Apologies for not replying sooner. It's about 3 months old now.

Hi, I have the 47" model from BH. I have the same issues with The tv turning itself off and then on again, and the sound cutting out. They're repairing it for me, but just thought you'd like to know

Right, it's a bit of a long one, so please bear with me. In 2009, I was running late for work, and with their being only one train every 30 minutes, I asked the guard if I could purchase a ticket on board using a debit card. I was told yes, so I hopped on board. I presented my card to pay for the ticket and was told "oh, we don't accept Electron" and was told I would have to pay a fine. I said I would be buying a return at the other end of the journey now, anyway (as I had to get home that evening, so I needed my return ticket) but was told this was not good enough. I was pretty Pi*sed off as I had specifically asked before I got on the train if I could pay by debit card, and wasn't informed of any restrictions. Anyhow, I ended up forgetting about the fine due to my husband and I suffering a miscarriage, and in February 2010 I was contacted by the court and ordered to pay over £500 that had been awarded to the train company as I had not attended court. I was unaware of the court case (as they had been contacting me at an old address) and therefore made a Statutory Declaration on May 27th 2010. The train company contacted me and offered me an £80 fine, or return to court. As I had just had my first child on 28th May 2010, I decided not to appeal and just agreed to the fine. I sent 8 cheques for £10 each to the train company (for them to cash one a month as agreed) and considered the matter settled. About 6 weeks ago, I received another letter from the courts ordering me to attend with regards to the train fine. A judgement had been made to award the train company ~£600, and I was summoned with regards to non-payment. I phoned the court, and explained that I had already dealt with this with the train company themselves. I was told that there was nothing the court could do, and I had to contact the company myself to resolve the issue, but that the court would postpone the case. I wrote to the company immediately, but received no response. I didn't really have chance to keep chasing it, as I was 34 weeks pregnant and had just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and suspected foetal macrosomia, so I was back and forth to the hospital a couple of times a week. I received a revised court date for the middle of October, but due to it being in a court a 90 minute journey away that I couldn't get to, I couldn't go. I was also still awaiting a response from the train company. Fast forward to today, I received a letter from a Bailiff company stating the amount I owe, and that if I don't pay, they may break in and remove my belongings. I have a 2 week old baby, and I suffer with bi-polar disorder, and cannot cope with the stress of worrying about bailiffs breaking in. I am now terrified to leave the house. I do not want to just pay the fine though as I wasn't aware of the court case when the fine was decided, and so couldn't put forward my case. After contacting Lloyds TSB for a copy of my old statements, it appears that none of the cheques to the train company were ever cashed. I lived at my previous address for 4 months after I made the arrangement with the train company, and they never contacted me with regards to any issues about the cheques etc, and I hadn't really thought about them when checking bank statements. I Would just like to know what I can do in this situation, and what my rights are? Thank you in advance for any help.

Do you have the optional service cover? If so, that allows you to return the product at any time, penalty free.

Right, the police are talking absolute balls. I had the same things from them, threatening arrest, telling me PH could break in and if they didn't want to take the bed back, they could take my son's pram and cot if they preferred etc etc. I knew this was absolute bull, so I e-mailed a complaint to the local chief of police. I had an e-mail back assuring me that all of the information I had been given was false, and that the two officers in question would be disciplined. He apologised and assured me that he was taking this very seriously. You need to do the same. Write to the local Superintendent and explain what has happened and how the police are misquoting the law (include accurate quotes eg the police officer said that the PH employee could break into my house to recover goods, however the law states that only a certified bailiff can break in in the following situations: blah blah blah, and this is not the case here)

Dear BAYV, Clearly this lady will need to provide you with a crime number, but this is not a matter of urgency, her family's wellbeing, however, is. I'm sure that within a reasonable timeframe you will receive said crime number, but right now you need to tell your disgraceful employee to back right off. Clearly you need to retrain a number of your staff, as this lady is not the first to have been harassed, and unfortunately I doubt she will be the last. Perhaps rather than finding the specific culprit in this instance, you should use this opportunity to reiterate to ALL of your account managers that it is unacceptable to treat ANY customer this way, and perhaps provide them all with definitions of both harassment and trespass, and how both are illegal.

Yeah, get a paintball gun and go fu**ing crazy! Honestly, ignore him. If he refuses to leave, call the police as he is trespassing, and harassing you. Can I just say that I hope your daughter recovers quickly (both physically and mentally from the trauma) and I hope that the rest of your family are OK. Stay safe, wishing you all the best hun

Hang on, so the police aided PH to remove the sofas? Did you refuse? What did the police actually do?

They will because they'll end up losing their license.

What she should have done was reported him for theft at the time. She could try contacting him asking for the laptop back?

