(reposted here as getting no views over in energy firms, probably not the right place for it) Anyone have any idea how this bunch of jokers can do this? I left British Gas, cancelled my direct debit , and when the bill came I paid it - which I would consider normal... BRITISH GAS TRADING - ELECTRICITY Started 24/04/07 Balance £0 Settled 24/11/09 Monthly payment £0 over 0 months Status History 06 In the last 2 months of account activity, the number of status 1-2 is 00 and the number of status 3+ is 01 File updated for the period 20/12/09 wtf???? What's the best thing to do about this? I've complained to Gritish Bas, much good that will do me. It's clearly wrong, how is it even possible to be up to date with an account one month, and then 6 months late the following. I've had loads of declined applications, reduced credit limits and increased interest rates since christmas, and now I see why - I assume that with proof that my available credit has been affected and that I've been paying more in interest I can sue BG for this? Can I do a CCA request, as I'm pretty sure I never signed a credit agreement with BG?

Anyone have any idea how this bunch of jokers can do this? I left British Gas, cancelled my direct debit, and when the bill came I paid it - which I would consider normal... BRITISH GAS TRADING - ELECTRICITY Started 24/04/07 Balance £0 Settled 24/11/09 Monthly payment £0 over 0 months Status History 06 In the last 2 months of account activity, the number of status 1-2 is 00 and the number of status 3+ is 01 File updated for the period 20/12/09 wtf????

They have escalated my complaint (which was made by telephone) - now I just need to phone NCCS again about my other complaint - they reduced the credit limit on my card from 9k to 500 quid without notice, and then told me I could appeal and it "wouldn't affect my credit rating" - so in that case, why is there a fresh search on my experian account from nationwide ("unrecorded enquiry").....

The 16th feb is no notice at all - the rate change took effect at the beginning of the month!!!

Phone up and complain then (although they may ignore you, as they did me....)

They do this a lot too, and apparently should you not receive the letter in time / at all it's completely your problem, according to the chap I spoke to ("we acknowledge no mistake")

Has anyone else had this change this week, without being given any notice at all? I phoned today and the call centre were largely clueless, although they did confirm that the last time they sent me any correspondence was back in November, pretty much sticking their foot in it. Now excuse me if I'm wrong, but given I think it's arguable that increasing the interest rate on my overdraft is a change that is to my disadvantage.... Their website actually goes as far as to say "notice given" at this url - Nationwide Building Society - FlexAccount - Rates & charges, but states that the change is from 1st Feb anyway.

Check your email - they've put the price up, so I'm cancelling this service, was useful in the past but doesn't tell me anything I don't already know now....

Due to the base rate change, I'm not actually switching my mortgage yet (or for some time if I can't make some overpayments and claw back some of my LTV!) - so haven't really pursued this. I'm just looking forward to dropping onto their 4.44% SVR at just the right time, then I'll deal with switching mortgages later in the year...

I'm fairly impressed - they actually managed to send us a letter stating who we owed the money too - turned out that the wife really did owe Reader's Digest around 30 quid for something (overpriced) that she had actually ordered and received, and had received a reminder letter for. (grrrrrrrr!) She just rang Reader's Digest and paid the original amount, getting a reference number for this payment, so presumably we can now ignore these people (who wanted 5 quid more than the original amount for calling and sending a letter) and if they get funny ask them to prove that we owe the original amount. At least it's a learning curve (and the oh has had another bollocking from me for ordering crap that we don't want and could obtain cheaper elsewhere)

Mine logs calls - which is good as I haven't implemented a way of recording them yet - might have to get the gear to record and then start answering them, see how badly they can slip up.

All obscure numbers get screened in our house, usually because we're not actually around to answer them and see them on the phone when we get in. I read somewhere about there being a limit to how many times a company are allowed to call without receiving an answer???

I'd go on the holiday, the main reason my wife suffered so badly with PND was that we couldn't afford to go away and spend time together as a family.

