I sent another email back on the 18th August requesting a refund, but received no reply. Sent another one today. So how do I go about requesting a refund via Paypal, as it's well past their 45 day dispute period?

They've just replied to my email to say that they won't be able to meet the latest delivery date, and they aren't even hinting at any realistic date. They have offered me a credit against an alternative item, but there isn't anything else I would like. They haven't offered me a refund, am I entitled to one?

Value was just over £20, and it was definitely credit card (but via Paypal).

I ordered a cd from a website (eil.com) at the beginning of June. The cd had an 'expected delivery' date of about 7-10 days from when I placed the order (it didn't say whether the item was in stock or not). That date came and went, each time I've since logged into their website to check the status of my order, the expected delivery date has been put back. So it's over 10 weeks since I ordered, and theres no sign of my purchase actually arriving. I've just contacted them to request that they make delivery by the current 'expected delivery date' of 18th August, and asked that if they cannot fulfil the order by then, that I would like to cancel for a refund. Normally, I wouldn't have any concern, as I'd be covered by credit card protection. But I paid for this purchase using their Paypal option (even though the funds came from my credit card via Paypal). I guess that means I'm not eligible for cc protection, and it's only possible to start a Paypal dispute within 45 days of payment, which has now long gone. I still want the item, but I don't want to wait forever! What are my rights if the supplier doesn't fulfil or refund as requested? Do I have any comeback against Paypal (I've had bad experiences with them as a seller)? I'm guessing the credit card company won't be interested as their transaction was with Paypal?

It's a Devolo dLan duo (ethernet over mains adaptor). Some lights come on but it doesn't communicate either with other devolos or the PC setup software via ethernet cable. It worked for about a month after it was installed, then went kaput for no apparent reason. Pretty sure only the manufacturer will be able to fix it. The good news is that Devolo have agreed to issue an RMA for it, on the grounds that I send it to their Germany address, which is fine by me.

Well it went faulty within 30 days of first being used. I just never got around to persuing it until now. Of course, I can't prove that, even though it points to a manufacturing fault. So who is best to chase up from here - at the moment I have reached a stalemate as both the manufacturer and retailer are pointing the finger at each other.

About 2 years ago I purchased an piece of computer networking equipment, aimed at the domestic market. On the packaging/in the instructions it clearly mentions a 3 year warranty. Said equipment is now faulty, after initially working correctly. Firstly I emailed the manufacturer to ask their returns procedure, thinking that they would deal with it directly. But their reply back was that all their RMA cases are transacted via the dealer/distributor (presumably they mean the company that I purchased from). So I've also emailed the supplier, who have replied to say that the warranty is directly with the manufacturer (as it is over 1 year old). I've sent another email to the manufacturer to explain the supplier's refusal to get involved, and asking how I should procede. My understanding was that the retailer has to support the product for the first year, under the statutory guarantee. If (as in this case), the manufacturer offers a longer warranty period, that is the responsibility of the manufacturer to support direct?

Will try consumer direct tomorrow. I've been to see two solicitors today in the hopes of getting advice and a watertight cancellation letter drawn up (I know it will be relatively expensive, but if it works, I feel it's money well spent in the circs.). Both told me that they weren't interested and to go and see CAB! I've tried CAB with something else a while ago and whilst they confirmed what I already figured out for myself, they didn't help any further. Plus I need help very quickly to stay within the 7 days (just noticed it's 7 working days, so that gives me a bit of breathing space). I suspect I will have a battle arguing that consumer laws apply - the seller will claim that they were dealing with my business, even though I paid the majority on a personal credit card.

I've put my request for a refund in writing (email) and they've both replied by email and telephoned me. But they are not entertaining my request of a refund at this stage. They say I entered into a contract and I am obliged to let them fix my issue with the software not working as described. If they can't make it work, then they say they will have no problem issuing a prompt refund. My next question - I think they are going to claim that the contract was to supply my business not me personally, and wriggle out of the consumer laws re. distance selling. But I paid the majority with personal credit cards, and the software is clearly not relevant to my business operations (ltd company). Am I likely to be covered under distance selling regs, or is my only course of action to let them go through their 'training' and show me the program working?

