There is something else far more disturbing going on at Amazon. Considering the tight margins companies make Amazon charge hefty fees for selling products through marketplace. In fact Amazon make the profit without the responsibility. However as you pay Amazon the full amount and the remainder goes to the seller, despite what Amazon claim they are fully involved and complicit by doing this. There is something else to consider when using Amazon marketplace. I recently purchased a Android Dongle, keyboard and LED lighting from the marketplace (from 2 companies). The original dongle was sent from a UK logistics warehouse which was duff and a refund was given with having to send it back. The replacement and the rest of stuff was sent from HK and contained invoices to me at a fraction of the cost with some of the invoices from 3rd parties. Now I am no expert but false invoicing is a criminal offence as it constitutes blatant duty and VAT avoidance. Theoretically I am now complicit in this as I am the invoicee. So why am I bringing this up? 1000s of individuals using Amazon's EU marketplace network are being shipped goods from outside the EU everyday that they have purchased from Amazon marketplace which clearly states that VAT has been paid on the seller page. VAT cannot be paid unless duty has been paid and therefor anyone would believe this to be fact when it is not and if it has only a fraction due has been paid. Amazon has plenty of disclaimers but by taking a cut they are also complicit no matter how they put it. Marketplace is open to abuse and Amazon are happy for it to continue until issues with sellers are "brought to their attention" then again it has and the sellers are still trading. I compiled a list of over 40 companies that I suspect of pretending to be in the UK and misleading customers and whom have no address stated I asked Amazon for their business contact details. They refused stating data protection. I asked them for the extract from the act that covers businesses as companies information is in the public domain and I got a snotty reply without the extract and plenty of disclaimers and stating they are ceasing my line of inquiry. Apart from this issue of VAT and duty dodging putting tens of thousands s at risk of fines and payments. Amazons marketplace can theoretically be used for international illegal money laundering, false accounting by companies and profit shifting. We also have to ask ourselves if the sellers are willing to dodge duty and VAT and put us at risk, are they willing to sell counterfeit,unsafe, graded soled as new and or stolen goods?. As there are no real checks and due diligence by Amazon, there is also the possibility that illegal goods are being sent using Amazon labels therefor reducing suspicion and allowing illegal items into the EU I have taken one of the companies that sent me goods from HK and dug. They claim to be a US company but the emails come from a far east time zone. I tacked their US corporate offices (both) and found that they are both virtual offices. one address has over 500 companies registered there and the other comes up as clearly a virtual office address. So I checked out their logistics warehouse address and found that they had recently set up a UK company at that address with 2 Chinese nationals as director and secretary. So what. Well as they claim to be US based Amazon will send they payment less commission to a US bank account thus avoiding UK corporation tax. In the case of goods being sent from the UK. This can be achieved by the US office paying HK, invoicing UK at near full price. Or that the UK invoices the US at near cost price. The other issue that the customers details can be used for transactions with the companies internal systems or more serious issues in identity theft. After all if they want to dodge VAT or sell sell dodgy goods, what's stopping them from selling your details. Of course once again Amazon will disclaim and avoid any responsibility. So next time you go online remember this: When you buy from likes of Amazon,you take the same risk as buying from the boot of a car but you give them your address. Why? because Amazon WILL NOT accept any liability and is willing to hide them under their umbrella. I may be sticking my head out and Amazon may know who I am if this is read. However, the circumstances and pieces of evidence I have gleaned to date fit so tightly it makes the eyes water. So Amazon will have to take responsibility, the sooner the better, or suffer the eventual consequences because it will not be you or I that brings them to task . By the way HMRC, Trading Standards, the SFO, SOCA, OFT and not forgetting your local MP are always looking for intelligence on routes of VAT and Duty avoidance, especially when it is orchestrated by a 3rd party. However before you send any proof to them contact Citizens advice or consumer direct for clarification.

I have had a number of issues over the past 10 years with purchases from and through Amazon and everyone to date has been sorted without a problem. So Amazon are usually very good with sorting out problems. The same cannot be said for marketplace sellers. People are not often aware of Amazon types of sale.. Amazon themselves, Amazon Market Place sellers who are 3rd party and here's one that people get confused with Fulfilled by Amazon in which Amazon effectively act as a 3rd party logistic warehouse for marketplace sellers. People can easily mistake this as being sold by Amazon directly when it is not. However if there are issues you should consult Amazon's T&Cs especially when it comes to disputes with faulty products. Market Place sellers and Fulfillment Sellers have to adhere to T&Cs and I suggest that you send the items back and launch a claim for refund under the internal system especially if the replacements are dodgy upon receipt and they where notified at the time.

