Where someone uses an mbna credit card to purchase from a travel agent in Thailand, for a hotel accommodation voucher, what recourse would the customer have if the voucher was not all it said it was, or if the agency disappeared, is this type of thing covered by credit card insurance?

After a long series of correspondence over two years, my parents are being taken to court by a drains company. ( It is a bit complicated but in summary they have not paid as they did not give the instruction for works and arguably did not benefit from works, but I am not surprised that the company is using court attendance as a tool, regardless of our view of whether or not they are entitled ) In my estimation the company involved may have a success chance of some 75-25. Where my parents suffer from dementia, and struggle with the most basic tasks of day to day existence, is there any relief from attendance possible? Am I able to represent them in court where I am not a qualified person?

The property of my parents has a serious leylandii problem. One boudary neighbour has left leylandii unchecked for very many years, they are now taller then the house and there is a loss of light into my parents property as a result. As my parents are elderly and infirm, I am left to take up these sort of causes on their behalf. Your advice welcome

Thanks for the clarification. I understand your point but it still seems unfair to me, and is not what I had assumed to be the case. If you were to pt in a call to challenge this what might you say?

Another bill form BT. For once I studied my bill more carefully this time, and I noticed something curious. Dozens of charges at 18p and 24p to mobile phones, with call durations of no longer than 5 seconds. How could this be? On theory I have: I often use my landline to call a mobile in the house just to get it to ring so I can find out it's location. After the ring leads me to where I have left it lying around I immediately hang up, I wonder is it possible that I am being charged even though it is never 'picked up', by which I mean the only 'connection' is obtaining a ringtone - the mobile phone ( recipient ) is never engaged. If I am correct then this is a practice which I will have to stop. I had always assumed that I would only be charged for a REAL connection - after the recipient picked up. If I am right, are BT charging me improperly?

Thanks yes it expires next month, £35k +, I just want to know if they might be cheating. Who checks? How can I check?

With Profits

I wonder if anyone can comment whether or not it is worth challenging payout quantum? A maturing policy can seem like a bit of a windfall on the face of it, perhaps moreso anything positive at all in these turbulent times. Even so, shouldn't the assurance company be asked to account for the performance of the fund over a period of time, and if one is dissatisfied, is there any point in complaining?

Your comment You have doubled your monthly payments every month for 25 years!! > I don't think it is as simple as that. The measure of success must be considered against a benchmark. TO explain what I mean by example, if all the company had done was put it into the stock market using a tracker, and the stock market had gone up x10 over that period, if the company offer you something like x2, then it measures up as pretty poor.

My father is being chased by a company for some drainage work. Although he did not want the work or enter into any contract, the deeds show a covenant for a contribution where there is a network. A case has been brought via the small track procedure, I do not mind a day in court but I am worried about costs implications. I have no knowledge in this area. The court wrote to both sides asking that they consider a mediation service. Dad agreed but the other side refused this, so now there is a hearing. My question assumes that the case is lost and the other side apply for costs. Might or will the judge take into consideration our agreement to mediation as being helpful to resist any claims for costs made by the claimant? and if so, what consideration if any court may give that?

Thank you for posting your guidance., most useful. I thought that I would close this by letting those interested know that this has been settled. In the event the other side gave in and there was a settlement. I am not privy to the actual amounts but I strongly suspect that the AMC did very well from their practice. As an insured person it is very difficult to see how to prevent them from their ( sharp ) practices, not that it cost me directly ( or it might do in the future when having to explain to new ins companies offering quotes the value of the claim ) but where an honest insured person disapproves.

My neighbour's daughter aged 16 years travelledoin a child's ticket. She was challenged by an official who identified about 20 schol children for the same misdemeanour. She admitted her age, gave her address and was presented with a Penalty Fare Notice. What's the worse that the rail company can do? What's likely in practice of the penalty is ignored?

Last year I took a knock and the other party was clearly at fault, undisputed. Our insurer encouraged the use of a hire vehicle during repairs. In principle this was fine but I tried quite hard to argue that I wanted to arrange it locally. The insurers were extremely resistant to me organising it near where I live at a reasonable cost. Despite any number of email requests to my insurers they have refused at all times to disclose the sums involved. My insurers did organise a car hire and had it driven for door step delivery from a distance of some 100 miles away. It seems that ( our side ? ) insurers have decided to use this episode of car insurance as a platform to escalate the claim to the nth degree. They are asking the other side for £2k ++ for a 10 day hire, for a mediocre vehicle. This seems to me flagrantly wrong, borderline fraudulent. The other side are refusing to pay out ( and I for one don't blame them ). Whilst aghast at the flagrant sharp practice ( of our side ? ), I have no skin in the game regarding their fight with the other side, although it will impact on what we have to say in the future when making any application for car insurance ( when a quoting company asks how much a previous claim was settled for ). However ( our side ? ) insurers are now asking for our attendance at a court in March. I have no interest in doing that, I would strongly resent having to attend. Perhaps I do need to respond to the latest letter from ( my side's ? ) solicitors for attendance. - I assume that there may be a clause in the insurance contract when it was taken out that the person insured agrees to co-operate? I wonder what to do now. One approach might be to do nothing? Perhaps ignoring and not responding, and not turning up, might not be the best approach now. One idea. I might write back and say I am unable to attend, short notice,etc, but to be helpful I am prepared to provide a written statement. If I have any worries at all, it is if ( our side ? ) insurers fail with their claim, they may pursue me for the highly inflated hire charge?

This is a new thread regarding telephone harrassment. My mother had a small sub £20 debt with a credit card, which she has not paid and has probably morphed into apprx £80 on the back of fees imposed for late / non payment. The debt has been passed on. The background is that my mother is in a state of serious poor health, she was hospitalized with dementia for 6 months and has recently been released back to my father at their mat home. She remains seriously unwell and unable to cope with life. To add to their difficulties, my parents are getting regular calls from a debt agency making demands for the money. They are finding this difficult to cope with and it is increasing their stress. Other than paying the demand, are there any practical solutions on how this may be best dealt with?

It seems to be the case that the mortgagor must be notified at the time of sale where there is a shortfall, as the mortgagor may want to take some extra care that the property is sold for maximum realisable proceeds. I think it is right to say that, in order for the sale to proceed, the mortgagor has to consent to a sale in such circumstances. Normally the conveyancing solicitor would write to the mortgagor for clearance.