Sorry for another out of warranty laptop thread; I've done a search and been doing my best to wade through all the information there but could do with some clarification. I purchased my msi u130 netbook in February 2011, and until very recently it behaved flawlessly and has always been well looked after. However, every second Function key stopped working simultaneously, along with the right hand shift key. More worrying for me is that the wireless connection has also started dropping out for no good reason and so regularly that I've given up trying to use this function and just plug it into the router, but this is obviously no good when I'm at university. It was bought via ebay through Argos, and was sold as a fully functioning refurb which is where I'm getting confused regarding SOGA. So, a few questions if you don't mind: * What are the chances of getting Argos to repair it at their cost? (not bothered about replacement or refund unless unavoidable) * Do they even have any obligation under SOGA due to the fact it was a refurb? * If they do, what is the process? Independent engineers report and the onus on me to prove the fault was inherent? Would this not be tricky to prove after 18 months ownership? * If anybody knows about netbooks here, is it likely to just need a replacement keyboard? I can buy one for £15 - £20 and so it might just be better to "suck it up" and replace that, but I'm loathe to do that if it doesn't fix the problem obviously. * Are Argos normally amenable to solving problems like this with the minimum of fuss, or are they likely to dig their heels in? Any help appreciated.

http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=252669&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 The above thread will give you all the information, but the basic gist is this: * Person parks up at Lidl in Thornton Heath * Is issued a notice for overstaying * Has CCTV from the Tesco over the road that proves that he hasn't overstayed * Points this out in writing and notice is cancelled * The notice appears to be photoshopped by http://www.athena-parking.com. He has provided a copy of what they sent to him on page 3 of the thread. PPC's on the face of it appear to be sinking to new lows, and this seemed the most relevant forum I'm registered with to share the information.

Cool, thanks for that. I'll have a read through that now. This was a private sale though, so no protection under SOGA I'd imagine.

Bought a Peugeot recently off ebay (private sale), had it HPI'd and that came back clear. Car wasn't in as good condition as described so negotiated some money off and went on my way. Got home, gave it a proper clean and going over and it started to become apparent that it had been involved in a pretty heavy crash on the left hand side; looks like the front and rear wings have been replaced along with a dented front rim and replaced wing mirror glass. In my defence, the way the car was parked in the driveway hid these faults and it drove ok, but ultimately it's my fault for not checking it properly. Wasn't happy, wrote the guy a recorded delivery letter strongly suggesting that he come and pick the car and refund us as the car clearly wasn't as described, which was received on the 8th. Obviously I didn't expect to get anywhere with this but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Anyway, looking at the MOT last night and it didn't look quite right; closer inspection showed the DEC of the expiry date to seem doctored (very nicely, if I'm honest). Checked on the motoinfo site, and the mileage on it tallies up to an MOT that was done last April, not December and my car seemingly doesn't have a valid MOT on it at the moment. It has had a subsequent test apparently according to the site, which I'm assuming was a fail but I can't find out the full details of this test or why it failed off the site. Half was paid by Paypal for the car and half by cash. Obviously, kiddy is getting a phone call a bit later on and I'd like to resolve this in a friendly manner. What else can I do though If I don't get a result? Would the police be interested in a bent MOT or would it still be seen as a civil matter? Sorry for the long post.

Ah well, it was worth an ask; cheers Andy!

Hi all, I was chatting to my sister earlier and she mentioned she got a ticket from these leeches about a month ago. Unfortunately, she paid it as she didn't know any different. Is it possible to get the money that she paid back through a small claims action, or is it too late now? Many thanks.

Can do - obviously my circumstances were different to yours, but the main things you want to put in your letter are that it was a one off, make no excuses, ask if you can pay any of their admin costs to date, explain the consequences of a conviction to your life and emphasise that you'll never do it again. PM's on the way in a few minutes...

No, I listened to the advice off the guys on here - calm down, you're making me nervous

Unless you're a massively habitual offender, the way I understand it is that there's no chance you'll go to prison. And there's a good chance you'll avoid the conviction if it's a first offence. Did you read my thread "I will freely admit I'm an idiot" - that should set your mind at ease a bit.

Paul, don't panic. Whilst you have certainly .., and they are legally within their rights to take you to the Magistrate Court, there are ways around this. Have a read through the threads on here, have a look at the thread I made on the first page. From what I can tell from your post, I did something far more stupid than you and managed to settle out of court for 35 quid though I'm under no illusion that I got extremely lucky when it came to that particular figure. Point is, it won't necessarily go to court. I'm also happy to pm you a copy of the letter that I sent to Southern after I got the Notice of Intention to prosecute letter - it was the same as yours. Try and relax, things aren't as bad as they may seem.

Don't mind you saying at all - I know I was very lucky. Can only think that it was a combination of following the advice of those that know from here to the letter, and the fact that it was a first offence. Suspect the fact that I'd bought a ticket a couple of hours later for the journey I took and enclosed it with the (long letter) I sent also helped matters. I was a bit shocked when I saw the settlement amount and mightily relieved also - I'm skint currrently, irrespective of that debacle!

I don't know what was said on their statements, but on my statement it was mentioned twice. The first time I responded "So you say", the 2nd time I responded "No comment." I also referred to it in my letter and said how stupid I'd been for doing so. Counting the blessings either way...

Assume you mean tube pass?

(1) Unfortunately it was your error, not theirs. And they hear that kind of excuse constantly. That's not to say that it will definitely go to court. I don't want to sound harsh, I'm just relaying the facts as I understand them. (2) I got extremely lucky. I sent them a two page letter in response to the letter that they sent me with the notice of intention to prosecute - the letter contained no excuses, I explained the consequences of a conviction to my career and asked that in this instance, as it was a one off, if they would consider allowing me to pay a penalty fare and their administration costs. Though they didn't have to do this, on this occasion I got lucky. (3) I have no idea, sorry. All I can suggest is follow advice given to you by the more experienced members of this forum.

