Hi Ladies and Gentlemen, Have currently been made full time by my current employer. It has been 3 weeks now. I was working for an employment agency ( removed by site team ) worst agency I have ever worked for, never paid the correct wages and took weeks to sort it. They have a finger print scanner to clock in and out, my new clock card system sits next to this. So, baring in mind I am full time and this agency knew I no longer worked for them, I occasionally just put my finger on the scanner just to confuse them, It was only a couple of times. On the 14th of April I got all of my holiday pay as expected. Last Friday the 21st of April, I got 40 hours of pay, the agency are saying I clocked in Monday to Friday. However, I was not even in work on good Friday. I have put the money they paid to one side, however, how do I stand on paying them back. It is obviously an admin error. They have an online payslip checker, and the payslip in question has been deleted, unlucky for them I have a copy on my mobile phone. Kind Regards Jason

Need help and advice please. My son recieved a letter on Monday his first name and also his surname was spelt wrong on opening the letter it was from a debt collection agency called Collectica based in Leeds demanding a payment of approx £600. My son rang them to ask what it was for because he had no debts and also the name was spelt wrong and they must have made a mistake. They asked him his date of birth and he told them they said it was the same date of birth it was a debt he had not paid 18 months ago when he lived in Sunderland. if he didn't pay the money the balliffs were coming to the house. He told them that he had never lived in that part of the country and what exactly was this fine for, they said he would have to ring leeds court to find out that information. He rang leeds court and they told him it was motoring offence no insurance and driving a car that was not roadworthy they said that he lived at a certain address in leeds at the time of the offence. He explained that he had never lived there and it was not him they told him he had to got to court in 2 week time. This is really distressing does he have to go to court if its not him that owes this debt.

Hi there, Thank you all for considering my enquiry. I will try to keep it as to the point as possible. I have sought advice from many advice bodies and a couple of solicitors but I'm receiving conflicting information and a friend recommended I try here. SUMMARY DESCRIPTION I engaged a tradesperson for a range of works which were quoted at £1740. The tradesperson completed some of the works over 2 days. On the 3rd day, the tradesperson was late and sent an offensive message. Based on the offensive content of the message I refused to allow him onto my property further. He agreed to reduce fee based on works not completed. He offered a reduction of £240, total £1500, which I said was not fair based on the works left to complete. I paid a portion (£1240, 83%) of the fee, with a reduction of £500 from original quote of £1700 based on an average of 3 quotes from local providers for the remaining works. He returned the payment and engaged a debt collection agency. Debt collection agency has given 5 working days to pay full amount or they are taking me to court. Full description and timeline below. AMOUNTS Original invoice - £1740 Tradesperson offer after reduction - £1500 Amount we paid - £1240 Amount debt collection agency is seeking - £1500 + interest of £10.23 QUESTIONS 1. I have told the debt collection agency I dispute the debt. Is my best bet now just to wait until they start court process? 2. Am I correct in thinking, because of the amount in dispute (they want £1500, we paid £1240 which they returned, so effectively £260 in dispute), this will be considered as a small claims issue? 3. Were I to lose the dispute, I would be required to pay the £1500 + small amount of interest + court fee of £100-£200? So I wouldn't have to pay his legal costs or cost of using debt collector? 4. Would this type of issue (full details below) be likely to go to court? Or will it be considered on the basis of submissions? 5. Given we're talking so small amounts here, I am obviously wanting to maximise value from any legal advice. Would the best use of money on legal advice be to ask a solicitor who specialises in consumer issues to review my defence form, N9B? Thank you very much for any advice you can give. FULL TIMELINE & DESCRIPTION 28th Jan - Having found a tradesperson through an online review site I asked for a quote for some work on my property. They emailed a quote of £1740 (I'll round the figures for ease of reading). 30th Jan - I phoned the company and asked them to start work as soon as possible. 7th Feb - Tradesperson started work on the property. 8th Feb - Tradesperson attended the property. 9th Feb - Tradesperson doesn't show in the morning. I ask where they are and am told they'll be there later. After I have asked when they will arrive, I receive a 'pocket call' with a recording of the tradesperson where he calls *somebody* a 'f-ing bird, b-tching about when tradesperson will arrive'. We speak on the phone where he considers the situation a joke and calls me a 'b-tch'. I say I don't want him on my property anymore and he agrees to discount the fee for the incomplete work. 13th Feb - Tradesperson confirms work left to be completed and offers discount of £200 (total £1540). 14th Feb - On the advice of the Equalities service I submit a formal letter of complaint about the comments which says that no matter who he was talking about I find the comments offensive on the basis they are about somebody of my gender which violates my dignity and creates a hostile environment. On the advice of Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) I say I do not consider discount fair for the work that is left to be completed and will be seeking to show market rate as part of negotiating process under the Consumer Rights Act. 17th Feb - Tradesperson apologises for comments and offers discount of £240 (total £1500). 25th Feb - On the advice of CAB I seek 3 quotes for the remaining work from local providers which show market rate to be £500. I offer tradesperson £1050. 3rd Mar - Tradesperson rejects offer and threatens debt collection if £1500 is not paid by 6th Mar. 4th Mar - I transfer £1240 (original invoice of £1740, minus £500 fair market rate) and say that is our final offer. 6th Mar - Tradesperson emails to say he will be returning the £1240 and engaging a debt collection agency to seek £1500 from us. 6th Mar - On the advice of CAB I send a formal letter questioning why he has engaged a debt collection agency when we have paid £1240. 11th Mar - I receive a letter from a debt collection agency demanding £1500 (plus interest of £10.23) to be paid within 5 working days, or they will begin court process. 13th Mar - I speak to debt collection agency who try to debate the merits of my dispute with me. I say we have not received any of our payment returned. They say it was sent Friday. I say I do not wish to discuss the issue with them and just wanted to check the address to correspond with, they end the conversation saying "see you in court". On the advice of the Debt Advice Line, I post a formal letter confirming my disputing the debt and evidencing previous correspondence.