Had a longish chat with them on the phone this afternoon, explained that I'd uninstalled the software and that I wanted a refund. Gave the reason that the software doesn't do what they claimed it would. They say it's because I've not had the training to use it properly, so they wouldn't be able to allow a refund on the basis of non performance as I haven't given them a chance to rectify the issues. They implied that I could have a refund at the end of the training if I still wasn't satisfied, but I think this is just playing for time. I said I'd made up my mind and that I would rather not waste any more of their time with the training. So no progress on the phone, it got to 5pm and he said he would phone back tomorrow to go through the software with me to show it working. I will email them this evening (they have their own domain name, so it's not like it goes through gmail or anything (I do have a gmail address though) requesting cancellation and refund, but what reason should I give? Am I right that I'm not covered under the distance selling regs as they are based in Ireland, and it's for software (although the way it appears to work by displaying data fed from their servers, so I'm partly paying for a live service rather than a static peice of software). They could disable my username/login at any point, so they can't use a reason that I have the software and I can't prove I've stopped using it and uninstalled it. What about my cover under consumer credit act (as I paid majority by c/card). If the seller refuses a refund, do I have any realistic chance of the card company reversing the transaction (is that called a chargeback?)?

Thanks for your help. I shall be speaking to them later today, and will ask for a cancellation & refund then. I shall also put it in writing to them (is email sufficient or should I post a copy by recorded delivery as well?).

I've done something very foolish - got sucked in by someone cold calling me on the phone. I'd never normally fall for anything that sounds too good to be true, or even people who sell by cold calling. they are an Irish based company, and I am in the UK (England). I agreed to purchase their software package for a huge sum (over 5k). I paid mainly by VISA credit card and partly by VISA debit. I haven't signed any paperwork yet, or done anything face to face, it's all been done over the telephone - including taking my card details. I already had the software installed from a previous 20 minute demo that they talked me through. After I paid they sent me a username & password to activate and unlock the software. This was last Friday afternoon (26th March). played with the software over the weekend, and I'm not satisfied that it does what they claimed (I don't really want to go into detail on the software itself at this stage). I was booked in for a training session on it yesterday (it's not that complicated and I've figured it out myself already), and they phoned me as arranged. I raised my doubts, but they are insistent that the program works as sold, and that I need to go through the training with them before I will see how it works. But they are insistent that they won't go any further with the training until I return a signed copy of their "confirmation of software received" (I can post up a transcript of it if that would help). I am concerned about signing this confirmation as I am suspicous that it would jepordise my chances of getting a refund (if it's not too late already ). we are at a bit of a stalemate (I haven't told them that I'm not signing it yet). I am 99% sure that their training isn't going to magically make the software do something different, and I'm pretty sure the software isn't going to do the job they told me it would. I am reluctant to sign their confirmation, just to find out for definite that I've been conned. It sets alarm bells ringing - what legit business won't show you how to use their software before (what appears to be) signing away my rights? Have I just thrown a huge sum of money down the toilet, or is there anything I can do to try and recover it? I guess my first route is to ask the company for a refund (they did mention a money back guarantee on the telephone). Do I have any rights to a refund, any protection from paying on my credit cards? Are there any time limits for requesting a refund (I suspect their 'training sessions' are just a way of playing for time). Any other suggestions, or have I just been royally screwed? I'm still reeling at how I got drawn in by it, it is very much out of character.

We can't be sure that it's statue barred because we know absolutely nothing about it! And going that route would feel like they are missing the point entirely - it's not our debt, and we shouldn't need to use a legal timeout as an excuse. I think we are going to complain to the FOS, as BCW seem unable to follow their own complaint procedure - they say that they aim to resolve complaints with 4 weeks, or 8 weeks at the worst. This is the first contact we have had from them in the 3 months since they acknowledged our complaint.

Another update on this one - today we received another letter from BCW stating that they have 'linked' my partner from our current address to one of her previous addresses (presumably the one where the alleged debt was created from??). However, my partner has not lived at the stated address since about 2000/2001. So either the debt must be statute barred or it must have happened well after she lived there (regardless, we know that she has never had a Barclaycard, so it is not her debt). But they seem to work on the basis of guilty until proven innocent, and we don't have records ourselves going back to then to prove when she lived at this address (she was there for less than a year as well). Are we going to end up contacting councils for old council tax records/electoral roll information to try and defend ourselves? Incidentally, just going back through paperwork, this is the second case of identity fraud using my partners name that occurred from this address. We proved that one by having paperwork tieing her to another address for the dates concerned. With this one, they haven't even given us that information yet, so we don't know when it happened.

