Hi, Just after some clarification that I am perfectly entitled to follow my current path over this issue. I sold an IPad on eBay for £95 back in February, the buyer then told me it was damaged when it arrived. It was in perfect condition when I sent it, so I could only suggest that was damaged in transit. I asked the buyer to return it to me, so I could claim against Royal Mail for the damage & I would issue a refund, all pretty straightforward so far. The buyer contacted me saying the Ipad was packed & ready to be returned & would I issue a refund, seeing as PayPal had prevented me from taking the funds anyway, I issued the refund & asked the buyer to return the item straight away. A week passed & nothing arrived, when I contacted the buyer again he said he didn't have the IPad, he had 'given it away to a charity shop', as ebay sent him an email saying he could keep it! Naturally, I was incredulous at his behaviour, I issued a Letter Before Action & logged a claim against him on MCOL for £125. He has refused to admit responsibility, has refused to settle & will not give me the name of the 'charity shop' he 'donated' my IPad to. I am now taking this matter to court, but he is now claiming I will be liable for his transport costs as he lives in Spain! I am quite prepared to see this through to the bitter end, but I just wanted some assurance that I don't end up on the wrong side of a hefty bill. Thanks in advance for any help & advice. Chris

Hi S, Yes, there are so I may as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak!

Hi, Reading this thread with interest as I'm having my own issues with Capital One, not least in the amount of phone calls I'm having to block! Without going into too much detail I was struggling to pay the bill, returned the card and attempted to negotiate a payment plan, which, I assume, is still pending. I wrote asking for a true copy of my CCA, yet all they sent me was a copy of their current T&C, naturally unsigned, ('we have removed signatures, blah, blah, blah), which was never signed as the credit limit stated was not what was originally agreed. I assume that my next step is to write back and ask for a true copy of the original agreement, which was what I asked for in the first place, would this be correct? Many thanks for any help you can give.

Hi Wendy, Thanks for that, I'll do exactly what you say and hopefully it'll be sorted. As this is the first time my payments have been late I haven't incurred charges before, but I will endevour to do so, as I did with my bank. Thanks

NP, Thanks for that, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has problems with these people! Take care and a have a great Christmas yourself.

Back in August I wrote to O2 requesting that they disconnect my line at the end of the contract. At the end of the contract I changed my provider and thought no more of it until I received a further bill. I wrote again to say that I had terminated the contract and to send me a bill for any monies outstanding, yet still there was no response. i then received a second bill and a third then finally a letter stating that they had disconnected my line! On several occasions I had contacted O2, each time getting no response. I now have a collection agency chasing the debt plus £80 'legal costs' and the threat of a Court Order. There is no way I'm going to pay this debt, I terminated the contract at the end of the term and that should have been the end of it. I full intend to defend this claim in court, but if anyone has any similar experiences or advice it would be most welcome.

Hi, Due to a cashflow problem I've managed to miss 2 payments on my account, but I contacted Capital One once I knew when I could make payments and how much. I took great care to make sure that the person I was talking to noted down everything I said so I wouldn't receive numerous phone calls, but they then started coming with increased frequency. They started calling me 6, 7 sometimes 8 times each day, anything from 9am-9pm, 7 days a week, this has been going on for 3 weeks now. Up until now I have either ignored the call or put the phone down, but the final straw came when they called me at work. I have written a letter of complaint to the 'Collections Director', not that I expect it to do any good, and actually accepted a call last night. Without getting angry I asked for the name of the operator and who her boss was. I explained that 3 weeks ago I contacted them to say when I would make a payment, (which will be tomorrow), and that I would not speak to them anymore. I also said that if the calls continued that I would seek legal advice and take action against them for harassment if they continued. Then lo and behold, yet another call this morning! My question is what should be my next step? It's getting to the stage where I dread the phone ringing, it interferes with not only my personal life, but my work as well, since I work from home 2 days a week. Any advice would be most welcome, thanks.

