High can anyone help me with this. I took my marea watch into h.samuels to get a new battery. I paid £27 to get it sent off to be cracked open as its a sealed/waterproof watch. This was just over 2 months ago. Earlier today i got a call from h.samuel telling me that it needs a new movement aswell as a new battery and it would cost me £100 not including the cost of the battery. the problem is the watch only cost £50 to begin with and now i'm down £27 with a none working watch. Can they really charge me twice the cost of the watch and can i get back the money i've allready paid. Hoping someone can help, thanks.

Hi, This may sound a stupid question. But I've been tipped off by a reliable source at work they are going to outsource my department/function shortly. I already thought this was going to happen though. We are a small IT team of two people, and in November we had an audit which revealed some (allegedly) appalling spending decisions over the years. However I only started in August 2014, so legally I am entitled to no redundancy pay. Is there any benefit on waiting for the official announcement or just find a new job and resign as normal? I have also looked at TUPE etc, they would probably transfer me then make me redundant straight away, especially as the new IT supplier is based 100 miles away. Even if it was unfair, the 2 year rule excludes me from taking it to a tribunal etc. Dan

Last Tuesday was the much awaited release of some limited edition dolls. I am a collector, I have been my entire life, I have spent literally thousands. I got up at the crack of dawn and waited for them to be listed online. I managed to get the two I wanted but separately . I received my tracking code (Disney use Hermes), I noticed the code was an old one of mine from three months ago but had been updating the new order. The second order was doing the same. I asked Disney on Facebook what was going on with this and was told it was a "mistake". I asked well if this code is a mistake what is my tracking code? I did not receive a reply. Then I check the tracking on Friday and both orders had changed to "not delivered-address query". I rang Disney to find out what was going on and she said "that's a tracking code from three months ago" I told her I was well aware of this, and had questioned it on facebook, but it was not dealt with. And besides the code was updating that day. She then told me when she puts in the code I was emailed its bringing up someone elses name. She put me on hold several times. She then told me " I have no idea what is going on". I was then promised a call back, which to be fair she did. she told me she "still had no idea what was going on and I have escalated this as an emergency" (?!). After this call I checked on Facebook, others are complaining of this same issue. In addition, some who ordered one doll, have received an entirely different doll (the only one that hasn't sold out), Clearly something has gone very very wrong with these orders. It took Disney several hours to respond to these messages on Facebook. After this i've checked the tracking for both orders again, one has changed to delivered and "not delivered- address query" has completely disappeared. I rang work to check id been sent the right one and luckily it was. However, still no sign of the other doll (incidentally the one I wanted the most and went for first). Also, when ive gone to work to pick up the box, the box its been sent in has written all over the side for all to see what the box contains. Sorry, but this seems like a special brand of stupid to me!! I rang Disney again to tell them one had been delivered and is there any news on the second. I was told the "emergency escalation has not been responded to yet". The attitude of the staff on these calls has been infuriating, they don't seem to care at all and give the impression of 'and?'. I rang again on Saturday. I was told I would have an update "On Monday". I've rang again on Monday to be told "we are waiting to hear back from the warehouse". He promised me that he would ring me back "on or before 6 o clock even if there is no update". Unsurprisingly this call never happened. In the meantime pretty much all of my messages on facebook have been ignored and the page is full of others saying the same ie getting ignored. I have also emailed the chief exec THREE TIMES and have not received any response whatsoever. These dolls were very expensive and cannot be replaced, Other than buying off ebay for £200 plus. I cannot put into words how frustrated/disgusted I am with Disney. Also worth noting, before this I had twice received emails/txt messages informing me my order was on its way, At that point I had no order!!!! I was even able to follow the tracking despite it not being mine. I had emailed Disney about this asking what was going on and is there some sort of data issue. Yet again, this was ignored!! It sewems to me Disney are in chaos at the moment and have put up a wall of silence!!!