My GF has a mobile contract with Orange, which we gave cancellation notice of in mid November (phone call to orange 'customer services'). After making all kinds of offers to get us to stay we still inisisted that we wanted to terminate the contract. Then they offered us a PAYG sim to keep the existing phone number alive, which we accepted. A couple of weeks later the PAYG sim arrived, followed by another monthly bill including another months advance line rental. "That's Fine", we thought as we are aware of the 30 days notice period, and expected to receive a credit later on. We cancelled the direct debit just to be sure, and carried on using the phone for the remaining 30 days to make use of the inclusive calls. We went away over Christmas and came back to find yet another bill from them and a payment demand for the full balance. Having spoken to them on the phone, they have said that we didn't give notice to end the contract - transferring the number to a PAYG sim isn't the same apparently. The contract keeps going until we activate the PAYG sim (which we were told would be an automated process when the contract sim expired, and we expected to happen sometime whilst we were away, having forgotten to take the paperwork with us). Now they have put a block on the account due to the outstanding bills, and won't let us activate the PAYG sim (which apparently stops the contract billing), until we have paid all the bills - which includes a portion of the advance line rental that isn't usable because the phone is blocked). We have offered to pay the line rental (pro rata) & call charges up to when the phone was last used, but Orange customer services say that we are liable for the entire months line rental. I have worked out how much the pro rata line rental would be, but until we receive the next bill (3 weeks away), I don't know how much extra for call charges we would need to pay. Otherwise I would stick a cheque in the post to them today as settlement. We only accepted the PAYG sim as it was offered as a freebie to keep the existing number 'alive', we were led to believe it was a totally separate thing to the contract termination. Now we would be quite happy to send the whole lot back to Orange and forget the PAYG sim, just to be free of them. Not sure what to do really, it feels like we've been conned by Orange yet again (our main reason for cancelling the contract was due to previous bad experiences with them). Any advice on how to handle the sitaution? :?

Thinking back, I think the judge's decision was based upon the tenant not chasing up DPS info from the landlord after the 14 days allowed from the start of the tenancy. Therefore, the judge decided that it must have been some kind of entrapment by the tenant, and that it was the tenant's fault for waiting until after the tenancy before raising the issue. I beleive the tenant in question is waiting for a precendent to be set before taking further action, as the costs could easily spiral out of control. Somehow I doubt that a DPS case will ever get to a higher court though.

No, the tenant has given up with it, having lost all faith in the county court system. It was not a large deposit, and the court fees had already taken a significant amount of money. An appeal would have raised the costs even further, with only a small chance of success. A victory for the bent landlord I guess.

A little progress now - I sent an email to the chairman (at the address above), and got a reply/acknowledgement by post within 24 hours! All they said is that they have put collection on hold until they have investigated it. I think I will also contact Barclaycard and request all the information on the credit card that is supposedly mine. Either it's my card and it's my debt, and they will have to tell me the details of what & when it was, or it's not my account, and so not my responsibility, so they shouldn't be trying to collect from me. They can't have it both ways.

Is Trading Standards or the FSA the best route of action? I'm writing to the Chairman of the Board first, incase anyone else is getting the runaround with BCW, he is: Mr Bryan Mouat BCW Group PLC BCW House 24 George Square Glasgow G2 1EG email: bmouat@bcwgroup.com

I doubt it, we are talking about a crime that was reported over 10 years ago! We thought it was all sorted out, so we don't have any records of the case ourselves anymore. But we don't even know if this is the same debt, or if it's a new case of ID theft, or if they're really after someone else of the same name. But if they won't communicate with us about what or when the debt was from, how are we supposed to counter their claims? Does anyone know the name of the Chairman of the Board of BCW group? They're getting a letter from us.

A bit of progress with this - in the wrong direction unfortunately. We wrote back to the collection agency over 3 weeks ago stating categorically that the person they are writing to has never owned a Barclaycard, and that they must have made a mistake and should pass it back to their clients. We have never received any Notice of Assignment, which I pointed out to them as well. We also asked that if they felt the need to contact us again, they should also send us a copy of their complaints procedure. The letter was sent by recorded delivery, and I have obtained proof of it's delivery. Now we have received another letter titled 'LEGAL NOTIFICATION', stating that they are now preparing documents for the issuance of a court claim against us. There is no mention of the points raised in our previous reply to them, and no copy of their complaints procedure. Where do we go from here? Would it be acceptable to simply ignore them from now on - if they do take us to court, we would obviously have to attend, but is the burden of proof on them to prove that we really are responsible for this debt? Or will it be for us to disprove it? BTW, the company writing to us is Buchanan Clark & wells, if that is any help.

