a Malaysian who ordered a penis enlarger online was stunned when he was sent a magnifying glass. At least it came with a useful instruction: 'Do not use in sunlight'. The victim-who paid £100 for his £5 magnifier-later reported the internet [problem] to Malaysia's customer complaints bureau. Its chairman, Seri Michael Chong, said: 'As you can imagine, he is feeling rather disgruntled.'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/lloyds-caught-innew-ppi-storm-taxpayerbacked-bank-saved-tens-of-millions-of-pounds-by-wrongly-cutting-compensation-to-customers-9213188.html

Hi Second day of my new part time job in retail (first day was spent setting up retail outlet and visual merchandising with Directors) and a few hours in I am pulled to one side by a Manager who works fir another store who is helping out and she is with the new store manager whom I have only spoken two words of introduction to. Telling me I am need to calm down! I am making the other staff nervous and this can make the customers nervous. I cannot think for the life of me, what they are talking about. I actually am really dopey today full of cold and just getting over a gastric bug. They said I was too chatty, yes I give my full attention to the customer and this ha resulted in multiple sales today from my efforts whilst they are busy stock ticketing. I hve just emailed the HR and explained all the sitation and I am resigning. Maybe I was just not a good fit. I will concenrate on building my business instead. Has anyone ever had this I never ever have. I have always been told how professional and having been in field account management I am fully aware of my deliverey in communicating with people.

Hi all, Two weeks ago, I drove to Stansted for a weekend away. There were 3 car park options - "short", "mid and "long" stay. Figuring that a weekend is usually as short as anyone gets a plane for, I followed the signs to the short-stay car park. Having got to the barrier, the prices were shown (I do not believe they were shown on any sign before this, but am not 100% sure). It was immediately obvious from the prices that the "short" stay was not appropriate, and I decided I didn't want to use this car park. Unfortunately, the barriers are located a short distance down a one-way 'slip' road. My options were either to reverse the wrong way down this road, or to go through the barrier, take a ticket, and scoot round to the exit. I presumed that car parks do not charge when this occurs. I'm sure I have done this a few times (and definitely at least once) before. As you can guess, I was surprised therefore to be asked to pay £2.80 to get out of a car park that I didn't want to be in, in the first place. Could those in the know advise what the legal status surrounding this is, in particular. - Is it not normally the case that a person can either easily back out of the barrier area where the prices are first visible, or go through and nip round to the exit without paying any charge. - Given that I was only shown the prices at a point where I could not avoid entering the car park, have I entered into any contract? - What is the situation with their refusal to open the barrier? Is it not illegal to impound a vehicle in this manner? I know £2.80 is not a lot, but I just don't think it's right to force people into a situation where they have to pay for something that they did not want. Any advice much appreciated.

Hi all, I wonder if someone could clarify something that is bugging me.... We recently indicated to our letting agent that we were thinking of terminating our Short Term Assured Tenancy Lease. She came straight back to say that as we had started the lease on the 4th of the month we must start our one months notice from the 4th of the month also, otherwise we would run into the next month and could end up having to serve almost two months notice.. Is that correct or could our one months notice start from any point in the month?

im just wondering has anyone applied for one of these yet? i know they offer food voucher for living expenses but what about furniture cookers fridges ect ect? especially if there replacing community care grants

