Hi All! I have been signed up with LA fitness since roughly October 2014. When I was signing my contract I stated I might change my job in few months and the person handling my contract was very friendly and assured me few times that it takes only 5 minutes to break the contract and there will be no problems, I only need a proof. In January 2015 I was going back to my country and wasn’t sure if I am going to go back. I wrote a letter and gave it to the person at the reception together with copy of proof of booking my flight ticket. She said I don’t need to worry and she will send it to Head Office. After few days she called me saying there are not enough information on the proof of booking and I need a copy of actual ticket (I didn’t have it as it was before check out). I was flying after two days and didn’t have time to bring it so I left it at that point and just cancelled my direct debit. I was back to England after few weeks and got a letter from LA Fitness with outstanding balance. I didn’t pay it and just ignored the letter. There were more letters and then ARC Europe started to chase me. I called LA Fitness saying I gave my letter and what happened to it and they said they never received it (because person at the reception never passed it). Some time ago ARC Europe called me and I confirmed I still live at the same address as I thought the call was from someone else. When I realized who are they I said that my cancelation letter got lost in the process and I don’t have any copy of letter or flight tickets anymore. The person from ARC Europe was very rude and hanged up. I got another letter now saying I owe them £440…..! And they are going to take my case to the court. I am not sure if the template letters you published are appropriate. I know it is partly my fault as I should bring my flight ticket but I went there few times before trying to cancel and they were making problems or there was no person available who could help me, that’s why I gave it up. I feel lost now. Could you advise me, please?

Can anyone offer advice, there are two of us who have won cases through FOS against Microcredit T /as Minicredit, we won in our favour and Microcredit owe 1200, they ceased to trade, I have gone to CAB and they couldn't give advice, also been in contact with FCA and cant give advice and FOS have done all they can do. FOS decisions are enforceable in court. I have already spent 100 trying to get my money. I have sent a judgement obviously next step in Bailiffs, but is this maybe a waste of money as they may not have assets, we need help as we cant spend money and we may not get money back, please any advice, obviously we can put a charge on bank but is it worth paying if they don't have active bank account. We feel lost and are annoyed Minicredit has not paid us our money, but they ensured they sold there debts on, how is this allowed

hi i was wondering if anyone can help i am a single disabled 36 year old and have had a ccj issued which i got varied on the 29th of jan 2015 this is all sorted and im to pay £48 per month whish i have done and am NOT in default ok here is the problem i received a visit from a sheriff on the 13th March saying i had to pay the whole ccj. i told him i am paying it via variation order so he gave me a letter and left on the 30TH April i received a further letter from sherrifs saying they were taking over the variation order and i was to pay them each month now. they have charged me for commencement plus enforcement stage 1 and 2 plus other things the claimants solicitor aplied for the high court writ on the 13 Feb after the variation order was issued and payments had commenced and been received ok I have been to court today to stay the writ and the judge told the claimant that he was also remitting the intrest, fees and vat the sheriffs were asking for so i dont have to pay the sheriff just the original variation order because they aplied for the writ after the variation order despite the fact they received a copy of the variation order before applying for the writ So i would like to know can i do anything to the sheriffs or the claimants solicitor for undue stress caused by receiving visits and letters form the sheriffs demanding money and having to appear at court again even though i did not default to stop action that should not have been enforced in the first place this has taken a lot of my time, telephone calls to 0845 numbers, seeking CAB advice and attending court any help would be very much appreciated as they shouldnt be allowed to get away with this

Hello all. This is my first post but have been reading some other posts and been really impressed with everyones willingness to help so I am hoping some of you may be able to offer me some advice. I will try and keep as concise as possible! I bought a car at the end Dec last year, Audi A4, 55 reg with 98k on the clock with FSH. A week in brakes failed and I took it to my local garage who said brakes were only 50% efficiency and would recommend new pads and disks all round. Took it back to dealer bought from and they only agreed to replace front disks. By this stage I had also noticed that the heating system was not working which they said was working fine on all their tests (god knows how as it was on 29 degrees and blowing stone cold air). 2 weeks later car breaks down and recovery say that there's a major water leak. Goes back to garage again who say it's a water hose pipe cracked and they have replaced it. 2 weeks later and the car is still losing coolant and heating still not working. Goes back again at which point they say they don't know what it is and send it to an audi specialist (not main dealer). They find that the radiator is blown and that it needs new radiator, water pump and thermostat which they do. 3 weeks later still losing coolant the Audi specialists take it back again to look again, they find no leaks on external pressure testing and conclude that it must be internal, most likely head unit or gasket. By now I am hacked off and have been without the car some 20 days in 2 months and offer the dealer the chance to buy car back from us for £4500. They refuse and the original dealers then take it back from the independent people as they want to look for themselves. They then say it's a tiny crack in a pipe next to the head unit which they have fixed. In-between this front brake pads have shattered on me costing me £95 to fix. There's bit more to this but that's a brief outline. It's been back 5 times and still not fixed. Roll on 3 weeks and it's still losing coolant. They now refuse to discuss by phone and will only respond to a letter. I have just drafted a letter saying that there is still a problem and despite being given several opportunities they have been unable to fix it and giving them 5 days to offer me a suitable and positive resolution. Am wondering if we have a chance in getting our money back through SCC? I have lost faith in them fixing it so don't really want to give them a 6th opportunity to have it back (unless they sent it to main dealer at their cost maybe). Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated, and thanks for getting this far if you have.