The Conclusion I am the luckiest boy on this planet. I sent my letter via Recorded Delivery in the end, addressed directly to the person who sent me the NIP. They responded today, saying that on this occasion that they were willing to accept a payment of £35 in full and final settlement, which I've just paid over the phone. So, no conviction and a much lower settlement than I anticipated - a second relief as I'm pretty much skint currently- law text books are expensive! A good result, and I've learned my lesson; I don't think I'll walk within five feet of a station again without a ticket And the good result couldn't have been achieved without the help of you guys one here - so thank you all. I'll be making a donation to the site when I next get paid. Cheers.

To save Old Codja et al writing the same thing again.... From what I've gathered from this site you should do this: (i) Wait for the letter informing you of their intention to prosecute - in my case it took 21 days, but I believe it can take a lot longer. (ii) When it arrives, write back to the prosecutions team using the details on said letter. Be polite, explain it was a mistake, make no excuses, explain it was a first offence (if it was), explain that a conviction would have a detrimental effect on your career and visa application, ask if you can pay for the journey and any reasonable costs that they have incurred so far. (iii) Sit tight and wait for a response - they are under no obligation to not take you to court. The ball is well and truly with them. If I've missed anything, I'm sure one of the guys will correct me and I'm happy for them to do so.

Thanks for the lightning response - will do.

Ok, so the letter arrived today from the prosecutions department, with the NIP. A couple of questions if you don't mind? The first is that I'm not entirely sure what they intend to prosecute me under; I think it's s.18, not s.5 judging from the first paragraph: "On [day and date] at [time] your details were taken by a Revenue Protection Officer for the offence of not having a valid ticket at [named] station." The way I'm reading this, it would be s.18 - or is it still possible for a s.5 to be tacked on to this? Secondly, what do I do now? There is a phone number, and email contact, though the letter states at the end that You must reply to this letter using the attached document within 7 days of the above date Is it likely to irritate them if I call or email (the reason that I'm thinking email particularly is that I can scan in the ticket that I bought that day when I got back home easily - not that it makes any difference to the offence, I'm guilty as charged, but I'm hoping that it would go some way to showing that I didn't try and avoid paying for the journey. I would also prefer to email or call, just in case the letter back to them went walkies in the post, which would be sod's law. I had a thought the other day; I'm also a (now part time) instructor under the Driving Standards Agency. A criminal record would lose me that job as well. Totally my fault though, and I'll have to deal with the consequences. Anyway, write back using their form, email or phone. Any ideas? Thanks.

I've got a couple of questions regarding funding, very briefly these are my circumstances; * I did a BA between 2000 and 2003. * I took three years worth of maintenance loans, but paid tuition myself. * I didn't complete the degree for personal reasons. * I haven't earned over 15k in the intervening years (actually, I think I made two payments back in 2005 as I was in a slightly higher paid job) * I've since started another degree at a different university in a different field. I'm in my first year and started at the beginning of this month. * I've had to look into funding unexpectedly - the best laid plans and all that... So, I've been looking through the practitioners section of the SFE site, and it seems that; (i) I can get full funding for the third year of my course but not years one or two? (ii) For years one and two, it seems that although I didn't take a tuition fee before, I won't be eligible for one now, nor a Maintenance Grant. But possibly a Maintenance Loan still? To be honest, that would be fine as working part time (just) covers my living costs, but I can't work out what on earth I'm going to do about the £3.3k tuition fee each year for the first two years. Have I got (i) and (ii) right? Any help would be gratefully received - I'm going cross eyed trying to sift the information I need for that site, and the student advice centre at my uni are getting a bit baffled too Many thanks in advance.

And, to a point, yes. Like another poster commented, everybody needs their own personal peace of mind - but I was fairly sure of what the replies would be to my post having read through the prior threads. That doesn't mean that I was ungrateful in any way to those who responded to it though. It's been two weeks now - still playing the waiting game. And will continue to do so Does anyone know how long they keep CCTV footage captured from train stations by the way? Presumably if you are prosecuted you have the opportunity to view the footage prior to a hearing?

Is it possible that the RPI's run to a set routine? Eg. The large amount of posts following the start of the new university year at the start of October

And I'm now at the point where I'm not even reading OP's correctly *sigh* I shall stick to the original advice then

I've spent way too much time looking at this situation over the last few days. And have come across the "10 points to avoiding penalty fares" or some such a thousand times - I can sense the rolling of eyes from here 4 Even if they pass these tests, politely refuse to pay the penalty and simply pay the full single fare. On the train or at the station, you have the absolute right to make only "a minimum payment that is equal to the full single fare which [you] would have had to pay for [your] journey if penalty fares had not applied." This is section 8 (2) of the Penalty Fares Rules 2002 - quote it if anyone tries to tell you different. (The full single fare means the fare without any railcard discounts, cheap offers etc.) I suspect that this interpretation of Section 8 may be twisted a bit to suit the author's ends, but if it weren't? A payment for my journey is what I offered, but this was rejected. Upon the announcement of the penalty fare I was then an idiot and bolted. But, should the original offer of payment for the journey been accepted?

A good result! A question if it's ok? On my thread and most others the most common advice is to sit tight for a letter. But Barca seems to have got the result I want/need by being proactive in getting in touch with the train company involved. Would I still do well to sit tight? Sorry if I seem rude by asking - I'm getting delirious through spending too much time looking at Railway Acts

As per my last post, I have no intention of suing or any nonsense like that. I put myself into the situation in the first place, and will now deal with any consequences that arise from it. I want to be proactive and get in touch with the company directly over this, but will follow the advice given and sit tight.