I purchased a 32inch combi TV from Finlux direct on 16/06/2014 and the TV worked fine until six weeks after new purchase. Because customer must return goods at their own expense after the 14 day (no fuss) perio, I sought advice from the Citizen's Advice who now deal with much consumer complaint matters. Their instruction was for me to write them a letter explaining the sudden break down of the television, that they must under sale of goods act 1979, goods unfit for their intended purposes and offer a free returns service or refund for the return of TV if I paid for the return. Their response swift and theyagreed to full refund as well as collected tv on 06/08/2014. However, they did not stipulate when the refund would be issued and have called and emailed them with no response yet provided. Because they clearly want to make some profit on the paid goods as the cash sits in their bank as told to me by someone in the know about retail affairs; feel that they might not refund me in a timely manner - some websites, other disgruntled Finlux customers with same issue as me, are stating that they too are having problems obtaining their refunds. I appreciate that they will have likely checked the goods out bu now, or soon will be, yet unsure of how long you must wait to receive response from a direct online retailers when a refund is required.

Received a letter from debt collection for £150. I apparently ignored previous requests for payments to a company called Excel Parking Services. I cannot recall any dealings with Excel in the past year or so. I did receive a ticket from Excel in 2009 for approx £120 and on advice from members of this forum I ignored it as it was a free car park and I was on the line or perhaps half a wheel was just over I cannot really remember. Reading around I find that a lot of people advise saying to ignore. However, there is a sticky that says we should not ignore. What should I do? Can they chase something 5 years later? If it does not relate to that can they skip straight to Debt Collection without first contacting me? If i contact them can it negatively impact me?

Hi there. I appreciate this is a bit of a unique set of circumstances, if it was straight forward there'd be no need to post here, but I wanted some clarification and advice. I'll try and keep it simple. At 20 years old, I got my first car in October last year, Smartmiles was the cheapest insurance because of the box, however I still wanted to pay monthly due to my working circumstances and financial situation. In June, with only 2 payments to go, my direct debit bounced due to negligence on my part. I became aware of this, and went on to Creation's website (who manage my policy's finance) and paid the money that I was in arrears on there. Unbeknownst to me, paying through the website didn't stop the direct debit from being repeated a few days later, once again putting my account into "arrears" even though I actually only owed the final month, which shouldn't be due until the end of July. Then, due to the direct having bounced twice in a row, I apparently got hit with a £25 charge. However I was not told about said charge, and as such did not pay it. I got the usual letter from Hastings saying my policy would be cancelled in so many days due to my account being in arrears, however when this has happened previously I have called them, paid what I owe, and everything has been fine. Naturally, as I knew I had already paid for June's payment, and July wasn't due yet, I knew my account should not actually be in arrears anymore, and could disregard the letter. Except for the hidden £25 charge that had appeared. That ensured my account was still in arrears, and as such when I hadn't paid it by the 22nd July, my policy was cancelled. First phone call to Hastings, was told they'd ring back the next morning, I never had a phone call but they told me they could not get through to me. Fair enough. Second phone call, spoke to someone who basically told me that the £25 charge being unpaid was the reason my policy was cancelled, and they wouldn't reinstate it. Third phone call, spoke to a lovely lady, and she actually looked upon my situation, my finance account, transaction history, and saw that it was simply a case of computer automation, for example if I had phoned the company to pay, they would know it was paid before the 2nd direct debit went out, therefore I would have had no charge. Human intervention, in other words. She said she's going to have a look at it today, and call me back, which I appreciate, I shall see what she says and go from there. However I still want some advice. I completely understand that it is my responsibility to make sure my DD payments are going through. I get that. What I'm stumped about is being hit with a £25 charge, which I had no notification of, and cannot find any information about on Creation's website. If I had known that it was due, I would have paid it straight away and this would never have happened. As such now, with only 1 month's payment left (£155) I have lost the no claims of my first year, and, for the foreseeable future, whenever I try to get a new quote, I have to declare that I have had a policy cancelled, and so most insurers won't go near me, and the ones that do are easily charging north of £3000 for a 1.0 Saxo at 21 years old. Any advice? If this was a simple case of me missing a DD payment, and it being cancelled for that, I would accept it as my mistake, however the way I see it, it is not completely my fault at all. Thanks folks, apologies for being a bit long winded, it's just slightly complicated.