Update: After a letter from Frederickson International last week I responded by saying that I would not be paying the bill as I had cancelled the contract and had paid the bill up to the 30 day notice period. This morning I received a Letter Before Action, threatening me with a bill of more than £100 if I did not pay the £30 they claim is due. I have checked the terms and conditions of the contract and nowhere does it say that billing will continue if I fail to use the PUK code. That being the case I consider my cancellation to be valid and that a request for the code does not change that. I intend to defend this claim, but equally I don't want to have to travel to a court room to fight my corner over a £30 bill, when it would cost me 5 times that amount in a days lost work. If I defend the claim successfully what am I allowed to claim back by way of expenses and loss of earnings?

Hi Jules, Thanks for the info, it seems that there are a hell of a lot of people experiencing the same problem. What I will do is contact the court and ask if they can transfer the claim to my local county court at Coventry, as I am the 'litigation friend' in this case. In another case I had representing someone from Basildon the case was transferred to Coventry, althouth the claim was settled in full 10 days before the hearing was due.

Hi, I am currently pursuing a claim on behalf of my brother, and after seeing the case transferred to 3 different courts for directions, I received the following: 'Upon the courts own initiative TAKE NOTICE that the Allocation and Case Management Conference will take place on 17th July 2007 at 15:00pm at Southend County Court, Tylers House, Tylers Avenue, Southend on Sea, Essex SS1 2AW to be heard before District Judge Dudley When you should attend. PLEASE NOTE: This case may be released to another Judge possibly at a different court.' I have submitted several claims on behalf of other people before, all cases have been allocated to the small claims track without having to attend a hearing. So why is this different? The other problem I have is that my brother cannot attend on that date and as I live in Warwickshire it is going to be difficult for me to attend on his behalf. How should I deal with this situation? Thanks Chris

A request was sent on the 17th January requesting information under the Data Protection Act, which included a £10 cheque to cover admin, this cheque was never cashed. After 40 days of no response a second letter was sent on 27th February and still no documents were sent. Finally, on 12th March, I sent a Letter Before Action, underSection 7 Data Protection Act 1998 and this morning a letter was recieved asking for a £5 payment to cover admin! The question is should I send another cheque for £5 and give a further 7 days, or should I start action on the basis that a cheque has already been sent, even if it wasn't cashed? If I just ignore it and send another cheque, what is to stop them from not cashing it and refusing to the supply the information on the grounds that payment hasn't been made? I just feel that they have been given more than enough time to sort out this matter, it is now more than 2 months since the original request. This is nothing more than a delaying tactic and I don't see why they should be allowed to get away with it.

Thanks again for the advice, will keep you posted.

They're not disputing either, they are claiming that just because I chose not to use the PAC that I was liable for subsequent bills, despite the fact I had terminated the contract!

After countless email exchanges and phone calls to CPW they are still claiming that I owe them 3 months billing which was produced subsequent to my cancellation, I then received a notice from a collection agency with the threat of legal action if I did not pay up. I called the agency and took great care in explaining the situation only to be told, and I quote: "I'm not interested in your dispute with our client", at which point I lost my temper and not very politely ended the call. They then called me back twice, both calls ended in the same manner as the initial call. I have written to them to explain that I will not be paying the bills and if they insist on going to court I will be counter claiming for the time spent in correspondence and time lost at work due to having to attend the hearing.

Well done Gemma! Just been reading through this thread as I've just posted off the AQ on behalf of my mum who is claiming back £2350 from Lloyds. I expect it to go the whole way, as they did with you, which is a shoddy trick in my book, given that my mum is 70 years old and no way would she ever undertake this on her own. You showed a great deal of fortitude and bottle and fully deserve your reward and I intend to do the same!

Hi, I have a claim ongoing on behalf on my parents, (both pensioners, but still having to work), and I have just been notified of a Transfer of Proceedings to Coventry County Court. As well as being a problem in that my parents live in Essex and Coventry would be MY County Court, an addtional £100 is being asked for when I send back the allocation questionaire. My parents do not have the money to pay the extra £100, (despite the fact that it can be claimed back) and nor am I at present, after having already paid the £120 fee to MCL. I can't help but feel the Lloyds TSB are just prolonging the case and almost making it it impossible for my parents to continue due to a lack of finance. The last date for filing is 24th February, but the 28 days after the issue of the claim is up on the 15th February, which of these dates takes precedent? Thanks in advance.

