That to be a bedroom it has to be more than 70 square metres and to be half a bedroom it has to be more than 50 square metres (available usage space)

Wow! that's excellent thank you dx. I expect this will be challenged by DWP but will word my request to reflect it. Thank you :whoo:

Think this might be a quick issue to resolve but I would like your thoughts please. Is it possible to apply for Data Subject Access Request for information on a deceased person? I am the spouse of the deceased and there was a Power of Attorney in place prior to death so I was next of kin. I suspect that DSAR is only for living person but if that is the case how can I get access to information which involves me but was on his records? Thanks in advance Shelley

I have recently fallen into the trap of Bedroom Tax. I had been working full time and I am now in between positions and in receipt of UC. I researched the process with the help of relevant threads on here and have submitted a letter appealing the bedroom tax for one room as it does not meet the Housing Act criteria. Within my letter I attached a diagram providing room measurements and submitted this via recorded delivery post, received and signed for. I hadn't received a reply and was discussing another matter with the council and they said they would chase the person concerned and get a response. They said in no uncertqin terms that as we had signed and accepted the property as a three bedroom house, they were not reducing the tax. Now, my thoughts are that as we had moved into this house 8 years prior to the introduction of the bedroom tax, surely this isn't sufficient and I should challenge their response? Am I correct in thinking that the housing officer's decision does not meet the Housing Act provisions and therefore I have grounds to appeal this further? Thanks in advance. Shelley

Thanks Ford. Feel abit stupid now! I had been researching their website for ages and couldn't find it........

Hope its good news. Please update the thread when convenient, it will be helpful to others, thanks

Taking an interest in B&B cases. Please can I ask how this matter concluded? Were you able to get compensated for PPI claim?

I have tried to locate FOS decision database but cannot find it. Please can you post a link to assist? Thanks in advance. Shelley

A package holiday was booked in July for an All Inclusive Holiday for myself and my daughter. The assistant at the time of booking didn't in still confidence in what she was doing but the first deposit was paid in cash. We then made smaller payments 2 x credit card, 1 x debit card and further cash. Atol protected for November 2017. The assistance hadn't explained that we were to go online to add our passenger information onto Monarchs system, I had found this out when going through the paperwork several days later. As I couldn't access the system to do this, I visited the TA who said, " Monarch have advised us you can do this at the airport". As this is a legal requirement I didn't feel comfortable with her explanation and she tried to go online and see if she could input the information, but said you can't get online because you do not have the correct code! I therefore requested a call back from the manager to discuss this further. I left it a few days and tried the online facility again and finally managed to complete the passenger information and received acknowledgment from Monarch by email that this was all now complete and ok. A few days later I received a telephone call from someone at the TA, saying she had JUST received my request for call back and it appeared from her system that it was all complete, I hasten to add she found it amusing! I politely said, "with no thanks to TUI I have managed to do this myself, and that I wasn't ahppy with the lack of customer service and was disappointed that she found this funny" THEN.....................4 days later Monarch GO BUST!!! The attitude from TUI is disgusting. They started off by saying its our priority to get those stranded folk home first, then we'll get to your booking. Your on our list and we'll contact you when we can. You can book another holiday but you will have to pay for it and wait for the refund of monies to come back via CAA process. You cannot book a holiday using those funds. I have been following the CAA website and have liaised with my credit card company - ha! that was another one hour 13 minute telephone call talking to someone from Mumbai who also didn't know how they were to handle this Monarch situation. They advised me, eventually that they would refund 2 x payments made to TUI and raise a dispute for the remainder of monies paid and get back to me. The next day a manager from credit card company said I had been given incorrect information from her colleague and that I would not be receiveing any funds from them as I was to claim via TUI through the ATOL process. The next day I received the 2 x credit card payments refund plus interest .......................... According to the CAA website it said that customers who had booked through TA would have a claim form available by 11th October to be completed in order to submit a claim. Claims would be taking approximately 28 days to turn around. Naturally, this will not be in time to be abroad on the dates we had originally booked for, which admittedly are for sentimental reasons but, still important to us but we get that this is Monarchs fault, not TUI. However, today TUI have advised that the claim forms are still not available until 16th October due to further delays by CAA. Car parking for Leeds airport was booked and paid for inadvance via debit card and the bank have verbally refused chargeback facility because the service is still available! How do I stand legally on that one please? I don't need to park in Leeds airport in November now as holiday was cancelled due to Monarchs collapse........ Totally and utterly exhausted, yet were supposed to be protected!