We will no longer be able to give advice or to comment on the Npower Nightmare Facebook group because we have been blocked. If you are a member of one of the other groups – Npower Boycott, Nasty Npower, Consumers Against NPower, etc and you see comments which are posted on this forum or in one of those groups and which you feel might be useful to the people who are on the Npower Nightmare Facebook group, then you might think to relay those comments to those people because we will be unable to do so directly. Some of you might also feel inclined to let the members of the Npower Nightmare Facebook group know that the Consumer Action Group has been blocked because I expect that most of them don't realise it. The way that the Npower Nightmare group is being conducted would almost lead you to believe that it is a shill group of Npower – but of course that is just being fanciful, isn't it?

Last year we had a successful claim for the PPI on this account, the story is in my thread at http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?324408-PPI-Paragon-and-eLoan(Twopart-Ltd)-***-SUCCESS-*** OK, quick explanation. In early 2006 we took out a consolidation loan, paying back several old debts and having a small sum to ourselves to have some urgent work done in the bathroom, everything in there was broken! The company who brokered the deal went bust, hence claiming the PPI via FSCS last year. Paragon have been a pain in the rear as they started repossession proceedings last year because we were in arrears. We borrowed some money to bail ourselves out of that and when we got the PPI we paid them another lump sum, as well as paying the family member back we'd borrowed from to take the case out of court. The PPI only ever covered the first 5 years of a 10 year term, and only ever covered my wife's employment, never myself. Even if we had not reclaimed this, it would have been useless by now anyway. I had gone through several periods of having to work without pay, or only part time, for a few years. This was to set up a community project which eventually went full-time in late 2009 and I actually got full time pay for a year too. But, that ended in September 2011 when the funding ran out again. I found myself unemployed and falling into serious ill health. I'm now in receipt of ESA and DLA and classed as disabled, I have COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which means it's not curable, I'll be stuck with it for the rest of my life. My chances of employment are slim as I can hardly get out of the house. Paragon have been made aware of this and have had I&E details, but have again taken the court route for repossession. I had to attend a hearing earlier this month. Thanks to being out in the cold air I was then struck with pleurisy, which has limited me for the last three weeks as the antibiotics and steroids do their stuff. The hearing was adjourned as they had failed to serve some paper or other. It's been rescheduled in April. So, Paragon annoyed me enough that I started to look at their paperwork. I also consulted an old thread - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?171037-Multiple-agreements-falling-within-section-18-CCA-1974 (WARNING: 107 pages !). I realised that their 'unregulated' agreement was actually wrong, under the CCA it should have been multiple agreements. Added to which was the PPI and a selection of unlawful charges they've thrown into the pot over the years. Paragon have not submitted a copy of the agreement as part of their court case so I've taken the view that I should ask why they are taking action against me. The agreement is unenforceable and flawed. How can they impose 'arrears', 'balance' and other terms ? I realise that there is a danger of taking this route. Judges have been know to ask the simple question' did you have the money' and I would answer yes, we did. However, we are not looking at debt evasion here. The loan we had was £25,500, we've paid them over £34,000 to day, that's over 133% return they've had and I object to giving them any more, now that I am aware of the dodgy agreement. So, I've written to the solicitors acting for Paragon and told them how I see it inviting them to withdraw the case and send me a letter to say they've closed the account. Nothing like making it simple for them to understand what I'd like them to do. A previous SAR brought only limited information, no copies of letters Paragon claimed they had sent, no information about why they made two doorstep visits they charged me for, no information on the broker used or their fees either. I told them at the time that I considered the SAR insufficient, but (as usual) I never got a reply. From what I've read on S18, we had a mixture of restricted use and unrestricted use. Indeed a list was drawn up by Paragon for the cheques to be raised and issued by them. As neither exceeded £25,000 I have declared the 'unregulated agreement' to be at fault. Paragon have tried to tell me that they will take away the home I have lived in for the last 17 years. My wife and her daughter have lived here for 30 years. I cannot help my medical condition, it has been verified by doctors and even ATOS. We have struggled to survive since I lost my income. They have been calling and leaving message daily, despite being told that we will not discuss anything by telephone, we want it all in writing so there's no trying to make out we said anything we didn't. Too right I'm going to stand up to them ! In February 2011 Paragon took a much higher DD than normal, which prevented other bills being paid from the bank account. A letter arrived afterwards, thanking us for agreeing to the new amount. We never agreed to anything, so we clawed the payment back via the bank and cancelled the DD. We paid the amount we normally paid at the time and lodged a complaint with Paragon. Despite reminders they have failed to respond to the complaint and I put the account into dispute pending this being resolved. It never has been. Thanks to having some time on my hands to do a lot of reading, I'm convinced that Paragon don't actually have a valid agreement on which to claim anything. They've taken court action when there is a dispute pending, as well as being ignorant of many letters sent to them. I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on potential brick walls I may hit here? I am only following what I believe to be correct and I am quite prepared to explain this to a judge if the case is not withdrawn. Remember, we have already reclaimed the PPI on this account successfully. Had it not been for the negative side of unenforceable agreements being well documented here, I had even thought of suggesting that Paragon may like to pay back the £34,000 they've had off us so far...