A free service which helps people locate pension pots they have lost track of will triple its number of staff to meet record numbers of enquiries, ahead of the radical new changes to the pensions system that will come in on 6 April. The Pension Tracing Service helps people to find providers of pensions they have lost contact with, often after switching jobs. Do watch out for rogue companies. There are a number of official looking firms springing up who promise to trace pensions for a fee – steer clear of these as you do not need to pay for the government run pension tracing service. https://www.gov.uk/find-lost-pension

One of the worst ever way of handling a customer on social media ... Kudos to barclay. See the attachment for their rude and in appropriate reply

i had a virgin media account where the contract ran out in may 2013 which i cancelled by post and phone. i then changed to sky. i had not been receiving my bank statements for a long time and went into branch on tuesday and got a print out of last 3 months. i noticed on there a dd going out for £50 to virgin media which i then found out had been going out since may 2013 to vm. i was confused as i have been with sky since june 2013 and been paying dd for them ever since. i have had no coresspondance from vm that im their customer no bills nothing. i contacted them by phone last night which was a foreign call centre. they have no record of this. i contacted them by online chat today. spent ages talking to them and then was told to go to onlinee chat to complaints department. complaints said theyd not heard from me since 2012 when broadband wasnt working. previous online chat said phone was disconnected but not other services in may 2013. why would only the phone be disconnected??? when its a sky broadband and tv package i have both with vm and sky? i brought this up and complaints person said no it wasnt done by you but by another company and are refusing to give me my money back. i explained i had called and written a letter. they said i hadnt. and unless i have a recorded delivery tracking number tehy will not refund me. i explained i had called them last night and they had no record of this. so maybe they did not have the record of my cancellign. they said 'no theyve done nothing wrong and they wont refund my money'. it is my fault i didnt notice but i have been under a substanstial amount of stress. i truley believe i did cancel it but did not cancel dd with my bank. i have a clear credit record and am applying for a mortgage which i have worked very hard for. i have spoke to my bank also who are refunding the money under the dd indemnity. what shall i do now? i dont want to messup my credit history but its £800 of payments for a service i did not use. They have sent me no bills (they said theyve sent them by email but i have none and my email is active and i check everyday) i have received no post from them nothing. the online chat man said he is disconnecting it from today and started my 30 days notice. i have no vm stuff in my house at all and it fully on sky. what i do please? need help urgently with this please. worried it wil affect my credit status for my house.

Below is the letter that I have written to Barclaycard directors - every one of them bounced. I have logged a complaint that apparently takes 56 days to respond to. Can anyone out there help me please? Dear Directors, I am writing to you in the hope that you can intervene and support a long standing customer who has been the victim of an internet [problem], who now due to Barclaycard 'policy' is being prevented from buying a new home. On January 2014 I paid in full the balance of my Barclaycard account and cancelled my direct debit. on the 20th January Barclaycard attempted to take a direct debit that was declined so they raised a £12 charge on my account. On the 20th of January I submitted by tax return which without my knowledge was a bogus website. The website requested that I enter my credit card details to verify who I was, which I did in all innocence. During March I received a number of text messages claiming to be from Barclaycard asking me to click reply and make a payment. Given that I had a zero balance (or so I believed) I thought these message were a [problem], even Barclays bank told me to delete them when I visited the bank to query/verify the source. I contacted Barclaycard and it was only then did I find out that money had been taken from my card by the 'tax office' along with a £12 late payment charge. I received notification from the HMRC that I was due a tax rebate so had no reason to believe any amount had been taken from my account. I saw absolutely no need to log on and check my statement given that it had been fully paid up. I contacted Baclaycard as advised by the bank to ascertain if the text messages were from them and to query why I was being sent them. It was then that it brought to my attention that the bogus tax website had taken funds from my card and the late payment invoked. I was put through to your fraud team who explained that hundreds of people had been duped by this [problem]. I paid the balance immediately. I have been told by your complaints team that even though I had a zero balance I should have logged on to check my statement and that they had communicated the late payments via a text messaging system. I fail to see that this was an effective communication tool - even Barclays bank are unaware of it. Due to my being unaware of a balance due to fraudulent activity, I now have two black marks on my credit scoring and have now had my mortgage declined. I have spent an inordinate amount of time pleading with your staff to remove these black marks against me - I see that I am a victim of circumstance that is fully justified and proven. We are about to lose the house of our dreams because staff at Barclaycard will not show any compassion to a long standing customer that has been a victim of a [problem]. I look to you as senior professionals, to intervene and rectify this situation before it is too late and we lose our home and our future. I sincerely look forward to your early response and intervention. Yours sincerely, Julie

