This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

I am living in a high-rise flat, owned by a housing association (ex-council). I came home at 11:30am this morning to find the Housing Officer and a joiner/locksmith in the flat after breaking in. They said that the flat below had reported water leaking into their flat from ours, and that they had broken in to shut off the water/stop the leak. As it turned out, there was no leak - the Housing officer had not checked the flat below first to confirm that there actually was a leak before breaking in to our flat. It appears that the flat downstairs had nothing more than a small patch of damp on an outside wall near the ceiling (our flat also has several areas of damp - it's a known problem in these blocks). It was nothing whatsoever to do with our flat. I realise that the HA may have a right to force entry in a genuine emergency, but I would have thought there would be some kind of formal proceedure to follow before going ahead with this. And this wasn't a genuine emergency! My question is, is what this housing officer did illegal? I'm not happy with what's happened for a variety of reasons, namely: 1. They broke into our flat on the say-so of another tennant, without verifying that there actually was a problem; 2. They said they didn't have emergency contact numbers for me or my girlfriend, despite the fact that a) they have contacted us on them before, and b) my girlfriend used to work for the HA and knows that the numbers were in the computer 'cos she put them in! 3. They've fitted a new lock, but of a different type - the old one had a thumb-turn on the inside as it's the only means of escape from the flat - the new one needs a key to be opened from the inside, which isn't good in the event of a fire. 4. The most annoying part - they said they couldn't contact either of us to gain entry but I would have been in to let them in, had I not been attending a pre-arranged appointment at the housing office at the time!!! Sorry, I was going to try & keep this question brief, but I've gone into full-on rant-mode again!

Just realised I never posted a follow-up to this, so here goes: I got a phonecall from someone at T-Mobile (one of the managers) in response to my letter. She said that she was dissapointed I felt that way, blah, blah, blah, and that the automated message I got was badly worded & that they had changed it. She also said that the initial voicemail problem was probably due to a technical problem they had on that day, but that they couldn't know that for certain. She was very helpful & offered me half of the compensation amount I had asked for (which I accepted without argueing, as I thought they would do this so I'd doubled the initial amount anyway!) meaning I'm not out of pocket now. She also gave me her full name and direct phone number, in case I ever had any problem in the future. Another result!!! As a direct result of this site, and having won all of my bank charges back, I had decided I was going to complain more often, whereas I would in the past have just accepted things. It's going well so far!

I bought a new (secondhand) vehicle near the end of May, without any tax. The post office WOULD NOT accept a fax of a covernote as proof of insurance - so therefore it was impossible for me to tax it until the insurance cert arrived in the post, which didn't come until 1st June. So they lost out on 1 month's tax. It's rediculous - they insist that you pay tax, but then do everything they can to make it difficult to comply!!! The sooner they do away with it & instead put extra duty on fuel, the better (and then we can all complain about the price of petrol again!!!!).

Isn't there also some legislation in the DPA about being able to claim copies of any tapes in which you yourself appear? Mark Thomas did a programme about this on his channel 4 series (sadly no longer running - shame, it was a fantastic series!). Basically I think it was something along the lines of, write to the company enclosing the DP fee of £10, stating the time and date, and they have to send you a copy within X number of days. Presumably you would also need to send a photo of yourself, so they know what you look like, but I don't know about this. It's a long shot, as your friend obviously wasn't present when it happened, but they may get lucky and get sent the whole tape rather than just the segments he appears in. Hopefully someone out there knows more about this part of the Data Protection Act?

They said that they couldn't move her account until it was 'debt free', ie until she paid off the overdraft.

OK, this really is an impossible question, as everyone's answer will be different, but here goes. I have just successfully got my charges back from the Halifax, but I've decided I'd like to open an account somewhere else, for 2 reasons; 1) I don't like the Halifax anymore and 2) I want a 'fall back' account in case the Halifax retaliate against me by closing my account first! Question is, which bank should I move to? I've got my business account with HSBC, and that would be my first choice, however from a customer relations/ethical standpoint, I'm sure they're probably just as bad as the Halifax. Is there any one bank that's better than the rest?

Hi, my g/f has her current account with Natwest. She used to live in Blackpool, but hasn't lived there for about 8 or 9 years. Natwest still 'hold' her account there, ie they insist that that is "her branch". She has requested in the past that it be moved to the Halifax branch, but they have always refused to do this. This means that when she has any problems (which she has at present) the Halifax branch refure to deal with her or give her any appointments because she's not 'their customer'. Can the staff at Halifax refuse to see her? Can the bank refuse to move her account?

Thanks, actually it's the automated message that got me the most. To pretty much announce that they don't want to deal with existing customers because they're overwhelmed with new ones is downright disgusting. And that was their 'Customer Service' dept!!!

