My sister and her previous live-in partner broke up months ago, she's now with someone else. Today, her ex came back and started removing stuff from a lock up at the bottom of the garden, which he'd broken into previously, so the lock was broken. He took a load of stuff that belonged to my sister, repeatedly pushing her over as she tried to prevent him. The police were called but they said there's nothing they can do as the theft was a civil matter, and the assault was her word against his. How long after a break up would this actually be considered criminal?

Really? How can you tell?

Well, I haven't been able to deal with this or anything else lately due to serious family issues. However, I have received a few more emails containing the same content, and this morning received this: (If you are NOT CEO, please kindly forward this to your CEO, because this is urgent. If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please ignore it. Thanks) Dear CEO, This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. On August 2, 2022, we received an application from Hongfeng Ltd requested "b*****b" as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names (b*****b.cn, b*****b.com.cn, b*****b.net.cn, b*****b.org.cn). But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark. In order to deal with this matter better, it's necessary to send email to you and confirm whether this company is your business partner in China? Best Regards Jeff Liu | Service & Operations Manager China Registry (Head Office) Tel: +86-2161918696 Fax: +86-2161918697 Mob: +86-13816428671 6012, Xingdi Building, No. 1698 Yishan Road, Shanghai 201103, China

Because of a close family illness, I haven't given this much thought over the past couple of weeks. However, I received yet another email with the exact, same wording a few days ago and just ignored it. I haven't received a reply from any of the companies I contacted that were mentioned in the emails, so not sure what's going on there. I can't afford legal advice, and there is no legal aid in the UK for stuff like this, but I'm assuming it's a scam and will continue to ignore these emails. I have more important things to think about at the moment. I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to reply, and I feel a bit more at ease about it all now.

I've just done an email search and found that I did, in fact, have a logo designed by Logo Design Legend. At the same time, I also came across similar emails from them in November last year, and again in March this year. I guess the reason I'm confused is because I and others I know used their services and were really happy with their work. But this was a good while ago, so I'm not sure what's going on. I will try and contact both companies but I can't afford to register my business name as a trademark at the moment and don't want to lose it. It struck me as very strange that someone would want to register my business name with it being exactly the same as my domain name.

Thank you all so much for your replies. The exact email address is: info@logodesignlegend.co.uk I asked them what exactly are their clients trying to register, and received this reply : Hello! This is in regards to the trademark of the business name "B**W**.BIZ" and all of its variations. The conflicting party is willing to proceed with the filing process to get the trademark done with this business name so that they can have the legal rights to use it for their business activities and to get 100% ownership rights. Once the rights will be transferred to them and they get this business name trademarked at their name, you'll be restricted to use this name anymore. However, you can feel free to pursue this with your attorney if you have one on retainer otherwise your attorney will also be charging you the service fee. Should you choose not to move forward with this the contesting applicant will be granted the rights to use the logo and the business name and you will be issued a “Cease and Desist Letter” after 6 days to put down your logo, website, social media, and corporate color branding. This initiative has been started by not only the UKIPO but also the EUIPO, USPTO, and other renowned IPO across the globe. Legit, registered design agencies across the globe are required to share their submissions periodically to avoid lengthy and expensive lawsuits. Moving forward is mandatory. With us or with your attorney is your decision. Your prompt response will be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Steve ****** | Senior Paralegal Officer Paralegal Team Infinity Logo Design UK

Hello, This is Steve *****, Sr. Paralegal Officer fromINGIC Design UK. You had a business logo developed for you in 2019. We'd like to inform you that another applicant has filed a Trademark application for the same business name as yours; however, if we go ahead with their application and they receive federal ownership and protection for the mark/name, you'll be required to stop using it under trademark law. Please be aware that failure to respond within the specified time range may aggravate the issue, i.e. I am obligated to honour the application from the opposing party in London. Your information appeared as we searched our database for the business name. Given that you have already received logo design services from Infinity Logo Design, our internal policy proposes obtaining your authorization if you are willing to reserve trademark rights and registration for the firm under your ownership. If you do not want to register the trademark, the other applicant will be given priority because the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) work on a first come, first served basis. If you could just respond to this email within the next 24 hours, that would be great. We attempted to contact you via emails and calls. If you do not respond within 24 hours, the other applicant will be granted the option to commence their registration with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, which will cover and protect the business name and logo in the United Kingdom. To sustain federal ownership rights, you should indeed register your trademark. Let me know if you have any further queries. Best regards Steve ****** | Senior Paralegal Officer Paralegal Team INGIC Design UK

I have a domain name that is exactly the same as my business name. I have received an email stating that someone is going to legally register both and then will send me a cease and desist notice, is this legal?