They sold me a membership over the phone based on a lie in that I could save 4% off e.g. my Morrisons bill by presenting the card at check out. In fact I have to apply to Morrisons with my membership number and buy a £10 coupon for £9.60 and take that to Morrisons. Far too much trouble. They also acknowledged that they could not arrange for any of my utility bills to be cheaper. I demanded my money back but they point blank refused and told me to wait for 1 year so that they would have the chance to prove themselves. No further contact and they, one year later, are refusing to reply to any communications. It is now too late to claim back from my debit card. This is, no doubt, intentional. Avoid like the plague. They operate an American style [edited]. Any comments you read on this forum will be produced by themselves!!! Have reported them to both my local Trading Standards and their local Manchester Trading Standards office. They will, in my opinion, simply fold when the business model becomes untenable.

Has anyone had any dealings with consumer care direct that they are prepared to share?

I have a 11 year old cayenne which had an engine oil leak from the timing chain gasket this was diagnosed by my local Porsche specialist in Birmingham who has over 20 years experience, to have this repaired this would involve taking out the engine which under the policy this should be covered. Photos were sent from the garage which showed the leak from that area. Warranty Direct sent the garage an email saying that the supervisor was not certain that the leak was coming from there and wanted me to stump up the cash to strip the engine out even though the Porsche specialist had already located the cause of the oil leak. The adverts on the tv seems to make it simple. I am really appalled that they would want me to stump up the cash they really need to inform their customers first of this process when taking a policy out with them instead of hiding behind t&c's. I am surprised this hasn't been on BBC's watchdog as this seems quite a occurring theme with other policy holders. Anyone with any suggestions and help will be pleased to listen. The policy I have is the extra care policy which can be viewed on their website.

Hello, I've been a member of my gym for a couple of months now and originally had some problems with admins fees after a missed payment. I cancelled my direct debit with Harlands and spoke to the gym manager who managed to sort of all the admin fees and allowed me to pay for my missed membership at the club, however, I now need to reinstate my direct debit and the manager said I should call them. After reading through many threads on this site it seems quite clear that I should not call them, I'm now asking is there anyway I could do this by email? I wouldn't really know what to say or how to do so any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Good evening everyone, I recently decided I need to deal with the Lowell Group as they started to pester me too much and started doing unlawful actions?? Let me explain. I had a contract with O2 that started in 2007 and somewhere about April - May 2008 I received a letter from them to pay off my 720£ contract since I was unable to repay due to being unemployed. I left UK to try my luck elsewhere and when I came back to UK again in 2012 I started receiving letters from Lowell again and it continues until today. I had a 120 pounds debt with Lloyds Tsb which was on my credit file and it was sold to Lowell as well, decided I will start paying it off since that wasn't such a large sum so I've setup a direct debit and am currently paying it off through Lowell, now what happened just recently is that Lowell Group has setup a second direct debit WITHOUT any acknowledgment from me!! I cancelled the direct debit immediately since I didn't agree to anything like this. I was ignoring all the letter from them for my O2 contract. What they are saying is "If you don't call us to resolve the matter... We will cancel the repayment arrangement that we have agreed with you (I haven't agreed to anything!!) and pass your details to our legal division (Hamptons Legal). I started reading after this and found out that a direct debit has to be agreed by both parties, how could they setup a direct debit without my consent? Could someone please tell me what would be the best action to undertake? 1. I am not sure if the debt is statue barred What steps should I take next?? Any help would be greatly appreciated Thank you

On 8th November 2013 Hastings debited an unauthorised £93.61 from my account. It was finally refunded with the help of this forum. I have recently received a renewal notice for the same policy for which Hastings will debit my account automatically unless I contact them to cancel the renewal. Here is the problem: today I called their 0844 number on three occasions for over 15 minutes each time with a 'you are in a queue' voice over music (15p connection and 7.62p per minute from my TalkTalk line). The Hastings website does not show an email address for cancellation. It does not show a postal address other than the complaints department. Can anyone please help me to cancel my automatic renewal.

