The Bear Garden is a place of variety. A place where people can say what they like,discuss,debate and have a fine old time. So i thought i would put this on to cheer us up. Say what you feel.

Hello. I have been working in company for 4.5 years. All that time I was working threw the agency and I get a contract 1st of January this year. 22nd of september I decided to quit because of personal circumstances. I wasn't happy about my life. I text my manager, I have informed him that I quit. I wrote that it was nice to work with him, but it's time to move on for me and that I'm sorry if that will cause any problems. And I have switched off my phone, I didn't wanted to talk with anyone. After that I get a lot of messages from him, he wrote that I must explane why did I quit. I didn't replyed, because I think that I don't have to explane my personal problems. After few days he texted me again, he wrote that someone is pregnant from me at my workplace... I have ignored that message. Yesterday 2nd of october I get another 2 messages from him and they were even worse than previuos. He wrote : '' U little piece of sh**.. I know where u live.. I still need to know why you left... so I will be coming.." 2nd message "You haven't balls and guts too reply, you 50kg boy" I'm trying to change my life, trying to quit smoking, I have started running in the mornings, but after messages like that I feel uncomfortable and a bit stressed. Didn't wanted to take any actions against him, but I'm not sure how far this can go. What should I do?

This one from Scoop regarding increase in bailiff referrals by councils http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/opinion/campaigns/how-the-cost-of-paying-up-is-sending-bailiffs-diaries-wild-1-6962592

I have a couple of job interviews coming up, how ever their days are not flexible and neither are my bosses. He will constantly find ways to make it so I don't to take time off. If I'm sick, I'll have to work from home, expecting constant calls from the office and clients. If I'm going on holiday, I can only have the dates between flying out and coming back and nothing else, and expected to take calls. If I have a doctors appointment, he will expect me to work the hours inbetween. I can almost never have Mondays or Wednesdays off due to working at a clients, and my work load is too much to take any other day off for that matter! He is also very demanding of the reason I am trying to take time off, and will often tell me to do those things at the weekend instead. How do I get past this obstacle?

I have been working as a self-employed mortgage broker until I resigned in July 2015. I signed a service contract with the company and commission was to be paid at the end of each month on a 50% split basis i.e. I get 50% of the commission for all business I write. Business has been very slow and in August 2014, the company incorporated under an umbrella company who took on most of our compliance. The director told me that the commission split would change to 35% for the first £3,000 of business written and 65% thereafter. This was apparently done to reward hitting higher targets. This was never confirmed in writing, only verbally. I left in July and got a commission statement at the end of July, although no commission was due. The contract says we will continue to receive commission for 3 months after we leave, so I expect a commission statement at the end of August, but nothing! No commission, no statement - I have chased it 4 times and still nothing! It turns out another colleague who left in July is having the same problem, so after making contact with 3 others who left in the last year, it appears this is a common theme! I have asked the umbrella company to provide me with a list of all commissions due for business I have written and dates it was paid to the original company so that I can piece together exactly what is due. I would like advice on several areas here, as I believe I am owed £4k-£6k: 1. Should I send a subject access request to both companies to get the info? 2. Should I report this to the FCA because this is a regulated company and the guy that runs it is supposedly "fit and proper"? 3. As it appears there has been a deliberate attempt to defraud employees over an extended period of time, what other legal options do I have. Many thanks, D

Hello all, I live with my landlord and two other tenants in what was his house. He put it up for sale and somebody has 'purchased' the house, he will pay my landlord this Friday for the house. Long story short but my landlord is going through a divorce and half of the money for the house that's now sold, is going to go to his wife. But she has not agreed to the amount being offered to her and wants more than half. Now my landlord was informed today that we all have to move out this Friday. Also just to inform you, my landlord has been told by his agents twice that we needed to move out by the end of the week, last week and the week before. The new owner has already showed the house to some students and they want to rent it from him. I was there when they came to see the house. The new owner doesn't even want to bother with cleaning/sorting out the house before the students move in, he wants them to move in the day after we're to move out. This sounds weird to me, I mean surely if a house is sold, the current landlord living there, or any tenants would have a month, in which to find a place? None of us have found anywhere to live yet, if we have to move out on Friday, then unless by an absolute miracle, we find somewhere, we will end up homeless. Is there something going on here, this doesn't seem at all right-or even legal (though I might be completely wrong about this). Is there something that my landlord could tell the estate agents regarding us having to move out by Friday, so that we could at least have two weeks to look for somewhere to move to? Also what are the legal requirements regarding somebody buying a house and giving the current landlord and tenants notice? Thanks for reading this and hope to hear from you soon.

