say something about it?? I do go here with the o/p that its strange it was never mentioned Just my thoughts here LMS

Hi All Ok this is a bit shocking and something that everyone should check urgently, no matter if you are tenant/landlord/homeowner. When I moved out of my old house I found out that the oven in the kitchen was wired into a 13amp fused main plug (clearly labelled on the plug). However, since then I have spoken to several engineers (including BBC and British Gas) and they all confirmed that this is illegal and extremely dangerous. The oven needs to be wired into the separate special ring main in the kitchen which is a 40amp fuse and is marked as such. Not having done this properly causes increased risk of fire and electrical shock (most likely deadly) :o All the engineers I spoke to were surprised I survived this kitchen for all those years!!!!! So please check your own situation and make sure you are in a safe kitchen. Please dont mess around in the kitchen yourself, get a professional recommended engineer. LMS

Hi All this post is to inform people of what is and is not possible when you have a dispute. I think it is both useful for tenants and landlords. As some might have read I had a fairly unpleasant experience over the last year with my previous landlord/agency. Although some here on the site have given me useful information, this still did not satisfy me and I decided to ask an independent organisation to look into this. I did this not to get personal gain but to see what is and is not legal and to help future tenants who might sign up with this agency. Finally after several weeks of communication between me and the Trading standards they finally had a meeting with my previous landlord/agency and below an outcome of the result. 1. Issue relating to advertised rental prices I had a dispute with the agency regarding what they advertised and what they asked (this related to offers in excess of). See below the reply. With regard to the issue of pricing I will have to seek some further advice from the Office of Fair Trading as the practice of asking for "offers in excess of" with regard to rent is unusual and I can find no precedent for it. I have advised the agents that they cannot charge tenants over the amount stated in their advertisements if no "offers in excess of" statement is included in the advert. Also that they should not raise rental charges after they have been agreed with prospective or sitting tenants am not particularly happy with the "offers in excess of" practice as applied to lets as I feel it may give rise to an auction of sorts. It may ,however, not be an illegal practice. 2. Issue relating to for sale signs. I had a dispute with them regarding signs they put up for 'marketing' purposes that the house was for sale, sold and let out. I am not happy with their conduct regarding sale boards and I have reminded them of their responsibility to remove boards from properties that are not for sale (or let) as soon as possible. They are aware that they can be prosecuted for falsely suggesting that they are selling or letting a property when it is not for sale or let .The placement of their boards will be monitored by officers from this service and some form of enforcement action will be taken if the practice continues 3. Disposal of mail Their explanation for the disposal of your mail was that it was disposed of by contractors or builders who were beyond their control. I mentioned to them that it is illegal to dispose of another persons mail (though this law is not enforced by Trading Standards) and I will include advice not to do so and not to breach any agreement with their tenants to forward mail. Trading Standards will be advising the company further on various contractual issues and will make it clear that they cannot unilaterally alter terms of a contract without the permission of the tenant (and in some cases the landlord). It is very important that Estate Agents are transparent in their dealings with the public and that the identity of all interested parties in any particular property are declared to tenants and prospective purchasers. The agent will be advised about their responsibility in this area and their conduct will be monitored I hope this helps others who might come across similar situations Sorry for the long message, but it could be of nice reference and nothing could be left out LMS

Aequitas, does the address have to be the personal address where the landlord lives? or can the address be a PO box or the letting agency? Just something I have been fighting over in the past and still dont know the answer Cheers LMS

Hi DNA as for references there are several options. For one, do you have good contact with someone you worked with who can be a reference? I used not my last manager but the previous one as he was better and more positive. As for references also, an employer cannot really give out negative feedback as this might turn against them. So if they cannot give a positive reference they often just acknowledge from when till when you worked there and that is it. I would not worry about that now, like Ell-enn says, go in, have a good time, make sure you ask some questions. References can be sorted later and i bet there are enough people here who are willing to give some good advice for that. LMS

Hi DNA Good luck with the interview. As to what to say, dont be too honest. Dont say you are fighting a dismissal as they might not like it. What I would do is make a list of all the good things about your last job and stress those out during the interview. Make also a list of the bad things and try to summarise them together. Like you want to grow futher, or you have worked xxx years and want to make a change, something in those regions. I can imagine its not easy but the best thing is dont be too negative about your last job. This will reflect on your interview and they might not like it (i had that experience recently). So stay positive, make sure you know a lot of this company and put up a big smile and go for it. Remember that if it goes well and the offer you a job, you are out of where you are now!! Good luck and let us know how it went LMS

