Hi, I'm looking to order some goods from the US but the store in question does not ship to the UK so I'm looking for a reliable forwarding company - The type that give you your own US address to send orders to and then ship the goods on to you. Problem is that I've read some nightmare reviews of companies losing parcels, denying they'd received them, holding goods hostage until you pay more fees etc etc. The internet also seems to be awash with what appears to be false reviews where various companies have written glowing reviews about themselves which makes it very hard to form an objective opinion. Every forum thread I've read on the subject has got numerous good reports on certain companies by members who have only just joined and posted once. The goods I plan to buy are quite expensive, not expensive enough to warrant a trip to the US but certainly enough to not want to lose them. Does anyone here have any experience with any of these companies and if so do you have any recommendations or am I just best off steering well clear? Thanks.

OK thanks.

Thanks for all the comments. No they didn't cancel the policy and certainly didn't write to me. But I did ask them to renew it and they did say no. Does this count as being refused insurance? Obviously, if I hadn't asked, I'd have never known. I would have thought that when phoning around for insurance quotes many people get turned down as they don't meet a certain company's criteria. Does this mean all these people have been refused insurance and should declare so? The SAR is a good idea but what I'm worried about is then I'll "officially" know that I've been refused. At the moment there's just one phone call which they may or may not have a record of. If I do a SAR and the info in it says I've been refused, I can hardly deny that I knew this. Anyway, do these companies share information like this? We're talking about 1 phone call 7 years ago. Would this not mean that any future insurance company looking to deny a claim would have to track back through all the insurance companies I've used over the years and request information from all of them. And even if they did this, a record of the phone call and what was said would need to have been keept for all this time and be accessible to them. Or is all this info just kept on a big database accessible by all companies? Thanks again.

How does that work then?

Hi, I've been driving for about 10 years now. Around 7 years ago I had an accident where someone drove into the back of me through no fault of my own. At the time I had aftermarket alloy wheels fitted to my car which I had made my insurance company aware of by way of a phone call. During this call I was told that this didn't affect my premiums and the wheels had been added to the policy. When the accident happened my insurance company tried to refuse the claim based on the fact the car had been "modified" without their knoledge. This was despite the fact that they weren't even going to have to pay anything as this was being taken care of by the other guy's insurance company as he was at fault. I suspect my insurance company was attempting to keep the funds they received and not pay out. After much negotiation they agreed to look back in their notes and confirmed that they had a record of me calling about the wheels but they weren't added to the policy for some reason. Because of this they agreed to release the funds and do the repair. The repair (Done at their recommended repairer) was a complete bodge job, that went on for months and months, resulted in many complaints and eventually them paying me the princely sum of £100 compensation. The policy had a few months left to run and I assumed that they would contact me with renewal documents when the end of the policy was drawing close. I knew the policy ran out in August so assumed they would contact me. When they didn't contact me by the 4th week in August I phoned them and asked what was going on. It turned out the policy ran out 2 weeks previously and I had been driving around with no insurance for 2 weeks. I know this was my fault for not checking the policy date but I naturally assumed they would contact me. I asked them why the hadn't renewed the policy and they said they wouldn't renew the policy because I had lied about the wheels that were fitted to the car. I asked why they didn't even send out a letter to make me aware of this and they said they don't send out letters telling people that their policy is ending unless they are going to renew it. At that point I went with a different insurance company but didn't mention the above debacle to them and have never made a claim since. My question is, should I make any future insurance companies I use aware of the above? Most companies ask if you have ever been refused insurance. Should I say yes to this? Had I not of phoned the insurance company in question I would have never even known that they weren't prepared to insure me. It also seems very unfair that for the rest of my life I should have to declare that I've been refused insurance due to their incompetence. If I don't declare it, whats the chances that this info is stored / shared between insurance companies and will come back and bite me? What would you do? Thanks.

Thanks for all of your advice - very much appreciated. Will keep you posted. PatsyTheCat

Thanks for the replies. The complaints department have now phoned me and it looks like I have a big problem. They've said that I can cancel the new loan but I can't go back to the old one at the same rate. So this means that if I want to cancel then I have to pay them all the money I owe them from the old loan (£8000) in a lump sum OR I can apply again for the old £8000 that I already had but at the much higher rate OR I can just accept that I have to borrow the full amount and can't cancel. Can they do this? Is this right? I feel like the old loan is being used to blackmail me into not canceling. Can someone tell me what my rights are please? Or which official body I can go to that can tell me my rights? Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I cancelled the loan the very next day. Took a copy of my letter into the branch who forwarded it onto 'the right' department. As it happens the 'right dept' doesn't have a phone number. Staff in branch have made notes on what Barclays call 'note pad' and I've made 2 complaints about the length of time it's taking to get anywhere. Worryingly to date I do not have anything official from Barclays what so ever to acknowledge my request to cancel. Not really, sure what my next move should be - what would you suggest loopinlouie?

