No I didn't bother. I gave the machine away and bought a new one from John Lewis with a 5 yr warranty. But I have learned my lesson. Thanks to these forums, I will do things right next time -- soon as something goes wrong, get in touch with the seller if it seems too young to "die" and fight for my consumer rights instead of paying to have it mended. I was an idiot over the whole affair.

This is old and not quite the same, but related Decisions of the Commissioner

google found this: Ovaltech QBC Training tutorial - screen 6

I'm only claiming IB and nothing else. At an IB interview I had 5 years ago a very young and inexperienced girl officer told me that only earned income, i.e. employment was subject to the rule (which is you can earn £20 a week indefinitely, or something like £90 for 26 weeks in any year). I asked about having lodgers (ie complete strangers renting a room, no food included) and she said that is not "employment income" and so you can earn anything you like from that. At that time I also had a flat that I let out, and she said that was OK too. Thing is, that was years ago, I did not take the girl clerk's name. I assumed that everyting she said would be in the literature she gave me, and available on the website. Now I am worried: maybe she misunderstood the rules. Now I no longer have the rental flat but I do have lodgers. There is nothing on their website about lodgers. I don't want to present my individual case to them and expose everything to them on a personal basis until I have found out the correct rules and decided what I want to do. Telling them may reduce my options. Telling them may alert them and make them start spying on me or something. What if it turned out that girl was wrong? I cannot prove she ever said it. I might owe them 6 years IB! They might prosecute me! On the whole I prefer to get additional income from lodgers rather than claiming additional benefits such as income support. That way I feel that I am getting the IB I am entitled to without being a total burden on the state. I want to make sure that I am not doing anything that is against the rules. But in order to do so, I need to be 100% crystal clear on what those rules are. In the future, if any official tells me someting verbally, I am going to insist it is put in writing and the officer sign and date it.

Thanks for those threads .... MOST interesting!

The trouble with a washing machine, in a house full of people, is that you cannot live without it, and so I have already bought a new one (with a five-year warranty this time!!!) I do have the space to hang on to the old one if I want to start a big fight with Argos. At least if they repaired or replaced I could sell it. But the question is, is 21 months a reasonable lifespan for a washer? If not, what is? By the way it wasn't the brushes. I watched the repair man the whole time he was here; the entire motor had become detached. All he did was replaced one bolt and tightened all the others.

Thanks Kk

Thanks Erika for the response. I'm surprised to hear there are no rules, because that makes it really hard for the JCP staff as well as making life hard for claimants who wish to remain on "the right side of the law".

The govt site tells you in great detail how much you can earn if you are working at a job part time while receiving incapacity benefit. What it does not mention is, what about income not from a job but elsewhere? For example by selling things you already own or have made or bought to resell (e.g. on Ebay). Nor does it say anything about income from lodgers. Is there some special online forum or specialist person that can advise on this issue, as I really don't want to divulge anything to the DSS and have them "on my case". I'm just wanting to find out the rules so's I don;t break them!

For the purposes of claiming benefits which are reduced/withdrawn if you have a "partner"? For example, if your boyfriend stays over, how many nights can he stay over before he's deemed to be living there? What if he stays a week sometimes, or two weeks? Or does the length of stay not matter so long as he can prove that he pays rent/mortgage/council tax on another property? Curious to know.

My washing machine is 21 months old. Bought from Argos, worked perfectly till the drum stopped turning one day. It wasn't the cheapest nor the dearest machine; it's a Servis with a 1600 spin speed. I think it was about £200. It was out of its 12 month guarantee, so I called a repair guy and he repaired it for £40. Four weeks later the same fault developed and the repair guy refuses to come and mend it again (no reason given). I have reported him to trading standards who say I can sue him as a repair ought to last more than 4 weeks. However, I paid him cash in hand and have no receipt so if I went to court it would be my word against his that he ever repaired it. Today I read on here that a warranty is in addition to your legal rights. Question is, how long should a washing machine last, and would I have any luck complaining to Argos now? Bundly