Hastings have raided my bank account with an unauthorised debit of £93.61 on 8th November without any reason or prior communication. I purchased a new motorcycle policy from Hastings in June 2013. It does not expire until June 2014 and the premium of £83.92 was paid in full on commencement. Upon emailing Hastings about the anomaly, their response email was a PDF copy of their complaints procedure. My follow up email requested a return of the full amount within 24 hours along with the removal of my debit card details from their system. Hastings has stopped all communication with me. In simple terms, Hastings have retained my debit card details from June 2013 to pick-pocket my account at will. It would appear that maximum publicity of this matter, Ombudsman and County Court action may be my only recourse. All advice appreciated please.

Hello, I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding 2x defaulted accounts then have been passed to 2 different DCA's. The first one is a Natwest Gold Credit card, the balance stands at approx £1000 now after paying Triton Credit Services for a few months, then it got passed to Moorcroft after missing a month. I have been paying between £30-£50 a month on this. The second is an Orange mobile contract passed to Direct Legal and Collections, the balance stands at £500.00 approx. I have been paying £30 a month on this. On these accounts, the damage has already been done to my credit file. I could do with putting the money towards other good debts that are on up to date each month. I am due a hefty bonus and Christmas which will stand me in a good place. What are the chances of these companies taking me to court if I offer them £5 per month until the end of the year? I can afford to pay them what I am doing but could put it towards other debts that are in good health and gives me the chance to clear them fast. Hope you can give me advice. Thanks

I purchased an Asus notebook from Debenhams Direct (Debenhams gift card and balance on debit card) in November 2013. Earlier this month smoke was coming out of notebook and could smell burning so contacted manufacturer as Notebook under warranty. Sent to their local repairers last week and returned yesterday, only to find that several letters on keyboard now not working. Asus are only offering further repair. Is this the best I can expect? Two faults in less than six months (Christmas gift so not opened until December) is a very expensive mistake. Who should I contact if I want replacement/ can I request refund? Help!!!

HSBC letter advises me my small debt being passed to Marlin. (OK) Letter alswo says Marlin will set up direct debit from details passed to them by HSBC and I do not need to authorise it! Surely this is illegal and tantamount to fraud. I complained by phone and advised them they were not to divulge my Bank details. I have now also cancelled my direct debit to HSBC. Which bodies can I refer this practice to?

Hi all, on Thursday 15th May 2014, a company called Loans Direct took an unathourised £67 from my Natwest bank account, I have no idea where they got my details or card details from. I rang Natwest on Friday 16th May 2014 and they rang Loans Direct and obviously this call was recorded by Natwest it was a conference call and they confirmed to myself and Natwest that they would refund in full. I followed the instructions on their site that I was given on the phone and have been waiting and waiting. i attempted to speak to their customer services again but they are very rude and say you can only sort this out online and won't discuss the refund. I sent them a letter recorded delivery on Monday which was signed for yesterday, I stated that if they didn't refund by the end of this week in full i would take this through the small claims court and contact the Financial Ombudsman. I received a message today offering me £34.99 back which I have refused it says they have charged me £1 per day for being a member yet it says I have been a member for 0 days, I have a screenshot of this as evidence, also there's some £15 charge. despite them agreeing on a recorded phone call and having sent that letter recorded they are still not listening or refunding me fully. What should I do next? I have emailed them again but my other 3 emails have been ignored and they won't talk about it on the phone. Thanks.

