I wondered when someone would pick up on the typos! So I'd get away with this if I chnge the amount hey? £50 per half day excessive. I bet judges get paid more than £9.25 per hour! Fact is if I have to take half a day (or part thereof) off work to deal with comapnies, I loose at least £50. That's the real world. Guess I'll change that bit to £5 per half hour. Mind you my half day is 7am to 12 midday. 7am - 11am Reasearch 11am - 11:30 Letter writing. 11:30-12:00 confirming reasearch & sending letter. Thats 10 x half hours @ £5 / half hour = £ 50 ? Would I get away with this?

I've dealt with the banks with the help of this site, I've responded to the private car park ticket Didn't hear any more from them. I'm more annoyed about companies trying to bully us & chargeing for not paying by direct debit or not paying on time & snowballing our bills. & I'm fighting back more. I noticed on this site other people using things like "If you write to me again, regarding this matter, it will trigger the acceptance of the fact that you will have to pay me an administration fee of £20 per letter. This is for my time and expenses." & thought I should do the same. If companies can change their terms and conditions & level of service (like dropping TV channels) why can't the consumer? I thought I'd write a general terms & conditions notice that I could include when things go wrong & I end up having to deal with companies who think they're god & have every right to my money if they decide. Perhaps someone can advice me on the legality of including such text in a letter & advice any additions/changes - must be more legal than taking hundreds of pounds out of my account when I'm paid a day late. Anyway here's what I came up with.

Hmm this had crossed my mind, as a taxi driver I was thinking I could take the goods myself & legitimally bill them for £470.

My wife purchased some goods online. The website said that they had problems & to try again later. Later in the month, she made a subsiquent order. Both orders appeared & were charged for on the credit card. My wife called them up & they expected us to pay for the return postage. I read somewhere that we did not have to pay for the return postage as an online company, sending us unwanted goods. I e-mailed the company asking for an immidiate refund & to arrange for collection of the goods, no responce. Can someone point me to the law regarding this, thanks. The item that I have been using has now stopped functioning, 1 month after receiving it - But that's a sepatate issue. Haircut.

Yep (with £20 extra to cover the charges they are set to apply next month)

Phone calls going back & forth as we speak, he's settling, but I want it in writing, so I'm watching my mailbox

Off to court tommorow!

Got a phone call from Abbey, offering £850. I told em to send it me in writing & I'd look at it. If all is in order, I think I'll take it.

Claim number: 6QZ87210 Issued: 27.11.2006 Court: MCOL transferred to Penrith Charges: £677 Interest: £329.32 Costs: £120 Total Claim: £1,126.32 Note: claiming interest at 17.9% - as the bank applied this rate of interest on the charges due to my arranged overdraft. I live in Scotland. Recieved court date of 15th March at Carlisle County Court.

Thanks, I've started my claim via MCOL and received a copy of the notice of issue sent to Defendant. I was surprised to see it was in the 'Nothampton' County Court. Does this mean I'd have to travel there if need be? I don't mind travelling to Carlisle as that's just accross the border, but Nothapton is a bit of a trek.

I would write a letter explaining what happened when you went to the branch and that you thought we had an agreement & make sure you address it to the same person who sent you the letter. & see what that does. Keep it nice & friendly but ask for a reply within 14 days. Abbey are so annoying I know. They've offered you a deal & you've accepted. If it were me I'd try to get this settled as per their offer if you can.

I'm no expert, but if that were me, you have the letter, I'd send a letter back "In responce to your letter here is a cheque for the outstanding amount, please now close the account" & keep hold of that letter from them. Don't bother with the branches. All the best.

They should have received that letter today. Who said calling them will achieve ? I just phoned them again and said:- My last months bill was £xx , this months bill is £yy because of the charges you've added. Can you take the charges off please. "What were the charges for?" Payment Failure charge & Payment handling charge. "Yes okay, I'll take those off, your new amount outstanding is £xx (same as last months bill) You will be liable if payment is late again though. Okay thank you, bye Hopefully won't get any more probs with these guys. The moral of this story is:- Give em a call & ask em to take the charges off. If that fails, write to em & keep calling them & asking. If you're on a T-mobile contract anyway, it's not going to cost you to call.

Good luck with that

I agree that the best way to deal with these situations is by letter, espesially if you think it may go to court. But, if there is a chance that a phone call can resolve the issue a) It will be quicker & b) It's not going to do any harm. - Especially if you're not paying for the call & can save time in the long run. I've got much better things to do with my time (just ask my wife:D) than write letters & sift through paperwork claiming money back, so if there's the chance of a quicker route, I'll take it. That said I'm still going to persue these people for attempting to take MY money.

How do you know. With a simple phone call to a bank in the past, I have been able to overturn charges they've applied.

I've started a claim via MCOL. From what I understand English Law you can claim 8% interest. Scot Law cliam what you like, as long as you can justify it. Is there anything stopping me claiming my charges under English law & therefore using the higher SC limit & then use Scot Law to cliam the interest separately & at a higher rate. My justification for this is I would claim the interest at the rate they charged me (the overdraft interest rate).

Letter being sent today:- Lets see what this does, I will keep you all posted.