Hi all - I'm absolutely livid at the moment - just been to morrisions to put my lottery on. Basically I got my last £40 out of the cash machine and it gave me 2 £20 notes. Went to the lottery counter and handed my ticket (£2 worth) over along with one of the aforementioned £20 notes. The girl gave me £8 change and I obviously immediately queried it. A supervisor was called and I was told that the cash office had left for the day and I would have to come back tomorrow. I was quite calm and explained this was no good to me as I needed the cash now hence me just getting it out of the machine. I then requested he call the most senior person in store. The store manger then comes down and tells me the same story basically telling me to come back tomorrow as the cash office had gone. I explained that was no good to me I need MY money tonight and asked to to check the cctv to see me giving over the £20. He refused to do this so i reiterated I need the money and if he gives me it back I could gladly provide him with proof of address there and then. Again he refused and told me to come back in the morning. At this point I asked for head offices phone number which he went to get (This took him almost 10mins to come up with it). I then come home and phoned customer services. They took all the details of my query and said they would call the store and phone me back. Subsequently I received the call in which they told me the store manager repeated that this will not be looked into until tomorrow and he has the overriding decision. I asked for the details of whoever is over the store managers but was told this is business sensitive information and she point blank refused to give me the name of any more senior than the store manager, I responded by stating I will write to the chief exec then as I'll be able to get that info and she offered me his name as it is in "the public domain". She went on to mention that my "threat" of contacting the ceo and possible county court claim was intimidating to her and that it would not get me my money back tonight. She said I maybe offered compensation if and when this was rectified tomorrow, however this may be reviewed with my "intimidating threats of further action". Im absolutely livid as my lad cant go to football in the morning now cos I cant give him the money. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi I have a friend who needs to relinquish council tenancy this week due to extreme personal circumstances She is unable to get to the local authority to hand keys back so needs to send them recorded delivery Is there anything in particular she needs to put in her correspondance would you know OSW

An independent worker damaged a newly plastered and painted wall as well as hitting a power cable. Another company was called in to mend the damage and the bill sent to the workman for payment. Four months later his insurance company are only offering to pay a percentage of the cost of the repair plus they are not paying the amount due from the workman who is liable for the first £250 of any claim made against him. On what grounds can the Insurance company not pay the full amount claimed. The whole flat had just been refurbished so no question of betterment involved.

Hi! I've not posted on this forum for a while now sorry! In my time I have worked for 3 major corporations: JD Wetherspoon - Pub Chain ASDA - Driver Sainsbury's - Driver (yea crap work history hey!?) Every time I have worked for corporations I found that my pay was short timed from what it should have been. At Wetherspoon I used to work till 3 or 4 am and the manager the next day would only pay us till 1. When you got your payslip you would then work out the hours you were short and by the time they would sort it or say you weren't or were short it would be the following week and again you were short and it would then never get sorted and you would just accept you weren't getting paid. At Asda they would do the same however all drivers started early (CLOCKED IN) thinking you were getting paid and for months having had the management said "You will be paid for when you come in" and we all found out in the end we WERE NOT being paid. At Sainsbury's they would openly do the same and all drivers would come in for there shift early and know they would not get paid for it just because if they didn't..deliveries wouldn't get out on time. Also if you were contracted to finish at for example 11pm and you returned at 11pm because you were late (because of an impossible route system) you would know that if you had to unload your van for half an hour you would also not be paid! I also witnessed a member of staff decide they wouldn't pay someone till a certain time because they had got late..NOT knowing what the situation was or anything!!! They had a system in all of these places where people could edit what people had worked. Surely that is like taking money from someones wallet or bank... If you clock in and out you should be paid for that..no questions asked. What does everyone else think and does anyone have any experience of this? It should be made illegal to modify peoples hours!!!

Hi, I'm a tenant in a 2 bedroom flat in Stoke Newington, which I share with one other tenant. I decided to move out of the property and gave my one month's notice on 31 July. I found someone to take over the tenancy and the agency (Felicity J Lord) sent us the change of sharer paperwork, which we signed and sent back yesterday (28 August). The new tenant has paid £245 in fees to the agency, and has also paid me my share of the deposit and the first month's rent. The new tenancy was due to start this Saturday - 3 days' time. However, today I heard from the agency that the landlady has refused to agree to the change of sharer and instead is service us 2 months' notice. We have to be out of the property by 31 October. Please can anyone help with this as I am unsure as to whether the change of sharer can be refused at this late stage. The agency say that since the landlady did not sign the contract, it is not valid and there is nothing they can do. They say she has been on holiday, which is why she has only just got back to them. However, I gave my notice 1 month ago and since then have not been given any warning that the landlady might refuse. The fact that the agency took the fees and first month's rent from the new tenant and sent us all the relevant paperwork indicates that they assumed the change of sharer would go ahead. The agency have already (today) refunded the first month's rent agency fees to the new tenant, but I have not yet paid her my share of the deposit. If anyone has any advice I'd be very grateful. Thanks, Katherine

