I put my car in for an MOT yesterday at a garage I haven't used before but my sister had MOT'd her car there a couple of weeks ago & all was fine. The MOT went well, only a slight amount of work to do & was reasonable. Also very friendly. My problem is, when I got the car home, I realised my handbrake now pulls up very high, very easily and doesn't seem strong. This wasn't the case when I dropped the car off at the garage. I have no proof that it wasn't like this before it went in & am a little bit upset but not quite sure what to do. Is anything I can do & will the garage most likely tell me to get lost if I call and tell them?

Got the money in my bank, what a nice feeling. Found it even more satisfying that the money was actually credited to the account as a "refund of charges" for £1946.18, just in time for my easter holiday to florida lol Thanks for your help guys, couldn't have done it without the info & help on this site.

Thanks, i'll cross those bits out then. You can definitely say that Lateralus!! They're still being pedantic now, they were arguing that they had refunded £113 that I had included in my claim, which was complete & utter rubbish which I proved to them, they dragged their feet for months & now they're saying that some of the charges are outside of the 6 year period but that they'll pay them anyway!!!!!! They're only outside the bloody period now because they've taken so long to get their facts right lol. Their cheek is astonishing. Will be very happy indeed to receive this money finally. Any idea on how long they normally take to refund the money once the letter has been signed & returned??? & i'm assuming i'll receive a cheque?? Emma

Hi everyone, Haven't said anything on here since december but have still been battling on. I filed my AQ on 18th December & have only just today got a correct offer for the full amount. Am just about to sign & return the letter but just want to check, am I ok to cross out (& intial the changes) the confidentiality agreement & the agreement not to claim again?? will they argue about this??? Emma xx:)

lol, I hope not, poor woman . Right, I have had another letter from DG, stating that I have already received £113 partial refund from hsbc which i have attempted to include in my claim. This is not true as far as I am aware, I included details of the refunded charges at the end of my spreadsheet and deducted them from the total before this claim took place, these totalled £95 & are the only charges I can find on my statements. I have tried calling but "yet again" I can only get voicemail. I know you suggested e-mailing Lateralus & I think I will try that instead. Can someone please give me an opinion on this letter i'm about to send. Just want a 2nd opinion before I fax it. I wish to accept your offer of £1701.63 as an instalment towards the full amount owing, The total claim amount to date is £1827.38, only when a settlement inclusive of these costs is paid in full will I cease my court action against HSBC. Please find below a summary of the claim: Total Charges £1448.50 Minus Refunded Charges £95.00 Total Charges Claimed £1353.50 8% interest added to claim to date £353.88 Court Costs £120.00 Total Claim to date £1827.38 You state in your letter that a sum of £113 “partial refund” of charges that I have received is included in my claim. The only refunded charges of which I am aware have been included in my spreadsheet and were deducted from the claim total at the very beginning of this process. I have highlighted this above and also attached a copy of the breakdown of charges for your perusal. If there has been an additional refund of charges total £113 paid to me at some point of which I am unaware, please forward the details of this refund to me so that I may cross check it with my bank statement records. I have rechecked my paperwork and I am unable to find this “partial refund”, I would be very interested to see when this was paid. If you can demonstrate that £113 has been included in my claim total in error, I will then revise my position. Unless this can be done then as before, I require a full settlement of £1827.38 to cease court action. Please note that I am now in receipt of an allocation questionnaire which when submitted requires a payment of £100 to my local court. If no agreeable offer is reached, I shall be submitting this to the court on Friday 18th. This court cost will be added to the claim total. This matter could be discussed much quicker and easier over the telephone, I have tried calling your office on numerous occasions and have left voicemail messages but unfortunately don’t seem to receive a response from you. I am entirely confident that the charges imposed by HSBC are completely unreasonable, and that a court would agree with this statement. I trust this clarifies my position.

I think it's something I should definitely try. I'll have a look at it properly tomorrow. I'll attempt calling again first & if I have no joy then i'll do that

thats pretty funny

lol, sounds familiar... we were there for quite some time, I think I managed 3 main plates & 2 deserts, wasn't my best effort but I felt I got my money's worth

Well the name on the letter was Rachel Tomlinson whose phoneline is on constant voicemail & I believe is Deborah D'Aubney's secretary?? Who is also on holiday, I did try Alan Burden aswell but got voicemail.

well yeah kind of, it's the nearby court to my home address, i'm away at uni at the moment but is only a 45 min drive so it's cool, plus i'm back home for xmas as from friday so it'll be just down the road

27th December is the deadline, it says about having to pay out another £100 court fee if i do put it in

Thank you lateralus, You do make me feel calmer you know . The AQ was posted at my mums this morning, which means the defense must have been entered yesterday at some point, I had checked earlier on but they may have done it later on. I feel better now than I did yesterday though, maybe the huge chinese "all you can eat" buffet I just ate has helped:p

I didn't actually receive the offer until the weekend before the deadline, even though it was dated the 7th so you may still receive something yet. I think other people have not received any offer & the bank have just entered a defence, i'm not sure that there is any pattern to it at the moment, they're just dragging things out as long as possible it seems

ok, well still got no answer on the phones, they seem to be on constant voicemail at the moment, I faxed the letter yesterday so they have the breakdown & are aware that to settle out of court simply requires them to offer the court costs also, which is £120 difference. I've just checked on MCOL & they have now entered a defence so do I just wait now? I know you say i'm in direct negotiations & yes, they have offered, but they seem impossible to contact & have not called back after I left 2 voicemails so do I just leave it now & assume they have received my letter? & go along with procedure??

It's ok, you didn't worry me, i'm worrying myself silly anyway, you've been a big help & i'm just being a stereotypical woman & worrying lots . I'll stop sabotaging your post now mike & move back to my own