Hi, I have a loan with Barclays with about an £8000 balance remaining. The APR is about 15%. I needed some more money for something (£3000) and decided to to apply for another loan with them. They agreed to this as long as I borrowed enough money to pay back the existing loan, so in effect this would be a top up loan. The rate for the new loan was going to be 29.9%. Foolishly I signed the forms. When I got home it dawned on me that I'd made a big mistake. If the loan ran it's full course I would end up paying almost £30,000 in total for the sake of an extra £3000! I no longer need the £3000. My understanding is that I have the right to cancel this new loan within 30 days and revert back to the old agreement. I phoned them that night and asked to do this over the phone. They informed me that I had to take a letter into the branch, which I did the next day. Since then I've been pushed from pillar to post trying to cancel this loan and revert to the previous loan. I've been told by various members of staff it should take 24 hours, 10 days, 3 days etc etc. I've phoned them and been into the branch numerous times. I get the impression (and they have in fact told me this) that no one knows how to reinstate the old loan. After another phone call tonight I was told that they no longer have any details of the old loan, what rate I was on, or the balance etc as this has now been canceled. It's now been 2 weeks since I applied (and canceled) and the only thing I've received from them is details of the new loan including the first payment date which is fast approaching. What should I do? Am I entitled to cancel the loan and go back to my old agreement? Should I pay the first payment on this new loan? I'm really, really, really worried about this so any help anyone can give would be very gratefully received. Thanks, PatsyTheCat

Hi, Wasn't sure which section to post this (Travel insurance, NHS, Holiday Companies) so it's ended up in general. Please let me know if it would be better somewhere else. Someone I know has traveled to America with no insurance. They had a medical emergency when they were there and ended up in intensive care for around 2 weeks. The hospital are still calculating the bill for this but have said it will be in excess of $200,000. They have now let him leave the country without paying. What happens now? I assume they will chase for this money somehow? But how will they do that? Do they have an agreement with the UK government where they would retrieve the money on behalf of the US? Will they sue? What happens if he can't pay? There's not much info around on the web about this as the advice just seems to be "Don't go without insurance". Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the response. Yes the purchase was made over the net just a couple of hours ago. So I have 7 days in which to write and cancel? What happens if they send a voucher stating the persons name on it? Could this be classed as personalised and therefore not covered by the DSR? Should I email them to cancel now so there's less chance of them sending anything or should I post a letter? Or should I contact my card company and cancel the transaction? I know I may be jumping the gun a bit but from the reviews I've read I'm anticipating a fight to get the money back.

Hi, I've just purchased a Skydiving voucher for my brother in law for his 40th. Foolishly I didn't read any reviews on the company in question before booking the voucher. I've now read a few which have made me a bit concerned and have decided I want to cancel the voucher and book it somewhere else. Just wondering what my rights are here? Do I get 7 days to cancel as per the DSR? No specific date has been booked. It's just a voucher that he can redeem by booking his chosen date. Thanks PTC

Even though 50% of the product had been used (I'm not arguing just asking)? What about a pack of 100 blank CDs? If I had used 99 and the 100th didn't work, am I entitled to 100% refund?

