Hi guys, thanks ever so much for the replies. She rang again and got through to a different operator, thinking she would be paying a cancellation fee of some sort, but this different operator said as the policy hadn't started yet they would give her a full refund! So it would seem it depends on who you speak to.. Thanks again guys! All the best.

Hi all, it's been a while since I last posted here, but have a bit of a question that I hope someone may be able to help with. My girlfriend has recently renewed her car insurance, although her existing insurance does not lapse until the 1st of Feb (a few days a way yet). The insurance she has just payed for is not due to become active until the old insurance lapses. Basically she has paid for her renewal early. Unfortunately her car has developed a major fault, so she now wants to cancel the policy before it actually begins. She had phoned her insurance company on the 25th and dealt with someone on the phone who took payment on her debit card. She has since phoned to cancel and has been told that she will not get a full refund. They want to charge a fee for legal cover, a fee for making a change to the policy etc etc. I suggested to her that she politely end the call and to say she would look into it and get back in touch with them, which she then did. I was of the understanding that under Distance Selling Regulations, any purchase made on the internet or over the phone that was not a "custom" order must be refunded in full within a 14 cooling off period. I would understand if the policy had already come into force, but it hasn't. Does anyone have any views, experience or advice surrounding such an issue? Many thanks in advance, Loaf..

I'm not entirely sure if I have the right category here, but it seems the most suitable of all the ones I could find. This could be a bit of a long story, so please bear with me. I work as a self employed PC engineer, and provide various services like PC repairs, upgrades, virus removal, data recovery and any other PC related things that come my way. I have been in business since September 2004 and really enjoy my work. In that time I have built up a very large base of customers who would have no hesitation in recommending me to others (and often do). A very long term customer of mine (and a mighty nice chap to boot) recently recommended me to his niece, who rang me up and asked me to do some work for her husbands company. We had a chat and agreed that as it was a matter of moderate urgency, I would make it over to them the next day. I arrived on the day and time agreed, but she seemed a little surprised to see me as we had booked for the same time and day the following week (??). I am sure this wasn't the case, but offered to go away and come back the following week, to which she said, "no, it's ok, come in". I performed a number of hours work on that day, but couldn't finish due to the need to order specific parts, and arranged to come back the following week (giving me time to order the parts etc.). I then tried to contact her to let her know the parts had arrived, but could only get the answerphone. I left a message asking her to contact me to arrange the second visit. A few days passed with no contact, so I rang again, and again was faced with an answerphone, so left another message asking the same thing. This is where things got a bit weird. As I couldn't contact her I decided to phone her husband (who also runs his own small business), and he seemed a little vague, but told me they had already got someone in to do the work. At this point I mentioned that it was me they had got in to do the work and I was having trouble booking in a revisit with her. He then politely told me that she had in fact got someone else in to complete the work. Her reason for which was that I hadn't come back to finish the work the next day. I informed him that we had agreed to continue the work the following week as I needed to get proprietary parts and needed time to get them. He then said, "You'll have to speak to her about it as I don't really know anything about it". I then continued trying to contact her and left more messages, all of which were ignored. I even popped round to see her, and whilst I know she was in, she wouldn't answer the door. Please understand that throughout all of this I acted in a very honourable, polite manner, as I always do... I dislike rudeness. I recently gave in and contacted her husband again, in the hope he could shed some light on the situation. He informed me that they had tried to contact me without success, so went elsewhere, and as such would not be paying my invoice as I had left without completing the work.I explained to him again that I needed to order a special part, so had explained it would take until the following week to return. He insisted that I agreed to return the following day. He is understandably going on what his wife has said I guess, and wouldn't have any of it. I then looked at my phone records (my phone holds all calls placed and received for 3 or 4 weeks) but could only find 1 incoming call from their number, and that was the initial call where she first booked me, and I have received no voicemail from them either. So from what I can see they had made no further attempt to contact me. They have flat refused to pay my invoice. As I say, I have been doing this job for over 8 years, and never encountered anything of the sort. It has actually made me quite depressed... not the fact of the lost money, I can live with that, but it's just the way they have been so rude, ignorant and plain arrogant about the whole thing, when I've been nothing but polite and honest with them. It strikes me that his wife may have a mental issue or something, causing her to mix up times and dates (as silly as it may sound, it's just that it happened twice with her and I have never had another date/time mix up in 8 years!) but all the same I am experiencing a certain degree of anger about it and think that while I would never normally resort to legal action (never had any reason to be honest), I may consider it on this occasion due to their arrogance, as I'd quite like to show them the error of their ways. What would you guys do in this situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Loaf.

I emailed explaining the ball was in their court, after all I had followed all their instructions to the letter, and they had still failed me. So at last they have seen sense, and offered to send me another bag. They have said I can dispose of the damaged one any way I please. Still don't know why they had to make it so difficult for me.....