hi there , just a quick question , my wife had a letter drop through the door this morning from swift in merthyr tydfil claiming she owed £650 council tax for an address back in 2009 , even though she was on benefits at the time , she contacted the council in question and tried to deal with it through them , and got told she would have to deal with swift , she contacted swift and offered them £5 a week as shes on benefits , and they refused and told her we want £15 a week or we will send enforcement officers around and add more fees on if u dont pay the £15 a week , isnt that technically blackmail ? i confronted them on the phone about this blackmail and they claimed it isnt , im tempted to take legal action against them for doing this , and also telling my wife , if she doers not pay they will seek a custodial sentence in the courts if she does not pay , they said we cant refuse payment but if she insists on paying £5 a week we will just add fees on my sending enforcement officers around , is there any action i can take to tell them where to go and to be able to put them on there place ? cheers in advance badboy09

Hi Looking for some advice please. I was a customer of First Utility they stopped being able to issue me with a bill after almost a year I referred the case to the Energy Ombudsman and the complaint was resolved to my satisfaction. During this time I switched my supply (October 2015), I agreed a final amount with F/Utility of £111.52 & this was paid. Today I received a letter from their credit management company stating that I owe them £112.50. I'm reluctant to respond to the letter to be honest but I don't want the situation to blow up. Surely F/Utility should have made contact with me if I owed them money!? Thank you

I'm not sure if this is on the right board, but just before Xmas the recruitment agency advised me that because the firm I was working for had 'invoicing problems' (the firm weren't paying the agency for me being there, although I got paid) and as a result my temporary assignment was ended with immediate effect. However, I checked my social media and emails and one of the bosses who I used to do work for has emailed me today asking me to contact them. If the firm wanted me back surely they must have to go through the agency first etc. I was there for 6 months and in the process of completing a new claim online. Any advice about what to do would be appreciated. Thanks

I have been paying off a water bill that i owed via a debt collecting agency using my debit card. on the 4th Jan i had a balance of £23.00 outstanding but the debt collecting company took £77.10 from my bank i have complained but they are denying that they took it and are looking into it, strangly the money has been credited to my water company which made me in credit. what i would like to know is is it illegal for them to take more than i owed and is there anyone i can report them to as they have been VERY unhelpful and rude to me via email and telephone

