The hinge on my laptop broke . It was under manufacturers guarantee. So I returned it to PCWorld on the 13th October. They said it would take a couple of weeks. It didn’t . I was called on the 13th of November by KnowHow. I was advised by the member of staff there that as my laptop had still not been repaired for over 28 days, I would be entitled to a replacement. She said I should take ID into the shop and if they weren’t able to replace the exact model, they would upgrade. She said they may be able to give vouchers instead. When I got to the PC World store, on the 15th- with all my ID , after waiting 40 mins to be seen, the first person I spoke to called the knowhow line. Knowhow told him that the laptop had actually now been repaired and would be back in store on Wednesday 21st. So it would be up to the managers discretion whether I could receive a replacement or not. I didn’t think waiting another week was acceptable Then began the wait to speak to, the assistant manager. The Assistant Manager had to ring the knowhow line- not sure why. He just did. He learned that the laptop was on it’s way back and said he couldn’t replace the laptop or give me vouchers because I might have taken delivery of the repaired laptop and now be in the shop trying to get a free one. I was, it seemed, something akin to a shoplifter. He said once he had tracked the laptop down, he would be able to issue a replacement- cos that was the only issue. He just needed to check I wasn’t a shoplifter/fraudulent. It seemed that as soon he confirmed that I wasn’t a criminal mastermind, and merely someone who had spent nearly £400 on goods I expect to be fit for purpose, the replacement would be mine. But once he had tracked down the laptop to Wednesbury, home of the famous black country pork scratching, he gave me another reason why he couldn’t replace it. His reason being this time is because a laptop is like cash. Now, it’s not is it? A laptop isn’t cash. It’s a laptop, right? Okay just checking let’s move on. That's some metaphor thing he's got going on yes? So, then he starts doing his typing thing on his little computer. I was really upset and frustrated by now, I actually cried. Oh the shame! He told me to calm down. That’s when his body language got intimidating and his language threatening. “You’re not getting a replacement today! I’m not giving you vouchers or a replacement today” But earlier he had said I would get a replacemnet. Three people had said I would. He then contacted the distribution who said the laptop would now arrive on Saturday afternoon. He said if it wasn’t there Saturday afternoon, he would instantly replace it. I asked if I could have that in writing. He said no, and wrote some lies ( Customer is coming in on Saturday and I hadn’t even said said that) . He printed his lies out. I pointed out the lies and asked again could he confirm in writing that he would replace the laptop were it not there on Saturday. He said he wouldn’t. He said what we would do instead is “review the situation on Saturday.” He went and asked his friend as well- the other assistant manager. That one wouldn’t come and talk to me. Rude. Oh and all this took around two hours. It went on for ages while one assistant manager checked with another assistant manager. I finally got a phone call today to say my laptop was repaired and it has now been collected but I wanted to let other people know about this shocking service. Two hours in there and staff being so rude. I have never experienced anything like it. I hope if a representative of CurrysPCWorld is about, then something can be sorted out in regards to theri policies and that other people don't have to put up with it.

Hi everybody. To start with, I know, 100% that I am in the wrong here and do not expect any sympathy for the situation at all, I'm just wondering as to what, if anything may happen next. Basically, this evening, having just missed my train I decided to get the bus for the 4 mile journey to a friends house. I realised that because I'd only taken enough money to cover the train fare I didn't have enough money on me (£4.90) to cover the cost of a First day ticket (allows you to make unlimited journeys in the area as I needed to get two buses), and foolishly thought I may be able to get a student first day ticket which costs £4 if i used my now expired Student card to purchase a ticket. I know, totally wrong and regretted it immediately. The card expired in September (says 2011-2012 on the card) and I'm no longer at the University. To cut a long story short, the driver asked to see the card, I handed it to him, he said that the card had expired so wouldn't be able to use it and then said he would have to keep the card, I said ok and he asked where I wanted to go - bought a single fare and nothing else was said. Since then i've been thinking over and over about what could happen now. My card just had my picture and my name on it, no other personal information such as an address etc. So, fair enough, I know I was in the wrong, stupid thing to do in the first place and something I've honestly never done before. Whilst I know it's probably impossible to say but is this likely to result in further action? As I say, he took no details from me at all and just treated me as any other customer thereafter. The card is/was property of the university - nothing to do with the bus company. It was on the First bus service in Stoke-on-trent. Many thanks

