After being on long term sick at work with depression due to bullying I have finaly decided that I am going to hand in my resignation in the middle of April and move on. Unfortuinatley for financial reason I cant hand my notice in before then although I would love to as It means all the constant phone calls would stop from HR. When goin on sick leave i had 16 days annual leave left to be used by April 1st 2009, I havent used any of those days due to being on sick leave however I know that I am only allowed to carrry over 10 days into my next annual leave year which is coming up in april, does anyone know what will happen to those 6 days which I cant carry over will I lose them?

Had another phonecall today chasing up payment and requesting I set up a direct Debit, I have a feeling they are going to ring me everyday until I pay the remainder. Added stress that I dont need. I think rasing a complaint from what ive read wont do much good. I just cant believe they can treat people and harrass them like this. My next bill isnt due untill the end of April and like I said the bills recived where just so much higher than I have ever had it was a shock Ive never had any problem paying before now and none of my payments until this bill have ever been late. I dont know if i can handle anymore phone calls from BG, for two more weeks until I get paid is there anyway to stop them calling other than taking the phone off the hook.

Wonder if i could have opinions got my Gas n electril bill for nov - end of jan which were extremely high but BG are convinced ive used that much so I have to pay. Im on half pay at work due to longterm sick so a high bill wasnt what i needed, anyways I phoned BG and explained that I couldnt affford to pay both bills at the one time and Paid £120 of the £216 gas bill and £20 of the £168 elect which I know isnt much but it was all i could afford at the time, I explained that I would pay more at the end of Feb when I got paid. End of Feb came and I managed to £50 more towards my gas bill and another £20 towards the electric again not alot but there was a mix up with my wages and i ended up paid less than I should have. Next thing I get a letter telling me that my bill is over a month due and if i didnt pay they would charge me £14 for the next letter they sent out and warned i could be disconnected. So i got paniced and managed to borrow enough of the remaining money to pay off the gas bill and £40 of the electric leaving £88 outstanding. Once again I phoned BG and explained Ive paid what I could for the elect and the remainder would be paid in 2 weeks time when i get paid, the man on the phone tried to pressure me to pay more of the electric and when i said i simply couldnt afford to he said he would make a note of intent to pay but said that I would get reminder letters each week until I did pay and I would be charged £14 for each letter they had to send out so I could be looking at an extra £28 onto my bill which I cant afford. So forward to this morning and I get a phone call at 9am this morning from BG telling me that they have recievd my payment and would I like to set up a direct Debit which I stated no as I am due to move out of the property in April, they then tried to pressure me to pay what i owed over the telephone there and then and when i said i couldnt she asked when i intended to pay and i stated as I told her workmate yesterday it would be in two weeks, she then said she would make a note of this and then stated she would be setting up a direct debit for my electric which again i said i didnt want however she stated I woud have to do this at this point i got rather angry and stated she hasnt got my permission or bank details and put down the phone. Im really worried now that Im going to be hounded with phonecalls and letters until I pay in two weeks time which my nerves cant handle im off work with stress related depression and i could do without this, any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Many thanks

Im sure that the max they can charge you for cancelling your line rental is £70 or the remaining charges for the term outstanding whichever works out as less, however if you are talking about their calling plans then I belive they can charge you whatever they want

We recieved a reminder today about our electric and Gas bills as they are a month overdue, I just wanted to know if anyone else has had such a sharp increase in price for the last three months? We moved into our property in August 2008 and got a bill for Aug - end of Oct which for both gas and electric was £60 which we thought was slightly steep as for a whole month we didnt have any heating or hot water due to the boiler being broken but we paid it anyways, then at the start of Feb we recieved the bill from Nov - Jan at this point i might add that our property was actually vacant during the whole month of december due to holidays and visiting family we didnt return until the 2nd week in Jan. The bills came and the electric was £146.34 and the gas bill was £216.38 which you can see is a massive jump even though we actually used the electric and gas less. I know it was a harsh winter but my partner and I are very careful and only have the heating and fire on for a certain time each day and there is only the two of us in the property. We found out after we recieved the bill that in my street alone 21 other homes complained to british gas about how their bill had jumped so much i found this strange. The meter wasnt an estimate reading so I know it was correct but when I phoned BG to query the bills i was fobbed off with a standard line and told we used the gas so we need to pay for it and theyd had lots of complaints about the bills but it had nothing to do with us and if we wanted the meter checked we would have to pay in the end i could feel myself gettin angry and hung up. Has anyone else experienced the same for their recent bill?

an update on the above: As of yet the default has not been removed even though it was promised and we have yet to hear back from 3 regarding the emails we sent complaining about the default. Its still causing very big problems for us with getting a mortage, We found the house we are heart set on however My partner has been refused a mortage from most companies because of the default, the only ones willing to touch us are the ones who charge very high interested which we simply cant afford so we now fear we will basically not be able to buy our dream house because of £17!!! Im not sure what we can do now short of emailing 3 again and basially hassling the DCA because until it is removed we are stuck.

well I have a little bit of an update my boyfriend called up the DCA today who stated that it was their error and it shouldnt have been put on his file as he settled it and they will write to experian and ask them to remove it. Im a little sceptical to be honest they seem like a useless bunch and feel that we should still write to 3 and complain about how the situation has been handled. We never recieved any letters from 3 to say the debt has been sold on to the DCA or that they planned to register a default.