Hi All THanks for the replies. I will stay away from any loans as far as i can!!! I pay of what I need to pay off on monthly basis and at the meantime manage the money that goes in and out (so no dinners out or any luxurious till all is sorted!) I know that paying credit card itself is better than taking a loan to cover that, its not worth it But thanks for the advise and will definetely pass if I hear anyone talking about it Cheers LMS

Hi All Ok so not on bank charges but i dont know where else to post, so maybe someone can help. My apologies in advance for the rant, but banks just dont seem to make my life easy at the moment. I recently tried to upgrade my basic bank account. I have a solo card which is not accepted everywhere (especially not railwaystations) so wanted an upgrade. The nice lady on the phone said: 'sorry but you cant upgrade as you dont reach the criteria'. So, of course, my return question is what are the criteria. She says sorry I am not allowed to tell, I cannot say etc etc. I keep asking as I say that I have been with them several years I want to upgrade so what do i need to do to upgrade, which criteria do I need to meet? She sees still I am not allowed to disclose that information. So I said, ok can you then put a note on my file saying that when I do meet the criteria someone can contact me and ask me if I still want to upgrade. She says no we cannot do. So of course I get bit frustrated and ask again what is wrong with my account. With much hesitation she finally says it has to do with your incomings and outgoings and call back in a couple of months and try again. Now I wonder, is this standard practice and what can I do against it? Ok I have been overdrawn a couple of times lately (but bankcharges do tip you over), I come out of benefits (although now been paid for 3 months in a row) and have nearly reached the limit of my credit card. But still no real major problems, always made sure that when I got overdrawn I sorted it asap and I now even have some savings (YAY, rather have savings as back up then paying credit card as the amount of savings dont make much of a difference to credit card, but do help pay bills!). So some advice from someone on this will be usefull. Cheers LMS ps or might they just have a note on my file that because I claimed bankcharges I cannot upgrade psps I have to claim more back due to recent problems, but am a bit hesitant as I cannot afford my bankaccount to get closed

I see lots of reading but not many replies. Anyway an update, i have broadband again now for some days but service is rubbish, every night it just disconnects, phone line is bad and i have been downgraded, not upgraded! And also, in contrast to their statement promiss to reply to letters within 5 working days, i still have no reply to the above letter. Unfortunately at the moment to busy but a letter will go by the end of the week asking why they break their promisses. And why i still dont have a copy of the contract! Maybe some tips from others as how to deal with them? Anywhere to escalate it to? Cheers LMS

Hi Jeane With my previous tenancy i had quarterly inspections. Altough a bit of a pain, i always got a letter way in advance when it was going to happen. With the letter i got a paper stating any repares I thought necessary. They would then look at them whilst going round It gives the landlord an idea of the state of the property, and you an option to point out any issues there might be. ALthough my landlord/agency said i didnt need to be present, I always tried to be as its an opportunity to speak to someone! Make sure though to clean properly. I remember the first time i didnt have enough time (working late etc) so i didnt clean the floor properly. I got a follow up later saying all is fine, but please keep the floor clean. So make sure that within 2/3 weeks after the check you get a letter stating if all is ok or not. And if you state out any maintenance issues they are on there. These letters might come in use if you are moving out. LMS

To clarify it has not been the new tenants as the house is empty at the moment. It has most likely been the agent (as they are showing people around) or the landlord. I know now I should have used the postal service, but the reason why i didnt, the agency asked me for my details to forward post. I also asked them to collect my post if they could not forward it, so i could collect it at their office. It was not something i wanted to use forever, just in the first 2 weeks. For everyones info, the post is not completely to be trusted either as about 70% will go to new address, therefore still post could have been sent to the old address. Also i have a letter from them regarding the post. Earlier this year I asked what to do with post from old tenants. They said they cant do anything with it as they dont have forwarding addresses, otherwise they would forward it. Also they state that the best option is that i should put it back in the postbox stating return to sender. So if that is their advice, why dont they do it themselves? But I will admit I should have used the postal service. On the otherside the agency should have been clear stating we dont forward any post. They send unclear messages. But i will know for the future, and hopefully this post will help others to remind them that if they move houses, they have to make sure that they use the postal service as you cannot assume that agency/landlord will forward post. So i should have been smarter, the agency should have been clearer, lesson learned here LMS

Thank you all for your replies. I know its not a very clear area to deal with and just asked for opinions As for you planner, I had arranged everywhere to rearrange my address even at the university. However I didnt have all my details to the last minute AND there was a postal strike, there is always a risk of getting not the post to the right place. I think its very normal that if you get post that is not directed to you, you put it back in the postbox with return to sender on it. I dont expect them to do that forever, but just for 2 or 3 weeks after changing address. As for NOT BEING A REAL ISSUE, it is, as the post was dumped and therefore the person who dumped it made me liable to identity theft, without my knowledge. Especially because the bank doesnt tell you that new cards are submitted! Not my fault there. And you know, sometimes it doesnt seem to be a real issue to you, but it might be to others, and also i asked for advice. That is what i thought this site is for. And not for someone to justify what is or is not a real issue for someone else. If you dont agree with a post, you can either just ignore it (i do that several times) and save your energy and if its really something that should not be here, you can warn a moderator. But anyway, i am not going to waste any more space on this. I have enough advice from the people here. Thanks to everyone else for some constructive advice, very much appreciated. LMS

