Hi, I am having a bit of a nightmare. in July 2010 we moved into a property and paid the lettings agency (who were acting on behalf of the landlord) £600.00 deposit. Upon moving out we discovered that the letting agency (EDIT) had gone into liquidation. I have contacted the liquidators (Cooper Williamson) who say that they will add me as a creditor but are having difficulty in finding out which scheme the deposits were paid in to. This makes me believe that (EDIT) were not paying the deposits collected into a scheme. Through a little digging I have found that director/owner of (EDIT) was (EDIT), who is still trading under the names: (Edit) LIMITED (Edit) (WNJ) LIMITED It seems to me that either she was not paying into the deposit protection schemes, which would appear to be fraudulent , or she did not know to pay in to deposit protection schemes, which means that she should not be in the business, or she is not willing to cooperate with the liquidators and should therefore not be in any business. I called (Edit) LIMITED and was told that she is on holiday until next week... I hope she's having a good time. Considering the now liquidated company was 'Limited' Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions on how I can proceed with this to get my deposit back? Many thanks

Hi, I work for xxxxx and feel as though I have been unfairly selected for redundancy. The business plans were to reduce the headcount in my department by 13 people and I am now confirmed as one of the 13. The selection process was based on the performance rating for 2010 and an interview. The rating for 2010 was on a scale from 1-6, where 6 is the best. I achieved a rating of 4 (above average) I was told in a 1-2-1 meeting with my line manager at the beginning of that period (early 2010 before any targets had been set or work completed) that a 5 rating would not be possible for anyone. (At the end of the period I learned that several people were given a 5 rating) My work for the year included a lot of excellent process improvements along with my 'Business as usual' tasks being completed. A standout achievement that I had included the design of a database that increased efficiency in my job by upwards of 50%. Upon completion of this database I was told by my line manager that although it is good it can not be used in an official capacity or to go towards my rating because it would not be supported by IT. (The particular job that I had was subsequently moved to our Birmingham office in January 2011 and they still use the database that I created, presumably fully supported), from that point I was then left on a team that did not have enough work for the amount of staff and was moved a month later to another team (without even being consulted) where the only similarity was the job title. 2 Months later an announcement was made that the department was reducing by 13 heads. When I questioned this recently I was told that I should have appealed the rating at the time, however at the time a higher rating would have only meant an extra £150 annual bonus and I deemed it not worth it. Had I known that it meant the difference between losing my job or keeping it I most certainly would have appealed. The interview was conducted by my new line manager and another manager that was new to the company. I already know that I do not perform well in interviews due to control of my future being in the hands of others; However, I planned well, Dressed well, arrived early, was calm and performed at what I would rate as mid range. When I was told that I was selected as one of the 13 (now 12 as someone had left for another job) I requested the scoring breakdown, as I could not understand how I could be in the bottom 12 ranks. When I received this I was very surprised to find that out of everyone interviewed I had performed worse than them all and only had gained 10 points from the interview aspect of the selection process. I find it absolutely unbelievable that I would be the very bottom performer out of 50+ colleagues. I have been with the company for 4 years which is longer than most and have always had higher than average ratings, it is my feeling that once my main job had moved to Birmingham I was like a 5th wheel that they did not know what to do with. I also feel that as I was interviewed by 2 managers with whom I had virtually no relationship with that this was detrimental to me. My biggest concern however is that even before the interview they knew that I was going to be selected and that the entire process was carried out with a good idea of the 12 heads that would be leaving. I am seriously feeling victimized and mistreated and believe that this may equate to unfair dismissal. I have informed my management of all my beliefs and observations, but I only expect standard answers. I would appreciate it if anyone has any advice on how to proceed with this. Many thanks JP

Hi Some years ago I had a Natwest credit card which defaulted with £120 outstanding. Before the default I was making payments to a debt recovery company called 'Triton Credit Services' to bring the overall balance down but due to an oversight on my part I did not pay the final £120 This default was added to my Equifax credit report which says the default happened 03/05/03 and was in the name of 'Natwest Card Services' When I applied for a credit report in 2007 I saw that this amount was still outstanding and so contacted Natwest and paid it off in full. There was also another default notice for the same amount which was added to the report which says the default happened 14/03/05 and at that time I wrote to Triton and Natwest to try and have this removed but had no success. I received an up to date copy of my Equifax report today and gladly the 2003 default has now vanished after 6 years, however the duplicate is still there but is now in the name of 'Fairmile Partnership 1 LLP' who I have never had any contact with. I have looked on the internet and found no telephone contact details and sketchy address details. From my search I suspect that they may be linked to a company called AIC who are based in Basingstoke. Does anyone have a phone number for Fairmile or can anyone confirm for sure if they are part of AIC? Also, is there anyone else that I could contact about the duplicate default in order to have it removed? I have just had a daughter 3 weeks ago and am getting married in August, soon I am planning on applying for a mortgage and I'm afraid that this will hinder me a great deal and hold up our lives for 2 years. Thanks for any help. John-Paul

Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!! OH My GOd!!!! lol I've been hit again!!! After months of keeping my head above water a simple error has caused me £70 I was going to be charged £5 for being about £0.20 over my overdraft limit so decided to put some money in my account. I went to the bank like a good little customer with £10 in hand ready to deposit. When I got there I found that I had left my wallet at home with my bank card and all ID in it. I thought this would be fine because I only wanted to put money in, not take it out... Wrong!! they refused to even look at my account even though I could have answered any security questions and provided any details (apart from my account number!!) They said I could use the customer phone to talk to the security people and they would give me my account details. However they could not find me!!, gave my name, DOB, Address, everything they asked for!! Eventually dejected I made a point of speaking to the manafer and explaining that I have money and want to pay it and asked if they could make a not on my account to that effect, NO they can not. I left knowing I could not get home and back by closing time! Next day came in to bank with card, put £10 in to account knowing £5 charge will be applied I asked to raise a complaint, with the manager as a witeness knowing I was more than willing and capable of preventing the charge if I had been given the chance, ok... next part I went on holiday the £5 charge was applied later in the month before complaint was settled, causing me to go overdrawn again while I was gone; £5 a day built up to £70, shortly after I returned the £5 was refunded.... but they want the 70 that was directly caused by the first bogus charge?! complained again - Reply came 23 days after making the complaint saying that OFT bla bla bla test case bla bla bla you can't have your money back. Is it me or are these people robots who can not see a genuine error on their own part or do they just hide behind the OFT test case so that they can continue applying charges they know are not fair!!! Rant over...

Hi, I don't know what to say... there are good companies and bad ones, up until leaving I was happy enough with their service; but would class supanet as a bad cumpany/ISP as they seem to be very underhand with their sales/marketing. In the end they had their money off me, I didn't think it was worth the hassle of arguing for a couple of months, but if you're locked in till March it may be worth asking them to provide a signed copy of the contract or a recording of you agreeing to extend your service... if they can't provide this then I'm sure you don't have to stay or pay. JP

I'll be posting any result/response this letter has on this thread and on my main thread... I'm not totally expecting anything, but I feel too proactive not to try something.

Well I sent the above letter, no harm done to ask a question

**************** **************** **************** *************** ********** The Law Courts Ring Way Preston Lancashire England PR1 2LL 21 August 2007 Claim Number: ************ Ref: ************* Claimant: ******************** Defendant: *************** Dear Sirs, I am writing to enquire about the stay that you have placed on my above referenced case. I am concerned that this seems to contravene my rights under the ‘Human Rights Act 1998’ as article 6 of the convention provides that “1. In the determination of his civil rights… everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time.” I have heard various estimates regarding the length of time a final decision in the OFT test case would take; these estimates range between 1 and 3 years. In my opinion I believe 3 years to be an overestimate, and 2 years to be more realistic, however in any case the actual period of time for a conclusion to be reached is undeterminable. I started legal proceedings against the defendant 19/05/2007 and believe that because of the relatively small amount involved in my claim that any delay caused by this test case would be unreasonable. If you believe that my rights under the ‘Human rights Act 1998’ have not been affected then please can I know your reasoning in writing? If however you do believe that my rights have been affected I would ask that you remove the stay that has been applied to my case of your own behest, if this is not possible I would like to know your reasoning. I look forward to your reply. Kind Regards *******************

I personally find it strange that some people feel the way 'Donkey' does. Even if you stand back and look through unbiased eyes, it's plain to see that the default charges are not fair. Nobody wants to pay for their banking each month, though I 'm sure that those people who repeatedly get hit by default charges, including myself, would be happy to do so if it meant they didn't have to pay for 'donkey's' banking as they currently are. 'Donkey' why don't you answer?