Hello all, Am after some help with Mortgage Agency Number 4 LTD which I have seen mentioned a few times throughout the years on this forum. I'll try not to go on too much and keep it short, any pointers would be greatly received. In 2006 our mortgage mysterily changed from GMAC to Mortgage Agency Number 4 LTD. At the time we where on a fixed rate with GMAC and nothing had changed so we merely continued as normal. The real illusion came to light when our fixed rate was coming to a end and we called MAS No 4 Ltd to check what new deals there where (fixed rates, trackers etc). We where trapped, mortgage was going to their standard variable rate and with the downturn moving mortgages without a perfect clean file wasn't possible. We therefore changed it to interest only to bring the payment within affordability. In december 2015 I suffered a accident at work (work fault) and required emergency surgery over the Christmas period, further surgery in April 2016 and another November 2016. I wasn't able to weight bare between Xmas 2015 and April 2016. It has been a terrible year. Being given only SSP for 28 weeks, the mortgage company where advised straight away, however there help was none existence. They refused point blank to reduce the interest rate to stop arrears building up, they gave us payment breaks but this acheived nothing but create arrears quickly. Their operators just advised us to sell and move, careless in every manor, every option or idea we put through to them shot down within seconds. They where advised all the way how things where but persited in daily phone calls and letters asking for updates, answered them and few days later back to the same questions as if I have had a immaculate recovery over night. There harrasment is in no way helping my recovery, did I ask for this = no. Have I ever been out of work since I left school = no. We have kept every single letter sent and received by them and have also recorded and stored every single phone call with them. They have been advised in writing that we are recording their calls but this doesn't stop their "sell up" manor To prevent the mortgage getting endless arrears, a parent offered to cover our monthly minimum contractual payment for a few months (Nov, Dec, Jan & Feb) this was to keep them happy and prevent arrears building. As per this was not good enough for MAS, they said they see this as an additional income and therefore this should come off the arrears. As they where fully aware, we didn't have enough funds coming in to cover the mortgage let alone the arrears. Another obsticle put in the way. It seems like all they want possession of the property, they simply dont care one ounce. I asked if they could capitalise the arrears too which within seconds was told that will never happen. I'm at a total loss with them and the last thing I told them is what we have always told them, once I am either back at work or my injury claim is settled we would be in touch to have the matter settled. I have nothing to gain not contacting them when things have improved. I dont want to discuss work within this thread as this is a sore area #I'm just looking for pointers please on how and what we should do to deal with these bullies the best way possible? Thank you

I don't know whether this constitutes a general grievance or whether it's simply something that is 'the norm'. It was my first ever experience of working via an agency: In July I and my family relocated to another part of the country. I got a job via an agency for a very specific role, requiring a licence in a sector I have over 10 years experience in. The "employer" was only just starting out in this sector and I was introduced to the "supervisor" who was previously just the admin lady, and it soon became apparent she had only a few months experience. I saw lots of issues straight away - they were pretty clueless, and I voiced my concerns to my job agency "handler". I was reassured the company was 'going forward' and they would make whatever changes needed in order to comply with the industry standard. The admin lady "supervisor" had some holidays booked. I spent pretty much working solid for 3 months - doing 12 nights straight in one case. I raised the issue with the agency again and stated I was thinking of leaving as the current roster was untenable. A new lad was also taken on, who had as much experience in the industry as I, it eased the workload whilst covering the admin lady's holiday period. A meeting was called and we were informed of a bright new future, lots of big plans etc. Being a naive idiot I declined several interviews with other companies during this time. My 3 months initial contract with the agency came to an end and my employer became increasingly hard to contact. We had been assured we would be 'taken on the books' etc. The admin lady's holiday periods had been pretty much covered and, as soon as all my promulgated rostered shifts had been covered I was told they could not afford to take me on as permanent staff. The other lad was told the same a few days later once he had completed his shifts. My gripe is - I am now 100% certain the agency knew all along I was only being employed in the interim - My "handler" mistakenly sent me a text intended for my then employer. I am also owed a few hours pay, it only amounts to about £30 but it was not 'put through the books' at the agency. The job agency has still not sent me my P45 after more than 8 weeks. I phoned HMRC and they informed me a P45 had been received about a week before I was "laid off". My fear is my new job will stick me on emergency tax. Do I have a genuine grievance or should I just put it down to experience? My former employer enjoys a very high profile social media presence appearing to many as some latter day Mother Theresa. The truth about him is somewhat different though. Thanks.

I took out a Unsecured Personal Loan with Halifax online in December 2011. I was NEVER asked questions like, can you afford the payments, are you employed/unemployed, and I certainly was not asked about my income. This have got so bad I am currently on an IVA - Halifax increased the IVA from 5 years to 6 years forcing me to pay for longer. I am now wondering if bankruptcy is the best option. Do I have a claim that Halifax lent to me irresponsibly without going through my finances first?

