Ops sorry typo at the beginning! The Chair started to split not SPIT!!!!! A spitting chair? Now that would be one to get confused over - wonder how the retailer would deal with that one!

My mother bought a three piece suite from an independant local furniture store, who are well known in our area and generally have a good reputation. They normally sell good high quality furniture (with price tags to go with it!!!!). About 15mths after purchasing the suite the chair she sits in began to crack, peal and then spit altogether on the back of the chair (where you would rest your head) and on the arms (where you would rest your arms. I contacted the furniture store for her and asked them to come and look at it. I accepted the fact that the suite was past the 12 mth warranty but felt it was not fit for purpose. Added to which my mother spends several mths of the year away with friends and family etc and therefore the suite would never have been subjected to the normal amount of wear and tear that a 'normal' household would give it. Their man from the store said he would contact the manufacturer, it came back the manufacturer were not interested - it was passed the 12mth warranty. However, the retailer would not give me the name of the manufacturer. Then they sent a 'leather expert' out to look at the suite. He charged my mother £30 for turning up, said it was wear and tear and probably body fluids and/or hair products (my mother is in her 70's and doesn't use hair products and furthermore kept a light cotton cover over the back of the chairs to prevent any soiling from dirty hair). He then said that it would be £1,000 to repair. Having spent over £2,000 on the suite my mother decided to leave it and purchased a new and completely different chair from another retailer to sit in. However, we are now 2.5 yrs down the line and the other chair in the suite has developed the same problems. Splitting firstly on the arms. Now this is very interesting because that chair is never used as a rule. It sits in the wrong part of the lounge to be used frequently (you cannot see the TV from it and it is 'out' from social group). It has been used probably no more than 20 times in all the time my mother has had the suite and then only for an hour or two at the most. My mother cannot be bothered with it - if I can do something okay, but she doesn't want the hassle. I did happen to watch part of a programme by Dom Littlewood a couple of weeks ago which featured settees and chairs that were either pealing or splitting the same as my mothers. After getting independant reports I believe one got a full refund and I don't know what happened with the other one as I missed that bit. I know Dom was going on about the Furniture Ombudsman and these independant reports (which I understand can be quite expensive). This retailer my mother bought the suite from says he is a member of the furniture ombudsman and all the other organisations (what I do not know because none of his paperwork has anything on and I cannot find his company on the furniture ombudsman's website. I also can't find a place to lodge a complaint on the website. Any suggestions how I could take this further, or what I should do next? They have sent mother a compliments slip with three pages of printouts from the Furniture Ombudsman's website regarding a Smart Report, an Independant Consultant Report and an Ombudsman Opinion Letter. When my husband took my mother down there last week they told him they would arrange to take the furniture away and get an independant report done (which my mother would have to pay for). When this letter (sorry comp slip) arrived she asked us what she was supposed to do with it. Good question! There is a contact telephone number for the Ombudsman which I shall phone tomorrow for more info. However, I wonder how independant they are????? I have read other threads on this site where people have not been happy with the Ombudsman's report and indeed seem to feel they are 'in league' with the retailer. It is a possibility I suppose as the retailer does have to pay to be a member. I don't honestly know but it does make me cautious.

In my daughter's case, which I have just asked to be escalated to next level. How does she prove bank didn't send her letters? Other than fact her salary went missing as a result. Other than fact that bank sent letter admitting they did not send letters to every customer! Other than the fact no rational person would ignore a letter telling you to change the sort code and a/c no that your employer pays your salary into or you won't get paid; but FOS seem to think my daughter would do something this stupid and take the risk of all her DD's not being paid and incurring massive bank charges!!!