When I moved into my property on 29th Aug 2008 I paid my deposit and a months rent in advance and from then Have paid rent on the 29Th of each month at the end of Feb my contract goes onto a rolling contract but I~ve found a house I want to buy and so will be giving a months notice, the question I ask if because we paid a months rent in advance do we pay the last months rent Ie from feb-march?

Its been passed to a 3rd party debt collection company im not too sure who it is though. The defualt was only put on the file in Nov 08 so six years is a long time to be on there. The bank at the time of ding the credit check said they could only see the defualt and not who or what it was for! My boyfriend is adamant that he didnt owe the debt in the first place but more so now since they said if he paid half which he did the debt would be written off. I dont think he kept anything from the mobile and prob doesnt even know the number as it ws two years after he cancelled the contract that they decided he owed then money. I think that he will have to pay the £10 and get all the information they hold on him and email them stating that he doesnt owe the money and why. Does it make a difference contacting 3 since its now DCA who have the file?

I posted this in the debt action group but now feel i should have posted it here as it has to to with mobiles, here goes I am asking really on behalf of my boyfriend, yesterday we went to the bank to get a mortage to buy our first house and it was refused on the basis that there was a default on one of our credit files which we were both stunned at as neither of us have any loans (both have credit cards but are up to date) however the bank informed us that because of the default they couldnt help even though the amount on the default was under £100. We went home and got our credit reports from experian and discovered that the default was on my boyfriends file and was for only £34 of which only £17 was outstanding!!!! I was so anoyed as not only was this stupid amount stopping us getting a mortage but its for a debt he doesnt even owe. The debt is owed to 3 mobile and its from around 5 or 6 years ago when he had a contract phone with them. It was a years contract and after the year he cancelled it and checked there was nothing outstanding which there wasnt. Two years later he started getting letters and phone calls from them stating he owed this £34 which when asked why it had taken to long to contact him they coudnt tell us. He has always had the same address so its not because of letters being sent to an old home. Anyways they wouldnt accept that he didnt own this amount and kept chasing up and eventualy passed it to a debt collector who again kept writting and ringing and wouldnt listen when he said he didnt owe it and if he did he would like a break down and proof of why he owed it and then he would pay. Cut to November this last year and they are still chasing up this money however someone phoned and agreed that if he paid £17 they would settle the account and that would be the end of it. So money sent off and next thing another phone call asking for the £34, he explained about the previous phone call and they agreed that it was on their system and appologised and that the matter had now been sorted. Yet now he has a default. Neither of us are sure how to remove it, should we just pay the rest then it would be removed or will it stay on file? It jus means that now we cant get a mortage in the current climate utill the default is gone as no bank will touch us. Any help or advice would be very much apppreciated. Thanks

Im a civil servant doin admin. I cant prove the bullying as no1 will stand up and say they witnessed it, my work asked me to submitt to a formal investigation but stated because it was my word against my Line managers (the bully) that if it cudnt b poven then i would lose my job, thy have since consented to move me teams but im such a wreck since I got signed off I cant even leave the house now.

For the last 6 months I have been signed off work sick due to depression brought on by bullying at work, My work are constatly on at me to go back but after a meeting with them it has become apparent that for the sake of my health i cant go back. If i were to resign due to the effect it was having on my health would i be able to claim Job seekers allowance? Ive never claimed it before and i know that if you resign that you have to wait 26 weeks before you can get a claim, are there any exceptions to this? Many thanks