Hi there, Just a quick question which I hope someone may know the answer to. I have a few debts with debt collection agencies which I am paying monthly to. 2 of the debts are with one agency but only one of these shows on my credit file as the other 'dropped off'. My partner settled the account showing on the credit file in full using the agencies online payment facility. The question is will this account/debt show as paid in full on my credit file or will I have to settle both accounts with this agency first? kind regards Robert

Can someone help me with my question? I need remortgage and on experian I have almost excellent scoring and HSBC has the best deal for us, so i need to know which credit agency they using. Thank you

Hi guys. Can I say what a great site this is for dealign with debt companies like weescot for example. I had to register and have a good look on here due to an issue I had with them but once I found out about administration of justice act, protection of harrassment and so forth and I quoted that to them then for now at least my troubles are over...........But will I be contacted by another company? I will explain the situation. Last september I decided to join 3 mobile. Went to toe local 3 mobile shop and picked the phone/price plan I wanted. Now when I signed up in store I was given a little card with possible add on plans for my mobile. I asked should all of these be OK with my price plan on ym phone and I was told.......yep no bother. We wouldn't give you the card if it weren't. That was OK. About the middle of september time I wanted to exercise my right and change a part of my price plan. I wanted to add on a £5 unlimited internet on my phone. I phoned up and (after at least 6 attempts to speak to somebody non indian who could actually understand what I wanted in the first place) I asked about the add on and got told in no uncertain terms Nope. Just an abrupt no you can't get it added to your phone. I was quite shocked at how rude 3 mobile we're to me on the phone and I hung up and so I decided to make a complaint to the CEO'S office only to get a letter a few days later direct from their office to be told my account was closed and we want £455. I wasn't rude or anything. I decided to email instead as I wasn't phoning back due to the rudeness I had already had ad my handwriting isn't great so it would be hard for me to write a letter of complaint. I insisted I would agree a price plan......even sent at least 3 recorded letters (printed) each one of them was ignored. Just before christmas though I got a lovely letter from wescot threatning me with court action for £455.89. I said to them that I was challenging this due to many factors but to keep the peace I eventually decided to arrange some sort of £20 payment plan.....but I wanted official confirmation from them what the debt was for and wescot said they would get back to me with official letters from 3 mobile. That never materialised despite how many times I asked. Wescot then decided that they would star hounding me and hounding me with letters. Was virtually every day a different letter some for payment plans.........some with paymenty slips.......some threatning me again. I eventually got fed up with wescot and their constant letters and more or less told them that if this didn't stop I was going to the police and would threaten to sue them for continued harrassment. Eventually today though I got a email back saying that they had closed the account. I've paid £20 which means I would owe £435. Now what is likely to happen? Would 3 mobile try and pass that on to another company or whatever? Also if another collector gets involved would it be a good idea to advise them of the problems I had with the phone company in the first place and more or less say to them outright that if they start harrassing me like wescot did then I will take it further with them? Sorry if this doesn't make much sense but I am a little shaky. Nevres have been slightly rattled with all of this carry on.

Dear all A current AST comes to an end on a property on the 17th August. When my agent enquired whether the tenants would like to renew, they told him they were splitting up. On this basis my agent advised issuing a S21 as he was concerned about affordability. The tenants are an unmarried couple with three children. One of the current tenants (male) is now starting treatment for a serious condition and now the partner of the sick tenant has texted me offering me 6 months rent upfront to stay when the AST ends as she says that they are working on getting back together and don't want the stress of moving. There is a guarantor already in place for this AST plus 6 months deposit. I am tempted to accept this as it will avoid a void period. Is there anything to be concerned about? I know Johnson V Old has ended concerns about registering rent upfront as a deposit. If I accept this, should a new 6 month agreement be put in place (as my agent suggested)? Or should I let it go on to a monthly rolling tenancy? What about the notice period and serving a S21 when the 6 months draws to an end? The female tenant apparently told my agent 3 weeks ago when we sent the S21 that she would stay on regardless (seems to have backed down on this though) - so I am slightly worried about her volatility. It would have meant I would have had to get a possession order. My agent's renewal charge is 4 %. Would you expect that a 6 month renewal means that I would pay 4 % on the 6 months rent? Sorry if this post is confusing. I guess I am asking if anybody thinks it might be a bad idea to let them stay on after the threat of staying after the AST expires. Obviously they still might if the council advises them to stay and the 6 months upfront would mean this potential disaster is abated but what are the issues after the 6 months elapse? Thanks in advance for any advice

Hi. I had a job for an employment agency. Last week I had a call from an another employment agency with better job offer. I have accepted it, start from Monday, was told where to go, who to contact this morning. I did go there and was told that they don't know nothing about me coming there and really they don't need no more people there. So I lost the job I had, this was ongoing job, it would last another few weeks, no I have no work at all because of that. is there anything I could do to recover money I have lost because someone is sending me to the places where there is no work, we talking here about £172/day before tax.