I'm self employed, and went to a job this morning as agreed at the beginning of the week. To cut a long story short, the customer wasn't in when I got there, but she'd given me a key to let myself in. Did the job, and just as I was finishing she came home and said she'd left a message on my mobile yesterday, cancelling the job!!! Checked my voicemail manually, and there was the message. In the past, on this contract and every other I've ever had, I've received some kind of notification when someone's left a message. But not this time, and the customer is (quite rightly, I suppose) refusing to pay, as she insists she cancelled the work. Rang T-Mobile to complain, and got an automated message, saying that due to the success of their new talk plan/ad campaign, all the operators were busy, and could I ring back later! Didn't even get the option to hold!!! I find it appalling that they can basically say "we don't want to talk to you as an existing customer, 'cos we're too busy dealing with calls from new customers"!!! Anyway, finally got through via another route, and guess what? Not their problem, apparently. I asked for compensation, and they wouldn't even entertain the idea. So now I'm out of pocket because their system failed in some way. It's not a lot of money to be honest, but it really ****es me off that they can do this, and then treat me in that way. I have sent a strongly worded letter of complaint to them, but I'm guessing I'll never hear anything from them about it! Rant over.

Got a letter yesterday - the Halifax have agreed to settle my claim. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that some of the charges fell outside of the 6 years, but they're paying me all charges within the 6 years (£442) plus the interest on the full amount I claimed, plus costs!!! Purely for financial reasons, though, they're still not liable . May be a silly question, but am I right to wait until I actually see the money before cancelling the Moneyclaim?

0justlooking, I'm a Halifax resident too, and the Halifax have just acknowledged my claim with the intention of defending it (see my thread). You may be 200 yards from Trinity Road, but the Halifax court building is only about 50 yards from them - they just need to cross the road to defend my claim. I'm getting a little paranoid now! What stage are you at with your claim now?

The Halifax have now acknowledged the claim, stating that the intend to defend in full. I live in Halifax, and have done for a number of years, so the claim will be transfered to the court in Halifax - I never knew where the court building was in Halifax, but, stuck in the town centre traffic earlier today I spotted it. It's almost directly across the road from the Halifax's Trinity Road head office!!! Trinity Road is also the location of the 'Head of Legal Services' who's acknowledged the claim. This has now got me thinking - What if they don't defend most cases because of the expense of going to court? How much expense is involved in them crossing the road?!?!? I know that the likelyhood is that they'll settle, but if they do decide to defend it properly they're ideally placed (geographically) to do so!!!

Yes, I'd like an answer to this one, as I filed my claim with the courts earlier this week. I guess if this had happened, it'd be on here somewhere, wouldn't it? Then again, if I went to court & lost I wouldn't exactly want to shout it from the rooftops!

I think it's quite common for passenger seats to be fixed. I've never had a car where the passenger seat was height-adjustable.

Saw a report a couple of weeks ago which said that on average the water companies only collect 5% of the water available to them (ie water that they could reasonably collect, not 5% of total rainfall!) - the other 95% is allowed to leak back into the sea.

OK, that's it - Claim just submitted online via moneyclaim!!!

OK, have been on moneyclaim in preparation for filing my claim on Monday. I've calculated the 8% interest, but there's a bit in the 'particulars of claim' where I need to enter the daily rate of interest. I found some info in the fAQs, which says to multiply the total claimed (£682.26) by 0.00022 - this comes out at 0.15. Question is, 0.15 what? Is it 0.15%, or £0.15??? May seem a stupid question, but I'd rather look stupid on here than on the claim form!

Got a letter from the halifax yesterday, in response to my LBA. They've upped their offer from £118.00 to £206.00 (they owe me £508.00). They have until Monday 15th, then I'm due to start proceedings. Is it worth me ringing them, to see if they'll increase the offer?

OK, well after finding this site, I decided a couple of weeks ago to try this. I've not had many charges, but thought it would be worthwhile. I should state at this point that this was started by someone I know who works in the customer relations dept at Trinity Road. Went through all my statements (I'm very sad, and still have every statement & letter since I opened the acount in 1998 ) and was rather surprised that it came to just over £500! Sent the 'Request for Repayment of Charges' letter on 17th April (e-mailed to customerrelations@halifax.co.uk). Received a call a couple of days later from a guy who was a complete @@@hole, who offered me the palty & insulting sum of £118, and then went on to say that that was all I could ever hope to get! I politely declined, but he said he would put it in writing anyway. Suffice to say I never received an offer in writing. He also wrote various insulting lies about what I had 'aparently' said to him on the Halifax's internal account notes system (did I mention I had a contact in there? ???). Anyway, have just e-mailed a Letter Before Action, so decided to post on here & let others know how I was doing. Jonny Round Boy