Long story cut very short; I have a 2006 Vauxhall Zafira auto. About 12 months ago the auto box was not "kicking" down when required or would just jump around the gears. Light also came up on dash and "rad coolant level low" showed up l Took it to a Vauxhall main dealer who could not find anything wrong with the car and told me to just keep topping up the rad when the light comes on as there "may" be a small leak somewhere, even though they could not find one. Had a full service done, 2 days later coil pack failed and AA fitted new one at cost telling me it was most prob due to one of the spark plugs not being put in properly, did not as for written confirmation of this (yes I know I should have) Complained to garage who stated it would not have been them but offered a free service next time round. Told them about coolant light again and was again advised to just top it up. Gear box was still not right so took it back to same garage three more times. Last time I asked them to check the gear box oil as on one of the forums it states that could be the problem. Was told oil was nice and clear and no issues. Again told to just top up the coolant when the light comes on. Three weeks later engine light came on and car broke down. AA took it to same vauxhall dealer, this time was advised segments from the radiator had leaked into the gearbox oil and a new gearbox and radiator was required at a cost of 3K. I obviously argued the point why this was not picked up before but was told "nothing to do with us mate" attitude ! Wrote many many emails of complaint etc but was just told it needed a gearbox and they offered no explanation as to why this had not been picked up before when they had my car in for service etc. When I was last at the garage I was advised the MD of "Go Vaauxhall" (the garage I took my car to all the time) was in his office if I wanted to talk to him personally. I obviously said I would and was walked over to another building as he was on the top floor. The only way to get to his office was via a spiral staircase, now I am disabled due to spinal injuries and use either a walking stick/crutches or wheelchair, something the garage are well aware off. I managed to get myself up the stairs as there was no lift and into the MDs office. After shutting the door he asked what my problem was ! I tried to explain all the issues when he in a loud voice started to argue. I decided this was not the correct way of dealing with the situation and walked out of his office. I again sent emails with my concerns but was just told if I wanted my car back I had to pay for the new gear box, which I eventually did as I needed a car as they advised me they did not have a loan car for me to use. Got the car home only for the coolant light to come back on ! Called the garage and this time they fitted a new "cooler" tank. Three days later new gearbox started to muck around again. Called AA who advised me ALL the gear box oil had come out due to a faulty seal. Called the garage yet again, not a happy bunny at this stage !!!! Was advised I had to get the car to them as they could not recover my car for me and they had no loan car's as it was now the Xmas break. Finally got the AA to take my car back to them on 7th January this year. They fixed the seal over the next three days. Sent more emails etc with no offer of compensation or anything at all. Due to my disability I was taken into hospital for another major spinal operation and have not been able to do anything for the last three months. I have now taken civil action against the garage at a cost of £70 to me claiming half the money for the gear box as I cannot afford the extra fee for claiming the full amount. Just received an email telling me they are going to fight this in court and are obviously in a better position than me to get my point across as they will have their own legal team etc. Is it best for me now just to give in due to the size of the company and if it cost me any more money, which I would now have to borrow ! I just feel I have been "had over" and it has cost me to try and prove this and the garage are just taking the pee !! Will it cost me any more money ? I have been advised by the court they are sending out a form N181 for me to fill in. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading my "little" problems I am having with a Vauxhall main dealer. Regards Brian

Some advice please, Lowell have issued court proceeding against me for a credit card debt, I have followed the advice that I have read on this great site as follows: Lowell issue proceedings, I acknowledge and submit defence, Court issue court date, Lowell submit copy of application form which does have my signature and also default letter as requested in my defence. Does that mean that I ave no defence and should pay up to avoid CCJ or is there still something I am not seeing that can stop them. Please help, I have until May before the court date