Okay. My daughter complained to the FOS about Barclays. In November 2007, 18 mths after her Woolwich account was changed to a Barclays account, Barclays decided they would no longer migrate any payments made into the old Woolwich account to the newer Barclays account. Upshot my daughter's salary, which was always paid by bacs into what she assumed was her Barclays current account, was 'lost' (actually put into a holding account, which Barclays said they couldn't retrieve for 14 working days). Barclays said they had informed her of this change. But neither she nor I (who also had Barclays a/c) ever received any letters. Barclays also admitted in a letter to her that they did not inform all their customers of this change. As a result, because Barclays refused to cancel her impending DD's or give her a temporary overdraft, she incurred horrendous bank charges, which she has refused to pay. From not being overdrawn the day before this event she now apparently owes Barclays over £600 in charges!!!!! The FOS has been a complete plank, he takes everything Barclays says as wrote, even though they are complete lies! We can get proof of the phone calls we made to try and sort this problem and also mitigate the cost of the bank charges, he has never once asked for them. He apparently has bank statements from Barclays showing my daughter used her debit card after the event. How, in gods name she did this I don't know. She had no authorised overdraft so her card would've been declined. Further, because of the lack of help my daughter got from Barclays, her employers wrote her a cheque out for her salary and she open a new account elsewhere immediately and cut up her Barclays debit card. Her employers then claimed the salary payment that was sitting in the holding a/c back. FOS says it's all my daughter's fault and that she should've paid the charges (approx £100) for the bounced DD's immediately and not gone to another bank. When I told him it sounded more like he was working for Barclays he go very huffy and said he was not going to stay on the phone to be insulted. I have asked that the complaint go to the next level, but after reading this I don't hold out any hope there either. I'm not silly woman and really thought that the FOS would be able to see my daughter's point in this situation and why she had refused to pay the charges and actually went to another bank. I seriously cannot believe what this stupid man at the FOS has said. Even when he was requested to contact my daughter by post or email only because she works long hours and is NOT allowed to make or receive personal calls at work, he still continued to call her on the phone. She sent an email requesting he accept her authority to speak to me to make things easier only to be told the request had to be in writing! Yet he had emailed and received emails from her (on the same email a/c) several times before that. The phrase I'm at my wits end with the FOS comes to mind. Or indeed, 'am I missing something here' something that would make it clear she was at fault? Certainly FOS cannot see/will not accept that no one in their right mind is going to ignore a letter from the bank, if they receive it, telling them to change the sort code and a/c no where their salary is paid in or it will not reach their account! HELP HELP HELP suggestions or answers to where I go from here please!

WOW! Thought I was only one who had problems with Telewest now Virgin Media!!!! Haven't even started to go down route of them charging me for not paying by DD. Been having problems with them for years - but complacency and fact it was cheaper stopped me changing. Finally, did change to BT and Sky, but kept lowest rate with Telewest as was useful to have two phone lines with teenagers and thought about having the TV box moved to upstairs to get better picture on the portables. Even thought about getting man in to route some wires into the children's bedrooms so they could watch a clearer picture too - albeit that in some circumstances we might all have to end up watching the same thing to get clear picture!!! Then husband had idea that maybe we could have a couple of extra boxes put in the children's rooms so they could watch what they wanted. Shock Horror I said 'that'll cost us a small fortune! So husband phones up to find out how much it would cost. 'Oh you have rang at just the right time' says Virgin 'We can install two more V boxes for you (installation free) and it will only cost you an extra £10 per month on your bill and we will up your package to Large for free too.' Wow thought I they must be feeling in a generous mood - or rather desparate to keep their customers after all the losses they incurred after the Sky issue. Asked husband to double check prices and the rest - didn't want him to have mis-heard what they had promised! They confirmed it all again and so off we went and set a date for these new V boxes to be installed. First bill came in. Oh My God!!!! £19 for V boxes, charged for Large package and as if that wasn't enough had been charged £24 for loads of films! On the phone complained, told I had got it wrong their bill was right nothing they could do. Even asked for recording of conversation between my husband and sales staff when he ordered these things. Also changed pin number so no one could possibly order films any more. Next mth charges the same and more charges for films! How come thought I, I haven't given anyone the pin number and there isn't a chance in hell anyone could've guessed it. More phone calls, changed pin number again. Except that the pin number I had changed it too the previous mth wouldn't even work (so how the hell could anyone in the house have used it????) Then decided to change phone number - got fed up with having blokes from India phoning late at night trying to sell me everything under the sun despite being ex directory and having call preference. Could the do that right? No. We had no phone for a week, then could only get incoming calls (not bad seeing as we couldn't even retrieve our new number to let anyone know). Then they tell us they have given us a business telephone number and that's why the line didn't work properly and so were giving us new number and everything would be fine within few hours. Not bloody so. Another week before they got that right! Meantime, another bill comes in with full charge for V boxes and Large package and even more films! Me thinks 'not going to pay this till they get it right'! So they cut our services! This little episode has been going on since May. Made official complaint 11th July and was told investigation team would get back to me re films within 5 working days. Also they had been wrong about charges for V boxes and Large package and were refunding this and giving us a mth charges free as compensation. Would put this in writing too. No one got back to me, no written confirmation came. Next mth same charges no refund and more charges for more films. Rang again finally had to get man to change pin number to something he dreamt up, not tell me even, and also put note on file that the number must not be revealed to anyone. He also noted all the notes on the system and said he would lodge another complaint and someone would definitely get back to me within 5 working days. That didn't happen. Rang again told them I was not going to pay anything till I at least had contact from someone re my official complaints, as had been promised. Gave them 48hrs for someone to contact me. Also told them I was going to start charging them for my time if no one got back to me in that time. Surprise no one came back. Then week later husband calls they admit nothing has been actioned re complaint would look into it. Meantime if we promised to pay our bill within 3 day then they would put services back on immediately. They put services on within hr. Me? I haven't paid them yet. Apparently there are loads of refunds on our account that totally wipe out our bill of around £250 but they can't refund these till we pay! Seems they can't write letters or send emails, as promised more than three times, to confirm and show us what the refunds actually are. Virgin Media! Don't bloody swear at me!!!!! As if life isn't stressful enough today. Then you have stupid politicians asking why people are so stressed and have road rage etc etc. Not that I'm condoning these things in the slightest they totally sicken me. But I would oh so understand if someone were to go and shoot one of the a'holes at Virgin! Think they would list that as a crime of passion and total frustration in other countries! Only joking here folks. Have actually been very civil with call centre bods (taking view that they are only being paid to do a job and they can't be held responsible for their colleagues mess ups). But someone is responsible!!!!!! And my goodness if I get to that person then they will get the full force of my frustration. That or I'll just take them to court for mis-selling, breach of contract and anything else that I can find to throw at them.

