I think you're probably right, pursuing this with the bank has more chance of success than with Apple.

Neither, unfortunately.

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum, please feel free to move it if not! I had an out-of-warranty iPhone that needed a battery replacement. I paid for the work online with my debit card using Apple's support site. A hold was placed on the money in my account. While I waited for them to send out the pre-paid box to return the phone, the hold on the money was removed, presumably because the work had not been completed and could not yet be charged. I left the money where it was because I knew it would be taken later. I returned the phone and was contacted via email by Apple who said they'd found something else wrong with it which would also need to be repaired. They attached a photo of my phone that supposedly gave details of what the new issue was. It didn't give any clue as to what the problem was. I called Apple, who were equally puzzled and couldn't get any information from the engineers. At this point they told me that they would cover the full cost of the repair - not just the mystery defect, but the original battery The phone was returned within a week, fully repaired, and I was a satisfied customer. Six days later, they took the money from my account despite being told they wouldn't. This put me in a position of having an unauthorised overdraft, with a direct debit for car tax due out the following day. I rang Apple immediately who were most apologetic and promised to refund the money. However, it would take up to 10 days for the refund to appear in my account. I told them that I had direct debits to pay and it was going to cost me money in charges if they bounced. They told me to call back when the charges had been paid, to look at claiming the value of the charges back from Apple. I then called my bank. There was nothing they could do. They put me through to the Visa team, who said the same - as a refund had already been started, they couldn't do anything. I called DVLA (the car tax direct debit was due the next day), who were, surprisingly, the most helpful out of everyone. The unauthorised overdraft happened over the end of one monthly charging period and into the start of the next so it was two months before I could pay the charges and look at reclaiming them. I called Apple today regarding this and they simply weren't interested, claiming they weren't responsible. They said that they'd already refunded the money and they weren't going to pay for any charges that they'd caused. The charges are only £30 but that isn't the point. I believe that they were caused as a direct result of Apple's error. If it hadn't caused so many problems with direct debits etc, I probably wouldn't have bothered about them. But it did cause problems and after having to spend an hour an a half on the phone to them today, I'd like to pursue this. Do I have a case? And if so, how would you recommend I go about it? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

Don't worry, they aren't getting anything out of me. If it's what I think it is, it's statute barred anyway and isn't on my credit file. If it isn't what I think it is, then they're not getting any reply until something turns up in the post. I'm certainly not going to answer the security questions. I don't have the facility to record my calls, what I said to her was more to rattle her than anything else. It worked

Portfolio Recovery Associates contact me by telephone every few days. Most days it's an abandoned call with up to 45 seconds of silence before the recorded message kicks in (that's been reported to OFCOM) but today I spoke to an actual person, something that happens maybe once a week. Every time I talk to someone there, I do the usual refusal to go through the security questions and advise them to put it in writing. I have as yet, received nothing in the post from them. I asked the caller to have a look at my file on her screen and tell me how many times they've written to me. Once, was the answer, in March. I didn't receive this. I asked why they hadn't written since, when I had asked every operator I spoke to to put it in writing. She claimed that they are unable to send me any contact by post until I confirm my address, postcode and date of birth by telephone. I asked her to confirm that this is correct and reminded her that, according to her, the call was being recorded for training and monitoring purposes. She got quite flustered but repeated that they are unable to do this. This can't be right surely?

Thanks Andy. So am I right in thinking that if they're claiming not to be the creditor, then they can't pursue the claim and if it turns out they are the creditor then the court can't enforce it because they haven't complied with the CCA request?

So should I write back and say that they should withdraw their claim as, according to them, they aren't lawfully allowed to issue it in the first place?

So we CCAed Arrow (the claimant) and SARed Cap One (the OC). No reply from Cap One yet but it's early days. Arrow replied with the following: "We do not accept that we are the creditor as evisaged by the above statute [CCA]. However, we are willing to assist in obtaining that which has been requested. We will now process your request for documentation from the creditor and will revert in due course. "We confirm that all collection activity will be suspended pending provision of the documents." Attached was our postal order for £1. How can Arrow start legal action if they do not accept that they are the creditor? And is court action classed as "collection activity"? Their 12+2 days will be up tomorrow. What would this mean for their claim?

Ah, of course. *facepalm*

So we're going to have to CCA and SAR the OC then? I realise this should have been done before now.

Thanks citizenB, that's good advice.

Hi Andy, thanks for your reply. So will the court accept that they will send us this paperwork within 6 weeks and then have 14 days to file the defence? Or do we have 14 days after the original 28 days?