Hi, My role has recently been made redundant and as a result I am in my notice period. Due to the offshoring of my role I am not required to attend the office during the notice period. The first two weeks of the notice period coincided with a period of Jury Service. Question is - does this period of Jury Service impact my notice period (i.e. does it extend it by two weeks)? Thanks, Monoceros

Hello. I've read a lot of useful posts on CAG forums and now would like to ask a question of my own. I recently started receiving letters from Lowells for a debt to o2 from three years ago. I have several more from them (divorce, myself on incapacity for ten years, wife got me to sign for things when I wasn't really compos mentis,got myself fit enough to work a fact I'm proud of, long story which I'm happy to expand on if needed) and have sent 'prove it' letters to all and am still waiting for CCA's on all after a month. They say the o2 debt is a service contract and are demanding money saying they don't need to send a CCA for a service contract. My questions are 1) What letter do I send next to get them to prove it's my debt? 2) Is a printed statement with two payments on it proof the debt is mine. No signatures just an old address and my name on the statement cover. Looks like they printed it themselves to be honest. I'm happy to pay if the debts are really mine but it's just strange these should come out of the blue after years. Any advice gratefully received. Apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Dave

Title refers to another post in 2011 clearly nothing changed in 2012! I took my 18 month old Panasonic NN-CF778SBPQ combination oven/microwave back to Comet when its inverter failed. This meant that although the oven still worked fine, the microwave didn't work at all. No problem because although the part was expensive, I had wisely (or so I thought!) taken out Comet's extended warranty. The store advised me on Friday August 24 that the repair could take up to 28 days, but was unlikely to do so. A good job I thought as maybe some people might be using this oven as their main means of cooking! 28 days seemed a very long time for a product that might well have a daily use. There was no sign at all of a quick repair, so I calculated out 28 "working days" (just to be sure) and found that it was due back by the 4 October. I tried to call the store, but of course you need to call an 0844 number at high rate per minute, then wait 20+ minutes to connect, in order to chase up Comet's bad service. I got a promise that someone would call me. They did to say the part wasn't yet in stock and would take a week (I could have sourced it myself from the net on a 24 hour delivery with ease). I waited - nothing. So I decided to avoid phone costs that merely added insult to injury, and email them instead. This time I was told that whoever said 28 days was mistaken because they only agree to a 'reasonable amount of time' for repairs. Is it me or is over six weeks 'unreasonable'? Days later, I then received a random phone message from either the store or Comet central to say the part was delayed (again?) and would now not be ready until Monday the 15th October. Needless to say I have heard nothing. My microwave is not old at 18 months. In fact the microwave aspect of it has hardly been used at all, it was bought mainly to use as a second oven. I am unsure what to do next. Comet seem to have absolutely no concept of what customer service actually means. Most definitely will not be buying either goods or warranties from them again.