Hi, Not sure where to start so I will start with the obvious. I am defending myself against MKDP LLP for a Barclaycard debt they say is mine. This all started two years ago when I started receiving Barclaycard letters saying I had missed payments, I rang them and was told the same even when I was able to demonstrate that I had been paying my account (mins only) eventually I recieved letters and phone calls from Robinson Way who seemed to want to help and suggested I paid them £100 a month until they could resolve the matter for me. 6 months later and I was no further on, except I was now receiving threatening letters from Raven. I stop the direct debit to RW and found this fantastic forum and your great template letters. What followed was requests for CCA and SAR with the appropriate fees asking not to be used against alleged debt ect. The following agencies having ALL continued chasing this debt with differing amounts on most occasions. (Apex, Robinson Way, RMA and MKDP LLP) the amounts differ from £6,805.32 to 8,847.14. MKDP LLP court documents claiming £9,257.14 (C/Fee £410) Needless to say my CCA requests and SAR requests went unanswered except for one communiction with Apex which acknowledged receipt of my communication and stated "Please advise the customer that copies of applications are only available for legal reasons, we now require confirmation of this" here I am with Papers served returned acknowledgment of service with the 28th June as deadline for defence. I have used a template letter from here informing MKDP LLP that I intend defending the whole claim and requesting CPR 31.14. This was sent special delivery on the 29th May. To date I have not even received an acknowledgement yet alone anything under my request. My question is this: How do I draft a credable defence using the fine examples on this forum without looking like a complete numpty quoting legal terms out of context and manage to cheese off the District Judge before I have my day in court (assuming it goes that far) For information MKDP Claims: The claimant claims the sum of £8,847.14 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a regulated agreement originally between the Defendant and Barclaycard. The Defendant's account was XXXXXXXXXX and was assigned to the claimant on 22/6/2012. Notice of this has been provided to the defendant. The defendant has failed to make payments in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served persuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The Claimant claims the sum of £8,847.14 and costs. The Claimant has compiled as is necessary, with the pre-action conduct practice direction. I am still recieving letters from Apex and letters from MKDP LLP "to avoid court action, blah, blah" Sorry for the lenghty post K

Can anyone help? I have some large credit card debts on about 5 cards. I have sent a standard letter asking for a copy of the CCA and had replies back but some seem a bit dodgy. I'm no expert sp I joined the forum to see if there is any help here for me. Do I tell them that I dont think they have complied with what I asked for and put the account in dispute and pay the £10 for the SAR? Are they legally entitled to chase me for payments while the account is in dispute? I can post documents if anyone wants to have a look. Cheers

Due to poor health, I had to take time of work, Jan and Feb, now from my wages I make sure I pay my Mortgage, Payment to the Debt arrangement scheme, and Council Tax Now I get weekly tax credits of £81, and around the 15 Feb, I received my bill from scottish Power of £298. Now from my tax credits, and working payments out on Excel, I have budgeted £30 per week to my account for Scottish Power, meaning by 5 May account should be paid in full On the 23 Feb, I emailed Scottish Power about my fiancial difficult, and included the payment plan for the account Now a few days later, I received a email, requesting me to phone them to discuss any payment plan I did this today, after receiving a third reminder this week, with " IF WE HAVE TO COME AND VISIT, YOU WILL BE CHARGED £37" Spoke to one of the Customer Service Advisors, explained my problem, have no suffiecent fund to make full payment as they requested, now she wasnt any help, infact all she was interested in doing , was to ask me if I was interested in a prepayment meter...quite honestly I dont want this Seems my problem is, Im a quarterly payment, and payment is due xxx date, and they cant change anything, as it is all down to the computer, I even asked before hanging up, if they would accept my offer of £30 per week for the next 6 weeks, but no I have even today, emailed Scottish Power for a second time, and expressed my concern, if I dont have the funds to pay of in full, but can at least budget £30 per week to my account, this should be good enough I have also pointed out, I find this very stress full, and because of heart problems, this going and coming dosnt help me, if we cant come to an arrangement, I gues I will have to stick it on to my remaining debts,and up the repayments