When members of the family pass away under difficult circumstances everything else seems insignificant in comparison and I completely understand the difficulty you find yourself in. Normally when a person passes away there assets go into probate even if there is no will. This also means that the estate has to be valued for inheritance tax purposes. You will need to consult a solicitor or CAB because you may be in for a shock with HMRC and courts over this in the future. There may be issues with other members of the family who may be entitled to a share of the estate and I believe have some considerable time in which to lodge a claim against assets. There is one thing that you may be able to do but you will need to seek legal advice once again. If you can prove that you have been in effect acting as owner and maintainer of the property without paying rent for a period of 10 or more years you may be able to claim the property as yours under squatters rights. There may be issues with Cap Gains over this though So in short and repeat myself yet again SEEK LEGAL ADVICE ASAP or you may be letting yourself into a whole heap of issues with HMRC and courts as they have no sympathy for ignorance of the law and due process.

Having purchased electronics on ebay and recently being informed by a Amazon seller that a LED strip lighting product they are selling has no CE certification. I become worried and this was the only pertinent thread I could find. It seems by the lack of interest that complacency is a serious problem. History dictates that complacent species and societies are doomed to extinction.. Or in this case risk of electrocution or fire

Here is a question that should worry use all. How many items are being sold through the likes of ebay and Amazon are not in actually CE approved or in fact are damn right dangerous to use. They may even have the CE mark that is not even legal to use. There is also an issue with CE approval that is scary. I am given to understand, although I could be corrected that a company can in fact issue a certificate of conformity even non EU companies. This I find is another Horse dressed as Beef scenario that will soon blow up as retailers rely on their suppliers to pay due diligence to the factories in which the items are produced. There is another issue there are many factories in the far east that produce the same products with substandard components that do not operate with the same tolerances leading to failure or even fire. The same can be said for components that make their way into the chain into brown and white goods that are manufactured or assembled in the EU So at the end of the day who is checking the validity of CE conformity certificates. The retailer, Distributor, Trading Standards or the EU. Who is doing the checks on a daily basis or verifying that that have been done. How many ticking time bombs do we have sitting around our homes, after all how many fires are cause by electrical appliances that are "CE approved" There is another aspect. Insurers look for ways not to pay. They then can theoretically refuse to pay if the cause of a fire or a plumbing flood has been cause by a product found not to be conforming to regulations

Unfortunately not on the contents as it is a question of argument and hence the 7% cost but given that they thought of everything and take you through it whereas the adjuster will just ask you to draw up a list. Not a lot of people think about the small stuff but they do and you will be surprised how much stuff you miss out on without help and the cost was more than worth it for that part alone. if they get involed in the rebuilding aspect then their fees are dealt with directly and and you don't have to do anything except discuss how you want it put back and any minor changes that can be done within the budget of reinstatement. There is one thing to consider the assessor will let you know what you are entitled to under your policy but the adjuster will tend not to let you know unless you ask.

I had a fire a fews years back and had a company chasing me, I believe you can't give names but I can give you a clue - a pirate and a kids shoe. I didn't want to know at first but when the adjusters for the insurers started to mess around and a very dodgy builder who was appointed by the them even got the Insurers surveyor worried with the work quality and practices, I called them in. They were very good and charged the insurance company for the buildings part, although they charged me about 7% for negotiating the contents. They did do a lot of donkey work and gave lots of advice on what could be claimed on,correct replacement prices, temporary accommodation and took on the negotiation and communication with the adjuster's who were a pain in the rear and kept on the case as well a keeping me informed. Just say it took a lot of the stress away and they were worth it