Hello all Just when you think you have had it, it seems to be going on. After finally having closed the tenancy of my old property, I am confronted with a new situation of which I would like to receive your advice/opinion. During the exit procedures I was asked several times for my new contact details, so that the old agency could forward any post. Having supplied them with the address AND given the option to collect the post at their office personally if they couldnt/didnt want to forward it, I was shocked by the following: I was awaiting some crucial information regarding my University Course which I knew had to opportunity to be mixed up in the post. Having not received it, and knowing the old house is around the corner, I decided to walk past it and look into the recycle bin to see if post was dumped. I knew that the agency I was dealing with had done that before! (I witnessed this when I went with them to other houses to find another place to live) And guess what..... my University stuff was in there. And not only that but also my new credit card (I didnt know I was about to get one) and some other pieces of paper. As the Uni stuff had my signature this could have been a golden opportunity for identity theft. Despite most post having return addresses and the agency having my forwarding address, all ended up in the bin. WHY OH WHY??????? I asked the agency and they said we handed over the keys to the landlord temporarily so nothing to do with us. Well just before I checked the bins there had been viewings so that is not true. Also I would assume that the agency would forward details to the landlord. Especially as they are (as far as i can figure out) one and the same company. So upon an email I send about this I of course didnt get a reply. Sending it by post PERSONALLY to the company director, i get a reply from another person. Isnt that illegal? Or unlawful? I am at complete loss with this agency and what to do. Fair enough I hope to never ever have to deal with them again, but am worried that some post might have gone missing. Apparentely asking for a forwarding address for the post has no meaning!!! Even though during my tenancy I always forwarded post for landlord/agency. I guess if i had dumped bills, letters etc in the bin it would had serious consequences!!!!! Any advice on what to do??? LMS

