It is not just BT B/B customers that their bad network maintenance is affecting, since April my B/B speed by another ISP has more than halved at one time going below the Upload speed of 0.12Mb After phoning my small ISP on 10th Aug who tried to help by juggling something their end but this didn't improve much, then on 19th Aug Internet off for about 4 hours and when it returned their Status said that their Provider (BT installing Infinity?) had diverted/re-routed round the works and that re-route had been faulty (my very low speeds) and had finally broken-down completely, and had now been repaired and connections were coming back. Since then my speed is increasing every day and I even get flashes on the Test of 12/16Mb before settling today at 4.97Mb. Still not back to the 7 or 8Mb that I was getting earlier in the year but I live in hopes, if I live that long:jaw:

My Car Insurer has always shown this back to 2011 and it has only gone up £1 per month from 2011 to this year 2014 - 2015 just received.

Connif I tried your link but it went to 'Couldn't find' error, but it may be a G.O.S blog that I have already seen. Thanks for your response. I will post the link to the G.O.S. blog when I find it again.

Update 7th July Today I received phone call from Afibel after original complaint of 'Wrong Colour Item' on 19th December and over £9 on calls, I stated I have been asking for a Geographic Rate number from that date to sort 'Their Mess'. I have been a Customer since 2008 but I won't be ordering again. They have never sent the 'Grey Skin look Coat which enticed me to make this Order in the first place. Several years ago a similar Coat was offered which arrived and was really lovely, I paid for that order when received as normal certainly not in monthly 'bits' on their 0871 number. I have never requested 'An Account' and have never signed anything. I read elsewhere that when you send in a complaint letter about an Account that you have not signed and are disputing to 'Get someone else to sign your name on the letter' because Companies like this have been known to Copy/Paste the Letter Signature onto an Account Agreement. When I told the person that they were trading illegally by not showing an 01/02 or 03 Customer Service number by Fri 13 June he then said that they would be showing it on 'Orders' and that they had a number on Fri 13th June but phone line staff didn't know about it, what he didn't know and I was not telling that the number he was calling from was shown on my phone log. I paid the 'Account Service Charges' for now and closed the account but this is not the end, I will be sending a complete set of Documents to Carol Stevens Customer ha ha Service Department claiming back the £4.95 for the last 3 calls from Fri.13 June and the cost of the service charges added each month because there was no response from them on my 'Complaint' in spite of requesting a call from a Supervisor on every call on their 0871 number since 19th Dec. 2013. I have checked the latest statement received after the date of my original posting (25th June) and no Geographic Rate Number shown and nothing on their Website, so will be passing on to Consumer Advice and Trading Standards. I will also try next to reduce their 'Trusted Site Certificate' from 95% ha ha to about 30% where it belongs.

Thanks both for your response, I knew about Demartex and the French address, and will be sending an 'Account in dispute' letter signed for with another set of papers about the problems and am contemplating sending a set to French Office when I have worked out how much it will cost sending hard copies. Will keep you updated.

I ordered a pair of Ladies Lt. Grey Norvel trousers among a 3 item order with 'Gift of grey wool skin coat' 6th Dec. 2013 which arrived soon after, other items fine but Norvel trousers were in packing labelled Lt. Grey but trousers inside were Beige I emailed the Support section immediately also including my landline number but no reply, I also phoned their Expensive 0871 number and informed that I was returning this item, which cost Me £2.60 post and because I was returning on 19th Dec and wanting to avoid Xmas parcels for Exchange of item I re-ordered (big mistake - I hadn't secretly marked Return Item) When I received Item Re-ordered it was exactly same. When I sent back the 2nd time on 5th Jan 2014 I marked the item pack on the incorrect label and taped onto the pack complete set of papers including copies of both Emails and sent another complete set separately regarding non-arrival of 'Wool Skin Coat' It then cost me over £9 in calls to 0871 to get the Return Items Credited on the Personal Account which they started without my consent and more phone calls to get the Faulty Item Return postage eventually shown on Account as Misc. Discount all the time adding Service Charges because I would not pay the order in full before the Returns were credited. Since Dec.2013 I have been asking for the Account to be sorted out which only Supervisor can do. I have paid £14.99 which is the cost and p & p on correct items, the Account now is only showing amount of Service Charges on the Account while they were doing nothing about my Complaint which I am not going to pay. Since Fri. 13th June by EU and Our Government Law All Retailers have to provide a 'basic' phone number ( 01/02/03) all of which are included and cost the same in all types of Telephony incl. Mobiles which Afibel have not done and the 3 calls from Fri.13th June will be costing THEM £4.95 which I will be claiming. I was told on the last call on 24th June that a Supervisor would call me, but as nothing has happened since my first Return and they are still putting Service charges on the Account each month. I am now going to send to their actual address Afibel, Columbia House, 1 Apollo Rise, Southwood Business Park, Farnborough, GU14 0GT not their P.O Box 341 Farnborough, GU14 0ZQ (which is probably a shed) a Letter of Account in Dispute by Signed for Mail. which will stop the Account dead until they contact me. I will also be reporting them to Consumer Advice and Citizens Advice Bureau. I have also found that they have got a 'True Certificate' award which I will now try to stop because they are not an Award Certificate worthy Retailer.