Good evening. I've read a few threads about shop direct on here to pick up tips on how to take action against them, but all these information are confusing the heck out of me! I'm sorry, but I have to start my own thread though my query is most probably the same as everyone, just to get this straight in my head... I want to reclaim the charges they've applied on my account. But I don't know where to start. To give a bit of a background, every month I get late payment charges from them. This is because they have this 4 week payment cycle which I can't adhere to because I don't get paid until the very last day of the month. I've accepted all these charges thinking I've opened an account with them with full knowledge of their terms and condition. But very recently, I made a mistake and overpaid them. I asked for a refund. They said they will refund my money back. I waited and waited, but nothing got refunded. I've left it, assuming they will offset it towards next month's due. They didn't. I know that the money went towards my account anyway and reduced my balance, but there's something wrong here. They're not prepared to help, and they lie. In my opinion, they should pay for this. Please help me. How and where do I start?

ok all thought i would ask for some help after the successes of my PPI fight this is a bit different went to work today and was called into the wages office and informed that a Direct Earnings Attachment for £1500 or so had been received for a overpayment of some benefits going back some time i started to panic and then the wages clerk noticed the address was not mine but the DOB and name and national insurance number was correct to cut to the chase i had never lived at that address and have never had any coraspondance or phone calls about this the wages clerk rang the DWP explaining the facts and was told it was a very old debt that had to be repaid so just to put things on hold i asked my wages clerk to ask how old and they would not say then said i should ring them so thats the question i will ring them and what should i say and what not thanks in advance

Hi, Looking for some advice on my situation... On April 25th, I ordered 2 new sofas from Tesco Direct for home delivery. They were delivered on Monday April 28th by Yodel. They were really well packaged, but upon unwrapping the larger of the 2 sofas I found a tiny scuff. I decided this wasn't a problem and continued with unpacking the smaller sofa. We then found that the smaller sofa was very badly damaged (the bottom fabric had been completely torn away from the frame work) so I called Tesco and asked for 2 replacements. Tesco arranged for their courier to exchange the sofas on Friday May 2nd, which my partner was home to take delivery of. After the delivery men had unloaded the replacement sofas and my partner had signed for them, the delivery men then informed him that they could not remove the faulty sofas as this was not on their 'job list' for the day and then left. I telephoned Tesco to explain that I now had 4 sofas and that one of the replacements they had sent was very badly damaged (a broken arm and enormous hole in the seat). We decided we would keep the perfect one and the one with the tiny scuff, but we wanted to send back the one with the broken arm and the one with the ripped bottom. I said that I would like these to be collected the same day, as we had guests over the weekend and no room to store 2 faulty sofas in our tiny two up - two down. Tesco told me they would call me back as soon as they had made the arrangements for the courier to return. Over an hour later, having received no return phone call, I telephoned again and was told that Tesco would be unable to arrange a collection for that day. I asked why nobody had telephoned me back to let me know this decision and was told they "didn't know" I asked to speak to a manger and they told me somebody would contact me in 30 minutes. 45 minutes later and no phone call, I telephoned again asking why nobody had called me back and was told they "didn't know" but somebody would call me back within 30 minutes. 30 minutes later and still no call so I telephoned again and this time was put through to the Duty Manager "Dave M" (I won't give his full name here) This gentleman was very rude to me and told me that I would not be given any money back as compensation and he was not going to follow my complaint through. He told me that a member of his staff would call me again in 20 minutes. I requested that I hold for this duration as I did not believe anybody would call me back but he refused to allow me to do this. 30 minutes later and the agent I had first spoken to, Mike, called me back. By this point it was after 5pm and so, unsurprisingly, nothing could be done now ahead of the bank holiday weekend. I asked Mike if I could telephone a courier myself and arrange to have the items sent back to their original address, but Mike told me I am not allowed to do this, and if I attempt to move their stock without their permission I will be charged for the 2 faulty sofas. I asked if I could dispose of the faulty sofas myself, and was told I would be charged for them if I attempted to do so. I asked if I could store the sofas in my garden, but I was told that I would be charged for the sofas if I attempted to do that. I asked Mike what I could do with the sofas, and he told me I must store them safely for Tesco and see that no further damage comes to them, or I will be charged for them... I told Mike that, in my opinion, I should not be charged double... But in fact I should receive a full refund. Mike refused but told me that he might be able to offer me a gesture of goodwill at around "£10 or £20" but this is not up for discussion until I have "returned Tescos stock to them". I pointed out that I am making very effort to return their stock, but they didn't seem to want to take it and that I don't appreciate the insinuation that I am withholding or attempting to steal their stock! I asked Mike to be straight with me about the situation and tell me when the sofas would be collected, and Mike said "the courier will call you at the end of next week" (one week later) and arrange a collection for the following week. At this point I burst into tears and handed the phone to my partner. I had reached the farthest point of what I could handle. Mike re-iterated to my partner that we are responsible to housing the items safely, until they could be collected in around 2 weeks time and that there would not be any financial reimbursement for our inconvenience, beyond perhaps a £20 voucher. After getting off the phone with Mike, we telephoned the head office and spoke to Adam in the Chief Executives Office who was very kind and said he would follow this up for us... But didn't seem to know a lot about how Tesco Direct operate in these situations, nor could he help speed the process along for us. I'm not sure where to take this next. I wonder, am I able to invoice Tesco for the storage of their items? Can I report them to trading standards? Am I allowed to just dispose the the sofas myself? The thing that is worrying me the most is that everytime I spoke to Tesco, they would 'confirm' my mobile number... and reel off a number that doesn't, and has never belonged to me. Each time I would correct them and they would say 'okay we have updated that' and then each time they would have the wrong number again! I checked the order confirmation email that I was sent on April 25th, and my number was correct on there, also the number I have saved on their website and on my Clubcard is correct... so wherethey are getting this number from, I will never know! If this is the number they have given to the courier, they will never get hold of me! And, why is it my responsibility to organise this with the courier now anyway?? I have a feeling that these sofas will never get collected! Can I dispose of them? My entire weekend was ruined. We have 4 sofas in our tiny living room, which I am terrified of 'damaging' in case they charge me double for 2 sofas which are already damaged! We had to cancel all of our weekend plans and throw away about £50 worth of food that didn't get used because of this. Also, I had to leave work early on Friday which meant I lost even more money. I am so confused why we are being treated this way. We are good customers who use Tesco regularly and spend a lot of money with them. Why am I being treated like a warehouse AND a thief? Any advice would be gratefully received! Thanks for reading my essay. :'-(