I am trying to locate information on the rules for requesting UC claim to be back dated - I know they have minimal reasons but I have trawled through the GOV website for all the T&C's (if you get my drift) and cannot locate this. During my research I have come across MR regarding ESA/PIP - people can submit a MR to meet the timeframes required, then request a copy of the report to aid their 'defence' which may arrive after the deadline allowed, but is considered correct process. My question is: might there be a report following my initial request for back dating my UC claim which I need to apply for to aid with my MR in this matter? Or, is it a case of just writing a letter to expalin the reasons for my MR request? Unclebugaria67 - I have liaised with the local authority who have been helpful, knowing how proactive I have been and taking into consideration all the matters I have been dealing with, however I am liaising with CAB or shelter when I can get through to discuss my options to ensure I am doing things in MY best interest. Spitfire, UC have written in their own protection that even if we are told by other government officials any incorrect information, they will NOT back date claims! I am extremely methodical and write down every persons name I speak to, date and time and all calls are recorded so I will be there worst nightmare. TIA

I am aware of my rights under S.75 but it appears the my C.C company clerks do not. As explained #14 the left hand hasn't liaised with the right hand and now one clerk has refunded 2 instalment payments plus interest, (received yesterday afternoon) whilst the other clerk has closed my dispute and referred me back to the TA. The following information within the link you advised states: Payments through an agent or third party It's not unusual for a business taking payment to be acting as an agent for the actual supplier. In this circumstance, Section 75 may not apply and you may not be able to claim against the credit card provider. A good example of this is when you buy concert tickets. If you buy direct from the venue, then Section 75 may apply if the cost is over £100. If you buy through a ticket agency, then it may not. This is because the card provider may argue that as payment wasn't made directly to the supplier of the goods or service, Section 75 doesn't apply. So where possible, make any credit card payment direct to the company actually supplying the goods or services. I am now at a loss to know how to move forward so think I should create a new thread, to prevent 'hyjacking' this one. No pun intended.

I had booked via TA (TUI) and had paid some parts of the holiday by C.C,debit card and cash. Package holiday covered by ATOL. I have been given a terrible run around by all parties involved. Firstly, TA said if I wanted to book another holiday I had to pay first, whilst waiting for the refund to come through via CAA. TA were still waiting the claim forms from CAA today and dont expect to get refund until after Christmas due to volume of people affected, even though CAA suggest they are trying to get claims resolved by end of the year. C/C company telephone conversation was really messy, talking to someone in Mumbai for over an hour - clerk didn't seem to know what section 75 was, but referred my dispute to other colleague to call me back, but promised to refund payments made via C/C back to my account and any interest accrued since making them. Received call back from colleague today, who said as I have booked holiday through TA they will not be settling my dispute and referred me back to TA to deal with the situation, and that previous clerk had given me incorrect information and I will not be receiveing any refund at all. TA originally said they would cover my additional costs for airport parking, albeit I paid for this seperately, but now saying no, they wont cover this. Airport parking - paid via debit card - and bank have refused chargeback as service is still available, even though not required due to Monarch collapse! Now I find the C/C company have refunded instalments paid to TA but not the total cost of holiday!!! Travel Insurance taken out but does not cover 'company going bust' scenario's. Just seems like everyone is passing the buck............................... Never been in this situation ever before but I sure won't use TA again!

I attended my UC appointment today, have to say the staff are very slow and the system was down for awhile and the staff seemed very uneasy with what to do with claimants - bazaar really when you think these are government staff! Anyway, the lady I saw was training a nice gentleman and having explained my predicament he actually complimented me for my efforts and being so proactive with my approach to the situation and appeared just as frustrated as I am with how I have been treated. Marvellous. The system (apparently) will only want accurate information from a 'fit note' and not any additional information a claimant may want to offer with regards to their condition. Therefore, whilst in view of these two clerks, they got me to 'update my journal' to reflect the fit note information because the colleague I saw 10 days ago had misled the system by all accounts? I explained I was disappointed that I had received a rejection for back dating my claim but they just referred me to the mandatory reconsideration process. I did point out that they made their decision on 30th September but didn't alert me to that fact until 2nd Oct at 9am, which eats into the time you have to prepare and submit your MR request.........They got my meaning and blamed teething problems. What adds to my current frustration is that UC claimants are to visit job centres on a WEEKLY basis to have their meeting with their workcoach (20-30 minutes) for the first 14 weeks............... My point being, claimants in receipt of JSA don't even have to conform to this regime, and i am currently not fit for work! So how does that work?????? I will now have to draft up my Mandatory Reconsideration request - this will include: 1) call charges when dialling 0845 numbers from a mobile (charged by DWP, not the service provider) and can be on hold for a very long time 2) lack of local advertisement that my area have infact gone live with UC in July this year 3) the fact that ESA took 3 weeks to reject my claim, resulting in putting me into financial hardship if they dont relax their policies in the early roll out of UC, thus causing rent/council tax arrears and potential homelessness 4) my health condition has impacted on my ability to investigate and/or follow their new benefit processes 5) anything else I think about before I submit it, within the timeframe Considering my condition is stress related bought about by complex grief/PTSD this isn't going to help And going totally off topic, Monarch airlines collapse has ruined a holiday I was looking forward to, to aid my convalesence and have a further nightmare to resolve.........life is blast I will keep the thread updated, thank you both.