StoneLaughter, I disagree with your comments. If I wanted these charges to be refunded or not taken the best 1st step would be to phone up & ask nicely. The point of this phone call was to get an idea on T-mobile's policy. by asking the questons. This may be true, but if they thought they were over their heads, they had every opportunity to pass the call to someone more senior. Your making a lot of assumptions. I'm sure these people aren't just dragged off the streets and placed infront of a phone. They will have been given guidence and told about company policy and procedure. It is also their job to answer the phone and speak to customers. She was being paid to talk to me and is expected to do her job, in the same way I am expected to do mine. How she felt, only she can tell you that. I did not set out to antagonise anyone and If I wanted "perverse pleasure" I would go to my wife [ Enough said]. Also by displaying the dialogue here, it will spare someone else making a similar call to test the water. kind Regards Haircut

Okay, what a phone call. 11 mins talking to one of their customer service reps.. Me: Can you explain the charges on my account Tm: Payment failure charge £23.50 because your DD didn't go through last month Me: So exactly why are you charging me? Tm: You get charged for a DD failure not going through your A/C Me: Is this an automated function? Tm: Sorry? Me: Does this happen automatically? Tm: Yes Me: So this is a penalty charge then? Tm: Ahha Me: What costs has been occured by yourselves (t-mobile) as a result of this failure? Tm: I don't know I can only say what your charged for it not going through. Me: So this is a penalty charge? Tm: Yes, exactly Me: As a penalty charge, it's invalid under the Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977 s4 and under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 Para.8 and sch.2.1.e. Tm: Did you read your terms and conditions of your Tmobile contract - That will tell you that you will be charged for a Direct Debit not going through. Me: That doesn't matter because it's invalid under the Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977 s4 Tm: [interupting me] That's not a T-mobile contract (They have their own laws now! - must be above the UK law) Me: If I told you I was going to hit you, would that make it legal because I told you first Tm: You'll find it is legal if you read your contract. Tm: The penalty charge is legel, it stands and you will have to pay the charge Me: no I don't Tm: It's up to you, If you don't pay it, it will go to collections for not paying the bill Me: I am not paying this fee as it is an illegal charge Tm: Your bill will be sent to collections and then to a debt recovery agency for non payment of the bill Me: I will pay the bill, I am not paying the charge. Tm: That's the same thing, that's your bill Me: Okay, I'll agree for you to close the account with no penalty Tm: If you want to cancell early you will have to pay a termination fee. Me: Under the circumstances I will not be paying by Direct Debit, I will pay my bill by BACS. I will not be paying an illigal penalty charge though. [she interupted me here] I raised my voice and said will you let me finish please. She said plese don't shout at me, if you shout at me again I will end the call. I said right, will you let me finish then Me: I am making a statement that: I will not be paying by DD in future. I am willing to pay my bill by BACS. I not, however be paying any illegal penalty charges. Tm: You are in breach of your terms and condition by not paying your DD Tm: Your bill will go to collections because you are not willing to pay the charge Tm Thanks for calling Tmobile Gota go to work now, but tommorow morning I'll get typing that letter. Better give the wife a spare sim! Bet they'll make porting the mobile no difficult!

here goes....

Okay, that was interesting. Decided to make a call 1st to try to solve this. 1st time got cut off after 6 mins waiting. 2nd time got through to a human. After Ususal recorded messages saying this call may be recorded etc. Told him I was recording this call for my reference. & asked him to explain the charges on my bill. He went away & came back saying that I had to ask him for permission to record the call & he was unwilling to continue!

Thanks Buzby, I got the same this morning £26.50 for canceling my DD (due to my dispute with my bank). I don't think so. I'll be taking your advice & writing that letter. I'm 6 months into an 18 month contract & I wouldn't mind a reason to end the contract - I'd rather pay as you go. It's actually my wife's phone but in my name. I only agreed to a contract so she could get a smart phone.

Thanks Lula, I was planning to clear the overdraft in the next few weeks anyway. I hear what your saying. The banks are very good at keeping hold of our money though. It would be nice to turn the tables a little. I'm not bothered about the DCAs. It's not as if it's a secured loan & I have delt with them before. Someone might correct me here, but it's been my experience that they have no teeth, unless they take it to the sherif court (Think it might have to be the claimant that does this). In which case I'll see them there & let the games begin. When I moved about 5 years ago, the gas co from the old place sent my account to DCA. They claimed they didn't receive my letter giving my final reading etc. I had only just paid a bill and knew it would be penuts that I owed them. Every so often I'd get a letter from DCA asking for £100's (This was down to the new occupiers not notifying the gas co they moved in & just used the gas which was being added to my a/c). Each one was met with a letter saying I don't owe your client this money, if they think otherwise then they should take me to court. Of course this never happened & one DCA would pass it onto another. Each one getting the same responce. If they close my A/C & send it to DCA, then at least they won't be adding any more charges & interest to my a/c. It would be up to them to go to the sherif court to order me to pay (would be interesting to see if they did so), in which case I counter/defend their claim for the same amount. Someone correct me if I'm on the wrong track here. Yes I should be able to pay the overdraft soon, but, this is money they took from me, so why should I give it back & run through hoops to get it back again. If I go down this path, I'll put the money in a separate savings account till the matter's resolved anyway, but at least I'll be in control. Any thoughts, suggestions etc. gratefully received.

Current Dilema Abbey are threatening to close my account & send my account to an agency for collection. I have taken all steps prior to court action. They want my overdraft balance £1075. I'm claiming £1006 charges + interest. Do I Send them a cheque for the difference £64 with a letter saying as far as I am concerned the matter is resolved. & let them persue me for the money if they want to try Pay them the £1075 and persue them for the £1006 charges & interest Any suggestions?