I just wanted to share my shop direct story as it could help others who are in a situation like I was where the debt has become unmanageable and been swept under the carpet for too long. I had online accounts with very and littlewoods from about 2008ish and had had ordered quite a few things and always paid up on time taking advantage of 12 month interest free offers and such like, this meaning my credit limits were fairly high. jump to 2011 at this point am earning a decent wage and so ordering items online on buy now pay later 12 months no interest doesn't seem a big problem as ive been doing this for a few years problem free. I redecorated my living room and ordered a new sofa and flat screen tv and dvd player so big expensive items but my financial situation at the time meant the repayments were no issue and I would have been paid up well within the 12 months. there was other items on the accounts also and in total across both accounts was about £3000 and im not paying interest on this as its buy now pay later. then I was assaulted quite badly, started suffering anxiety and depression and had to stop working, overtime debts started building up and the shop direct weren't paid and so the whole 12 months of interest was added to the accounts aswell as fees so those debts shot up. I was ignoring all letters about debts as a result of the depression (this I do not advise the added stress over money was not nice I assure you, but im sure its what a lot of people do when they start feeling out of control) come april 2013 I am feeling more stable and receive a compensation payment from the assault and decide to tackle my debts, but this will not cover them all so decide to make offers of payments to see if they will accept a one off full and final offer to clear the debt (I know this shows as partially satisfied on credit reports but I know my credit report is in tatters already so cant really make much more harm). both shop direct debts were with lowels. I know everyone advises to keep all contact in writing, but I decided that I would try to phone them with my offers 1st and see where things go from there. I called and said I know this has been ignored and whatever, but ive received a compensation payment and want to be able to clear my debts so its a weight off my shoulders and also its settled for you. the debts at this point were very £4034 and littlewoods £911, I said I wanted to make an offer for full and final settlement and is that something they would consider, taking in mind that I was not working so if a payment plan was to be set up would be minimal payments and take a long time to clear, and I had come into an amount of money that was a one off and so may not be in a position to offer this again. I offered 30% towards the littlewoods account and 20% to the very account, the guy I spoke to ininially said that as these offers were quite low he would have to check with his supervisors and get back to me. a while later he called me back to say they would accept my offer, I said I will make payment after receiving confirmation in writing either email or letter that this would satify the debt and no more would be owed. got the emails and payment made so debt clear. now im not saying you should dodge your debts so you don't have to pay all you owe, more that if you've already gotten into a situation where the debt has spiralled to the degree it had with me then there is a chance to get it cleared if you have the opportunity to pay a lump sum, and from my experience the whole process of arranging the settlement was very easy and non stressful (I was certain my offers would be rejected especially after he said he had to check with his manager).