Of BBC Watchdog infamy, sure you know them very well on here - keep getting missed calls from them (OK, so some of the missed calls have been whilst I've been at home, because (a) I'm not completely stupid and know how to use google and (b) I have caller display.....) As I haven't received any correspondence from them, and neither me nor the wife owe anyone any money (whom we have a credit agreement with), I assume it's safe for me to carry on pretending they haven't called - after all, if they want me to pay them some money obo some organisation, the least they could do is write a letter???

Dear Nicola, I enclose a copy of a demand for payment for an unsolicited delivery of a large parcel of books to the address above on 28th May this year (I actually spoke to a representative on the telephone personally, who called me at home, and during the conversation stated that I was not interested in “previewing” this collection at all – they later phoned and spoke to my husband, SeanT, who confirmed that he could act on my behalf, and also stated categorically that I had no interest in receiving these books.) The books were delivered anyway, and delivery of the books was taken by a relative who was at our home, and who had not been instructed to refuse the delivery (which is entirely reasonable, as the aforementioned large parcel was neither welcome nor expected.) This series account number is no longer valid, as I have returned the books as requested, and need do no more to address the issue. I spoke again to somebody from Grolier, by contacting your call centre on the national rate phone number, and arranged a collection of the parcel. The courier failed to turn up, so I contacted you again, and rearranged the collection. A courier arrived after the second attempt to arrange a collection and collected the parcel of books from my husband, who was in at the time. He obtained a receipt for the collection, and told me that the books had gone back with somebody acting on behalf of (and instructed by) your company. I received a letter on 11th August asking for the delivery note, as your company claimed to have failed to receive the returned parcel (which was now in the hands of the courier that you instructed, and thus no longer my responsibility). I contacted you about this letter on 11th August on the (08702) 404385 service to ask why this was necessary, as I had not sent the books back personally, they had been collected. Fortunately, my husband still had this, and duly sent the collection receipt to the address above on 15th August. I trust that this matter is now concluded, as I have complied with your terms and conditions and your requests to prove something that there is nonetheless no onus upon me to prove. Please refrain from contacting me with further demands for payment – I never asked for the great big box of books, never agreed to pay you £159.68 over 32 months for them, and I don’t have them either. I told you that I didn’t want them, both before and after receiving them, and I don’t. Please refrain from sending me any more books, promotional literature or anything else for that matter – please consider this letter a notice of cancellation of any membership that I may hold to your “exclusive club.” Kindest Regards,

OK, so they sent another demand for payment for the "next instalment" of £4.99 - her balance on this account is £159.68. We don't have the damn books so won't be paying for them - have written them a letter stating that I sent the receipt off a few days after they asked for it, and the onus isn't upon my wife to prove that their courier complied with their instructions.

I agreed to a £225 fee when I signed - can I still claim this back as it is clearly out of proportion to any reasonable administration charge, despite the bank not putting the fee up since I agreed it, it's surely still unreasonable. (more of a charge than an admin fee) Also, if I remortgage with the same bank, they won't charge me the fee, surely this is anti-competitive practice? Plus I'd have to pay a higher interest rate as a remortgagee with RBS - the higher rate says next to it - "Remortgage package included - we'll pay all our standard legal and valuation costs for you" - what a crock....

I can't find the registration document for a car for which the sorn expires at the end of the month. I don't for my other scrapper either, which was sorned whilst I dismantled it on a farm, then the car was scrapped. I think this is because I sent both V5s off, with the broken up personally box ticked, as I can still find a bit of one of said V5s, but haven't received a confirmation letter for either - how can I be absolutely sure that these vehicles have been removed from the register and I don't get fined? Just write a letter and send it to swansea? Roughly what should said letter state (obviously I don't want to say that I can't remember whether I sent the V5s off but can't find them in the letter....)

Or joint boxes full of water It's a shame that none of BT's infamous Indians seem to have been on the excellent (though old) CBT course on line testing - it was written for call centre ops, and goes through all the results on CSS and how to interpret them, and for what conditions to raise a line fault anyway when the RATS test comes back OK. Then again, they know jack about broadband too, and just read from a script - if you give them all the right answers, and are patient, you can usually get them to raise a line fault.

