1. Ordered 28 sq m of carpet and underlay + grippers etc, came to 700. 2. Measured flat and it was 36 sq m so made a second order for the remainder, came to 100. 3. Fitter arrived with nothing but a single roll of 28 sq m carpet, couldn't do the job. 4. Store manager said she was sorry, would refund the fitters charge and rebook for 3 days later. I would have to pay the fitters and the refund would be made by cheque after the job was finished. 5. Fitters arrived with the same single roll on the back of their van. Couldn't do the job, was last chance before Christmas. Offered further refund of non-specified amount. 6. Fitters arrived after Christmas with everything but the wrong underlay, I had paid for 10mm but they arrived with 6mm. 7. Called the store and the manager said I hadn't paid for underlay. I insisted I had, she further insisted I hadn't. Did quick math over the phone, she double-checked order and found I was right. Specified the second refund amount would be 10-15% but it would have to go through HR. She also said she would refund the £72 extra paid for the underlay mistake. 8. Fitters made a mess of spare room, leaving sticky adhesive over the floor, black on white. I complained through their complaints department. 9. Refund cheque didn't arrive after a week. Sent email to store manager this Monday and she said she would chase it up but that it had been authorised. Was expecting 72 from underlay mishap, 172.44 from fitting charge then 10-15% further refund. 10. We're on Sunday and the refund cheque still hasn't arrived. I am going to send another email to the store manager tomorrow getting her to chase it up again but I'm assuming nothing will happen. I don't have the refund offers in writing, other than the mentioning of it in emails but not for a specific amount. I know legally I can take them to court for the £72 refund for the wrong underlay given it's a breach of contract but what about the rest? Given it's not been mentioned in amounts in writing? Also how do I go about taking them to court in the proper manner? I seem to remember I need to send a letter before action. Thank you for your help.

Yeah man good shout.

Thank you for your replies. We negotiated and agreed I would take the car with a £500 refund and if there are any further problems they'll take the car back and refund the rest. They explained more about the sensor. Apparently the car is mechanically fine but the sensor thinks it isn't. I'm content with the outcome.

So my options are take the car back and pay to fix it myself or ask for a refund?

Hello CAG. I recently bought a car and would like some pre-emptive advice. Past experience: I bought a car from a dealership but signed paperwork saying "sold as seen"; any issues, even if the car ends up being worth scrap then it's my responsibility. The car immediately went wrong which taught me a valuable and expensive lesson about getting a warranty with a new car. This purchase: Monday, August 8th I used aa.com to buy from an AA approved dealer for assurances and customer service. I found a car and called the dealer saying I would arrive the following morning to look at it. When I arrived the guy wasn't there and neither was the car. After speaking with him through his work colleague I was taken to it. But not before being informed that one of the car's belts wasn't attached so I wasn't able to even start it up. I had driven 40 miles for this viewing so wasn't impressed but they agreed to deliver free of charge (£50) which was reasonable compensation imo. Thursday, August 11th There was a delay in the delivery. I received a phone call from the guy's brother saying he was halfway to me and the spark plug light had come on (diesel car so no spark plugs...) but assured me the car was driving fine. I said if you're halfway you may as well deliver it and I'll take it to my local garage. He then said the light had put the car in limp mode...... Soooo.....the car isn't driving fine. 2 lies in 1 call. Tuesday, August 16th Delivery was delayed again but this time I was told the car barely made it out the forecourt before needing to go back. Tuesday, August 23rd The diagnosis was something to do with a pump. However I was sent photos and videos of a car pump failing and being replaced. They told me it took so long because they needed a friend who was a German car specialist to diagnose and do the work. Friday, August 26th After 18 days I finally received the car with a 1 month warranty that covered engine and gearbox issues. Monday, August 29th On the second drive and after maybe 10 miles, the gearbox light appeared and wouldn't go away so I contacted them. Thursday, September 1st They returned with a courtesy car (beat up VW with 4 flat tyres) and took the car back for diagnosis. Wednesday, September 7th Sent text, “Hi Alex this is Mike with the Audi A5. I was wondering if the car was ready yet?” No reply Friday, September 9th Sent text 08:56, “Hello mate how's the car doing? No reply Sent text 18:26, “Hi Alex, any update?” No reply Monday, September 12th Sent text, “Where's my car?” After this text, I finally received a phone call response. They said the sensor was in a delicate area and that replacing it could damage more expensive parts of the car. They said if they had to do the job that they may as well take the car back as the car drives fine. They said they would give me some money and initially I went along with this and just said fill the tank with diesel and we'll call it quits. after 24 hours I thought to myself I'm just going to have to pay to get this work done eventually as there's a reason for these warning lights. Also I got a warranty to cover this sort of thing. I checked online for sensors in automatic gearboxes and the first link said the job was tricky and expensive (hence them not wanting to do it). I also thought about him saying "we may as well take the car back if the job's to be done". It's my car though, right? It's not his decision to take the car back, it's my decision to sell which I don't want to do. Tuesday, September 13th I message saying I've changed my mind and want the light sorted because I don't want the pain of having to do it at a later date. As of Thursday, September 15th still no reply from either him or his brother. It's been 2 weeks since they took the car back to get the problem sorted. Am I in the right for making them fix this problem? The car is well within warranty so I'm positive I have the law on my side here. Also what do I do if they refuse to do the work or refuse to return the car? Should I contact AA and tell them one of their affiliated garages is playing around? Also what's best before escalation? Do I message them again tomorrow? Talk about potential legal action? I'm quite confused. After the difficulties from purchase and that last phone call from the guy, I have a feeling this isn't going to be an easy process.