I have received verypoor service from both the branch manager and assistant manager at the Woolwichbranch. The branch manager hasnot responded to my letters which I wrote to him in January and February thisyear - is this normal for Natwest? I visited the branchon the 27th February 2012 for the third time and spent over 1 hourtrying to get the assistant manager, Natalie beckford, the pension adviser anda customer service member of staff to request the pension documentation. Thepension was sold by natwest. They were either not trained to work in a bank orplaying dumb. In either case this was not helpful for me as i took time offwork. I then asked to speakto the branch manager, chris Holman, he was not interested in trying to help.He told the customer advisor that he was the only staff on the tills, so I checkedmyself and there were others with him. I am really disappointed that the branchmanager lied about being the only person on the tills and that he wasnot able to talk tomes, especially after requesting to speak with him on a fewoccasions. He was not even able to give us an appointment to speak with him.There were 3 female members of staff on the tills. He was just standing there. If a manager isnot going to do his job then there is no need to have one at this branch. Chris holman made no attemptsto contact me after I left. I have complained toNatwest and requested an apology letter from both chris Holman and Natalie beckford– chris wrote a letter full of excuses. I replied to chris requesting a simpleletter of apology and him expecting his mistakes – no response has beenreceived. Natalie beckford hasmade no attempt to apologise. The complaints teamhave also closed the case even though I have not received apologies. What can I do?

Hi all. We purchased a acer aspire one from comet last boxing day for a present .We have had a lot of problems with it. First the microphone didnt work, a key has popped off the keyboard, and the screen has now failed. comet fobbed us off from day one, and so recently we contacted acer who seemed very nice and said dhl woul collect the laptop and repair under warranty. Or so we thought!! We then got a bill stating that the screen was damaged by us so was not covered, but the keyboard would be replaced and the microphone fixed. I complained that we had not damaged the screen and it should be covered by warranty(!)10 months old) This complaint was escalated and i received a phone call from a lady stating that she was bearing bad news !Acer were not going to repair anything on the computer and she was overturning the decision to replace the keyboard and mic(which we have in writing). She stated that keys DO NOT drop off the keyboard, and must of been prized off. Today i have recieved the laptop back with NO REPAIRS at all. :mad2:Seething ! Help please

Hi I wonder if anyone can help. I have part exchanged my older car for a newer model. I told the dealer the car has full service history but that the book wasn't stamped. I can't find the receipts for the servicing .. Now after I and the dealer has signed the paperwork, loan agreement and sales invoice is there anything the dealer can do if I don't supply the receipts/service history ?

As in the title. Hopefully this time someone will provide me with specific answer without flaffing about...

I need to apply to the court for an order to require that a debtor attends court for questioning about their financial means. I understand that I need to complete a form N316, send this to the court following which I will receive the actual order. Apparently I must then serve this order upon the debtor personally. The original claim was issued via CCCS - should I send the N316 to them or to the local court? Once the order is issued there is the option of having the order served by a court bailiff but I can't find any indication of how much this is likely to cost or how I ask for this. Does anyone know?

Seriously. I am not talking about a clerk forgetting to put a letter before the judge on one or two occasions. I am talking about staff prejudicing the attitide towards the whole of the process to the point that the case is damaged and later lost. Claim involves psychiatric injury so that would be personal injury claim (?). All backed by law that clearly supports above case. Where do we start?

Hi all, Had some great "fun and games" recently with Lastminute.com. My wife and I had planned to travel to Vietnam with a 3 night stop over in Dubai. The problem was that I got my dates mixed up and we ended up missing the flight - my fault I know and I was willing to pay a small fee to change to the next available flight. But thanks to the sheer level of incompetence from the folks at Lastminute, our 3 night stay ended up being 5 nights and 6 days. The problem? They were unable to get us on to the next flight even though Emirates confirmed that the flight had plenty of seats left. Lastminute kept blaming Emirates saying that they would not quote a price and kept asking me to speak to them. For two full days I was going back and forth between the two to get a flight out (my mobile bill hit the 500 pound mark!). Emirates made it very clear that they couldnt do anything as part of the journey included getting a flight with another airline so only Lastminute could arrange the tickets. They also confirmed that the prices were available to them and they had all the authorisation to make changes to the booking. Every single person I spoke to at Lastminute would give me the same nonsense and constantly placing me on hold, or promise to call me back... but no phone call. I even managed to get to speak to the supervisor who assured me that he would call me back after speaking to Emirates. Guess what? No phone call. Eventually I managed to get a flight but had to pay 440 pounds, which I personally think is excessive. Not only did I have to pay for that but I also had to pay the extra hotel charges while trying to sort this out. The employees at the hotel were shocked at how Lastminute worked and couldnt understand as to why such a simple thing took two full days to resolve. Even after I paid for the change, Lastminute forgot to email the e-Ticket to me so the following morning I was once again on the phone to them.... which lasted 20 minutes! In total it cost me over 1000 pounds for missing a flight and I am furious at how awful Lastminute were in trying to change the flight to the next available one. Apologies for the long rant... I wanted to know how should I proceed in complaining and hopefully getting some sort of compensation? Thanks!