I find myself in murky waters like many others claimming this new benefit. Having worked most of my life, and cared for family member, then returning to work following the loss of family member, my GP signed me off work and to cut long story short, I resigned from my job due to employers pressure. I was only on probationary period so cannot claim unfair dismissal. I investiagted my entitlement to benefits and was directed to claim ESA which I did. 3 weeks later receiving a letter rejecting my claim, not returning my 'fit notes' and advised to claim UC. I immediately claimed UC and attended first security appointment. I was handed my 16 digit security number (which I feel breaches data protection having it printed, but wouldn't remember it anyway) and requested my claim be back dated to 2nd September due to the above. As UC is all dealt with online, via the journal process I have found this process confusing and frustrating as I am unable to speak with someone initially to find out what benefits I could claim. The 0845 numbers in my area charge additional fees when calling from mobile phone, fees which my provider advise are not charged by them, but are charged by DWP. The rejection to back dating my claim will obviously cause severe hardship and arrears with rent /council tax. I am genuinely looking to return to work and have been applying for many jobs which I am more than capable of doing, without success but in the meantime I am totally stressed about my current situation and do not know how I am too proceed, not having been in the position before of having to claim JSA/ESA etc. I'm not wishing to sound derogatory but I have never lived off benefits and find myself in unknown territory, but extremely scared of the prospects ahead. I have done some research about benefits and it mentions 'Mandatory reconsideration', prior to appealing their decision but I have no idea how to go about doing this, as it appears the wording of the rejection letter (via UC Journal) seems to be coming across as saying 'ignorance is no excuse'............................ I have a meeting with my workcoach at the local jobcentre this afternoon and would like any information you can help me with to go armed with to get this MR moving along please. I have requested an interim payment but the UC Journal advises that I call them to apply for this! If they will take phone calls for interim payments then why can I not talk to anyone regarding UC on the phone about benefit matters? This is so confusing and frustrating but surely they can't reject a request for back dating of claim when all their rules are so complex? Or can they? I will be homeless by Christmas if they don't agree to back date this :-x:-x:-x Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.

Hi bjt, Interested to know if your Sat-Nav ever arrived? Seems I may have been duped into buying from these cowboys, item said delivery within 10 days but its been almost a month. Did get a reply to my email (via their webpage contact us button) but asks to wait a further 7 days! We live in hope........

Firstly, if my post is in the wrong thread plese feel free to move appropriately and advise. Now, I know that this is likely to touch a nerve with a few caggers but I'm like a dog with a bone so please bare with me. My Nephew (for the purpose of this thread we'll call him John) was researching various traders for a vehicle and having previously been wary of [problem]mers, had successfully turned down previous vehicles because of suspicious activity on said websites. However, unfortunately, he has fell fowl to a vehicle [problem] on Auto Trader (online) to the tune of £7000. Now, please dont state the obvious, he already realises how stupid he's been transferring the funds before seeing the vehicle but the said vehicle was in London and he works long hours. going on past transactions, he's purchased vehicles like this previously with no bother, and all has been ok. On researching this topic I came across a similar fraud https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?469945-Defrauded-by-bank-transfer-by-a-Barclay-s-customer-should-I-sue&highlight=fraud+[problem] and can relate to some of the information contained there in. Action Fraud have been advised, reference etc provided. Auto Trader advised, and during the conversation have advised us that the 'Seller/[problem]mer' had multiple vehicles 'for sale' and they have taken all adverts down because of suspicious activity. Now, my thought is: Wouldn't it have been better if Auto Trader could 'tweak' their website to make it look like the adverts were still live to the [problem]mer but not actually available to customers to prevent anyone else being caught out? Whilst the police/fraud squad did there investigations and even visited said [problem]mer's home address (from the banks records) to retrieve as much money as possible? And even shut them down? We've spoken to DVLA to alert them that certain registration number is involved but they naturally will only liaise with the fraud team/police. We've spoken to Nat West and they won't divulge their policies and processes which they follow in these circumstances (even in a generalised scenario) but considering the vehicle was supposed to be in London the bank account is held in Leicester! Which is not a stone throw away from the link above thread. [problem]mers do not differentiate when it comes to obtaining funds by deception, a drone or a vehicle....... So, moving this a little futher down the line, assuming the police apprehend culptits and retrieve assets through crime. What happens to the cash recovered, property sold whether it be house, car, fancy watches etc? Can the victims not lay claim to a portion of the recovered assets, even pro rata amounts? Where does this money go to? I am in the process of drafting complaint letter up to the bank as like the cagger said above, banks are not protecting its customers sufficiently via bank transfers and just blaming the customer. The banks have a duty to apply due diligence when customers open new bank accounts and I dont think bank staff are trained sufficiently enough to spot fraudulent documents, they should have major training in spotting fraudulent documents and carry out further checks with relevant organisations before permitting funds to be released, and lets face it if you saw an account with transactions of transfer credits being received into an account of multiple thousands, several times a day, surely they can have flags on the software system to alert a fraud team? Would anyone like to suggest how I could draft a template letter to the bank to complain in this regard? Or your thoughts please?