hi I recently decided to switch car insurance to save myself a few quid, wish I never bothered, I went with a company called Motor Quote Direct, ( Bedford Insurance, Wimbledon). After sending off proof of no claims, and driving license, all I keep getting is return letters saying they will cancel my policy for not providing documents, I have now resent copies to them using Special Delivery, costing me £6-22. thing is my temp cover runs out tomorrow, and they still not responded to my official complaint to them ( earlier in week). I guess my next step is the FOS ? anyone else had crap dealings with these cowboys ? (if you have lots of praise for these people , then fine, please go sing their praises in other posting. This is not what I want to hear in this posting, thank you) I want to hear if others have had similar dealings with these people, and how you dealt with them

Hello My neighbour's son tried to retrieve is dole money, he was told, because he is doing community service at the moment, his money will be stopped until he finishes his time doing CS. Is this right? Thanks

I have placed 4 calls over the last week to Ebay customer service about a seliing issue that I have on my account. I have insisted on filing a report with the customer service about the issue in which Ebay authorized the buyer of an item that I had sold with "no returns" to return the item just because they insisted on doing so. There was actually nothing wrong with the item or the ad and Ebay made me eat the shipping on the return. The buyer already had 3 feedbacks just prior to this issue listed in their feedback section from other sellers that had listed that this was a continuing issue with this buyer. Ebay just ignored them Each time that i have called, I insisted on submitting a complaint about this issue and each time I was placed on "indefinite" hold by the customer service rep. I called 2x yesterday and the same exact thing happened, where I was placed on hold for 45 minutes with no avail. When I called back and insisted on speaking a supervisor about the issues with their customer service, I was placed on hold again, indefinitely (hung up after 30 minutes on hold). I think that Ebay customer service has blacklisted my account, because I tried calling again this morning to inquire Ebay's policies for appealing a decision , and was placed on indefinite hold again (30+ minutes), with the excuse that the customer service rep was going to put comments in about the appeal process. I was blocked from any appeal process by this tactic from the beginning, because every time I call and ask to appeal a decision on my account, I am placed on hold "forever". Is it possible that customer service has noted my account and are just playing games with me?

Parcel Hero is generally a very decent company. However, when they get it wrong they get it wrong big time. I'm still waiting for a parcel containing various items which I ordered from a company in London. Because of the Christmas rush I paid extra for the courier service. In fact instead of paying about £16, I paid over £40. It should have been delivered next day. Starting off in the UK, my goods were sent to Germany - then to France then back to Germany then back to France. Now they are in France - with no tracking information as to when they might eventually get to me. I have been hanging around for three days - and looks like a 4th is coming up. My queries were being handled by a very nice sounding guy called Richard Mileham - Then I got this reply from a guy called Tej Thanjal ________________________________________ Then when it still didn't arrive and I said that I would want my money back, Tej wrote back:- What a small minded quibbling little reply. Does this seriously represent the customer-facing attitude of Parcel Hero? I replied:- and I'm now waiting for a response

I have issued a County Court Summons against Barclays Mortgage Service, PO Box 8575. As they failed to respond I have entered judgement against them and a warrant for full payment was attempted to be issued by the bailiff, because we only have a PO Box address the bailiff is unable to execute the warrant. Does anyone know the real address for this office in Leicester ?