Personal Enquiry offices (PEOs) Link to UKBA Webpage; http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/contact/applyinginperson/

i sent my blackberry off to be repaired and have been trying to find out an update on whats happening with it, will the team at brighthouse be able to call the service centre to get an update on whats happening with it? Also they wont give me a replacement phone in the mean time and also expect me to keep paying for the phone will its in repair! Bit annoyed at that to be honest. How long do phone repairs usually take there as im stuck without a phone in the mean time, also have i got the right to ask for the phone to be returned to me whether its fixed or not as the problem can be fixed locally within 24 hours near mine obviously at a cost but wil beat sitting around for the brighthouse repair team to try to fix it! thanks

this is not exactly the same as above but i really really need help. i've broken my arm so typing is difficult but will do my best. had ET award for 4660, no payment from employer even though i went to see CO for friendly chat to try to do it amicably, did some research and spoke to county court baliffs for advice and also contacted an HCEO (they are HCEO members) company direct (say SH) and got what i thought was good advice, then decided that best route was HCEO. my understanding from SH was that due the process at NO TIME would my employers no the action. they said to write them a letter (should have been the proper form but makes little difference in the end) and send it with cheque for 60 and ET papers. that was 27/6. cheque cleared 2/7. i heard nothing but called several times which has added to my confusion but they seem to have made a bit of a mess of things so far because the county court sent my employers a N205C, or something similar, giving them 14 days to reply. obviously i am alarmed because i was told they wouldn't be told of my HCEO application. also i was told by SH that whole thing will take absolute max 6 weeks. i asked SH to send me all the paperwork i got this yesterday. i have N471 raised on 3/7 and certified on 26/7. N322 and N205C. i am really confused by all these and also what i have read up on. i called SH on 14th to ask what happens now, (at that time i told them that my employers were probably closing down within two weeks approx, i have since heard 8/9) which i thought before was application to high court, max 3 days, BUT SH said their solicitor will take this in personally NEXT TUES 21st and then they will go ahead and collect but would give me no actual time limit. finally i called HCEO office early lasdt week and was told someone would call me back, no call came. did same thing yesterday, 10am, told would send urgent message to advisers. called again 4.30 told same thing. sorry this is messy but hope someone can give me some help. there have been times when i thought i was going mad trying to work out all the different info including being, in my view, fobbed off by SH.

We hired a barn as a wedding venue for our daughters wedding. The barn was advertised as a wedding venue and had a wedding licence. The barn is used solely for functions with a kitchen, bar, hard carpeted floor etc. The charge for hire for 4 days was £2900. On the surface the venue looked ideal and fitted in with the theme my daughter had decided on for the wedding. We took over hire on the Thursday before a Saturday wedding - the first things we had to do was set to work on cleaning the toilets that were in a disgusting state, cobwebs adorned the walls of the barn and all had to be brushed down and then the floor cleaned. The area outside the main doors was covered in cigarette ends and the kitchen surfaces cleaned and disinfected. We laid out the tables and set places for the 70 guests and all was set by the Friday night. On checking the barn on the Saturday morning rat droppings were discovered on the tables and it was decided that all the cutlery should be washed again. also a box of chocolates that had been left in the kitchen had been eaten by rats. During the evening the electricity supply to the barn was continually going off plunging our guests into darkness - the owners representative blamed our bands equipment but it was proved later to be a fault in the barns heating system. Throughout the whole of the hire period the owners representative was unhelpful, arrogant, rude and showed absolutely no interest in providing any service whatsoever. We have complained to the owner that we did not consider the barn was fit for purpose and he has apologised and offered us £300 in compensation. We don't consider this is sufficient - does anyone agree?