Have signed the letter - thanks for the link was 12,xxxxx when I signed - made a comment that GPs should get rid of illegal 0844 numbers and change to 0344 NOW. 47 of the Virgin Group Surgerys are 0844 numbers and all are in Breach of their GMS Contract and Practicing illegally they should know better. There are GPs starting 0844 numbers even 23rd Aug this year. Mainly being Mis-sold by 'Fly' companies to GPs that havent a clue about the Telephony Industry - nowhere to turn for Independant Advice - the PCTs havent a clue either.

Wow HONDA17 - havent seen any hint of any of these qualifications or qualities in any of the posts on here or anywhere - are we refering to the same beings/advisors. I saw a Notice in my local Council Office about Money Management and with the idea of telling a Friend looked closer but when I saw A4e I thought 'Noway Hosay' He is better off with me.

I dont know how many of you saw the Despatches Programme last week when a UK Doctor went undercover onto a 14 day 'Atos Training' course for their 'Assesors. Atos apparently is a French IT Company - one of the Course 'Trainers' (French) admitted on camera that she could not work in UK as a Doctor because her qualifications were not accepted - but she was suitable as 'Trainer' for Assors, also that she did not like some of the points qualifying Assesment Movements were not fair on the Patients but she couldn't do anything about it. She also admitted when asked by our Undercover about Targets for removing Sick Benefits that the Government hadnt set targets but Atos gave their Assesors targets and reprimands if too low. When the footage was shown to Gov.Bod he pretended to be horrified at what he was seeing but I could see body language that told a very different story. It is probably out of time on IPlayer but if you can find it, it will open your eyes as to what these pimps in other Departments get up to, to keep THEIR Profits growing same as the Work Programme pimps.

huyten74 If the 'National Careers Service' Speaker was not getting 'Paid' for all the Forms she could collect from the Very Elderly attendees at our Public Meeting and why on earth would the 'National Careers Service' want to clog-up their Data Base with the Personal Details of over 70 and over 80 year people (one was 84) if there was no Payments involved - what a waste of Taxpayers Money - I quoted in my Post part of what is 'Section 5 Privacy Notice ' and it is calling the Form a 'Skills Action Plan' - please refer to my Post that you so carefully quoted and you will find Payment for advice given to you - I have the actual Form in front of me but you can check for yourself on their Site. If no payments were involved surely the most sensible idea would have been to ask those Elders to take a blank form to pass on to more interested Sons/Daughters/Grandchildred etc. I also glimpsed the A4e logo on some papers that were laying about - not for general public perusal, I am a Committee Member so was standing at the back. My last Section of my Post about the Council Money Management Service was run by A4e - their logo was on the bottom of the Notice by the Pay Office Window - hence my comment that My Friend is happy with my help alone as he has had bad advice from Maximus who are the Provider in this area - They lost him the Job Start £100 and 4 weeks HB and CTB run-on because of his 'Advisor's' xxxp advice when he found his own Job without their help. Just because he is a Vulnerable Adult and didnt know better that they were telling him Rubbish. You cant blame me for being suspicious when I see a 'Careers Speaker' so keen to collect Filled-in Forms from Elders that have no intention of taking College Courses in IT for over 80's if no 'payment' is involved - or perhaps they can get me a Free to me IT College Course, I'm 73 but game to put it to the Test - perhaps I should see what they say