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Hi all, I hope you can help with situation that I find myself in within the last 48 hours and of course I can try and support with what I have learnt in recent days if it helps. Sorry for the long mail! I had a call from HCEO on Tuesday identifying himself and asking if I knew a particular person. He caught me on the back foot and I did not know the name. He proceeded by saying next steps would be taken, I had no idea what he was talking about, the name and what next steps meant even though I asked several times. I immediately googled the name and it is someone I recognize, a consultant who operated on me 7 years ago. I contacted her and spoke to the consultants secretary who outlined that since my operation fees have not been paid by Bupa. They had tried to get ahold of me a while after their invoices were rejected by Bupa but I had moved home and I have a different contact number. They proceeded with action and the company they instructed (Control Accounts) did the same, try and contact me by post and calls but obviously got the same response as the consultant. They then passed my debt through to the County Court who once again did the same and as of last July issued a CCJ against me. The case was then taken to the High Cour tand this brings me up to this week and the HCEO. I have contacted the consultants and explained and said I would call Bupa and understand what has happened. The consultants are actually sorry it has got this far but my issue is to contain and manage the HCEO right now. Bupa are not taking any responsibility and referred me to my old company TBH I can take it up with them after I contain the current process I face. I had a authorization number from Bupa, my procedure took place a month after I was made redundant from my old job at no stage was I notified my cover would stop as well as the consultants not being notified by Bupa. My policy was supposed to run from April - April but the company cut it in Dec. this has become a separate issue. I spoke with the HCEO and I have given them my new contact details inc address which they now have anyway. They said they would resend the letter of execution within the next couple of days and of course start the process from there. I am faced with a bill that was c£900 + to a bill which is now c£1800. Having read advice, spoke with National debt line and CAB hey have advised I seek a N244 or N245 as I do not have the cash to pay this. I have also spoken with the court that has the writ and they explained that the N244 form is what I need???? The CCJ is another matter and is with Salford court. I am a little confused having spoken to many people within the last 48 hours. I guess what I want to do is stop the Writ and therefore stop the HCEO action arriving at my door. Be given the chance to explain that the process has got so far down the line with me only being looped in now. Pay the money but outlay over instalments whilst I argue the case with Bupa and my old company. And finally take the CCJ off as this is something that I was unaware of until this week on this really concerns me as I will be taking steps to start a family and eventually have savings for a house!This will ruin it all! It is stressful and anybody that has been in a similar situation will know and hopefully be able to advice and help me manage and contain this matter. PS I am trying to work with the Consultants and I do understand their perspective so hence I shall pay for the operation but it is a lot of money to outlay in 1 hit. Thank you all