Several years ago I got a CCJ for a debt. This was before I found out about this forum and enforceable agreements, CCAs etc and I've no doubt if I had gone down the CCA route there wouldn't be an enforceable agreement! That's another matter though but as I couldn't afford to pay the CCJ off in full I agreed to pay a small monthly payment and set up a direct debit with the Lewis Group. This direct debit has been running for several years however I checked my online banking last week and noticed a new direct debit set up payable to Robinson Way (The Lewis Group one is still there also). I'd not had any dealings with this company before and certainly never set up a direct debit with them so I cancelled it immediately. I called Robinson Way and established it was for the same CCJ I was paying the Lewis Group for. They said I would have been notified by the Lewis Group of the transfer. I have not received any communication from the Lewis Group or Robinson Way concerning any transfer of ownership. In any case though am I correct to be annoyed that Robinson Way have set up a direct debit from my bank account without my knowledge or consent? Is there also a breach of the data protection act? Robinson Way must've been passed my bank account details from the Lewis Group which I did not give them permission to do, isn't this a bit improper? For any new direct debit wouldn't I have to sign a new direct debit form/agreement? I certainly haven't done that with Robinson Way!

Dear All I would like to ask your help please as I believe that my gf is in a bit difficult situation My GF opened a First Direct Accounts in 1998 one of which is a kind of saving account at the time and the other one is a current account... Both accounts have £250 authorised overdraft limit. She had a monthly SO from the current account to the savings.. . her accounts are up and down normally up until she sold her business in 2004 and there was a big lump sum money credited in her account 2005, eventually setting up her new business etc her finance became average again but all of as sudden First direct started to chase her in 2012 and 2013 for the saving account as somehow it became negative £246... It has been a nightmare, calls on top of calls messages left in her answer phone and letters etc... Finally I had to take over the case and asked them where did this negative balance come from?? They could not chase it back and they "discreetly" closed the account and "GOODWILL GESTURE" they credited her account. Having a great relationship with HSBC personally (taking them to the court twice and winning them) I asked her to put an SAR in may 2013 and SAR came back with... "All the documents are enclosed however I am sorry to let you know that I was unable to find the records of your saving account for the date between 2004 and 2005 as well as some of your credit card statements" My GF is immaculate with her paperwork and checked whole her paperwork as well as what FD sent... They have never sent her the paperwork for that account and she had appx £400-£500 in her account at the time with the SO from her current account and somehow in few months time account became -£246 and in the transcript of the account its states dormant account last transaction from 2002 We spoke to FD and no satisfactory response came.. recorded the calls etc.. In the meanwhile she has had an HSBC account which was opened in 2011 and she was using that account for personal expenditures like petrol pocket money etc. - Basic account with no agreed overdraft limit and NO DD or SO attached to the account. Due to her sons illness she did not look after her account and she went overdrawn in few occasions again in 2013, but they are not £10-£20 overdraft they are £300 - £400 overdrawn and the transactions are not single transactions they are set of 5-6 transactions of POS transactions (point of sale) which is a debit card transactions? We wrote HSBC that my GF has not agreed overdraft limit and none of the transactions are DD nor SO how come HSBC allowed her to go overdrawn their standard letter came with "as a responsible lender from time to time we allow our customers informal overdraft facility" When I asked them what is the informal overdraft limit? it is not £10,£20 £50 we are talking about £400?? which makes a normal overdraft? and they charged every month £150 "fair fees policy" thank you very much... So based on unfair treatment I took HSBC to the court with 2 separate action.. 1- HSBC for her HSBC bank account of xxxxx 2- HSBC (trading as First Direct) - exactly like that - for her First Direct Account of yyyyy so the fees have been paid separately and questionnaires have been submitted separately... Now my question is we received a letter from the DJ stating that all the cases of A1X.... and A1Y... are suitable for SCT and have been given ONE hearing of 90mins in July 2014 and very kindly can you please pay single fee of £325?? 1- why are the cases all combined in 1 hearing? 2- Are they joking for £325 charge which she already paid £210 and £100 while submitting the case?? Can anyone please recommend me what to do? I am worried if it goes to the court together because of the limit it may turn to Fast Track?? I look forward to your advise Regards