Good on yah flumps1976 After the fiasco of G4s abysmal performance not only for the Olympics but losing Prisoners and Vans of money, watching while drugs are thrown over Prison Walls etc etc it is only a matter of time before all the other Providers with Government Contracts start to get seriously Spotlighted - It is rather a pattern that these Firms with bad background performance all appear to have Ministers or Friends in High Places that get the Contracts over other Genuine Companies that have High Standards and Ethics. It seems that the UK is getting as corrupt as some of the foreign countries that are well known for corruption - or perhaps the UK corruption exponants are just getting too cocky for their own good - only trouble is there are only 2 to choose from and once they are in Government they all do as they please and line their Friends and Family Pockets. Think I will only vote in Council and Parish Elections in future - at least you can get at the Councellors and make life very uncomfortable in public for them. Lets hope the Silver Vote can make a difference next time round. At our Residents Public Meeting there was an A4e Supposed Careers Speaker (National Careers Service - No mention of A4e but I already knew) and she wanted everyone to fill in a form even though most People were over 65 to 80 - as a Committee Member I was expected to do likewise but declined - I wasnt giving my name, address phone number and NI No. to go on their Data for them to get paid - or who they would give my details to - just looked at the form again and in the small print - statisitcal and research purposes, and used for making a payment for the advice given to you. After the Presentation I could tell that I could teach her more than she could teach me. Also flumps I looked at the Council Money Management Advice maybe for Our Friend but when I saw that it was A4e I decided he was better off with me, by the way he has upped his hours to 32 and the PPI reclaim killed his Overdraft and he is now Money Aware now and is £900 + in Credit - mainly with your help and advice .:-D:-D

On the News Wed Evening - G4S Olympic Security have got their comeupards and been shown for the charlatens they are - MOD have had to put 3,000 extra Troops to cover the G4S shortfall in 'Mandated' Volunteers - I believe they may be told to pay back the money they been already given because they are not able to fulfill their Contract. One of the pimps in the Spotlight - how soon are the others going to get the Spotlight put on them - I bet a few are quaking in their shoes and working on how to swing this one - including Her in her Ivory Mansion and all the Others. At long last people High Up are seeing how they have been Conned out of Taxpayers Money. Roll on the Steamroller - hope they flaten the lot - Cheaper in the long run - Sort out the few that are doing a Proper Job of it and helping people as they all should have been doing.

That did cross my mind osdset that none were Locals - are Tomorrows People only Coastal or do they cover Home Counties and Outer London. If they cover more Local Areas why bus people so far. Late on Wed night on TV the Tomorrows People Boss said the People had been booked into a Camp Site with Facilities etc. if that was the case why were they dumped under a Bridge and I remember one of the people said they could'nt put tents on concrete - so that possibly WAS the Camp Site - Someone is lying - It doesn't take many guesses who ! When I looked at the Link that showed the Company Finances it looked to me that they would be very lucky to last untill the Olympics - Perhaps that is why they are bringing in people from distances in order to collect a Handout for giving them work and then the people wont be able to claim the Job Start for another 6 months because there has been a break in their JSA - more money saved for DWP I would love to know with a FOI Question "How many Jobs are waiting for these people and the Olympics Stewards local to where they live? "

It brilliant that one of the pimp Companys have been caught with their trousers down - sorry no pun meant in this case - intended as the old fashioned comment - It at last has been brought into the open only one of the many types of abuse these Providers are using, anyone official that believes that it was - Only an accident Sir - should take off their official blinkers. This Company should have their Licence to provide Security at the Olympics withdrawn - perhaps this would give the Big Frequent Offenders a boot up the rear to clean up their activities. Well we can but hope. Perhaps hell will freeze over before the "Investigation" even gets under way.

Did anyone know that A4e has also landed another Contract to give Money Advice at my local Council, and probably many other Councils. I have a Neighbour that I have been advising on Banking Matters and Account Managment - I have been sourcing information I was not sure of and advising successfully so far. When I saw the Notice in the Council Offices I thought I would look into it to see if he could get more informed advice than I could give. On reading the Notice I realised that at the very bottom it stated that this Service was given by A4e how dare they :mad2: - I wonder how many of the Advisors are CRB Checked. Needless to say I will not be advising use of this Service. Having to give all your Bank Details will give them chance to practise their Signature Forging Skills. Watch this space to see if the usual abuse starts to come to light with regard to this very dubvious service. :mad2:

Thanks odset for the Telegraph link - additional in the Daily Mail article is that the UK have to take over 12,000 which is 30% of Total despite UK only having 12% of EU Population. French (under 6,000 Indians ) have always hated our guts and although Germany (8,000 Indians ) are said to have lost both WW1 and WW2 they have been winning everything since - Germany wont even let in EU Ethynol Unleaded and Diesel because it will be bad for their Mercs