Hi, I hope someone can offer some advice since direct communication and court mediation have failed to resolve the small claim I have initiated against ebuyer and so the next/final step is court with an additional £170 in fees I would be required to pay, which i am hesitant to do without some clarity on my position. Sorry if it’s long winded but hopefully it’s all relevant. I bought a 3TB external hard drive from them a couple of years ago. This was my complete archive of everything, every sentimental photo and video I owned, all of my purchased music mp3's used for my DJing career/hobby, my archive of mixes and rare promo tracks which can't be bought/got again. The data on this drive was priceless basically. In April 2014 it developed a fault, so I rang Ebuyer to see what to do and they advised I needed to speak to the manufacturer, which I later found out was a lie - I then rang Consumer Direct for guidance who advised it is in fact the supplier not the manufacturer, and that under the Sales of Goods Act, the supplier is liable for any costs incurred as a result of the device, which in this case would be the recovery of the data. So, knowing nothing about data recovery/which companies to use, I then spent a long time navigating the minefield of data recovery companies to try and find a reputable one I could entrust my drive to and settled on a company in Sheffield who have been immensely helpful throughout this whole ordeal. I sent them the drive and they provided a report which concluded they could see no evidence of mishandling or mistreatment and there is no evidence of damage within the drive that would be indicative of an impact event and the electronics of the drive were not found to have been subject to an over-voltage or other event that may have led to the drive failing. They also said that while they couldn’t guarantee they could restore the data, their diagnostics indicated the data should still be retrievable. They provided a quote and I then wrote to Ebuyer asking them, as per their obligations under the Sales of Goods Act, to fund the cost of the recovery, provide a replacement drive, and provide a drive with equivalent parts of the defective one, at the request of the recovery company so the recovery could be performed. Ebuyer then wrote back requesting the report from the recovery company which they accepted, and I thought that was the end of it (and they would pay up). Ebuyer then requested I send the drive to them. Instinctively I was weary, not wanting my drive to be posted from one place to another but I spoke with the recovery company about my concerns and they suggested that Ebuyer perhaps wanted to try attempt the recovery in-house (to avoid paying out for the recovery). They also said that there was no way Ebuyer would have the capability to do it. Regardless, I felt obliged to send it to them if I wanted them to pay out for the recovery so I could get my data back. So I sent it to them and after chasing for updates, was advised that after ‘extensive testing’, the drive was found to be at fault and that a partial refund of £73 (the drive cost £99.99) had been applied to my account. Then, assuming they were still procrastinating about funding the data recovery, I asked them to return the drive in the meantime so that at least the contents were safe with me. They then dropped the bombshell that the drive had been wiped. It’s hard to articulate how I felt at that moment, but to compound it, I was in Asia at the time on what should have been the holiday of a lifetime, which, needless to say, was tarnished somewhat. I spoke with the recovery company upon my return who advised it seems like Ebuyer had treated this as a standard return/replacement when this was clearly never the case. I had been perfectly clear right from the start and in pretty much every email to Ebuyer before and since, how important this data was and that my wish was to have it restored. TRC Data Recovery suggested I ask Ebuyer for their report on the drive, which Ebuyer refused to provide then and since. A clear hole in Ebuyers story is that they stated 'Following extensive tests by our Returns staff, this item was found to be faulty.’ When previously they had said ‘when a hard drive is returned to us any data is automatically wiped from the drive for data protection reasons. This is something that is done for all hard drives so the data on yours would have been removed when it arrived here before it was tested.’. The recovery company advised that it would not be possible for them to have tested the drive after the data has been destroyed, as the 2 physical methods that could be employed for the task of removing the data, degaussing and physical destruction, would render the drive destroyed and so it couldn’t be tested afterwards, and the other way of removing data, via software, wasn’t possible in this case as the drive had a fault. This contradiction as yet remains unanswered by Ebuyer. Presumably because it can’t be explained and is why they are unwilling to provide their report. They seem to have something to hide? What they were hoping to test for is also a mystery, as the recovery company had already established that the drive had a fault, and Ebuyer had accepted their report to that effect, prior to requesting the drive back, so that the drive had a fault so that is not in any question. Ebuyer have recently said ‘As per the TRC fault report they have stated that they cannot guarantee that your data could be recovered, therefore we do not feel this claim is justifiable. In any case our defence remains the same, that it is common for electrical goods to fail due to the complexity of their nature, therefore any data that is of significant importance should be backed up and stored in more than one place.’ As mentioned earlier, the recovery company didn’t say they could guarantee the recovery, but most people would infer from the language TRC used, that it was highly probable and, given the importance of the data, pursuing the route of recovery was the only appropriate course of action (as per the legal guidance I have received thus far from a free drop-in clinic). I had court mediation today and Ebuyer’s defence is basically that drives should be backed up prior to it been sent to them (how) they the recovery company didn’t explicitly say they can guarantee the recovery would be a success and that I have no case and the data should have been backed up elsewhere if it was important (they asked me where the original copy of the data was if the drive was used as a backup to which I had to explain, to a technical team leader no less, that internal drives on a laptop are unlikely to be comparable in size to a 3TB external hard drive). They haven’t answered any of the questions regarding the report they refuse to provide, how they intended to test the drive after the data had been wiped or what they hoped to test for since a fault with the drive had already been established. They lied initially by saying I need to speak to the manufacturer and when requesting the drive back they initially were adamant that they needed the outer casing for the drive but suddenly did a u turn and accepted it without. Just lots of things which don’t add up really, and I've never got my head around how they can think they have acted appropriately. I know I can’t really claim for the huge sentimental loss incurred due to their actions but I’ve managed to find receipts for £417 worth of music purchased, which is only a fraction of what there was but it’s all I can prove. I asked for £700 to settle today (£417 plus £70 court fees plus bit extra) but Ebuyer offered £50. So I just need some advice on whether their defence holds any water so I know if I should pay the £170 fee to take it to court? There is obviously something fishy about their conduct, but whether I can prove that in a court of law is the bit I need help clarifying. It is crazy to me that I am in this position after simply asking Ebuyer to fulfil their duty under the Sales of Goods Act and pay for the recovery of the data. If they had just said they weren’t willing to pay it I’d have done it myself and then put a claim in against them retrospectively. Clearly in hindsight I was naïve to send it to them, but as mentioned I felt obliged to at the time to do as they said if I had any hope of getting some money out of them for the recovery and it never crossed my mind that it was a possibility they would destroy the data after I had made it clear at every stage how important it was and that my intention was to have it restored. Thanks in advance.

Hello Please advise! I have recieved a letter stating I travelled/attempted to travel with being in possession of a ticket from first great Western. There's a cost of £86 if I pay by 30/01 and I'm livid that I have been criminalised by this company. I am a commuter and regularly purchase tickets on this service which can be proved from bank statements. This is the first time I have been sent a letter of this nature. On the day of travel it happened to be the first time I forgot my wallet fortunately I had cash, however the machine at the station does not accept cash (only method of getting ticket). I had my bike with me on the train and had to stand with it due to how busy it was. I was unable to purchase a ticket from the guard either because his machine was not working or there wasn't enough time before the final stop. I cannot remember. I arrived at the station and requested to purchase a ticket as I have done so before and they decided to take my details. Trying to explain the situation and the guard being a stubborn [edited] he got the police involved At which point I caved in. Was sick that a company I have used for so long would treat me with such disrespect criminalise me and He asked me some questions which he wrote down as evidence - none of which were related to my payment method - I refused to sign as he misquoted at least one of my answers. 1. Do I have a case? 2. How do I fight my case? 3. Who do I contact? Please help!!