Is a DCA legally obliged to provide annual statements of the debt or is this discretionary? If legally obliged, what is the position if it fails to provide an annual statement (for the last four years). Thank you

I have a query relating to a situation my partner finds herself in. This is happening in Scotland if it makes a difference. A little background first to let you know why we find ourselves in this position: My partner rents a house at the moment and the tenancy is managed by a letting agency. She has lived in the property for around 6 years, slightly more, and in January this year renewed her tenancy for a further 6 months. She did this knowing we were about to begin looking for our first home together, however we both felt it was a good idea to give ourselves some time without having to worry about a roof over her head. At the time of renewing she inquired with the letting agency whether a shorter-term lease might be available but was told 6 months was the minimum they would offer. She agreed to that, however she was told that at any time she could pay them £180 to readvertise the house. If they found another suitable tenant the tenancy would transfer and she would no longer be liable for the remaining rental period. We thought that seemed a bit steep but agreed. Move forward a month and we have quite unexpectedly found a house we love, we've bought it and get the keys in a few weeks time. As a consequence my partner popped into the letting agency, paid the £180 and they readvertised the house. Within a day they found someone who wanted the house and paid a holding deposit. As far as we know they haven't signed any formal agreement yet, however the letting agency are no longer advertising the house. I'm finally getting to my question you'll be delighted to hear. We checked with the letting agency about what would happen if this new tenant pulled out. We were more than a little shocked to hear that they plan to hold my partner liable for the rent up to the end of the 6 month period. That probably seems quite reasonable, except that she paid her £180, they readvertised for less than 24 hours and found a new tenant. Can they really take her money, essentially not readvertise the house, yet continue to hold her liable?

Hi guys, Wonder if you can help with a couple of questions I have regarding our housing situation. We have been renting the same property since 2002 via a private landlord and rent payments were made direct to them as well as arrangements for any issues that arose with the property. During this time the rent has remained the same so no increases as our relationship with them was very good. Sadly due to ill health they have now instructed a Letting Agent to manage the property as they do for others they own (ours stayed a private arrangement up till now) and I'm a little unsure what to expect having never dealt with one before. The rent having not been increased in over 13 years will now clearly be under market averages (probably by around £150) so I guess my question is can the agency increase it by a large amount with immediate effect? The tenancy was an AST to start but reading around this would have changed to periodic if I am correct so what does this mean and are there any differences? Also I know agencies charge for things like tenancy renewals would we need a new agreement under these circumstances or if they increased the rent? They has also asked if the deposit was protected however our tenancy was prior to this requirement and was not but would they do this now retrospectively and provide us details of this? Thanks in advance

To quickly outline my problem; I gave Vodafone 30 days notice to end my contract with them on 1st June 2015 (been with them for donkeys years (bills always paid,never missed one!) .Felt like a change so EE looked like a better bet for mobile internet .A week or so later Vodafone offered me an S6 phone at a very good rate to keep me so I took it ,the customer (dis)services operative arranged the phone delivery for the following Saturday morning,great!. Saturday morning came and went-no phone. Called VF (Vodafone) to query why my new shiny phone hadn't arrived and was told "Oh sorry,it hasn't actually been ordered", I straight away cancelled the order on the phone with this person (as I was entitled to with the 14 days cancellation agreement) and also informed them that I wished my contract to be cancelled as per the 30 days notice I had previously given,this was agreed and that was that. THIS WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING!!!!!!. After the 30 days notice was up,happy with my new EE phone, i noticed my old VF sim card was still working ,phone VF customer (dis)services and "Sorry sir,i'll sort that out straight away for you") .And so started 3 months of chasing Vodafone to actually cut off my phone and end my contract. In that time I must have phoned them 20 times ,spoke to Egypt ,India, South Africa, Scotland, England etc, every call taking a minimum of 30 minutes or so whilst I had to explain myself. I've spoken to just about every department they have, heard the promises of "I'll make sure this gets done for you" EVERY and I mean every time.... .and of course nothing ever happens, AND they just don't bother to get back to you. I received a letter from them about a week ago saying my phone services had been suspended???? REALLY!! and I should pay for the 2 months outstanding (the 2 months AFTER I ended the contract). I again contacted them, and the really pathetic thing is, when I now phone them, I ask the person I'm speaking to, to look at the notes on my account BEFORE we speak. They all, without fail, come back after looking and can immediately see that its Vodafones mistake that the account is still showing as active with payments outstanding. I always then get the apology and the "I'll make sure this get sorted sir". I fired off an email to the Chief Executive last Friday, i got a reply, obviously from an admin person, asking for my details the next day, sent them and waited with baited breath... ....still waiting!. Phoned again today, got passed to 3 people, the final of which told me "I'll go and get the account sorted and make sure customer (dis)services put a zero balance on your account a nd I will get back to you within the next hour or so"..... .obviously I didn't get a call back, didn't really expect one really and am exasperated with their disgusting treatment of loyal customers by their poorly trained staff. Final straw this evening is an email from Ardent credit services saying I need to contact them urgently ref my outstanding bill with Vodafone. I have and always have had a good credit history, no CCJ'S etc etc and this is precisely the thing which may ruin that through no fault of my own. VODAFONE - YOU SHOULD HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME!!!!!!!