I'll try to cut a long, shambolic story short! My husband changed providers some time ago. He did a comparison search and Scottish Power seemed to be the cheapest. However, when we first signed up, it was only for electricity. We agreed a monthly payment scheme of £70 per month. The next month, the payment amount doubled, and the next month doubled again! Countless, pointless phone calls, speaking to people who obviously had no idea what was going on prompted us to change tarrifs, which we though we had done. Please note that we were undergoing personal and family issues at the time, which is why we didn't change providers as yet, we just didn't need the hassle and we thought we'd seen the end of this rubbish. For about 20 years, since we moved into our current property, we have had solid fuel. Our landlord asked us if we would consider a gas conversion, which we did. We asked Scottish Power to install a gas meter, but not to activate the supply until the gas conversion had been done, which they agreed to. After countless phone calls, missed appointments etc., the gas meter was finally installed at the beginning of December. In mid- February, our gas conversion was completed. Now we had to contact SP to activate the supply and put us on a duel-fuel account. However (and bear in mind, each phone call took forever as no-one we ever spoke to seemed to take notes, so we had to explain everything over and over again), they told us the gas supply had been activated in December and we would need to pay for our gas from that date. We tried to argue with them, but to no avail, even though no gas had actually been used until mid-February. Now the real fun started! Scottish Power called us 2-3 times a day, on both our house phone and mobiles, they sent us text messages daily, and physical letters, all about the amount outstanding on our electricity bill from when they kept on putting the amount up. My husband explained over and over again that we were disputing the amount, he asked countless times why the amount agreed had gone up, but never received a straight answer, but assured us it would be 'looked in to'. We asked them to stop calling, but they wouldn't. Each person we spoke to said we'd get no more phone calls until this had been sorted, but of course they never stopped! It got to the point where we stopped answering our phones because we knew who it would be! We threatened to complain about harassment, but were told they could legally contact us up to 6 times a day if they wanted to. We were eventually moved to a duel-fuel account, but that took ages and more stressful phone calls, and all the time we are receiving demanding bills from them. At this point, we were completely stressed and fed up. We did another online comparison and found another provider. However, because SP said we owed them money, they stopped the transfer until our account was clear. Still under stress for other reasons, we just paid the bill and were let go. We thought this would be the end of it. But no. We are still receiving bills from them, for different amounts, and they are threatening legal action if we don't pay them. My husband phoned and they confirmed that our account was clear, but we are still receiving bills! He asked them to send out a run-down of everything we've used, everything we've been billed, and everything we've paid. Now they've drowned us with paperwork, it will take weeks to go through everything that came through the post! The phone calls have stopped since we changed providers, thank goodness! The other day I received a bill in my name, even though I've never had an account with them, it was always in my husband's name! We can't get in touch with them as they are not answering contacts about non-emergencies until the COVID-19 crisis is over. We just feel that this farce has been never-ending, and we are very confused about it all. I'm disabled and we take care of 2 disabled sons. My husband has enough to do without all of this extra stress, but it's getting to the point where we are afraid for our health, and also that our credit rating will be affected if they take us to court.

OP doesn't seem to want to get back on the board, and they have said they just want the charity to leave the rabbits with them for the rest of their lives. It appears that the rabbits still technically belong to the charity, but OP wants to continue caring for them rather than cause them any upheaval. It sound reasonable if OP has been falsely accused. It's disgusting that someone can take this attitude and believe the word of a person at the end of the phone without looking into it, or at least giving her trusted friend the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps OP can sue for slander?

Yes, I did wonder about that. I'll check their next email to see if there's an unsubscribe link. Thanks

Okay, thanks for the clarification. Although I did receive an email back from them to say I will still continue to receive info via email and text.

Unlike most of the horror stories about Avon, I actually had a very positive and financially rewarding experience. However, due to recent mobility issues I've had to give up my round with no idea when, or if ever, I will be able to start work again. My issue is this - I contacted everyone I should have and informed them that I was resigning. I emailed Avon and asked them to delete my account. However, there is apparently no way to do this. They said that my account would become inactive if I don't place an order within three campaigns, and then it's still kept for another eighteen campaigns in case I want to re-join. I was under the impression, in view of the new privacy laws, that any company/website had, by law, to delete any data they hold on anyone upon request. Is that the case, as I find the new laws a bit confusing!?

Thank you for moving the thread, and thank you for all of the suggestions! I love the banana in the tailpipe! lol. Seriously, we will probably start with a polite notice, and then move onto the folding bollard idea, I like that! I'm just not sure where we stand, legally. It's a unit on an industrial estate, it has no paths, just faded white lines as parking bays, directly in front of the unit. The landlord is a decent chap, but he's very, very busy and difficult to get hold of; I suppose we can send him an email and ask him what our options are. Are these people technically breaking the law?

The landlord said he'll 'have a word', but it's difficult to know who's cars they are as it's a busy industrial estate. There are no gates, just faded parking bays.