Seen in Fri2 Mar Page 21 Daily Mail - EU (was secret Diktat ) letting Indian Companys send in 40,000 IT Techs to boost Trade Deals in EU - UK has to take at least 12,000 - more than twice the number France is permitting entry - Germany with a much stronger economy is only taking 8,000 This has been negotiating since 2007 but will be finalised now - Indian IT Techs can live and work in UK for 6 months then must go home but it is unenforcable - they will just disappear into the woodwork like the rest - So anyone looking for any IT Jobs will have to look at other Careers I would do a link to the article if I knew how to but I dont - you could then see how Vince Cable's Business Dept has sold British IT Jobs down the River :mad2: Perhaps someone on here could do a Link so you can read the whole piece

I dont know if no sanctions only apply to never having worked school youth only - Gov. were very careful saying about young work experience but Tesco wouldnt be willing to be part of the same manditory free work for others - they have wriggled sideways out of the youth bit - I dont think they will want to get involved in the same thing for people that know what work is about incase this blows up like the youth part.

It is just annoying that the other guy laid off same day had not signed-off yet so was unafected just reported wages - but because my Friend was told by Maximus to sign-off Before Starting work - not having got a Job previously probably because 50 plus so relied on Advisor to tell correctly. Thanks anyway, He is now looking that if it had happened it would have been a bonus. As luck sometimes happens, his New Job have asked him to cover an absentee shifts - 8 days shifts this week - so he is in Clover this fortnight payday The Agency Payroll person not in until Wed after 1pm to get the £43 sorted, was not paid for the last shift of phantom job - the other chap had a moped so was sent back on arrival but My Friend was allowed to do shift as he walked the 2 miles to Depot. (no bus route to Ind. Est. ) At least Someone up there is looking after him - as far as he is concerned he has got the £100 even though he has worked hard for it - not just given it like other people. :-D Thanks again for your help

Deleted - Duplicated.

Below is the Dec.Maker Letter as arranged - you could PM me instead of posting if you would prefer. Thanks for your help. I phoned the Temp Agency - but Payroll not in untill this Wed - regarding the nonpayment and wrong payslip and time sheet of the last 6 hour shift untill 5am and that was the 3rd Not the 2nd Oct and Agency didnt phone to confirm laid off until 3.30pm next day which was Friday - He has to walk 2 miles to JCP so left it until the Mon 7th Nov. Decision Maker Answer We have considered your request to have the time for claiming extended. (Was I really doing that ?) You made your claim on 7th Nov.2011 and requested that the time for claiming be extended to 30th Oct 2011 Looking at the reason you gave for the delay in claiming. we have considered this against the regulations we have governing whether the time for claiming can be extended and have arrived at the following decision. You have satisfied the following criteria (if no criteria met you will also be told) No criteria under Regulations 19 (5)(7) satisfied Due to the above decision your date of claim has been set as 7th Nov 2011 You were laid off 2nd Nov 2011 but did not contact for new JSA claim until 7th Nov. 2011 I still dont know if it is Break or NO Break in JSA so does he get the Job Start for New Job or not - I wish they would answer in plain English - I hope someone can advise. Edit I dont think he has - note top of Post .

Masso If you DONT want the job then my suggestion is guaranteed to lose it but it will have to be logged If you want to work for them then you could say you are Target driven and dont suffer fools lightly - that is opposite to requirements on their Web-site which they dont really want but have to say to the Public. Its up to you

You could have said something like : Of course I can't do Full-time because I am Whipper-in for the Hunt on my Uncle's Estate in the Country. But I will be happy to help out when I can spare the time. The inference that you have lots of Contacts that her millions cant buy

Hi flumps1976 I dont know if you will see this post - after sending Decision Maker Letter Recorded Del. on Fri 18th Feb he got Reply Thurs 23rd Feb. but I cant decipher it - Why cant they say Yes Break in JSA Removed or No still Break. If you can Post that you have seen this I will copy the Answer if you could please interpret for me. Thanks See you soon

Is THAT where they hid their Books - perhaps the Books will catch fire when she sits on the Hot Seat which looks like it might happen shortly - Hide all the fire extinguishers On Thurs Newspaper Front Page it is stated that she had been using Mandetry Forced Work in her own Companies - Red Card Foul !!!! It is not just A4e there are all the others that need looking at like Maximus - they are all up to the same antics.