I am asking really on behalf of my boyfriend, yesterday we went to the bank to get a mortage to buy our first house and it was refused on the basis that there was a default on one of our credit files which we were both stunned at as neither of us have any loans (both have credit cards but are up to date) however the bank informed us that because of the default they couldnt help even though the amount on the default was under £100. We went home and got our credit reports from experian and discovered that the default was on my boyfriends file and was for only £34 of which only £17 was outstanding!!!! I was so anoyed as not only was this stupid amount stopping us getting a mortage but its for a debt he doesnt even owe. The debt is owed to 3 mobile and its from around 5 or 6 years ago when he had a contract phone with them. It was a years contract and after the year he cancelled it and checked there was nothing outstanding which there wasnt. Two years later he started getting letters and phone calls from them stating he owed this £34 which when asked why it had taken to long to contact him they coudnt tell us. He has always had the same address so its not because of letters being sent to an old home. Anyways they wouldnt accept that he didnt own this amount and kept chasing up and eventualy passed it to a debt collector who again kept writting and ringing and wouldnt listen when he said he didnt owe it and if he did he would like a break down and proof of why he owed it and then he would pay. Cut to November this last year and they are still chasing up this money however someone phoned and agreed that if he paid £17 they would settle the account and that would be the end of it. So money sent off and next thing another phone call asking for the £34, he explained about the previous phone call and they agreed that it was on their system and appologised and that the matter had now been sorted. Yet now he has a default. Neither of us are sure how to remove it, should we just pay the rest then it would be removed or will it stay on file? It jus means that now we cant get a mortage in the current climate utill the default is gone as no bank will touch us. Any help or advice would be very much apppreciated. Thanks

I wouldnt deal with the LL something doesnt seem right to me about how he is acting. If you took the LA/LL to court for not protecting the deposit it is a simple process so you would represent yourself and wouldnt need a lawyer or the LL. I would question why the LL is being so defensive at the end of the day the deposit is your money and not his therfore you have a right to question both the LL and LA as to the deposit and he has no right getting stropy about it.

Could you go directly to the agent and ask them what has happend with your deposit? I am pretty sure that even if there is an agrement betweent he LA/LL that the onus is still on the LL to protect the deposit. What your landlord has said about being to small for TDS is utter crap, he is required by law to protect your deposit and if he doesnt then he is opening up himself to being sued for 3x the amount of the deposit perhaps mentioning this to him might encourage him to place it in a scheme. I would get in touch with the LA directly straight away to find out what their side of the storys is.

I wouldnt sign anything like HMKHB say's its a legal requirement to protect the deposit and you can't opt out of it, my landlord used the same excuse on me and then various other excuses and we applied to take him to court for the 3x the amount, and he agreed to give us it all as a out of court settlement. I would ask yourself what reason the landlord had in the first place for not wanting to protect the deposit?

I dont really know how this process works so im very grateful for any advice, the cheque came from the solicitors private account which i was a little surprised at. I didnt know you could express cash a cheque bt i will have to ask the bank first thing on monday morning. That was what i was a little worried about the fact that it may bounce and the date has passed or we have told the court we no longer wish to proceed.

no just the straightforward 150 basicaly we paid that and the LL got served and we got a letter to say he had been served and the date was set for the hearing and the LL had 14 days to file the ackowledgement of service, it was done very differently to anything else i have heard on here. They included a cheque for the full amount in the letter so i dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing? They didnt provide anything for me to sign just asked i contact them to inform them if i accept the offer.

Today i got a letter from my LL solicitor offerin an out of court settlement of 3x the amount of the deposit plus what he deducted and our court costs, my hearing was due one tuesday coming so i was rather surprised but as much as i would have liked to see i go to court to give case story I think it would be right to settle as we wouldnt get anything else in court.

What would count as special circustances? If the judge makes a ruling without the LL there what would then happen?

Does anyone know what would happen if the landlord didnt turn up a hearing for non payment of deposit into a prescribed scheme? I have a court date next week for this and only 15 minutes has been allocated for the hearing however the landlord has failed to responde to the deadline for the acknowledgment of service and file a defence it has lapsed by two weeks and still nothing, i suspect he might not turn up at court. Does anyone know what the implications are of him not filling what was required and if he doesnt turn up at the court? many thanks

I could be wrong but im sure on the BT t&C it states that if you cancel your contract before the term is up them they will charge you the remaining amount left on the contract of £70 whichever was less. Worth having a look at. Like i said i may be wrong

In may 2007 we had a line installed in our rented property by BT and were told we had to sign up to an 18month line rental contract and a 12th plan contract, In Septemeber 2008 We moved house and got the line reconnect there, come decemeber our 18 months were up and since we had a much cheaper offer from sky saving us almsot £30 a month decided to call BT and inform them that we wanted to move to sky therfore cancelle everything we had with them. We were transferred over to a call centre in India and the operator couldnt understand my scottish accent and could speak only basic English, After a while we got transferred to someone else who informed us that we couldnt cancel as we still had a just under a year left in the contract, when we disputed this we were told that when we moved house they automaticaly placed us on another 12mnth line rental contract, we questioned that we had never been informed at the time of switching and that we hadnt signed anything. Basically they said it was in the small print on their T & C and that we should read them and if we cancel now we would have to pay the remaining amount on the contract. Can they really start a new contract without informing us and is there any way we could get out of it?

I sometimes think that judges are on the side of the landlords

It would depend if the contract was coming completely to an end of if it would be going onto a rolling contract?