Just wondering if any companies, like Sunny etc. offer small loans to people if they are on Universal Credit as their income? Also which company is easiest to apply to as they have never had credit before and so I do not think they have built up a good credit score therefore...(not because of any bad credit). Doesn't just want to try companies and fail as I think this will build bad credit... Thanks!

Used to just get an email when someone replied on a thread I posted on, and then wouldn't get any others unless I visit the thread again, and then someone posts another reply. But now, I am getting emails for every thread update regardless if I have visited it recently or not. Resulting in 8 emails within an hour just on 1 thread. Is this something changed recently?

A report by Citizen Advice found that people were tempted into free trials for slimming pills or similar health supplements, often by online pop-up adverts or across social media sites featuring celebrity endorsements. People thought they were simply giving their debit or credit card details to pay for the £5 postage and packing. But, if they’d read the extremely long small print, they would have discovered that they had signed up to a monthly subscription for these products unless they cancelled within a set period of time. What can you do to about it? Always read the terms and conditions of any agreement and be wary of any ‘free’ trials that ask for your debit or credit card details. If you do find yourself unwittingly signed up to a CPA the law says you can withdraw your consent and stop a future payment at any time up to the end of business on the day before the payment is due. You can do this by contacting your card issuer. Don’t be put off if they tell you to contact the retailer. It is your right to cancel with your card issuer, and in the case of subscription traps the companies involved are often based abroad and are hard to contact. https://blogs.citizensadvice.org.uk/blog/think-youre-getting-a-free-trial-fat-chance/ s...jpg"]