Hi all just registered on here as i need a little advice if anyone here can help me out please I'm in a privately rented semi-detached property which is let out from an Local Estate Agency this is due to end at the point of writing this on the 1st of October 2012, My short assured tenancy agreement states i have to give 2 months notice to leave the property which by there way of think is i should have put my notice to them on the 1st of August 2012. Im having loads of problems with my next door neighbours and it basically kicked off last night when they had a party and my wee 2 year old girl was constantly being woken up, i went to the door to ask them to calm down with all the banging etc (very polite ) i have had to go through to them about 4 times about this. to cut the story short the family became very agressive and so did there quests i called my landlord about them for the 5th time and he told me he only rents the house out to me and there was nothing he could do even though he is friends with them now my question is. if i give notice now 2 months and the date will now run over the 1st of October will i have my tenancy renew to a periodic agreement even though i want out of here no longer than the 1st of October which i believe im legally required and expected to pay full rent til that date if this makes sense, i dont mind paying my rent at all i just dont want to be stuck here for another 6 months when technically legally only signed up to be here until the 1st of October but feel im being forced to stay here and the Estate Agency are tell me i have missed my date of putting notice in and im now stuck here from now til the 6th of August and a further 6 months there after is this correct Any and all help really appreciated and hope this has made sense

Morning all - Used to be registered, but seems to have forgotten my password, so had to get a new ID! Good new, now debt free, and credit rating has shot through the roof in the last few years, so things are on the up and up thanks to advice given here - without you guys, I would've been pretty desperate! So onto my new enquiry. History Back in 2003, I took at a loan with Welcome Finance for £1000. At the time I was informed that without taking PPI insurance, I would not be able to get the loan. So the dotted lines were signed and payments started. All well and good. In 2004, I was looking for a second loan, while still paying off the first (the start of a dark and slippery slope if anyone is interested...). At the time, Welcome informed me that as I still had an outstanding balance, I would need to use part of the second loan to pay off the first. So instead of coming out with a £1500 which I was looking for, I ended up coming out with a £3500 loan (which included to full amount plus interest of the first loan) and the money for the second. Fast forward a couple of years, and financial difficulties payments started slipping and the loan ended up in default (Admittidly after only missing 3 payments). The lovely gentleman at Welcome came up with a payment plan that I could afford and offered a "Staggered Short Term Settlement" which meant I would pay 3 years at £147 and they would write off the remaining £1000 that would be left on the account (Yip, that works out at £6292 even after paying a year of payments, also at £147) So, the years go by, I don't miss a payment, and the week before the final payment I contact Welcome to confirm. I don't get my lovely gentleman any more, and I get put through to the Edinburgh office rather than the Bathgate office. This man tells me there is no information about a "Staggered Short Term Settlement". I tell him I have a letter confirming this. He puts me onto his manager, and after a bit of too and froing, she eventually agrees and all ends. Credit File is updated with Partial Settlement, but that's another story... Fast forward another few years, everything has dropped off my Credit File and I start hearing about PPI. I know I had PPI on these loans (both of them) and I now know that I was miss sold them. But the question remains 1. How long do I have? If you've followed, you'll notice next year will be the 10 year mark on these loans. 2. Is it worth it? Would Welcome be likely to claw back any reward due in part to the Staggered Short Term Settlement? TL;DR - 2 Loans in 2003/2004. Defaulted in 2005 and agreed Short Term Settlement with a £1000 write off. Is it possible to claim back mis-sold PPI and is it worth it? Hope ya can help!

Hello all, some advice please. We have lived in our current home for almost 5 years on annual SAT's. when we last renewed we gave verbal notice of our intention to purchase our own home and negotiated a month-by-month arrangement with 2 months notice to quit. We have purchased a new home with an entry date of 31/8/12 and have given more than the required notice to our landlord. Notice has been accepted. The acceptance of our notice came with a message that the landlord intends to put up marketing boards and give us posters to display " for let". In addition the landlord assumes that the property can be marketed and viewed during our tenancy with or without our agreement. We have always had a good working relationship with our landlord but now feel this intrusive.We will not unreasonably deny access but equally do not wish the landlord or agent showing their rental vehicle(our home) to strangers prior to the end of our private arrangement. How do we stand? and any practical advice please.