Complaint regarding Barclays after i lost my job and had to make reduced payments. Barclays defaulted one of my credit card accounts after 7 months of arrears. They defaulted the other after 10 months. I complained that the second default date was completely inaccurate and asked for it to be changed to one similar to my other account. The adjudicator upheld my complaint but Barclays would not accept his decision and complained. The adjudicator then changed his mind saying he had not taken into account Barclays internal procedures which resulted in the delay. I showed that the delay in the default date is in breach of the ICO guidelines on defaults which state a maximum of 6 months. I also showed that the ICO guidelines specifically state that internal procedures should not be the determining factor when a default is registered. Ombudsman: "The ICO guidance does state that defaults should be registered within 3-6 months, but our service would not insist that this is followed in all cases." Regarding the delay between the first and second account default date. Ombudsman: "I'm persuaded the bank thought the applicants financial situation could improve." "It was required to treat customers positively and sympathetically" I find it disappointing that it was fair and reasonable for Barclays to delay a default to one of my credit cards but also find it fair and reasonable that they decided it was not necessary to do so on another. Ombudsman: Referring to the bank. "It says it has no record of the account the applicant refers to. It appears the applicant cant provide information about that account either." I provided my credit file which has the account details and adverse information which is reported and updated monthly by Barclays. Is the ombudsman awake? Ombudsman: "The bank says it generally issues formal demands to customers after an account has been in arrears for 7 months, and that it then given the customer a further 28 days notice before registering a default. It appears the bank did this in this case." This was almost word for word what the adjudicator said. Truly amazing since i had already explained to the adjudicator the maths; "I still do not understand how the default date 29th July is 28 days after the formal demand 1st June? I make this 59 days." What else can i say. A terrible and very poor service.

In a Poll out today it is no surprise to me that Scottish Power came out with the biggest number of complaints over their customer service. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-2908750/Wooden-Spoonawards-Scottish-Power-UK-s-worst-customer-service.html Another surprise was how much more criticism was levelled against them than Halifax who are also the pits. I suppose that is Scottish Power becoming even worse than Halifax making improvements?

Hello Just some advice please. A friend has a debt with Lloyds who have passed the collection to Bryan Carter solicitors. she has received papers from her local county court to take part in a mediation (?) telephone call in connection with the debt. Is this a new procedure through the county court? What happens if she chooses not to take part? Is this just a form of intimidation. The debt is approx 4K - she has asked for copy agreement etc from Bryan Carter and Lloyds - but no response. Your views would be most appreciated. Thanks

I had a financial based company take money out my account without my consent or permission and they only offered me 50% refund for this membership fee. I complained and continued for weeks complaining without any email responses and got advice and support from the Ombudsman and after some communication I had with rogue company the FO contacted them and although the company was unwilling to resolve my issue with me they got the full refund plus some compensation as it took 7 weeks and some stress to get a full refund. At the same time my bank had on 3 occasions given me incorrect information about my debit card and was complaining to them and given a tenner but then got FO back involved who wrote a letter to bank and they decided to give me further compensation for the confusing information they had provided me. I was delighted with them as they listened to me for ages and helped me to try to tackle the complaints I had and my aim was never for extra money I started out complaining out of principle and just wanted to give up at times as it was too stressful and time consuming, but the FO seemed to do what I just wasn't able to do myself and much beyond what I had initially seeked and wished for.

Because I know that BES utilities is very keep to show how customer-facing and transparent they are, it would be very helpful if they would explain what is meant by a "deemed" contract and what the source if this phenomenon is. Thank you.

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 all, new on here, and wondered if any body else has this experience. Broadband (not fibre) has worked fine all summer, since being sent a new router and buying a new computer,about March. In August/September I began getting sales calls, "go to Fibre", being the message. At about the same time, the BB performance began to decline again, being particularly affected by the passage of electric trains on the West Coast Main Line, about 50 mtrs or so away. I complained to TT, who couldn't find a fault with online testing, so a service call was arranged,for 17.10. I knew from Ts & Cs that a £50 fee could be charged for a wasted visit. Engineer could not find a fault, I explained about these trains, no comment, except to say real answer is yes you guessed it, go Fibre. I have now done that, and have now been hit with the £50 wasted visit charge, even though nothing was done, and the Engineers written report stated that the Customer has done nothing wrong with the apparatus/equipment/installation. During the time preceding the service visit, the BB service remained poor, and I continued receiving sales calls , Once the go live of fibre, the service is back to its level of summer, but you'd expect that. I can't help feeling that TT deliberately affected the performance in order to force me to go Fibre. Anyone else had the same experience? cheers chad