Hi everyone, I am wondering if someone could help me with an issue I have with Ashbourne Management. I signed up in March at a Gym and my membership is a 12 month contract. Everything was alright for the first few months at the gym but in May then the mantainance of the building went down. The building has a major damp problem affecting both the upstairs and downstairs of the gym. There is big mould patches on the wall and ceiling ( I have taken photos of this) and the smell is absolutely awful. It actually makes me feel sick when I am there. I carried on going there until June but I just cannot carry on as I end up with a sore throat and cough everytime I have been. I have talked to the people who run the gym but they are just renting the building and the landlord is not doing anything. I have decided to cancel my membership as it states in my contract that I 'may terminate this agreement at anytime if the facilities or services we provide fall well below the standard that you reasonably expect us to provide'. I first rang Ashbourne and the man was very apologetic and told me to write a letter to the cancelation department and that there would not be a problem cancelling. I then wrote to Ashbourne stating that I would not longer be using there services and the reasons for cancelling and and I sent it recorded delivery. Well that was about five weeks ago and I never got a reply. So I rang them this week and the lady on the phone was absolutely horrid. She said that I could not cancel until I had a doctors note. I asked her why would I need a doctors note to say that damp causes serious health risks which is common knowledge and she just said that I did. She also said that if I didn't they would just add charges onto my membership and when I asked her what these would these charges be she said, well you will see! I am upto date with my payments as I was paying it monthly by direct debit and also I have paid an extra month when I have not been there as the contract says that I have to give them a months notice when I cancel. I have now cancelled my derect debit. Can anyone please tell me were I stand with this and thank you for taking the time to read

I booked a courier through Shiply to pickup a sofa I had bought on Ebay . Shiply charged me £29.99 and took a deposit for the courier of £24.93 The courier did not show up, did not notify me before or after he failed to make collection, could not give any date for a subsequent collection. The seller got so fed up she refunded my Paypal transaction. I contacted Shiply and asked for a refund as the service I paid for was never delivered. They refused to return both their fee and the deposit. Instead they offered a credit for my next transaction with them. I would never use Shiply again so now I have lost £54.92 and I want it back. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi Insolvency Service Annual Report & Accounts 2011/12 Always a slick and interesting report and well worth a read through (in my opinion) http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1213/hc03/0358/0358.pdf Amongst a number of others - the paragraphs below caught the eye - whats that about nobody knowing about who is in an IVA? Individual Insolvency Register Use of the Individual Insolvency Register (IIR) remains at a very high level with 3,967,899 searches being conducted by users. This is an increase of 19% compared with the 3,348,240 searches conducted during 2010-11. Commercial organisations can register to receive data downloads of the IIR and at the end of March 2012 we have 32 subscribers to the service. We recognise the importance of this service to financial service organisations and the wider financial industry, and we work with these stakeholders to understand and meet their needs.

Hi all, Thankyou for providing an excellent forum to alleviate my stress levels. My question is regarding a Statutory Demand received which has been posted through my letter box. I first received a letter to say a process server had called at my address to serve me with the SD on several occassions without success (I am at home most of the time and have CCTV which does not agree with that statement), that he would call again at a certain date and time to serve it personally and if I failed to meet him that the demand would be posted through my letter box or advertised in a local newspaper by way of substituted service. About a week later the server called to my address and put the demand through my letter box. Am I correct in saying that he should have applied to the court for an order for substituted service or has the rules changed lately? The SD appears to have been prepared correctly by a solicitor acting on behalf of Barclays bank. Many thanks in advance.