Thanks Buzby, I thought as much, but just wanted reassurance that I was doing the right thing. What make this even more strange is that I have been told that I won't receive any further bills, as the line will be disconnected after a 2 month period anyway!

I cancelled a contract in November, a month prior to the end of the term, as I was changing networks. Along with the disconnection notice I requested the PAC to save myself changing numbers, but decided that I preffered the number allocated from my new network. Having cancelled the direct debit payments I thought no more of this until I received a bill for nearly £70 for 2 months line rental. I explained that I had requested disconnection at the end of the contract, but was told that because I didn't use the PAC the line remained active, even though the expiry date for the PAC was the same day my contract ended. I have refused to pay the bill as I can find no mention of having to use a PAC once requested, in the terms and conditions of the contract. Carphone Warehouse have threatened to pass the debt on to a collection agency, whereas I would be prepared to take this to the courtroom if it were not for the fact that I have spent the past few years repairing my credit record. If anyone has any similar experiences I would be grateful to hear of them.

Having just returned from a 5 day break in Cornwall I opened my mail to discover that the Halifax intended to defend the claim I had filed just 5 days ago. However after checking my bank balance I discover that a payment of £927.80 has been made to my account! Thanks to all for the advice given and in particular those who put in so much effort in creating templates and guiding me through the process, needless to say that I will be making a contibution to this site. Now how long ago did I have that account with Lombard Tricity...

May be that they thought you wouldn't go through with it, but agreed, it doesn't make much sense to me. I'm wondering whether the decision to settle is taken by each branch on an individual basis, or if it is part of some dictat handed down from the head office. Congratulations on your win anyway!

David, I understand that it is 14 days from the date of issue, or, if the claim was acknowledged, 28 days from that date.

Hi, If a judgement has been entered against them, and you have won by default, I believe you need to apply to the court for a warrant of execution, to have the baliffs sent in, although I stand to be corrected. I would find it amusing for baliffs to go into the branch and remove every pen on a chain in the building!

Thanks and best of luck to you and Ruby in your claims, let us know how you both get on.

Having had no response from the Halifax following my letter before action, I have now filed a claim. I'll keep you updated as to the outcome, would be just my luck to be the first to end up in the courtroom! Befnal

Hi all, I was following this story in the media for some while now, but not having incurred any charges for some time I never actually got around to doing anything myself. That was, however, until last month, when I exceeded my overdraft by £7 for less than 24 hours and was charged £30. What made it worse is the fact that all my banking is paper-free and done on line, so the notification was merely in the guise of an email, hardly worthy of a £30 charge! I sent a preliminary request for repayment to my branch and also a request for charge details over the past 6 years under the Data Protection Act, not forgetting my statutory £10 cheque, (which came out of my account the next day!). Just 3 days after sending my initial letter I received an offer of £60 from the bank in 'full and final settlement' of my complaint. I politely declined this offer, citing the fact that my account had probably had more than 2 charges levied against it in 6 years. Yesterday I received details of my account, in total 31 different letters, cue 1 very unhappy postie! I suppose that's what happens when you let systems take the place of commomn sense. Anyway, after going through the paperwork I found my charges for this period amounted to £785, most of it from a 2 year period during which I was twice made redundant. I am just about to post my 'Letter Before Action' along with the schedule of payments and will let you know how I get on. I had already decided to change banks regardless of the outcome, but this is no easy task anymore. I have been turned down by Lloyds and NatWest, whereas Alliance & Leicester have offered me a Visa Electron card, but not really what I was after. Having held a Barclaycard in good order for some time I am now about to embark on applying with them for a current account, but any advice on how best to tackle this problem would be appreciated. Cheers