Yes, I know all the suppliers are putting up their prices, it's not just E-On. The cost of energy is rising rapidly, and we're all in this together. HOWEVER, I am quite meticulous about how much domestic energy we use, and I keep a detailed spreadsheet of both gas and electric consumption reading the meters about once a month. I have just updated my spreadsheet with E-On's new prices, and noticed that the biggest rises are on the first few units of gas end electric that we use (i.e. the 'primary rate'). This is particularly unfair, because the less gas and electric we use, the bigger the price increase works out to. For example we hardly use any gas during the summer period (well under the 670kWh qtrly threshold), so our daily gas cost has jumped from £1.15 to £2.15 since the start of the year. Yes, I know we will use a lot more in the winter, pushing us into the 'Secondary' rate, where the price increase is much more modest, so the overall annual average cost increase isn't so bad. I feel these price changes are grossly unfair, and penalise people for actually saving energy (relative to their previous prices). The people who struggle to pay their energy bills and sit freezing in the winter will be paying through the nose all summer anyway. Remember back to when we paid a standing charge, and a flat rate for our utilities? The two rate tariffs were introduced to replace the standing charges, so what they are effectively doing with these price increases is doubling the standing charge, and putting up the actual unit rate of your gas/electric up a smaller amount. The next thing they will start doing is moving the thresholds for the lower rate, so you have to use more at the higher rate first. I think gas and electric should get more expensive, the more you use - that would encourage people to be more efficient and cust their consumption. I don't know how other supplier's have increased their price structures, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were all doing something similar - check your new prices against your old ones and see.

I'm not sure if this is the best section for this, feel free to move it elsewhere if appropriate. My partner has just received a letter from a Collection Agency (titled 'Formal Demand'). They are demanding payment for a substantial amount for an overdue debt owed to Barclaycard Visa. The issue here is that she has never owned a Barclaycard or any other credit card in her life. We have had no correspondence from Barclaycard regarding this matter, this letter from the collection agency is the first we have heard about it (this time). We will reply in writing (not even going to try and discuss it with them by telephone). Do we just tell them that the debt can't belong to her as she doesn't have a Barclaycard, and request that they pass the debt back to Barclaycard for them look into? Is there a template letter around for a disputed debt like this? We would rather be in discussion with Barclaycard about this matter, as at least they will have records about what the debt is for. ------------------------------------------------- A bit more on the background of this: In 1996 my partner (before we were together), lived with her husband in his house. They moved away for about 2 years. During that time, they rented their house out to husband's brother and his missus. However, they rather foolishly left a lot of their belongings in the loft (including important documents - her birth certificate and marriage certificate). While they were away somebody took out a Barclaycard in her name and 'bought' lots of stuff from Littlewoods, all in my girlfriend's name and all registered at the address I am talking about. Police were involved at the time, and it was all sorted out (or so they thought) as a case of identity theft, although the police said there was not enough evidence to prove it was the brother in law and wife. Around about 2001-3 my girlfriend was contacted by debt collection agencies regarding debts to both Barclaycard and Littlewoods. Again, she mamanged to convince them that it was a case of identity theft, and again she thought it was all sorted out. In 2007 she was contacted by yet another debt collection agency regarding a debt to littlewoods from around about 2002. With lots of discussion this was again agreed to be cancelled due to identity fraud - we had proof that she was not living at the address in question at the time of the purchases. She has not been chased again for this debt, although I harldy expect it will be the end of it. Now here is the problem with Barclaycard debt (assuming it is still the same debt from 96/97) - she lived at the address where the card was registered both before it was registered and again a couple of years later after it had happened. Last time she was chased for this debt, she managed to prove it wasn't her by showing that she was living at the other side of the country at the time, and produced benefits records to back it up. Now this time, she doesn't have any paperwork or any other eveidence to prove that she wasn't living at the property at the time.

No payment has been made in nearly a year. We did a budget calculation and sent it to them ages ago, and offered to pay £1 per month, but only if they froze the interest (as £1 would be less than 1 months interest). They refused to freeze the interest, so they never got their £1 per month. CAB said that we should not engage further with them and let them take her to court, as they reckoned the judge would only award £1 per month anyway. At the same time as the above, we have offered £1k as F&F (offered by a relative) several times, only to be turned down. Their latest letter was titled "Final Notice" asking for full settlement or account passed to "professional debt collection agency" (presumably Barclay's own debt collection department is un professional then ). We wrote again offering £1 per month if they agreed to freeze the interest, or alternatively offering F&F again.

Yes, payment would be coming from a third party, is that enough to cover us then? **edit** Hang on, if she successfully claims back bank charges from Barclays at some point in the (probably distant) future, could they the refuse to pay back the amount and keep it as further payment towards the debt? In which case I guess it would be beneficial to get Barclays to remove the "without prejudice" statement?