Hi Saintly I spoke to B's on Friday (Head Office)-basically cosI was so busy I hadn't got my claim off to court so am still technically within time limit to accept their offer. Any how amid the conversation I was told this:- Letters are comming out from Barclays within the next few days advising what is happening since the OFT test case announcement, but he didn't know the exact content of those letters yet. But the most interesting thing I was told was this:- As he (the Barclay's bloke) understood it claims that were already in progress would be allowed to continue. However, any new claims they would apply for a stay pending the outcome of the test case. Now, I know this is only the word of one person at Barclays, and to be honest don't think he was high ranking bod, although he is one of the team who has been assigned these 'cases', but judt thought I'd let you know what I was told.

Hi found the link you requested re 'if you accept offer it is full and final...' Unauthorised overdraft charges go to High Court : FSA Money made clear – News Its under the heading 'what should you do now', several paragraphs down in section 1. Also there is a link at the bottom to all the other official sites/press releases etc.

Hi - yes will have to re find the reports - did soooo much reading on this. Don't think it will be today as have a busy schedule on, but as soon as I have a few minutes spare will look them up and add the links here.

Okay. Have read most of other threads here and for those who have already started court proceedings, then I can understand their dilemma and also that really they have no choice but to carry on fighting. Also those who are only just starting out have to go on, will probably NOT get a settlement offer and HAVE to take it to court. And believe me I wish them the very best of luck. However, there must be a reasonable number of people out there like me who have had a settlement offer, which they were not going to accept (for one reason or another) and were going to go to court but haven't got that far before this OFT test case was announced. Lets, be honest here the test case is going to take some time and no one can predict the outcome. I'm not being pessimist here - I for one want to see the man on the street win his cause! In my own particular case I have been offered £4,200 on a claim for £6,500 (that includes the statutory interest to date). I have a £1,200 o/d totally made up of charges, which suddenly (and I mean suddenly - the day the test case was announced!) I'm getting threatening letters over with the usual return cheque book, cards and threats to my credit etc! I could muddle through, bite the bullet and pay off these charges on a repayment plan, take the court route and see what happens. Or I could accept the £4,200 settlement offer which would pay off the o/d and still have £3,000 to do with what I wished. So for me I have a choice. For others there no doubt isn't that kind of choice. For other's they may not have the necessary funds to be able to 'muddle through' and keep the bank at bay till the test case has been decided. For me this thread is about those other's who are now in a real sticky situation, with their backs to the wall and with no other real choice than to accept a settlement offer just to put them on an even keel and prevent any more charges occurring on their account. I suppose personally whilst I have the choice, I still don't want to let those fat cat, smarmy, crafty lot off that easily! I have read the reports from the FSA, OFT, FOS and (as I understand it) if you accept the bank's settlement offer it has to be in full and final settment-end of story. HOWEVER! I also read that there can not be any reclaim on these particular set of charges, UNLESS, you can prove that you were coersed or bullied into accepting the bank's offer! SO, I was thinking, am asking for thoughts opinions, for those out there who are in a dilemma now, who would be put at a real disadvantage NOW if they have to hang on till the test case is finished, or who are just really tempted to accept a settlement offer but have a real bee in their bonnet that they are being 'done over/seen off' by the banks and that the banks will really win to a degree by this new development. Could there be any chance of accepting the offer settlement now and then when the OFT win their test case (thinking positively here!) reapplying for the rest of the charges which were not covered by the settlement on the grounds of 'you