Recently returned from a holiday in France. It was expensive and not as advertised. The website showed a beautiful watermill and a pristine lake. When we arrived the lake was completely covered in a layer of thick green algae. Not conducive to boating or fishing. I think this is a case of misrepresentation under the SOGAS Act. The problem is that the person we rented from lives in Jersey. And he has already argued that he is immune from the British legal system because the watermill is owned by a French company in which he is a shareholder. However, cheques were made out to this person and deposited into his personal bank account, so I am assuming that our contract was with him. If anyone can shed light on this I would be very grateful. Paul

Just had a fairly easy time getting money back from Egg. 8 days from start to finish. However, they want to credit my wife's account (an account that they closed along with thousands of others). Although we still owe Egg money, can we request a cheque on the grounds that its her money? The amount to be refunded would not entirely clear what we still owe to Egg, so at least it will reduce it considerably. Any help much appreciated.

Paid in full following the letter before action. Lloyds TSB next!

Hi folks, My wife has reveived a letter from Triton Credit Services, who are apparently acting on behalf of Mint, who they say is their 'client', threatening legal action. I'm sure they are part of Mint. Mint owe my wife more than she owes them. Anyway, after lots of phone calls (very frustrating and to no avail) Mint are now saying that we have to deal with Triton. Mint phoned this morning to offer half of the charges (so much for Triton then). My wife declined. We didn't exactly follow the CAG route with this one but it is my opinion that we should now make a claim. Could anyone confirm that Triton are part of Mint? Mint consistently deny this. And also, should we start filling in the N1 or write a letter before action first (they have already told us that half is the final offer). Advice welcome. Best regards, Paul

Cheers Scott, Will do. They are all credit card claims. Will get started on them asap.

Hello Folks, Haven't been around for a long time, but its time to start on Lloyds and a few others. I take it that its business as usual, but is my claim likely to be put on hold by the court? I ask because I'm going for about five banks and that's a lot of money in court fees if I'm unlikely to get it back for a year or more. Thanks, Paul

No, what I meant is banks taking people to court over closed accounts that often consist almost entirely of charges. Will these cases be delayed?

To be honest Wild Bill I think you've got this one completely wrong. This may well be the test case that will settle this matter. The problem is that it seems that the banks are allowed to carry on charging these contested and detested charges, while also having the safety net of not having to pay out any claims for the duration of the case. One rule for the banks and a different one for us. I wonder if this now means that people being taken to court by the banks for not paying unlawful charges will also have their cases put on hold? Probably not, but we'll see. It's hard not to think that there is something fishy going on when this is so much in the favour of the banks. That does not imply that I believe in JFK type conspiracy theories, although I reserve the right to do so if I so wish. Only an 'idiot' would deny me that right.

Grrrrrr!!! £362 in charges taken in June and July. My wife called them and was told that she should manage her account properly! What gets me is that she is about £300 over her O/D limit so without these charges the account would have been managed well enough. Surely, if anyone is running the account badly it is Gnat West! Prelim sent 18th August.

This one is really dragging on but an LBA has gone off today for the revised sum of £422. They paid back the PPI, by the way (with contractual interest), but they closed the account first and then credited the money. Some refund!