I'd suggest recording any further contact you have with them. I'd also recommend you buy a cheap CCTV system to back you up. Get witnesses to make statements about what they saw, an present these to the police. This woman is breaking more than just laws about trespass, by making false allegations she is also wasting police time. Use these witness statements to make a complaint to the police for harassment, along with a log of activity (door knocks, phone calls etc)

Just remember that if they don't offer you a decent amount of compensation, going to court would be simple. You can file a small claim online via Money Claim Online for around £30. There would be very little stress necessary, and chances are BAYV won't even turn up, so you could win by default. I'm 99.9% sure you'd win anyway as BAYV have broken the law and your contract, and as such you are ENTITLED to your money back. All of it. And I think it would be reasonable to expect compensation for the disgusting behaviour on top of this, from both BAYV and the police. Good luck! Fight these scumbags so they stop doing it to others! X

Hi there, My brother in law has 4 items from BH totalling about £31 a week. He doesn't have OSC or DLC (I helped him remove these a while back after he fell into arrears) He has missed his payments since (I believe) 10th Sept, and now owes 3 weeks payments, but he won't have any money until next week, by which point it will be 4 weeks payments. He has kept in contact with the store to explain the issue, and says the only time he knows for sure he will have money again is next Fri, but he won't be able to pay the £135 odd to bring it up to date. He was told if he took out OSC again he could return the items and freeze his payments, but as they are essential items (oven, fridge freezer etc) he doesn't want to do this, an add to his debt with OSC. He asked about refinancing his agreement but was told "I'll have to speak to area/regional/store managers first" but if they did it, he'd be expected to pay this weeks payment, which he has already explained he can't until next week, and they seemed even more reluctant to postpone the refinancing until next week (if it was allowed) I don't think he's paid a third off of anything yet, but I also know from personal experience that it would be a big pain for Brighthouse to get the goods back if my BIL was unwilling to co-operate (which he would be), so it would make sense for them to sort out a refinance or something, but he doesn't want to come across as unreasonable, so he won't say "accept what I offer or whistle for your crap", but he does want some sort of arrangement in place. What are his rights here? And what are BH obliged to do? He's got me as a reference, and knows if they call me I'll just tell them to do one, but he's worried about them harassing his other references. Thanks in advance.

Haha! Gotta love it. Unfortunately HO will have all your records but who cares! You can't make your weekly payments now, how sad for you! (remember, if they ask, you have no debit card, and you're not happy to have them on your property again, so they'll have to go without until they re-build the store)

His name was Thomas. Was it the same guy who harassed you by any chance?

I'm in Birmingham, near to the PH head office. It's possible it's the same idiot as I think they're all based at the HO. Can you remember his name? I'll dig out my letters in a bit and see if I can find his name. In the emails I sent to PH, I believe I mostly referred to him as "that arrogant a**hole"

The police are absolutely Cack at dealing with these issues. Harassment and trespass are a police matter, whereas a breach of contract is a civil matter. However, when I phone the police, they told me as I owed PH money, the guy had every right to stand on my doorstep, swearing at me, shouting my business to all and sundry, and being very threatening (and waking my baby boy up) In fact, the police actually tried to get me to let this guy into my house. They told me that if I didn't, the guy could get a court order, break into my house when I wasn't there, and that he could take what he liked (the WPC said that if this guy wanted, he could take my son's cot, pram and toys) She belittled me in front of the guy from PH, lied to me about the law, and generally failed miserably at her job. I didn't leave the house for weeks as I was so afraid that this debt collector would break in. I eventually made a complaint to the head of my local police force, who basically Sao she was speaking out of her arse, and then had her disciplined! So if you do call the police to help, make sure you're armed with the correct information, because they probably aren't!

Your best bet is to tackle this now, though. Firstly, take off any insurance premiums from the arrears amount (if you read your contract, you'll find that these lapse when you miss a payment. Make sure you make it known that you do not want these reinstated when your account is brought up to date. OSC is easily removed, but you will need home contents cover to remove their damage cover) Make an offer of installments. They can either freeze your account for a few weeks until you are up to date, or they can accept increased payments for x amount of weeks until the account is out of arrears. Do this sooner than later (and make sure you aren't paying their OSC premiums!) Also, get home insurance. Chances are it will be less than you pay them for one item and your entire home contents will be covered. and once you have home insurance, you will not be in breech of your responsibility to have goods insured.

Do what I did, make a formal complaint to the police. Harassment, tresspass etc. Then complain to the financial ombudsman etc about his breach of the DPA, etc. Make sure this a**hole doesn't have a job by the end of the week.

No. they can ask for the items back, but if you don't allow them access, there's nothing they can do. Send them this letter: Dear xxxx Account Ref xxxx Please be advised that I will only communicate with you in writing. I have noted your repeated attempts to contact me by telephone over the past few weeks/months and these have been duly logged by time and date. Furthermore, should it be your intention to arrange a “doorstep call”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you. There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance. Yours faithfully,

That's their issue. Make sure they have a good look. If he went in regularly, say every Saturday, and returned the laptop on one of those Saturdays, make sure the store knows about this, as it will help them pinpoint it. Also, if you can find any info about the day you sent it back (an email mentioning it, or something that you bought on the same day that you may have a receipt for) that would be really beneficial.

I'd guess BH have some CCTV cameras, it might be worth finding out how far back this stretches as that may have footage of him handing back the laptop?

OSC removed without argument very happy!

I've still got my original agreement Hopefully once this is done I'll be able to attempt to get back some of my payments for the insurances.

I've been told by head office that they'll terminate my old contract and produce a new one, minus OSC, for the amount remaining on the item, an the store have confirmed this