It doesn't look like 'Donkey' has anything further to say, I'm not sure how accurate the time stamp was on his post, but if it's correct this has obviously been keeping him up at night. He has not put forward a good argument even in his original post. the reason he hasn't is because there isn't one... ...yawn

I stand corrected, cheers

Cheers for that guys, However I am sure that I am not exempt from paying court fees as I actually earn ok. Nor do I work near enough to the court to allow me to drop it off. If I'm honest I agree that the letter may not at first get a response. However tenacity, determination and persistence are all very strong in me and I would not just leave it at one letter. It is a simple question with an answer I would be very interested in hearing from someone in authority. I wouldn’t say that waiting until the test case is decided is something I don’t mind doing because the money would come in very useful at the moment with things I have going on, however neither is it the end of the world for me to have to wait. Chasing for an answer to my question will also have the effect of giving my over energetic self something to do, lol Cheers JP

Donkey, please can you answer the simple question of how the following is fair? Firstly let me put down an example of bank charges being implemented: 1. Bank customer has an agreed overdraft limit of £50 2. Balance of account stands at £45DR 3. Service provider attempts Direct Debit of £7.50 4. The bank does not allow the transaction owing to lack of funds 5. Bank applies a charge of £38 for failed direct debit 6. Balance of account is now £83DR 7. Bank applies additional fee of £25 for exceeding overdraft limit 8. Balance of account is now £108DR In this example there has been no spending of the banks money and the bank customer still needs to pay the £7.50 for their service provider and £63 of bank charges. The set of events should have simply ended at step 4 Even if the bank did decide to pay the £2.50 required, they have surely committed a crime by steeling £63 on top of the £2.50 they are owed. If someone took £2.50 from my wallet I would be a bit upset and want it back, but I would not then simply take £65.50 without telling them and think that it was fair as it covered the expense of opening their bag, opening the wallet, counting and lifting the money. You are right 'Donkey' that people maybe should have managed their finances a little better, however as you can see from the above example, even one small oversight can lead to a disproportionate amount of charges that you can not possibly argue is fair. can you?

Hi, Preston combined court have stayed my claim, I am in the position where I can't afford to request it to be lifted (I get paid of friday lol), my deadline to request it be lifted was today, so that's a dead issue as far as my case is concerned. However, because of this I have decided to take my fight in a slightly different direction by asking the judge/court a simple question. I would like some feedback before I do. I don't believe that this letter would be detrimental to my case but I want it to be simple with maximum impact. The result I want is for someone to have to explain. ---------------- Dear Sirs, I am writing to enquire about the stay that you have placed on my above referenced case. I would like to know if, in your view, this contravenes my rights under the ‘Human Rights Act 1998’ as article 6 of the convention provides that “1. In the determination of his civil rights… everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time.” I have heard various estimates regarding the length of time a final decision in the OFT test case would take; these estimates range between 1 and 3 years. In my personal opinion I believe 3 years to be an overestimate, and 2 years to be more realistic, however in any case the actual period of time for a conclusion to be reached is undeterminable. I started legal proceedings against the defendant 19/05/2007 and believe that because of the relatively small amounts involved in my claim that any delay caused by this test case would be unreasonable. If you believe that my rights under the ‘Human rights Act 1998’ have not been affected then please can I know your reasoning in this in writing? If however you do believe that my rights have been affected I would ask that you remove the stay from my case of your own behest, if this is not possible I would again like to know your reasoning. I look forward to your reply.. Kind Regards ---------------- Cheers JP

Considering my previous post and because it is the court that have placed the stay on my claim on their own behest I have decided to write a simple letter to the court asking a simple question. I would like some feedback before I do. I don't believe that this letter would be detrimental to my case but I want it to be simple with maximum impact. The result I want is for someone to have to explain. ---------------- Dear Sirs, I am writing to enquire about the stay that you have placed on my above referenced case. I would like to know if, in your view, this contravenes my rights under the ‘Human Rights Act 1998’ as article 6 of the convention provides that “1. In the determination of his civil rights… everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time.” I have heard various estimates regarding the length of time a final decision in the OFT test case would take; these estimates range between 1 and 3 years. In my personal opinion I believe 3 years to be an overestimate, and 2 years to be more realistic, however in any case the actual period of time for a conclusion to be reached is undeterminable. I started legal proceedings against the defendant 19/05/2007 and believe that because of the relatively small amounts involved in my claim that any delay caused by this test case would be unreasonable. If you believe that my rights under the ‘Human rights Act 1998’ have not been effected then please can I know your reasoning in this in writing? If however you do believe that my rights have been effected I would ask that you remove the stay from my case of your own behest, if this is not possible I would like to know your reasoning. Kind Regards ---------------- Cheers JP