I received a letter from Anglian water threatening recovery action as I 'haven't paid my bill' even though I requested a payment card so I can pay what I can afford and am currently making payments to them. I sent a email of complaint to them (their offices are closed and I'm currently working shifts during their opening hours which is convenient) along with a copy of a letter from my gp stating that I suffer with anxiety and depression. Any extra help/advice would be good as this is causing me a lot of stress which is a shame as I was starting to get back on my feet and start getting more work.

The response to the following question has just been posted on the what do they know website https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/240747/response/596521/attach/3/FOI%203463.pdf Do your appointed enforcement agencies (bailiffs) have the authority to initiate attachment of earning procedures on accounts passed to them for enforcement, or do they have to pass them back to the authority in order for them to take this alternative enforcement method. If the EA do have this facility is it true that the amount of the order will include the sum remaining on the order plus any fees due to them when the AOE is applied (the amount outstanding) If the bailiff passes the account back to the authority because the enforcement was unsuccessful and subsequently the authority issues an attachment of earnings, will the sum applied to the AOE include the bailiff fees, or will it just be for the amount due on the original order The response is 1. The Local Authorities (contracting out of billing, collection and Enforcement Functions Order) enables Authorities to authorise a contractor to exercise certain functions in connection with the collection and enforcement of Council Tax. Included among these functions are those of making an attachment of earnings order with a view to securing payment of Council Tax and serving it on a person who appears to have a debtor in his employment. 2. Regulation 37 of the Council Tax Administration and Enforcement regulations 1992 (as amended) permits the recovery of the balance outstanding under any liability order plus accrued bailiff charges under schedule 5 and any accrued costs of committal proceedings. The Enforcement Agents therefore have the statutory powers to recover fees accrued through an attachment of earnings order 3. If Enforcement Agent fees remain outstanding then the Authority may recover any fees due under the legislation detailed at point 2. I make no comment at this point

I have a mortgage with GE Capital and have had this for 8 months now. Last month my husband went from being paid weekly to monthly which falls on the last friday of the month. My pay day is the 28th of the month. I contacted GE to advise them of the change and asked them if we could move the day our mortgage is due from the 20th of the month to the 28th of the month. They wrote back and advised us that yes we can move it but it will cost us £188.00 in interest to do so. I couldn't believe they could charge us so much. They tell us it is due to the loss of interest. Our previous mortgage company charged us £25 for administration charges, which at the time we thought was scandalous, but this it takes the biscuit. We habe no choice other than to pay this, otherwise we will incurr charges for not having the money available on the 20th of the month.

Hi new to forum to cut a long story short we purchased a used car PX our own car for it plus cash. Four days after collection of car it broke down they collected car and gave us a replacement vehicle. Kept the car for two weeks returned it guess what within four days had broken down again same problem ecu fault which a back street garage had no chance of sorting out. After the car had broke down the first time we had sent the basic rejection letter but AUTOSAVE Blackpool refused refund saying we had to give them a chance to fix car. We duelly gave them a second chance but did not agree with it as i new they wouldn't be able to fix it as it was a main dealer job low and behold it broke down for second time. We had to have the car recovered to their garage as they promised to recover it but then wouldn't answer our call turned there phone line onto answer machine. Where we our at now, court action taken small claims no response from them to the court action have instructed court to use bailiff to recover dept. I am just wondering why they our acting like this ignoring us yes but ignoring the court do they think they will get away with this i'm in the motor trade my self be it the motorcycle trade in my eight years of selling motorcycles iv had one vehicle returned i gave refund to guy there and then why do some used car dealer think they our above the law. Any advice please as my girl friend is worried over the outcome these guys don't seem to mind collecting enemies.