Hi All Well below letter explains it all. Send to Orange (Customer service AND managing director) on the 17th and guess what...... still no reply. Which is direct break of their own clauses as they say they reply within 5 working days. Other letter will have to follow soon, but maybe someone can be of help here how to help. We do have internet now, but connection keeps on breaking up, speed is about 3Mb at 4 in the morning and the phone connection is rubbish. So complete downgrade, whilst they promised upgrade!! Have fun with the below letter Its a bit long but than the story is long and seems to become a never ending story. Dear Sir, Continuing Disruption of Service FORMAL COMPLAINT 2 I assume you have already checked e-mail this morning… As a long time customer of the remarkably advanced wireless telephone service you provide, I was pleased to discover the option for a home broadband Internet service when I renewed my contract earlier this year. Migration from my previous supplier went smoothly and the quality of speed and accessibility, were as expected from a company I had come to trust. I am used to travelling abroad and communicating with various people with a variety of technologies. Often I will share home videos and conference with my family overseas, to me, and BROADBAND INTERNET access has reached the status of A UTILITY, that is to say something I cannot do without. With this in mind I put my trust in that once Anglo/Dutch, now French company – Orange/Wannadoo. Suddenly on the 26th June 2007, without any warning, the Internet for me, stopped. WHY? There wasn’t even a telephone call or a text message, even though you already have my (mobile) number! Whilst I understand there may be some technical challenges in providing a broadband service to a number of people at any one time, Orange is a company which has been trustworthy in the past. THE INTERNET: A BRIEF HISTORY Designed to withstand the worst outcome of a global nuclear war during the 1960’s, a means of communicating between computers which did not need to specify the chosen route first. Works perfectly until ‘someone’ technical (?) at Orange breaks the link between me and the rest of the web. As I didn’t hear anything from Orange, I immediately went to the phone to try to find out what happened. Apparently Orange decided to migrate my service (2nd time as I already migrated in March) and this had gone wrong, which we only discovered after two days of calling and waiting. The call centre explained that after going several times through the standard procedure (test Livebox, reset Livebox, test line) that the migration had to be redone and my internet service all of the sudden was regarded as a new connection/upgrade….. down from 24Mbs to a staggering 8Mbs. This meant that I had to wait 5 days before I was connected again. I thought, ok weird but not too much of a problem. But how wrong I was… it meant a start of a whole saga, which still is unresolved and of which you can find the outline if you continue reading. On the 5th, my Livebox still didn’t blink normally so I decided to call Orange to get an update, and surprise, the call centre contact said “oh well, that happens, you have to wait another 5 working days!!!” This of course was totally unsatisfactory and I decided to write a letter to the Customer Care Manager. Following my letter from the 5th July, I was told by Martin Dale on 18th July 2007 transferring from IP stream to the other system (?) usually takes around thirty minutes… …this interruption occurred around 26th June 2007, at the time of this writing approximately some TWO-THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED - 2,400 times longer than usual. FIFTY DAYS, despite the many, many promises of ‘5 days’ then ‘5 working days’ then ‘7 days’, ‘7 – 10 working days’ after speaking with a wide variety of ‘customer service agents’ whose competencies clearly lay in an altogether different field, I escalated the matter. Surprisingly, the help I received from the UK based call centres was based on an ability to try and understand the customers problem – quite refreshing considering the hours spent listening to your ‘music on hold’ from places where language skills cannot cope with accents outside their own. Sadly, the experience and seemingly greater level of competence was utterly undermined by a complete lack of technical skill. My trust and faith in Orange has been roundly smashed. At this point, I enlisted the help of someone who is technical and knows what they are doing. Providing communications for the BBC in live event scenarios and in places where electricity is provided by pedalling a bicycle. One of the key technologies is telephony and all its associated throughputs. The basis of which relies on connecting two devices with each other. Within about 20 minutes he had ascertained what the various international flavours of helpdesk had concluded after hours of calls. Orange broke something and it can’t find a way to fix it!!!!! Armed with this new knowledge I pressed for a technical explanation of what exactly had caused the initial problem and why wasn’t it fixed within a single working day. No one at Orange had any concrete answers; everybody it seemed became an expert in passing the blame.. Eventually, and giving short shrift to any call centre person who wanted to run through their pre-printed script, my aide secured what he believed was a competent person, Mr Lee (no surname), who agreed ‘to take charge of this problem personally until sorted’. Midway through July, I informed Orange that I was going to be moving by the 1st August. I arranged with all my other utility suppliers to provide they promise from that day on, and they all honoured their promise. My aide was promised that if the phone was working on the 1st, Orange Broadband would be available from the 8th. Yes, I thought finally the problem is solved! The 8th came and when, and no Broadband. Exasperation had reached the point of declaring war! Again the delightful message following a phonecall from me, stated the ever so useful phrase; Broadband will be available within the next 5 working days!!! This sounded uneasily familiar by now and did not give much confidence in Orange’s ability to deliver. And behold the surprise, the 13th went, and guess……… Yep you are right; again I had to call to ask where my broadband connection was. And the reply …… another 7 to 10 working days!!!!!!!! Imagine yourself ordering a sandwich and no one in the shop knows what bread is. This is my experience with Orange broadband. By this point we have been virtually out of communication with family and friend across the world for TWO MONTHS!!!!. Unexpected expenses, such as international call cards, tickets for internet café and landline calls, have been made, without any offer Orange to compensate. Mr Dale offered a compensation of one month free broadband, and charging again from the 12th August. Even though during a conversation with call centre members, 2 months were offered. Well, during this month I didn’t have broadband, so free of charge is not really an offer and as there doesn’t seem to be connection by the 12th, charging from them seem ludicrous. In reply to the quote of the letter ‘…. Allowing us to improve our service’ I expected a professional level of service and a very swift solution of this easy, fundamental problem caused entirely by Orange (as admitted by my personal contact). Bearing in mind I have been a loyal customer of Orange for many years and am also a shareholder I would delight in being able to present a positive statement at the next AGM. Unfortunately at this moment I feel there will be a strong objection as to why Orange sees fit to try to destroy its loyal customer base. If you feel that the compensation offered by Mr Dale would satisfy you, please tell me the reasons that you would be happy with that. For my part I would expect more than not charging someone for something they didn’t have. I will accept no more excuses and I also require a full explanation into the technical cock up that I am sure that I am not the only one experiencing. I look forward to having an uninterrupted Broadband service again by 20th August as promised in the last phonecall with Lee. Looking forward to your reply by return (not 7 to 10 working days later!) Kind regards, LMS or in other words a very angry and dissappointed Orange customer

Hi kateandpete well i have similar problem although i dont even have broadband at all at the moment!!! (well not for the last 5 weeks). They have been messing around with upgrading/migrating etc which seems not to have been gone correctly. I have send an angry/nastly letter to the client service contact and the managing director which they should have by now. Awaiting reply. If its something usefull i start a new post here as it is a long story and better not to interfere with yours And pathfinder, you are right about the LLU!!! although god knows what it means (my other half does) but its a right mess at the moment at Orange. LMS