Hello again CAG, Everything was sent ok and the £80 fee was waived which was a pleasant surprise. Since handing in my evidence and witness statement, I (and the courts) received the following from Riverview Law. "Dear Sirs, *some jabber* Page one of the order directs the parties to file and serve evidence 14 days before the hearing. Page two of the order also directs the parties to file and serve evidence, no later than 14 days before the hearing. The order then goes on to list directions that differ from the above. As this is a small claims matter and the standard directions are to file and serve evidence and witness statements no later than 14 days before the hearing and as this is stated on the first and second page of the order, we respectfully inform the court that we will comply with this direction and confirm our evidence and statement will be served no later than 14 days nefore the hearing listed for 30th November 2016. A copy of this letter has been sent to the claimant" I was wondering if this letter changes anything? Or is it just standard procedure.

Ok thank you, I'll reword that and get it sent off.

I thought that was this bit I put at the end. Did I do it wrong?

The SAR was delivered within 40 days but it didn't contain a correspondence between myself and Lee, the old vodafone rep here. The SAR was meant to cover until 3rd March 2016 and the e-mail is from late Feb. It begs the question what have they left out that I don't have evidence for. I know it's only 1 e-mail as proof but rules are rules (?) Thank you and Andy for your responses. This is the edited witness statement. XXXXXXX XXXXXX'X Witness Statement XXXXXXX XXXXXX v Vodafone Limited Claim Number: XXXXXXXX My name is XXXXXX. My address is XXXXXX. I am a part-time chef and investor. In September 2014 I agreed a 24 month contract with Vodafone Limited for an iPhone 5S handset plus an agreed telecommunications package. 1. Vodafone breached contract by failing to provide me with a sim card after 2 requests through livechat. 2. I cancelled my direct debit, Vodafone let the account run continuing to charge £34.50 per month for 4 months 3. Dec 30th I receive 2 e-mails from Vodafone saying calls to premium numbers and numbers abroad had been lifted from the account. 4. The January bill then jumped from £162.83 to £388.80. 5. I contacted Lee (Vodafone Rep from consumer action group forum) who said I had to pay either £162.83 or £388.80 as resolution which I deemed unacceptable. 6. He then offered to wipe the debt but said I must remain in contract with Vodafone and that I had until March 29th to give me answer. 7. I sent my first SAR which was returned 18 days later asking for proof of ID. For what it's worth this is too long for an issue of this nature and should have been sent sooner. 8. 10 days after the offer from item 6, I began to receive an aggressively high quantity of intimidating letters from a debt collection company called Advantis as well as further letters requesting payment from Vodafone even though there was still 38 days left for my answer. 9. On February 29th I asked Lee if my credit rating had been affected which he admitted that adverse information had been added to my Credit Profile and said "as a gesture of good will" they would replace the late payments with query flags which is completely unacceptable. Not only was this unacceptable but this communication was not included in the SAR which was suppose to include all communication until March 3rd. 10. I have included a news story from the BBC news website regarding soaring customer complaints. This doesn't affect my case directly but I felt including it would help show I am not alone and that this isn't some sort of personal vendetta. 11. I then sent my 2nd SAR along with an official letter before action and all requested identification. 12. The SAR arrived and the LBA wasn't even acknowledged. 13. After ignoring Advantis I finally contacted them to explain the situation. After a few e-mails back and forth they closed the case and returned it to Vodafone. They also stated they would not contact me again in future regarding this matter. 14. The MCOL site didn't give me an option to serve particulars separately. The following are my detailed particulars. 15. £1 for the pay as you go simcard. 16. £866.40 for my time bringing this matter to a satisfactory conclusion. 17. £10 for the SAR, especially given this request was not met. 18. £19.35 for 3 recorded delivery letters. I only have the receipt for 1 but I would hope to be believed that I sent 2 for the SARs and LBA plus 1 for court documents. 19. £60 MCOL fee. 20. Interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984, namely £82.92 and continuing until Judgment or sooner payment at the rate of 8% pa. 21. I therefore claim £1,039.67. 22. I demand a full and complete explanation of what happened to my Vodafone account on December 30th 2015. The glossary included in the SAR did not contain the abbreviation for UC4 meaning no light was shed on the events that took place. A Vodafone employee was responsible for the unrequested changes to my account. Changes made on an account where 4 months of bills had not been paid. 23. I demand that all markers, late payments, query flags or anything placed on my credit record by Vodafone from August 2015 be removed completely given I was no longer under contract with them after they breached article 12a of our agreement. This statement (consisting of 2 pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have willfully stated in it, anything which I know to be false, or do not believe to be true. Signature: Date:

Hello again CAG, I served 27 pages of disclosures to riverview law and my local court, including fishing out and printing off the BBC news story Bankfodder posted back in March about the number of customer complaints. The £80 court fee was waived and I have until September 30th to serve my witness statement. The following is what I have so far. Any feedback would be much appreciated. I was thinking maybe referring to page numbers from my disclosures for certain parts? Or would I do that in court..? XXXX's Witness Statement XXXX v Vodafone Limited Claim Number: XXXXXXXX Flat X XXXXX House The XXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXX XXX 1. Vodafone breached contract by failing to provide me with a sim card after 2 requests through livechat. 2. I cancelled my direct debit, Vodafone let the account run continuing to charge £34.50 per month for 4 months 3. Dec 30th I receive 2 e-mails from Vodafone saying calls to premium numbers and numbers abroad had been lifted from the account. 4. The January bill then jumped from £162.83 to £388.80. 5. I contacted Lee (Vodafone Rep from consumer action group forum) who said I had to pay either £162.83 or £388.80 as resolution which I deemed unacceptable. 6. He then offered to wipe the debt but said I must remain in contract with Vodafone and that I had until March 29th to give me answer. 7. I sent my first SAR which was returned 18 days later asking for proof of ID. For what it's worth 18 days is a ridiculous amount of time for this. 8. 10 days after the offer from item 6, I began to receive an aggressively high quantity of intimidating letters from a debt collection company called Advantis as well as further letters requesting payment from Vodafone even though there was still 38 days left for my answer. 9. On February 29th I asked Lee if my credit rating had been affected which he admitted had been trashed but said "as a gesture of good will" they would replace the late payments with query flags which is completely unacceptable. Not only was this unacceptable but this communication was not included in the SAR which was suppose to include all communication until March 3rd. 10. I have included a news story from the BBC news website regarding soaring customer complaints. This doesn't affect my case directly but I felt including it would help show I am not alone and that this isn't some sort of personal vendetta. 11. I then sent my 2nd SAR along with an official letter before action and all requested identification. 12. The SAR arrived and the LBA wasn't even acknowledged. 13. After ignoring Advantis I finally contacted them to explain the situation. After a few e-mails back and forth they closed the case and returned it to Vodafone. They also stated they would not contact me again in future regarding this matter. 14. The MCOL site didn't give me an option to serve particulars separately. The following are my detailed particulars. 15. £1 for the pay as you go simcard. 16. £866.40 for my time bringing this matter to a satisfactory conclusion. 17. £10 for the SAR, especially given this request was not met which I think in itself is illegal(?) 18. £19.35 for 3 recorded delivery letters. I only have the receipt for 1 but I would hope to be believed that I sent 2 for the SARs and LBA plus 1 for court documents. 19. £60 MCOL fee. 20. Interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984, namely £82.92 and continuing until Judgment or sooner payment at the rate of 8% pa. 21. I therefore claim £1,039.67. 22. I demand a full and complete explanation of what happened to my Vodafone account on December 30th 2015. The glossary included in the SAR did not contain the abbreviation for UC4 meaning no light was shed on the events that took place. A Vodafone employee was responsible for the illegal changes on my account. Changes made on an account where 4 months of bills had not been paid. 23. I demand that all markers, late payments, query flags or anything placed on my credit record by Vodafone from August 2015 be removed completely given I was no longer under contract with them after they breached article 12a our agreement.

Thank you Andy, looks like I have a lot to sort.

Oh and do I send a copy of this to riverview law or just a copy to my local court?

I received a letter from the courts today so I think we're coming to the end of the road. The claim has been allocated to the small claims track which will take place Nov 30th. It says a hearing fee of £80 is payable by 16th Sept unless the claimant makes an application for a fee concession. Would I be entitled to a fee concession? It says each party shall deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents which he intends to rely at the hearing.....What do I need to include in this? Would this be my original vodafone contract, the e-mails printed off, the receipts for the stuff I sent by recorded delivery, my SAR folder including correspondence with vodafone that was omitted from the SAR. Do I send literally everything I have saved and filed now? It also says the CLAIMANT must send to the court....or the DEFENDANT must send to the court....Do I need to send as both claimant and defendant given I was counter-claimed against? Or is it the same as before where I just send everything in 1 jobs lot as it is the same case regardless of position.

You are 100% correct, I did have a 10 minute conversation with an advisor where they directed me to a helpful part of their website regarding small claims court but they were apprehensive about offering much advice. I went to my local court and spoke to someone there, she told me the entire claim comes under one reference number so I fill out all the forms etc and just hand everything to them which is pretty convenient. Andy you said I could particularise when I get to the witness statement stage. When is the witness statement stage? Is it on a later form I will need to fill out or is it something that happens in court.

Actually to save you guys time I will go see the CAB and call my local court tomorrow.