Hi there, apologies if this is in the wrong place. I'll outline my situation: I lived at a shared property for 6 years with 4 flatmates. I moved out of said property last year (sep'13). I moved a few streets away. During my last 3 years there I was in charge of collecting the rent from other flatmates and paying the landlord each month. The rent was initially paid all in cash and collected in person by the landlord with no receipts. Then we agreed to try paying half the rent in cash and half in bank transfer. This only worked for a few months because some of the flatmates weren't paid on time, and it was odd amounts, so we reverted to paying all in cash as before, collected in person by the landlord. This went on for my last year at the property with no apparent problems. A couple of months after I moved out I was contacted by my (by then ex) landlord saying that he had not received the last year's worth of bank transfers. I told him that he may have forgotten that we agreed to scrap that at the beginning of the year and I had paid him the whole amount in cash (which he counted and collected in person each month, as usual). He denied any knowledge of this and insisted that I now owed him a year's worth of rent (the missing half). This was last Christmas, I told him he was crazy and after numerous phone calls, including one on Christmas eve during dinner, I just barred his number. I had heard nothing more about the situation, and I am in constant contact with the remaining tenants (as we are all friends), but now he has told one of them to tell me to meet him to discuss the money or he will take me to court. This landlord is notoriously dodgy. He lost a court case a few years ago to some other tenants in the same building over rent raises. He constantly harrasses them and follows other people coming or going, I've even seen him photographing people. Although he has no proof that I didn't pay him the rent, I also have no proof that I did. In a court case does it sound like he has a case? He is claiming rent not paid starting from Dec 2012, so 2 years ago now, why would he wait that long if he thought he was missing thousands and thousands of pounds, unless he is just trying a [problem] because he knows there are no receipts? He even gave me a reference for my new flat. It just doesn't add up. Any legal based comments very welcome as I am unfamiliar with any of this process. Thanks

Had a quick forum search and found only 9 posts regarding Wessex Water been served Court papers so need to sort this out. Firstly the debt is for £1752 built up from them not billing us for 3 years due to an error in their system we have called these people only to be told pay more to clear the debt. We have made regular monthly payments since receiving the bill 15 months ago now they have issued court proceedings. when I say regular payments I mean it started at £50 per month then we had to up it to £75 a month but they are not happy with this. Do I send them a CPR 31 request or do I deal with these people in a different way, thanks

Hi, My specific question is whether there is a time limit from the date of a parking "offence" and the date when a private company take court action? I received a ticket for an incident that happened on 10th January 2014 (short story: free car park, I left the premises temporarily to get money from an ATM for the shop in question, got a ticket 6 minutes after parking for leaving the premises). I have so far ignored all letters completely, that's my decision after reading up online whether or not that was the right thing to do, I've taken a punt on it being so. The last letter I received was on 4th April, however, have received another one today, nearly 8 months later! I'm guessing there may be a 1 year time limit and this is their final throw of the dice before the time limit is up perhaps? I do have reasons why I chose to ignore correspondence (UKCPS have made some very basic errors with every piece of correspondence so far which I believe would see them lose in court, that's my gamble I'm prepared to take) I'd prefer for UKCPS to not know about these errors in advance, but just wondering what the time limit is for them to potentially take court action. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I've received a 14 day notice before court proceedings from UKCPS and as it's a little different from the posts I can see already on the thread, wondered whether anyone had any advice. I parked on private land outside shops, a takeaway which was closed (this was lunchtime), an empty unit and the third being my intended destination a cycle shop. I first visited the newsagent over the road which took a little longer than expected, approx 10 minutes. As I crossed back over the road, I saw UKCPS arrive and give me a ticket. They took photos, but did not check that I was not in the cycle shop first. I have used the shop many times before and the owner would know my face, although I have not been there since this incident. The car park signage states the car park is for customers, which I intended to be. It is free, as are all local car parks. There is space for around 15 cars, the only other car there at the time belonged to the owner of the cycle shop. What is the situation with going off site? I intend to defend this as I cannot see a valid claim for any loss nor any wrongdoing. If anyone could help me with the specific arguments, or direct me to a similar post already on this forum which covers this, ideally specifically with UKCPS that would be much appreciated. Equally, is 'pre-court action' just another ruse, or is now the time to actually respond?

Hi all, Bit of a story. Let me state the facts. - I relocated to Australia in 2010 and left in May 2012. - I received an internal transfer from my company, whom I worked for a total of about 8 years (6+ in UK, 18 months in Oz) - Over the course of my employment I received a lot of stock options that mature over years. - The vast majority of these were awarded to me when I was in the UK and matured when I was in the UK. A few matured while in Australia but not a lot at all. - I left the company, left Australia and sold my stock options. - I sold my stock option in August 2012 when I was back in the UK. - I put the stock options on my UK tax return for 2012/2013. I have not tried to dodge tax but simply claimed the tax where I saw fit - I'm aware the issue is the ATO may not see it as black and white as this. Recently the ATO sent me a letter (in the UK) asking for the tax. It seems my company notified them as they are a benefit and now the ATO wants the tax. Does anyone have any idea what the ATO can do? How powerful is the ATO/HMRC relationship?

Hi after a few years of letters from aktiv capitol tempus, various other debt company's over mbna acc, 2 months ago i had a county court claim for 5k, i acknowledged it in defence said, i do not owe the stated amount or part amount to this company, had letter from court stating they would fwd my defence, not heard anything should i think about putting ppi claim in to mbna now or not is there any time limit for starting to reclaim ppi