If you are fully comprehensive it is for your insurer to sort out, so let the insurance Company deal with it. They will use an adjuster to drive down the cost if there isn't a chance of getting the money off the other insurance company, likewise if you are both insured by the same company or underwriter. The other insurance company will use an adjuster to drive down the costs as well so there is a few things you can do. You will have to prove that the crash was the cause of the damage or failure and may require a 3rd party report which the insurance company can also insist upon. The insurers usually work on value so you can look on the internet specifically through small adds and refurbished suppliers for an equivalent replacement value, if they say £50 but some refurb specialist has the unit at £150, then you can legitimately demand £150 it is all a question of reasonable and legitimate proof. You may also need to find original proof of purchase for the items and they may demand the items after settlement. On items that you cannot find, then you can ask the manufacturer for the equivalent recent model and look for the cost of the second hand refurbished model. This can cut 2 ways, the newer better version may be cheaper so your original cost on the sliding scale way be worth more as long as you have the original retail price or even the receipt. Everybody forgets that cost of professional recovery of data from laptops with none functioning video displays and if done by a reputable company could be equivalent to the cost of a new laptop. There are also setup and installation charges as well These extras give you a position to negotiate and you can choose to make an equitable settlement as long as it is within reason and legitimate. You should be aware that if any of the items have been claimed for under another policy you will find yourself in big trouble unless you have declared it. Lots of electronic items are covered by household accident and there could be room for a claim there and it may be new for old. They may however try to recover part of the money from your car insurer or the 3rd party. Remember that you can negotiate with insurers and don't be frightened to argue the case because at the end of the day they are looking to reduce the costs and you are looking for a fair deal. I hope that this is of some use and good luck

I have moved a number of times over the last 10 years and in every redirection I have had issues as well as my normal post being posted in the wrong street. Last year I moved to France and took up a new redirection. The latest problem took no less than 4 weeks before going wrong and I started receiving all the mail from my previous London address which included someone else's bills and bank/credit card statements parking fines etc.The worse one of all was a DWP letter with the personal information pre-filled. Problem is that because the label covers the address box the letters have to be opened to see. Fine the name is similar although the addressee is female, however being aware of this when I made the redirection I made sure it was specific redirection. My first complaint went through and all was well for a delivery or two and the next one back to the original problem. Complained again problem continued complained OK for a couple of deliveries and happened again call letter, etc a circle that now has at least 6 references in 6 months. In the meantime I was receiving some else's stuff post office requested that I put it back in the post and they would pay. I live in rural France and disabled and the post office here does not do return to international sender without payment. I did however contact the various sender's to inform them of the mistakes including the Congestion Zone people with whom I returned the letter directly to prove that the issue was with Royal Mai and the Congestion Charge People in 2 instances as I felt guilty that the person would get an excess charge. I did this because I've fell foul of parking charges before and know how quickly they can escalate before mistakes are dealt with and I would like someone to do same for me. They paid back my original £110 plus another£110 and promised that it would go to the Chairmans office etc, etc,. So in the end it was referred to the Postal Review Panel who sent me a different letterhead but with the same assurances and story of sorting out. Happened again with 2 weeks so I sent a very brusque complaint online and stated that after at least 10 years of documented screw ups I am sick and tired of the matter and made a flippant compensation demand of £10 to be taken out of management bonuses because they couldn't sort this out after 7 attempts and requested reply by email. Got A letter from the same rep at the Postal Review Panel stating that the delivery manager was off ad due to the withdrawal of management checks that were made previously the problem reoccurred and beside that I have been given £110, an additional £110 in error and a book of 24 Royal Mail first class stamps (that I can only use in the UK) and the matter will be referred to POSTRS with a deadlock reference. POSTRS only take complaints that commenced within 9 months. Tricky and ambiguous as it this includes the time of the first complaint. That means that if Royal Mail or you have not approached them within 9 months from the very first issue of incorrect delivery then you have to take it through the courts. But Royal Mail take each instance as a complaint so theoretically if two or more complaints relate to various issues you can choose the last one that falls within the date range and request that the other issues be taken into consideration due to historic ongoing various unresolved issues as part of the evidence. That is you received mail for X and your mail was posted in Y's letterbox then these are 2 differing issues therefore you should be able to use one as a referral complaint and the others as historical incidents and ongoing problems as evidence of continual failure So I am going to play the game. The current service started at the end of September last year so I'm covered on this redirection. I have put it to POSTRS that is it possible to bring in the previous issues to show that it has been a historical problem emanating from 3 London delivery offices for over 10 years and therefore my complaint and demand is not unreasonable given the historical problem. After all you can't put a criminal in the dock without taking previous form into consideration!!!! Any further ideas or comments would be appreciated