APologies for a long post but I have actually tried to keep this brief! In March last year, we had a leak reported in our roof, despite instructing the agency to repair, it took a complaint to the director and several months until it was fixed (in July). At the end of October, we had a leak reported in exactly the same place, the agency called back the contractor who said the work was fine and he could see no problem. We were left to ask agent to find another contractor - it took a while for them to come out and do the repair - at one point I even phone the agency who told me the work had been done and the tenant had told them how happy they were - this was simply not true, when they did it didn't work and we were left weeks waiting for them to come back, they never did, despite repeat assurance from the agency that he was coming. (we refused to pay for this work). Despite chasing the agency regularly and even sending photos of the damage that was getting worse there was no urgency on their part - they even sent us an email to say they had emailed 3 contractors ... no urgency despite the weather being terrible and the damage getting worse. Eventually at the turn of the year we had to step in despite being 300 miles away and get the repair done ourselves. The problem was the ageing of the brick work so that when consistent rain, the chimney could only absorb so much and then began leaking through. There was no sign of any other leak either internally or externally - yet due to the time taken by the agency to fix the original repair ie not until summer, we could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the original repair was not uo to standard. So we are left with costs, damage, an unhappy tenant at being messed around by the agency. On a separate note, when it became legal requirement to have carbon monoxide alarms, they emailed to say they would be fitted when they came into stock - by January they had still not dealt with this and again we had to take action ourselves to rectify this. Our agent had left us in breach of the law and also potentially put our tenant at risk. We gave notice of repudiatory breach of contract as we were now having to manage the property our selves, they had failed in their duty of care in numerous ways and neither us nor the tenant simply trust them to manage the property anymore. They however of course have disputed this and stated that they expect the management fee to be paid until the end of the tenancy - ie we would have to evict our tenant. I'm concerned as to the best way to go forward - the property ombudsman is incredibly slow and in past experience tend to side with the agents. I am considering the county court route but am then concerned that if they dispute this I will then have to incur serious legal costs to get this through with the potential cost of losing. I don't want to just stop paying them the fee and then risk a CCJ against my name either. Does anyone have any experience of this kind of matter or can advise on the best options?