To cut a long story short they refunded the money (with interest) to my wife's account. What they did not say is that they closed the account down first. The explanation for taking PPI payments is that apparently there was an 'administrative error' - yeah, right! We've now asked for a complete disclosure of information: I bring your attention to my letter dated xx/xx/xxxx requesting a complete list of charges and transactions relating to my account. Unfortunately, you only sent six years worth of copy statements. As the Data Controller, you should be aware that a Subject Access Request requires you to provide complete disclosure of all data that you hold relating to the history of my account. I refer to complete disclosure in its most rigorous sense since it has now been brought to my attention recently that ALL information, no matter how long held on file, must be disclosed fully and in a format that is legible. It seems that a lot of banks and credit card companies, including Lloyds TSB, wrongly interpret the Data Protection Act 1998 as only needing to disclose six years worth of copy statements. This is entirely wrong. I would also like to point out that The Limitations Act 1980 has no relation to this request at all and has no bearing on the Data Protection Act 1998. Since there have been security issues in the past with my account I would be grateful if you would now comply with my original request under the Data Protection Act 1998 and provide the following information: * Full copies of all contracts which you believe exist between myself and your organisation, including copies of any documents you hold in support of same. * Details of the identity of any individuals or organisations who have provided you with my personal information together with copies of any letters of instruction provided by them, or any contracts entered into between yourselves and the third party, and the relevant dates to which those contracts related. * Copies of all documents which include any of my personal information including copies of any contracts or invoices, emails or computer records containing my personal information, or any records which pertain to this information. * Full details and copies of any documents upon which you relied when you have provided my personal or financial information to any individual, organisation or third party. * Full copies or transcripts of any computer logs or database records kept in relation to myself or in relation to my financial or personal information. * Full copies of any correspondence in postal, email or any other format which you have entered into with any individual, organisation or third party which contains my personal or financial information, or which pertains to myself. * Details of all systems you currently have in place to ensure my personal or financial information is kept securely, including details of those officers who currently have control of same, and at the time it was held or provided to a third party. * Where any previous information or records held have been deleted or disposed of, the methods used to do so, including dates, certificates or references confirming details of destruction. Where you are unable to provide such certificates, please provide a declaration, signed by an authorised officer of your company, confirming the dates and methods of destruction of this data. * Full hard copy print outs of any of my personal or financial information held in a digital, magnetic or any other format which is held in any archives, backups or other storage devices / locations. And Audio files, specifically recordings of conversations had between myself and your staff regarding all matters relating to my banking history. * Your registration number with the Information Commissioners Office. * Your Consumer Credit Licence number. * Your VAT registration number. Where reference to emails is given above, these emails should be taken from your email servers or backups / archives held in a magnetic or digital format. These emails may not be present on a user’s local system, and may require the assistance of your IT department / IT providers, who you should contact immediately for their provision. Please confirm whether you hold a physical file with details of my personal and / or financial information. If so, please provide details and dates of any instance when this file has left your control, to whom it has been communicated, the method of transportation / communication e.g. Royal Mail, courier, by hand, electronically. Please provide a full copy of this file. Where my physical file has left your offices, please provide details of any precautions taken to ensure that my information has not been lost, stolen, misplaced or made available to anybody who does not have authorised access, including those who would use my information for the purposes of identity theft, or registered with any credit agencies. Please also confirm whether any of the documents held within the physical file are computer generated. Under S.40 of The Administration of Justice Act 1970, if you believe you have provided my information to any organisation, agent, or individual who could, or may have used it for unlawful purposes, you should contact me immediately, and provide full details of their identification and address, together with full details of any instructions you have provided to them. If you have forwarded or communicated my personal or financial information to any person, company, or organisation, please provide a copy of the authority, signed and dated by myself upon which you have relied prior to doing so. As requested above, you should provide copies of any such communications. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, as a Data Controller, you are responsible for the complete retraction of all information provided to any third party, should I request you to do so, and have a duty to myself to ensure that any personal or financial information I have provided to you is kept securely, and is only communicated to those to whom I have given my express permission / authority. I would remind you that I have already paid my statutory maximum £10 fee and I am now giving you 14 days to comply with my original request. If you fail to comply in full I shall not hesitate to escalate this matter by making a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office and I shall seek a County Court Order to enforce compliance. I look forward to your prompt attention regarding this matter. Yours faithfully, Paul's wife

A sensible answer to the problem, GuidoT. I'd never have thought of that in my state. I'm about to submit my PhD so I've spent the last week trawling through a 100,000 word document and making some very minor corrections, especially in the footnotes, so I'm in a VERY pedantic mood. If you've not seen this, have a look at what a lot of fuss even a comma can cause: The, case, of, the, million, dollar, comma | The Register All the best, Paul

Hi Jodesbailey, I might be wrong here, but it looks to me that the directions are saying that your amended particulars will be deemed served on the defendant by 11th June, after which they have 14 days to respond. You've amended it and paid the fee etc, so I would think that you are now back on course and waiting for their defence by 25th June. All the best, Paul

Hi, Yes, onwards and upwards. The relevant letters are here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/25716-rejecting-offers.html All the best, Paul

I really don't recommend taking any chances with Lloyds in the current climate. My advice is get the claim amended to be safe. Its only a small mistake but it could be an expensive one. No doubt someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong. All the best, Paul