i have currently been insured with hastings direct,i am in my second year with them and up until now never had a problem.... my issue has now come from me adding my partner to my insurance as a named driver,i did this in november last year. anyway on friday the 4th april,her car wouldnt start so she used mine,i must stipulate that it is very rare she uses mine,its only for emergencys,so on the m62/m60 to manchester in the smog/fog pollution that was around she lightly bumped a van in front in the fast lane but in very slow moving traffic,the highways agency came to move the car to the hard shoulder but said she couldnt drive it due to the sides of the bumper sticking out over 2 inch. my car was then taken to bury,not sure where and by who, my partner tried dealing with the issue the best she could but she was stuck 50miles from home so a tad upset. later that day i got a call from hastings total loss who told my my car was a write off,i told them it wasnt and at most would need a new bumper and very most a slam panel,no airbags had gone off,no damage to lights or bonnet or suspension. anyway the weekend passes and im thinking its fine,il just get the car back from hastings and fit a new bumper,i am a mk4 golf enthusiast and a member of all the forums,so i could prob get the parts free yesterday morning tuesday i call the number to see whats happening,i get told the car is now at a salvage place in wigan,even further from where i live,i tell them i havnt even taken my stuff from the car and they tell me to contact the salvage place directly,i do,so am now going over to collect my stuff. what bothers me is the car hasnt been assesed so dont know what cat it is or there class of damage,if when i get there to remove my stuff, there is stuff missing i will be getting the police involved as the car is legally still mine. i also asked about getting my car back from them,it is a mk4 golf gt tdi pd130,it has high milage but i also know these cars will do 2 to 3 times round the clock,1 owner from new and full service history,i just know when they have deducted my excess and the rest of the years premium i will be lucky to get £100!!!!!!! i want my car back,i am happy to pay the excess and not have hastings deal with my car,just give me it back, it concerns me they told me it was a total loss before even anybody had seen the damage,they obviously know how much money can be made from these cars in parts. i am not going to send in any documents as they will just sell the car with all my personal stuff in it. i have read other peoples dealings with them but untill you have an accident with hastings you really dont know how bad they are,i also need an explanation why the car didnt go to nationwide to see about repairs.. help needed before i contact the insurance ombudsman.. regards justin