Hello Slick, Lovely to hear from you. My scanner is disconnected at the moment, but yes. They have stated the following (verbatum) How your refund has been calculated A Refund of payments made by ********* B Refund of fees incurred due to PBP C Refund of interest charged on PBP premium and fees D 8% interest statutory compensation E Income tac deduction F Total = A+B+C+D-E How we calculated your redress Premiums The premium refund is calculated by adding all the premiums paid since the inception of the PBP policy. Compound Interest Compound Interest is a term used to explain the type of interest being charged on the account When a PBP Premium is charged it is added to the balance of the account and attracts interest charges at the purchase rate applicable at that time. Interest is also added to the balance and the following month any outstanding balance will also incur interest charges and so on. We have calculated the interest charged on the PBP premiums throughout the term of the policy taking into account the effect of compounding and using the purchase interest rates charged throughout the term. 8% Interest This is known as a 'simple interest' calculation - the reason for this is that we calculate 8% interest on the individual figure concerned for the number of days from the date of the charge until the date of the calculation. We do not 'annualise' this (for example in the way typical building society savings account operate) which is to calculate interest on interest at the end of the savings periods concerned. We will pay a simple interest amount if the calculated cumulative total amount is greater than the original card balance in any month. If this occurs we will pay 8% on the difference between the two, and if there is a time difference between when the PBP policy was cancelled & when we make the offer. The 8% interest amount is in line with the recommendations from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Now, having put all the figures and dates into the CISHEET v101 the compound interest total is almost on the money (but they have admitted they are missing 2 statements) and have approximated it based on the spending pattern. I'm not too concerned about that, were only talking couple of pound. I originally thought it was way off but realised because the account had been closed a while ago, naturally I have to amend the end date. However, the 8% interest is way off and I think I’ve spotted why! The name in the box of their breakdown is not the relative, so I suspect they have cut and pasted information into this and forgot to change all the relevant boxes. This (if they spot it) will have an impact on the settlement potentially, but if they don't spot it, can they come back at a later date and reclaim this? I suppose I should be upfront with them really?

Hi there CAG family, hope you are all well? I have been going through some paperwork for relative and are trying to reclaim old PPI from a Sky card, now owned by B/C. I have collated all PPI amounts and entered onto a spreadsheet I used from previous claims. Barclays have responded and although they state they have included compound interest, it appears to be way off. They have calculated PPI premiums together with charges and the compound interest amount added is closer to 27.29% of this total. This does not come close to the spreadsheet total (correct interest as per statements). They have then added 8% statutory interest (this value includes extra 45 days simple interest) which totals more than the compounded interest amount above! Surely that can't be right? The account was closed due to LVA which has also been fully repaid and settled. I maybe using the wrong spreadsheet for my calcs as the account was closed. It has been many years since dealing with these calculations and i'm confused, would appreciate your thoughts.

That's a bit harsh ericsbrother. I did submit the bundle ON TIME and requested that the judge dealing with the matter request the documentation (contract from landowner) from the claimant, which obviously they haven't. Now having seen the judge involved, I know exactly why it was upheld for the claimant. Whether anyone was in attendance or not wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference. As for setting aside - it costs £255 or to pay the judgment by instalments adds a further £50. There's justice for you - hit them from every angle why dont they? There's more than one way to skin a cat and remember, those that laugh last, laugh the longest.......

Thank you dx, will do it first thing tomorrow

Is there a time limit for set aside applications and on what basis?

Update: They obviously paid the court fee and the hearing went ahead, although it slipped our mind and we were not in attendance. The Judge upheld their side of the story and obviously didn't ask for the documents following our request of the contract and awarded the cowboys their judgement. It was payable within 7 days which surprised me and I called the solicitors and arranged a delayed payment due to circumstances. Any thoughts? apart from our stupidity for not attending

That can only mean that I will be sitting in more traffic jams this week - I spend my life gridlocked on motorways

Post Office strike? I didn't know there was a possibility of one - at least I have got the upper hand there then, the court is on the door step almost

I understand - but isn't that giving them the heads up on our documents before they produce theirs? Not fair! But I guess that's what you mean about the sanctions? Makes sense