Hi, Just over 6 months ago I purchased some goods on a 6 months interest free credit deal, signed a contract and took the goods. It was the usual scheme of being "completely interest free" unless you forget to pay before the interest free period ends in which case you get a huge back dated interest bill added to the total and the whole lot gets paid off monthly. My plan was to pay before this happened. Well around 3 months in I phoned the finance company to make a part payment. I was told that because I hadn't paid the £15 admin fee at the start of the agreement then no money was owing to them as there was no agreement in place. They said that if I wanted then I could pay the admin fee and then make a payment. I asked when the interest free period would start if I was to pay the admin fee today. They said that it would start as soon as the admin fee was paid. So I asked what would happen if I waited a month and then paid the fee and they replied that the 6 months would run from when the fee was paid. So I began to think to myself why would I ever want to pay this fee? Why not never pay it and just get never ending free credit? So I asked what the incentive was to pay the fee and they didn't seem to have an answer. I asked what would happen if I never paid the admin fee and they said that I wouldn't be able to take the goods away from the store. I explained that I'd had the goods for about 3 months but they seemed to find this mildly amusing and said that in which case I would probably need to pay the store. At that point I said goodbye and decided to contemplate for a while. I decided to send them an email asking if I owed them any money and they sent this reply: "If you wish to proceed with your application you need to make a payment of £15 for the service fee to us. If don't wish to proceed can you please sent us an email confirming cancellation. If you cancel no payments are due to us." It says on the paperwork that I signed that a reminder would be sent before the interest free period ended to remind me to pay before the interest kicks in. So I decided I was going to pay the admin fee a month or so before the original interest free period ended and then see what paper work I got through the post explaining when my final payment needed to be made in order to avoid the interest. Really what I was trying to do here was get another 6 months interest free (A bit naughty I know). Problem is I stupidly forgot to pay the admin fee and the interest free period is now up. So in short, I haven't paid them a penny, they say I don't owe them anything and they haven't yet contacted me about making any monthly payments. What should I do in this scenario? I'm a bit reluctant to contact them now in case they try and charge me the interest. Should I just keep quiet? If I keep quiet what are the chances of them approaching me for payment at some point? Also, if they do approach me for payment, do they have a legitimate claim for the interest, considering that no reminder was sent to me and the email states that I don't owe them anything unless I pay them £15? If a finance company states that they will send a reminder and they don't, does this mean they can't claim the interest? What would you do? Thanks.

OK thanks. Any idea what they are?

Hi, Does anyone know if there is a time limit on credit card charge backs? ie You only have 100 days after the transaction date to instigate one for instance? Is there a statutory limit or is is set by the individual card issuers? Thanks.

Thanks for the responses. As mentioned above, wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and try to resolve it without using a solicitor. Also, I've had a look but I'm finding it quite hard to find a solicitor that specialises / deals in these types of cases that also offers a free consultation. Does anyone know of one in the beds/herts area? Or should I go to the CAB? Are you talking about just getting a bit of advice or getting a solicitor to fight the case for me? Presumably if the latter, then the cost of this would be greater than any money they may manage to claw back.

Hello again, Update... 1) I got no response from the letter I sent. 2) As I mentioned below, when I phoned budget originally they said it would take up to 20 working days to get all the information from the franchise and that they needed this before they would consider any kind of refund. I also got an email from them (in response to my phone call) stating the same thing. I thought I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and see if they would contact me. The 20 working days expired on Thursday with no word from them, so I called them today (Monday) to see what progress they'd actually made. Spoke to the same person who said they'd received nothing from the Franchise but said he would request the info again. I said this wasn't acceptable so he said he would try and deal with it while I was on hold. Was on hold for about 10 mins then he came back on and stated that no refund would be given because I was responsible for the damage to both van and car. I said that the damage to the car should be claimed on the car drivers insurance and can't be claimed out of the excess on the van. He went away and conferred with one of his colleagues and then came back and stated that I was responsible for both because the excess on the car was greater than the cost of repair on the car therefore they were claiming that back from me also. Please could someone (preferably more than one person) confirm whether I am actually responsible for the repair cost to the car either through my excess or in any other way. I'm about to action the charge back on the credit card and want to be sure I'm doing the right thing. Is this definitely correct? Don't mean to offend you Mossycat as you've been very helpful but can anyone else confirm this? Again, are we 100% sure on this? Does this apply to all insurance policies or to this one specifically?

Hello, We've just moved out of our flat. We took very good care of it while we were there and gave it a pretty good clean when we left. The landlord wants to keep part of our deposit as he says there was limescale on the shower head. He hasn't told us how much yet but is "getting quotes". The rest of the shower is immaculate but we obviously missed the shower head. Is limescale classed as fair wear and tear? If not how much would say would be fair to wipe the down the shower head? Thanks.