I'm no expert, and this is not legal advice, but I was under the impression that if an order was 'Confirmed' (you would need written proof by letter or email with 'Order confirmed' written on it) then they are obliged to sell you the product at the agreed price. I could be wrong, but would be worth checking out. Sorry I can't offer anthing more certain.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Trouble with asking for compensation is that their (as attached to first post) T&C's state, "Myprotein® shall not be liable for economic or financial loss or any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever and howsoever arising.". Which is why I haven't asked them to compensate me as yet, because I know they would throw it back in my face. Also, I have already mentioned the health and safety issue of their claim, and will use it as a persuasive measure at some point. Do you think it will be possible to claim any form of compensation? Or would I be wasting my time? It would seem their is a major imbalance in the rights of them (Myprotein) and myself (the consumer) as laid out in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations which states:- "A term is unfair if: Contrary to the requirement of good faith it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers." I don't know, this is really getting me annoyed, they have screwed over the wrong guy here! Any further help will be gratefully received! :o)

Hi all, I'm still a bit of a newbie, but have received good advice here in the past and thought I would ask if anyone has any suggestions about a problem I am currently having. It is a bit long winded, but bear with me! I have attached a copy of their T&C's for reference. As per the title, I ordered some sports supplements from a company called 'My Protein', who have an online shop/website. I realise that I am covered by distance selling regulations, but am having a slightly different issue. My order was placed on the evening of Thursday 16th Sep 2010, and I received it on Monday 20th September 2010. Upon opening the box I noticed a lot of dust inside, and quickly realised that a 5kg bag of whey protein powder had a 4 inch split in it and had spilled into the box. No problem I thought, I'll return it for an exchange. Well, this is where things started getting silly. I reported it to them by email, and they asked (by email also) a few questions, like, was there any visible damage to the box everything was packaged in, and can you provide a photo of the damage. Of course I answered all questions and sent a picture of the damage. They responded with an email claiming that the product would not have been contaminated and was still safe to consume! How can they claim that? They had no idea if it is safe! And neither did I, after all no one knows when or how the bag became split. They asked how much whey protein had been lost from the bag and they would credit my account to the value of the loss. Of course I declined this offer, and explained to them that they cannot say it is safe to consume. I followed by saying I wanted the product exchanged. Which they agreed to. They then asked when I was available, as they would arrange a collection. I had no work on this morning (23rd Sep 2010), so said I could wait in until around 12.45 pm. They then confirmed a collection was arranged for the morning of the 23rd. Well, I waited in from 7:15 am until 12:45 pm (5 1/2 hours), and no collection attempt was made. I notice the following line in their T&C's "We will normally arrange for a courier to collect any damaged items at a time agreed with you.". So would that be a breach of contract? If it is a breach of their own contract, do I have a leg to stand on as far as claiming compensation goes, or invoicing them for my time. After all, I have sustained loss, due to their breach of their own T&C's. Many thanks in advance, Loaf. MyProteinT&C's.txt

Over 2 months on and I have heard nothing. Guess that's a good sign....

Thanks for the swift reply, it was issued by BEDFORD PARKING SERVICES, who, from what I can gather, are an agent acting on behalf of Bedford County Council. I did assume that it would be fatally flawed. I see there is a lot of scary wording on the notice but I guess that is the usual bully boy tactics. There is also no mention on the PCN of the notice that I placed on my dashboard as an attempt to negotiate the situation prior to any conflict. Am I right in my understanding that ignoring (or overlooking) an attempt to negotiate, is seen as a form of conflict, usually frowned upon by courts etc? Just a thought.......

Forgot to say, they have missed a digit out of my reg number(one of the numbers), not printed one of the characters wrong. Thanks.

Hi all, my first post on this forum Just wondering if anyone has any advice that may help me. I have been issued a penalty chanrge notice for parking in a car park without a valid ticket. The reason for this is that the machine would not take the £2 coin I tried to use to buy a ticket. I placed a very visible note on the dashboard clearly stating that I had gone to get change, but when I got back (10 minutes later) the PCN had been issued. I thought this a little unfair but was not at all surprised at the greed and ignorance. The thing is, the PCN has been printed on a machine, but has my registration printed incorrectly. Obviously as it is printed, it cannot be claimed that I have misread it. Other info on the PCN includes: Make of car, colour of car, and tax disc number. The question I am asking (as I am wanting to dispute this notice anyway) is would I be better off not making any responce at all? I mean after all the PCN is not issued to my cars registration. Or do I contact them and risk them chasing me for payment? Is this PCN fatally flawed from the start? I appreciate any responces or experiences people may have. Thanks in advance, Loafman