The missus has received a claim form from Northampton CCBC for an old Capital One debt. The debt is a couple of months from being statute barred but is full of charges she hasn't yet claimed. She immediately sent the CPR 31.14 letter for the CCA, default notice and NOA. WC's reply states it'll take up to six weeks to get the documents and they'll agree to an extension of 14 days after they send the documents to file the defence. Will WC tell the court that there's an extension? I thought it could only be extended for 28 days. Is this just a sneaky way to get a judgement? Surely they should have the documents in their possession to issue the claim in the first place. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Eventually, yes. Once trading standards and the OFT were mentioned they decided that they weren't going to pursue this. We agreed that I pay a nominal amount for the time listed in their directory and my account would be closed.

Aha. Standard SB letter it is then. Thanks!

Hi I have been chased for a while by Rockwell for an old Halifax overdraft that they claim was never repaid when they closed my account. I knew that bank account had been closed in around 2001-02 and so I know this to be SB. The account was passed across the office to Fenton Cooper who keep sending threatograms and calling etc. I keep saying "in writing only" etc and putting the phone down. I'm quite happy for them to waste their time and postage costs but something I never spotted before just occured to me. Before I knew about this site and its fantastic advice, I spoke to Rockwell on the phone. I didn't admit the debt and nothing was in writing anyway but I did ask them to send whatever details they had to my little used hotmail address. I didn't bother reading the email as I know it to be SB. Today I looked in the hotmail account and read Rockwell's email, dated 25 April 2012. This is what it says: Dear maplins Re: Outstanding balance of £xxx.xx owed to Arrow Global Ltd (HBOS xxxxxxxxxxxxx) We can confirm that the above account relates to HBOS bank account that was opened on xx/xx/1996 account number: xxxxxxxxx our clients purchased the above account from HBOS on xx/xx/2003. They have since instructed us to deal with this account on their behalf. A payment of £xx.xx was made on the xx/xx/2004 to European collections. Our investigations lead us to believe that this matter relates to you and the balance above remains outstanding. Please complete and return the attached form including your repayment proposals. The above account is on hold for the next 30 days to allow time for your response. So Rockwell knew this debt was SB yet still attempted to collect and then gave Fenton Cooper the pleasure of wasting their time and money. Oh, and the payment in 2004 that they mention is a complete fabrication but even if it were true, the debt would still be SB. I'm bored with their tedious communications now so I'm going to send the SB letter. Is there anything else I can say about them attempting collection on a debt they knew was SB?

How does this sound? Salespersons' names have been redacted. On 23 May 2012, I had a phone call from your salesman xxx, attempting to sell me a membership of Big Green Book. I was reluctant to purchase the membership but your salesman gave me the impression I could pay a percentage of the annual fee and get a taster of the service, with another payment in a month's time. I feel that I have been let down by Big Green Book because as far as I was concerned, this was sold to me as a trial period. I have since found that this is not the case and this was certainly not made clear at the time of purchase. As you will be aware, mis-selling a product occurs when a salesperson leaves out, or gives misleading or wrong information about a product in order to gain a sale. I believe that this has happened in this instance. I request that you cancel my membership of Big Green Book and refund the payment minus one month’s membership charge on a pro-rata basis. I require written confirmation that my membership has been cancelled and the refund has been made within 14 days or I will be left with no choice but to take this matter to Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading.

Thanks, Rebel. I'm writing the letter now.

Hi, I hope I'm posting this in the correct forum and I hope someone can help. I'm a sole trader. In May, I had a phone call from a company called Big Green Book who act as a business directory. I didn't want to buy their membership but the salesman gave me the impression I could pay a percentage of the annual fee and get a taster of the service, with another payment in a month's time. He also said that there were many businesses, looking to acquire my product, who posted business opportunites on their website. I agreed, thinking I'd get a month's trial and a lead or two. I paid roughly three months worth as a first payment. I received an email with a receipt and a PDF attachment detailing how to set up my listing. Stupidly, I did not read to the bottom of the document where it states "You have entered into a fixed term 12 month contract and thus there are no cancellations or refunds at any point." This, however, was not pointed out at the time of sale. As I said, I thought I had a month's trial. It turned out the there were no opportunities for my business within that month. Indeed, the opportuities posted were nothing to do with any product I supply. I decided not to continue with the membership. A month after signing up, I received a call asking for the second payment. I refused, stating the reason above. After a bit of hesitation, the caller said I should put that in an email. I sent the email requesting that they cancel my membership and refund my payment minus one month's pro-rata membership fee. The reply I received stated that they "do not operate a wait and see policy on membership fees, your agreed split payments are clearly stated on the invoice." I checked the invoice and sure enough there is no mention of a trial period. However, I am adamant that this was the impression given by the salesman. We have exchanged emails with me stating that I think I have been mis-sold and them claiming I haven't. It's not huge amount of money but it's the principle at stake here. I refuse to be pushed around by this company because of their salesman's method of sale. I wouldn't dream of doing that to my customers. Can anyone help?