I think there's a teeny bit of confusion here - this isn't written down anywhere... it's just clear to me that as I don't even know who the courier company are, no contract can exist between me and them. It has also become apparent that by sending all the books at once and then asking my wife to pay for them by monthly instalments, that they should come a cropper if I do a CCA request, as her indoors can't remember signing anything to this effect (the first lot of books were shipped one at a time, and then invoiced and paid for, so not a credit agreement, but a whole box of books with value stated upfront and paid for over x months clearly is...)

The point of demarcation is where the external wiring that forms part of the national network ends, and your internal wiring begins, or as soon as accessible afterwards. If you have a socket that looks like it's split into two parts, and has a removable lower half to which your extension wiring is connected, and a larger part that the BT network wiring is attached to, the "test socket" that joins these two plates is this point - so you do need to take the lower half of this socket off, and then try your phone in the concealed socket behind - after this point it is BT's problem and they have to fix your line. If you don't have one of these split sockets (called an NTE5, google it), then BT Openreach (the network part of BT) have to come out and fit one, for free, in place of your first socket. Some noise faults, like you describe, can be caused by the phone wiring inside your premises, that you are responsible for. I suggest you remove the lower half of the socket like they suggest, and make a record of doing so too, then they really can't charge you.

Despite my efforts to get my wife to cancel her book club memberships with their ridiculous prices and tendency to send you stuff you don't want without asking, she still belongs to GROLIER CHILDREN'S BOOKS They sent a massive box of books, that they appear to value at some 160 quid, without us ordering them - indeed, when they last spoke to me on the phone (just before these books showed up at the doorstep), I told them in no uncertain terms not to send us any other books unless we ordered them. The wife phoned up and sent them back, no problem, Grolier instructed a courier to collect the books on their behalf and return them to Grolier. Courier turned up, I signed for the collection (on a PDA) - and wasn't given any sort of receipt - we ignored the invoice for the books as the terms and condtions clearly state that the cost of the books is removed from the account in full once the books have "been returned." Grolier have now sent final demands etc. for the self same set of books, claiming that they did not receive the returned items. I fail to see how this can be our problem? The books have never belonged to us, we rejected them as we did not want them nor order them, and have returned them in good faith. The books never changed hands, Grolier own and have responsibility for the items that they sent out that we did not agree to purchase - we stored them and made them available for collection as we had rejected them. As Grolier instructed the courier, we would not expect to receive any documentation about the returns process, and I handed them over to the courier in person. Surely the onus is upon them to trace the items that they had a contract with the courier to collect and recover, and we don't have to prove anything (and of course can't, as we weren't given a receipt for the package) Had we sent the items back ourselves, we would have used an insured and tracked service, and kept proof of postage, and obtained proof of delivery, as we would be taking responsibility for the return - as it stands, we have never had legal responsibility for the items, and the contract to return said items is solely between Grolier and their courier (who did not make themselves known to us, other than stating that they had a parcel to collect for grolier) Further to all this, I can't find any proper terms and conditions on any of the paperwork that they have sent us, including the first invoice - there are things like "you must obtain proof of postage if you return an item to us" - but I haven't returned anything to them, only made it available for collection at their convenience. Do they have a leg to stand on under DSR (cp) regs? Anyone had any dealings with these cowboys?

She needs to find a man who is paid more for doing exactly the same job. She is lucky. If a man is in this position he doesn't have a leg to stand on.....

Why don't you post up the problem on here and see if anyone can help then?

I'd start out by using someone that belongs to the RMIF, and after this finding a small independent for routine stuff, but maybe taking cars for an MoT yourself and just seeing what it fails on, preferably at a specialist MoT centre that has no interest in working on your vehicle, only in testing it. Then for anything that obviously isn't routine take the car to a specialist - there is no advantage to using the same garage for everything whatsoever.