Okay, for about 6 months or so there is constantly maintenance work happening with the service and the 3G service is usually about 0.2mbps which is terrible. I was on the webchat again today for what is about the millionth time since joining in January (exaggeration maybe but you get the point ) Today, the advisor actually admitted there is a network problem with half of my postcode ; actually confused how half the postcode can get coverage yet the other half have issues. Nevertheless the advisor then offered a penalty free cancellation if I returned the device to them. The problem here being I changed my handset on my own accord and the one I actually have is not the one I got through the deal. I was therefore offered £5 off my deal because of the lack of internet services being available. I've been promised many phonecalls from a manager to discuss this however none of these calls have materialised! Do you think this is an acceptable offer? I'm not an unreasonable person ; I just want a service that works and is reflective of the level of service they advertise on their website

Hi hopefully I can get some advice . My housing association /landlord as been over charging me for the past six years . Even after being made aware they were overcharging me 4 years ago they still charge it and have even increased the charge. I live in a house and they are charging me block service charge rate . It's not just me this is being done to all the houses in my street and the surrounding streets owned by my housing are being over charged .yet they have not told any of the tenants they are being overcharged. I was told that it's taking so long due to the amount of people owed money. It could run into hundred of thousands . I have been trying for four years to get this money from them and now they say they will only back date it six years . Any help on this would be grateful

Interesting one from the MAS https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/static/standard-financial-statement-consultation W

Hi, I have a freehold property that I own. Unfortunately, we share the estate with some flats and have common communal area that I am liable to pay a service charge. The TP1 defines: "communal facilities: the Common Access car parking spaces and all open space and landscaped areas shown for the purposes of identification shaded green on Plan 2" "Projections: Including foundations chimneys flues eaves gutters spouts canopies pipes fence posts wall piers and similar projections now or within the Perpetuity Period constructed on the Estate" SERVICE CHARGE COSTS 1. Repairing maintaining inspecting and as necessary reinstating or reviewing the Communal Facilities A cropped photo of plan 2 is shown in the attached. On the left hand shaded area reside 2 chimneys which are listed buildings, which are part of the service charges. My question is that does the definition of Communal Facilities as states in your opinion include the chimneys even though they may reside within the shaded area? Thanks for your help.

I went into the EE store today as my iPhone does not connect to the internet, the battery is terrible, the home button doesn't work and a few other issues. The guy i saw was so rude he said that they didn't have to do anything and it was down to apple. I said my contract is with EE not apple and he kept banging on about me paying for a service and the phone is apples. Whilst this maybe true he said i only had a year to sort out my phone. I told him the eu regulations were two years and it states this on apples website also. He got really grumpy with me and literally frog marched me out of the shop. Whilst i don't like dealing with people like him, what do i do. i have a phone that nearly works and i am paying for extra data allowance because it is constantly searching and i have in contract until april next year. I also told him about the sales of goods act and he said they weren't allowed to help me because the phone was more than 14 days old. Does anyone have an email address where i can complain to and back this up with some sort of strength?

Took my car in to a local garage for its service and MOT. I also asked for an air con service at the time of booking. When picking up my car I was told that they couldn't complete the air con service as there was a leak when they put the oxygen through, when I asked what had happened and why they hadn't fixed it, I was fobbed off. On driving home, the air con wasn't working at all, just blowing hot air, it was working fine before. I took it to an F1 Autocentre who diagnosed instantly that there was no leak, just no pressure in the system- most likely due to a botched job. Where do I stand about complaining about this? I didn't lose any money, just time and my air con ended up re-gassed. However I'm not happy with the service I received from the garage.