Help! My partner and I took out fully comp insurance with 1st central and were paying by DD. He had an accident about a month into the policy and the car was deemed a write off. We went through the process, it all seemed very simple and straight forward....however....yesterday I got a phone call saying we owe them £789 and that we won't be getting the final payment for the car, that they will be using it to write off some of the debt we owe them, leaving us to owing them £464!! This is the whole premium for the year car policy! They emailed me over the DD instruction when I took out the policy telling me to go on to the customer portal and tick the box agreeing to the DD which I did, as far as I was aware I was agreeing to a DD instruction, well apparently they actually loan the money to 1st Central Insurance from 1st Central Finance so you are taking out a loan to pay the car insurance, not paying your car insurance by monthly payments! Having read through their 40 page policy wording document I have finally got to PAGE 30! which has cancelation and claiming information and under 10.7 it says you could be liable for the full amount of the policy if you have an accident, surely this can't be right?! We had intended to keep paying the policy and when we got a new car, inform them and update the policy, as this is usually the norm, however they have informed me we would still owe them £464 and we would still not receive the £350 for the car! Please help! What can I do?! Not only are we not getting any money to help us purchase a new car but also now owe the insurance company money! Can they do this?! I believed I was signing a DD, not a loan agreement! At no point was I informed it was a LOAN! And the emailed informing me of the DD has no mention of it being a loan! I didn't have to read the DD agreement when I clicked agree on the portal and naively thought that the agreement was the same as the information they had sent me in the email!

I have a Lenovo Z580 which I brought last year 04/09/2012 brand new and have used it without issues since. On the morning of 21/10/2013, I turned it off before I went to sleep at 4am. Woke up this morning, pressed the power button and nothing. Laptop doesn't turn on or give any indication of anything. Put the battery in, pressed the button, still nothing. Plugged it in with the battery and the battery light comes on and when I press the button it goes off until I release it. I've tried discharging (taking the battery and ac out), pressing the power button a number of times and holding it then leaving it for a bit, but still nothing. I contacted Lenovo direct this morning and they are refusing to look at it without charge as its out of warranty. I then contacted servers direct and they said they won't repair it without charge (basically your out of warranty). I asked to talk to the manager and was told he'll phone me back. I just received the call and he's said the same thing, even when I told him about the sale of goods act (he said it doesn't apply under their terms ) and that I'll take them to a small claims court to which he said 'you do that'. I'm a student whose tight with money at the moment so I don't know how to proceed, any help would be appreciated as I have coursework on this laptop which is due soon.

I purchased Hastings direct cover a year ago and made it clear that they are not to auto-renew my policy because I always compare quotes. I had this confirmed by a telephone call so I was happy. I have noticed that without any prior correspondance in any form whatsoever, Hastings direct withdrew a very substantial amount (way over the going rate) from my account and have sent a token email after the event to an old email address I no longer use regularly. I have now sent them 5 emails asking for an explanation as to why they went against my specific instructions never to take money from my account automatically and then did so anyway without any prior warning whatsoever. I have also called them 6 times and am waiting for an "available" manager to call me back. I don't even need insurance for that vehicle anymore! I am extremely perplexed by their actions as they have actually been very helpfull on previous years and matched or beat any other insurance quotes i received elsewhere. I have a meeting with citizens advice on Monday who have said that from what i have said, the company has no excuse for this behaviour. I suspect thats why they refuse to respond to me in a timely fashion. Its been a week already...

I've just had a fairly heated discussion with First Direct after they labelled my current account as being 1 Payment Late. My first thought was that this was ridiculous as it was a current account which wasn't at that time in an overdraft or anything. It turns out they put it on there because a direct debit that i was in the process of changing had been returned unpaid. This payment was ultimately collected on the second attempt seven days later and was to a mobile phone provider. My argument was that whether or not this payment was made on time or not it had nothing to do with First Direct and my standing with the bank in terms of credit reference agencies. IF the mobile phone provider were to put a one month late flag for a 7 day delay then that's one thing but i don't understand how a bank can claim i'm a payment behind to them for someone elses debt. The guy eventually relented and agreed to remove the flag as a 'special gesture' but it strikes me as a grossly unfair practice that needs to be challenged and i wondered what everyone's thoughts were before i took it further...