I recently moved out of a shared flat and the lettings agent sent through a dilapidation report detailing any damage to the property, missing items etc. and the deductions from our deposit that would be made as a result. About half of their claims were reasonable, but about half weren't so we disputed what we felt we needed to. We asked for a detailed breakdown of the costs and evidence of the damage (costs had been lumped by room rather than by each item). In response they asked for a counter offer, said a breakdown of costs was not possible, and made reference to 'expensive work' that would need to come out of the deposit but that was not mentioned in the original report. At this point it felt like they were trying to intimidate us into accepting the original offer. We sent a counter offer and they said they would pass it to the landlord. We did not receive a response to the counter offer, but rather a list of costs for additional work done to the flat far exceeding our deposit (painting, carpet replacements, things like that) that had not been outlined as necessary in the original report. They made no mention of the original report, nor our counter offer, but said a compensatory charge amounting to our full deposit would be required. Their behaviour has been odd and has seemed like the longer the dispute has gone on the more they are trying to charge us. I get the feeling they are trying to intimidate us to forking over the whole deposit but I don't want to gamble that, call their bluff, and wind up owing them much more. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there, I'm having some problems to get the balance of my deposit back, this is £290. I have sent 3 emails to my former landlord and he said that I'm his lodger, I don't have any right and they are not willing to give me anything back. The problem is I'm not his lodger, he didn't live in the property. The landlord is a business of 2 Spanish guys (agency) taking advantage of other foreigners in London. They rent properties through letting agencies and they sublet every inch in the house to people. We were living in London 8 people in a house with one bathroom. As far as I know the owner of the house doesn't know what is happening in her house, but my landlord doesn't want to give me her details nor the letting agency details neither. The agency who rented me the house keeps partly the deposits of other tenants saying that the walls need to be repainted or things like that. My former flatmates had the same problem as me. In my case, they are charging me for a mould which grew in the bedroom due poor insulation, for the cleaning of that mould and for the curtains (which are dirty because of the mould and they were so high I couldn't remove them to wash them up). They are charging me for the walls (were dirty before I moved there, but they didn't do a check-out to the previous tenant and they are charging me for it) and for one night I did not sleep there. This agency are making fraudulent contracts. My contract says "Licence to occupy" and it says "This agreement is not intended to confer exclusive possession upon the licensee, nor it is intended to create the relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties. The Licensee shall not be entitled to an assured tenancy or a statutory periodic tenancy under the Housing Act 1988 or to any other statutory secure of tenure now or upon the determination of the Licence. The Licensee accepts that this Licence does not confer any statutory protection and/or rights that would otherwise be applicable to an assured tenancy or a statutory periodic tenancy under the Housing Act 1988". I contacted Shelter and they said that the agreement is not legal as I was a tenant, not a lodger, as the landlord is an agency and they do not share the property with us. A legal advisor in Shelter told me that I can go to court and make a claim because the agency didn't protect my deposit despite the agreement says. Does anybody know what can I do in this case? This agency does not want to talk to me nor to reply my emails. They took my money unfairly and they are doing the same to other foreigners as people leave the property and they do not know how to claim their money back. So they keep doing the same over and over again. They are taking advantage mainly of Spaniards who come to the UK without knowing how the system works. Is there any way I can report them? If so, where? I don't mind the money, but I want to stop them to do the same to other people. Many thanks.

A debt collection agency has sent an email regarding an unpaid payday loan to a generic work email address (info@xxxxxx.com) - I am a director of the company but these emails do not go to me, so have now probably been read by quite a few members of my staff before someone forwarded it to me, The email contains my personal details, as well as details of the outstanding amount £985 (the loan was £100!) - surely they cannot send details of all this to a generic email address at my company?! Anybody got any ideas how I should deal with this please?

Hello any help would be appreciated. Back in October an agency advertised a job which I went for and got although its not due to start until January. They told me I would be working for them on 9.33 an hour up until the end of July and if the work was to continue I would be employed directly under the school. Today I get an email saying the school want to cut out the agency and hire me direct. ..great I say and it will be all year so no need to worry come July. However the agency have informed me the school will be paying my wages and its gone down from 9.33 to 6.70 an hour a HUGE wage cut and one that I'm not happy with!! Can they just do that without asking me first because to be quite honest i wouldn't be prepared to take such a huge cut as I left my old job because I couldn't live off minimum wage. Im due to start January 4th and I'm currently doing odd jobs here and there to make ends meet until then (the agency also told me it would be starting the week after I saw them originally and to hand in my notice which i did only to be told now it won't be starting until January hence leaving me with no job!) The agency also accidentally sent me an email meant for someone else saying they had received the fee of 1,900 pound to allow the school to hire me direct. So they have made nearly 2 grand and cut my wage right down in doing so without my permission :-x

Hey everyone, So here is my problem, My friend and I have moved into a new flat last month and part of the moving in deal was a new freezer to compensate the rent increase from the previous tenants. This was agreed upon a month before we moved in, a month has now passed and still no new freezer (they even said it would be arriving in the afternoon when we moved in) . I have emailed the agency and rang them on several occasions although they just lie and say it will be here tomorrow. N Its not so much having or waiting for the freezer but more the on the principle of being lied to all the time and paying that increase for nothing. Its an Assured Shorthand Tenancy under the Housing Act 1998 (amended in 1996) if that helps. Many thanks, Poppy x