were forced to accept the settlement because of the harrassment, bullying tactics, etc this test case being brought has created and the financial hardship and/or stress etc brought about by the delay this test will cause'? I appreciate that this is a long thread, for which I am sorry, but I'm trying to make it crystal clear as to what I'm trying to get at and to whom it may well relate. Also to date there has been no thread started for those who will suffer extreme financial hardship as a result of this test case being brought. In the statement of the FSA (I think that's the correct statement) it did say that those suffering real hardship should not have to wait and that in those circumstances the claims should continue to be dealt with. However, it does not clarify (unless I read it wrong), where or who should continue to deal with these cases. It all seemed like a lot of good words but no real information on how to proceed and which avenue to take in these cases. Does it mean the FOS will HAVE to deal with them and try to make some form of settlement (not necessarily the completely correct one-ie a settlement just to get those people out of difficulty, but not a full repayment) OR does it mean that these people will have the right to go to court and have their case heard in any even, without a stay being applied; and if this is the case, who will decide not to exercise a stay? Many thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you will give all your thoughts and opinions. It just seems to me there must be a lot of people out there now who saw these bank charge refund claims as a lifeline to get them out of stick and now the line has been pulled away.

Just for completeness my last post was in response to post from bery

Well said! The stress alone is major factor in my house! I was offered £4,200 as settlement and boy did I get some stick when I said I was going to go on with court proceedings! Thing is by the time I'd cleared my o/d that they so nicely gave me totally through their charges (haven't used the darn a/c for nearly 8 mths!) I'd have been left with less than £3,000 and I just felt that wasn't right. The looks of daggers and comments of 'you Piers Morgan, told you you should have accepted and been done with it all and it would've been end of all this stress and time that it's taking out of our lives .......' I felt physically sick! And I'll be honest my first thought was 'well maybe it's not too late to accept their settlement offer (it was only about 10 day's ago and I haven't put court claim in yet) at least I'd still get something. But now? I honestly don't know. If I can find a way round the stay then I'll push on because I'm NOT convinced either way that this test case will work for us. There are darn good points for and equally against so to me it just makes sense to try to find way round this hurdle and get there before the results of the test case. Know it would help me a heck of a lot and if the majority of you out there are the same as me (just average normal person) then that's answer for you too!?!? £4,200 would make a heck of a difference to me right now. £6,500 (total with interest) would make even bigger difference! I've had a hell of a year and I do need the money now! And it was a big temptation to accept when offer came through. It's darn hard not to make plans about what you would do with the money. Have always told myself I would use it for something very positive to make a difference and secure my future better so I would not be in that position ever again, hadn't particularly spent it on one thought or desire. And to have put all that effort in and find a great big ugly untrustworthy giant dumped in front of you out of the blue is pretty darn hard to accept and a heck of a shock to everyone.

Now that wasn't my typo I wanted big grin not silly dot dot little d :D

Lol

Brilliant 12thdomino! That's the kind of evidence we should be collecting to put forward as evidence that the banks are bl**dy liars! I don't know if the legal seagulls can use the earlier idea posted to get around a stay by claiming under different laws, legislation etc but if they can then their claim that it cost this or that can so easily be disproved by US as a united whole!

Oh dear! Actually when I look at that typo it was a classic! How the heck did I get it that muddled!?!?!?!?:o By the by gold star for the quick wit reply. Did make me chuckle! Think we all need a bit of light relief at this juncture. Well done!