Read an article the other day regarding the massive shortfall in Public Service Workers Pensions,ie Kent Count Council has a £900K black hole and the current pensions being paid out are being subsidised out of Council Tax,that does not include the Police or Fire Service who are in a similar situation,the countries Public Service Workers pensions are also subsidised by Private Sector Taxation as they have been for decades,surely Council Tax should not be used for this purpose?????????

I’m from a Derbyshire CAB and we’re campaigning for better customer service from our energy suppliers. Mistakes happen, we understand that, but we find that that our clients – and us – spend an unacceptable amount of time having to sort them out. Long call waiting times, missing correspondence, being passed from pillar to post and repeating the same information ad infinitum without ever seeming to make any progress – these are all things with which most visitors to this forum will be familiar. Energy companies don’t seem to realise that our clients’ time is valuable (and that the resources of charities such as ourselves are limited). And we’re not just talking about the inconvenience. Sometimes this shoddy treatment leads to real financial hardship, as in the case of a recent client who decided to pay a disputed bill for the sake of a quiet life, rather than have to put up with the stress of taking it further. Or the countless numbers of people who are put off switching to a cheaper supplier because of the incompetent way this has been handled in the past. We think that energy companies will better appreciate the effects of their poor service if we use a language they will understand – money. We want to encourage people to invoice their energy company for the time they have wasted in trying to resolve their issues. Will the energy companies pay up? Not likely. Not unless you’re very lucky, but that’s not the point. What we want is better and more efficient service. We don’t think it’s beyond the power of these multi-billion pound enterprises to provide us with this, and if it takes a campaign like this to get their attention we think it’s worth doing. If your energy supplier is giving you the run-around and you want to give them something to think about, stop by our 'Service Denied' Facebook page for instructions on how to use our invoice. http://www.facebook.com/Daecab

Hi All, I have been going through the courts to gain possession of a room in a house from a non paying tennant, i had my court hearing yesterday and the defendant did not show up (he tried to adjourn hearing but his application was refused as he did not file a defence) anyway the judge gave me possession order and have received an "order for Possession Forthwith upon service of this order upon the defendant" does this mean i can start immediately to apply to the court for a baliff ? if so how long does this procedure take? Will the defendant be able to appeal and do you think he has any chance of success? any help appreciated.

My Mum died in May and my Dad used the co-op for the funeral, I went with my dad to sort out everything and we were told the cheapest was £2,200, which we accepted. My Dad is a pensioner and had to get a grant of £1,200 from the authorities, he has no money so my sisters and myself paid the extra 1,000 which we paid up front, and My dad then paid the 1,200 when his grant came through, my dad has no way of repaying my Sisters and me and as it was for my Mum we have written off the money. HOWEVER. Yesterday my dad and one of my Sisters saw an expose on Co-op funeral service and it was mentioned that infact the cheapest funeral is £1,200 the same as the grant but employees were told not to offer it as the co-op didnt make any profit. With this in mind I am wondering if the co-op have infact mis-sold the funeral and would we be within our rights to try and get the 1,000 extra back we paid. The funeral itself was lovely but the cost only included one car and restricted times which we understand from the programme was the same as the £1,200 one. Mods please move this to another area if this is the wrong one

It is a shame that shops do not give the same service when a product goes wrong.. I bought a laptop 6 weeks ago and the hard drive has now broken Use to be able to take an item back to the shop and have it replace if it was under a guarentee. Now YOU are expected to phone the manufacture have them collect it and wait for weeks to have it returned with no regard to compensation or need for product. Then when YOU have arranged for the FUJISTU laptop to be picked up - while waiting in all day THEY DON'T TURN UP... Ha HA SHOPS CAN NOT COMPLAIN WHEN PEOPLE NOT DO USE THEM ANY MORE!!! WHEN THEY DONT GIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE .... I HAVE NO NEED TO ANYMORE