Yes insurance was provided by them but was covering me, hence "my insurance". I contacted my credit card company again and they're sending out a dispute form. I also contacted Budget and requested a second quote for the van and also made it clear that the excess is only for the damage to the van and asked why they had taken £1000. The guy on the phone seemed to agree with me without actually saying so but couldn't refund the money without contacting the franchise. He has done this but said a response could take up to 20 working days. That's where I've left it with them at the moment. I've also drafted a letter. If you guys could cast your eyes over it and provide bit of feedback it would be appreciated. In particular do you think I should provide some deadlines? Like "You have 14 days to refund the money" and "You have 14 days to provide the info"? Also, to bring an end to the matter, do you think it's worth offering a settlement figure? Say... the cost of the van repair (£450) + £100 loss of use? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18/10/2009 Problems encountered with rental agreement: XXXXXXXXXX To whom it may concern, I am writing to you regarding a minor collision that occurred on 12/10/2009 whilst I was driving your Volkswagen van registration number XXXX XXX under the above agreement. The collision occurred between the aforementioned vehicle and a Nissan Micra which I understand is also operated by your company. I believe that the registration number of the Micra is XXXX XXX. Minor cosmetic damage was sustained to both vehicles. You have made two charges to my credit card totaling £1096. The first charge of £596 includes £96 for the hire fee and £500 as a deposit. You’ve then charged a further £500 as a separate transaction for reasons unknown to me and without my permission or authorisation. You’ve justified none of your costs at this time. I therefore demand that you refund the £500 you took without my permission and also the £500 you took as an initial deposit. When agreement has been reached on the costs incurred by yourselves that I am responsible for and these costs have been proven and justified, then I will reimburse you for these. Please note that any damage repair costs or any other costs incurred to the Nissan Micra involved in this incident are not covered by the excess on the insurance policy provided as part of the above agreement. This excess applies solely to damage to the vehicle named in the agreement. Please also note that you have a responsibility to mitigate your losses. I see a number of ways in which to do this. Firstly the damage to the van needs to be rectified at as lower cost as possible. Secondly, as the damage was only minor and cosmetic in nature the van is still very much road worthy. In order to minimise any loss of income, the repair work should be undertaken during a quiet period where the van is not booked out. In addition to this the duration of the repair should be kept to a minimum. Evidence that the above has been undertaken should be provided with any claim for costs that you make. In order to progress this matter and bring it to a swift conclusion I request the following: 1) A full break down of all costs you believe you have incurred. 2) Copies of two quotations that you have obtained to rectify the damage incurred to the van. These need to be official quotations and show any VAT that is payable. 3) Details of a convenient time and place that the van can be accessed so I can arrange for an independent mechanic to assess the damage and provide a quotation to rectify it. 4) A copy of the relevant insurance policy that you state is available on request. 5) Confirmation of whether you plan to have the van fixed or not. 6) The hire schedule for the van showing when it is booked out. I would also like to inform you that I have changed address since the above took place. My new address can be found at the start of this letter and should be used for all future correspondence. Yours faithfully, PatsyTheCat -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again for the advice guys. The hire was paid for on a business credit card does this make a difference? When I phoned the card company (HSBC) they said that charge backs on business cards are not possible. Is this true? They did say they could open a dispute though. Also regarding charge backs, the first payment they took was for the £95 hire + £500 deposit. This was in one transaction. They obviously didn't refund the deposit. If I was to do a charge back how much would I do it for? Can I split the transaction and only charge back for the £500? Or do I do the full £595 which means I wouldn't have paid for the hire? So they should be claiming for the damage to the car on their insurance. Their insurance company / policy would then claim for this damage from my insurance policy (provided by them). I don't have to pay anything towards this because my policy will pay out for it and my policy excess only applies to the repair of the van. Is that correct? Is that standard practice? In a more normal situation... Car A crashes into Car B and it's the fault of Car A Car A has an excess of £1000 Damage to Car A = £500 Damage to Car B = £500 Does the excess from Car A's insurance not go to pay for both repairs? Also... How about the loss of use? Can they claim this legitimately out of my excess? It states in the terms that I have to pay them for loss of rental income while the van is being repaired and the cost for this will be the normal rental cost? Sorry for all the questions I just need to have what I'm entitled to clear in my mind before I phone / write to them. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply Mossycat. Only the van not the car? Obviously that sounds great to me but am I not liable for the car as well? What's the reasoning there? Am I able to insist they use a certain garage to get a quote? When you say the excess applies only to the vehicle I hired does this mean that I'm liable for the car etc but this is not covered by the excess? Just worried they'll turn around and say "OK then you have to pay the full price for the car repair and the loss of use as it's not covered by the excess". Just called the card company and they've already taken the money.

Sorry for not replying to some posts in full I was posting using my phone last night as we don't have an internet connection at home yet due to the move - This made posting a bit problematic. Company was Budget Car and Van Rental. Not sure if they are a national company but I think they are. Damage waiver is included on the receipt but at no cost and with "Excess 1000" next to it. Thanks.

Agreement and T&Cs:

Thanks again all, I'll put up the T&Cs in the morning.