My daughter and her boyfriend had been renting a room from a live-in landlord (not sub-letting) for 9 months when he evicted them without notice. He had entered their room without prior arrangement while they were on holiday and found some cigarette burns on the outside window ledge. (He had given the boyfriend permission to smoke out of the window when they moved in). He sent an email advising that they had to move out the day they returned. My daughter and boyfriend had always paid their rent on time, monthly in advance, but had recently changed to weekly payments, by arrangement, as they knew they would have to move out soon - my daughter had secured a job 200 miles away and her boyfriend was waiting for a transfer at work. My daughter thought she would be able to reason with the landlord as they had always had a good relationship, but this wasn't to be the case and he was extremely abusive. He wouldn't let them clean the room and has told them he will deduct the cost of cleaning from their deposit, which seems unreasonable to me since they were prepared to do it. It might be worth pointing out at this stage that the room and furniture were very tatty from the time they moved in the landlord never upgraded the 4ft bed to a 4ft6 one as he promised before they moved in. My daughter has drafted an email to the landlord, which I have copied below. Would anyone be able to give her some feedback on the letter? There are a couple of figures and dates left blank as my daughter needs to look at her bank records for the details. Also, I think she is mistaken about being 'occupiers with basic protection', as the landlord lived in the house and shared common areas. The email is rather long, but it gives lots of information. I'll be really grateful to anyone who takes the time to read it.... I am emailing regarding the return of our deposit which amounts to £500. You evicted [boyfriend] and me from your property on Saturday 13th June 2015 (despite the rent paid to you by us for the 1st 2 weeks of June not running out until Sunday 14th). This was following you entering our bedroom without any prior notice given or permission gained on the 13th June whilst we were away on holiday. Despite this not being an unlawful act, it was a complete invasion of privacy. By law, you were required to give us a minimum of 4 weeks’ notice to move out as we were classed as ‘occupiers with basic protection’ with no fixed term contract. However, you evicted us with immediate effect. The tone of your original email was unpleasant and completely uncalled for. In this email you attached photos of ‘damage’ done to the outside windowsill by cigarette ash (see attached photo ‘1’). Upon on inspection and after a few minutes scrubbing the ‘damage’ was greatly reduced (see attached photo ‘2’) and we believe that had you allowed us to clean properly that there would have been no real damage, simply dirt. The way you spoke to me while I was cleaning the room was absolutely disgusting. You mentioned that you were shocked at not receiving an apology from me, and you accused me of having a terrible attitude, which I fear you may have misinterpreted from my ability to stay calm and neutral under attempts of intimidation. Let me tell you this; I will always apologise to someone when I have wronged them, however when you come to me, all guns blazing, shouting in my face and cutting me off when I try to explain that the damage is in fact just dirt then you lose all respect from me. I had expected us to have a mature (if slightly unpleasant/ awkward) discussion about the ‘damage’ and how we would resolve the situation. Instead I was met with aggression and rudeness and for that reason I certainly did not apologise to you. You advised that you would be sending us a quote for the cost of the repair to the damage. Almost a month has passed and we have had no such correspondence from you. Over the months that we lived in your property you had an extra £50 from us towards bills that we did not owe to you. On the 23rd September 2014 (the day before I moved in to the property) I transferred £… to cover rent for the last week of the month and bills (1/4 of the monthly amount of £475) On the 1st October 2014 I transferred the full monthly amount of £475 to you. However, [boyfriend] was not in [town] from\ the 6th October- 18th October 2014 as he was in [hometown]working his notice, and therefore the money you received for his share of the bills between these dates (amounting to £25) was in fact money that we didn’t owe. On the ….June 2015 I transferred to you £237.50 to cover the first 2 weeks of the month (up to AND INCLUDING Sunday 14th). When I asked you why you went into our room, one of the reasons you gave was that we hadn’t paid to live there anymore, which, as you can see is completely untrue. We returned from our holiday on the Monday (15th June), and had you not evicted us 2 days earlier you would have received another week’s rent on this date, in keeping with an agreement you made with [boyfriend] that we could pay you week by week whilst we were looking to move to [new town]. The money paid to you at the beginning of June included money for bills for the whole 2 week period. However, [boyfriend]and I returned to [hometown]l after he finished work on Sunday 7th June in preparation for our festival on the 10th June. Therefore, between the 7th June- 14th June 2015 you received a total of £25 towards bills for the two of us for a week when we were not at the property. Altogether then, you have had an extra £50 from us. Another relevant fact is that for over 3 months (a third of our time at the property) there was no working oven. This is unacceptable, and when I asked you when this would be fixed you simply told me that it would need completely replacing. When you were shouting at [boyfriend] and me to ‘get out’ of your house, I said to you that we would not be paying towards any costs of cleaning, as we were in the process of doing it ourselves and you did not allow us to finish. With regards to the windowsill, as explained above this would also have been clean had you allowed us to finish the job. However as a gesture of good will and with a desire to have this dealt with quickly, we are prepared to let you keep the extra £50 you had from us, and just return out £500 deposit in full. I believe that this is extremely generous of us, especially when taking into account that [boyfriend] was unable to work his notice in [town] (he had to buy an extra train ticket to go down and work 1 days’ notice as he was only able to find space in a hostel for 1 night, meaning that he ended up paying a total of £90 to earn £60) and therefore suffered loss of earnings for 2 weeks, amounting to £428.80 based on his wage of £6.70/hour and MINIMUM contracted hours of 32/week.

Hi I was wondering if anyone could advise me. Back in 2010 I had around £32k of debt (mostly credit cards and and a loan/overdraft). I lost my job so I stopped paying my debts, as I was no longer in a position to pay them. Over time I got back into work, however I was now being offered partial settlements on some of my debts and because of the massive hole I was in at the time I decieded the best way to clear the debts would be to take up this option and pay a reduced rate. I typically paid around 33 per cent. Using this method I cleared all but 1 of my debts by January 2015. Since the start of the year things have been going well for me in work and I along with my wife have been able to save a deposit for a mortgage. I then recieved a letter from the last remaing credit card offering a partial settlement on the account of 33 percent. I decided to take it as I believed it would help me get a mortgage as my credit file would show 0 debt. However I was aware that the likelyhood was the default and debt would be written off regardless in the next year. I have now found the company I am applying for the mortgage with belongs to the same organisation I have recently partially settled an account with. Can anybody advise if I am likely to get a mortgage because of this or should I try an alternative mortgage provider? Thank you in advance for any advice. elvis77

Not sure where to start with this...but am in the process of getting my affairs in order. I am awaiting various SAR replies, CCA replies, some PPI claims and at some point some charges claims. I am trying to do things in a sensible order now rather than going off half-cocked! Had some very useful advice from DX that made me look at things in a different way but moving on from that i'm trying to consider some of the next moves I may need make, and i'm trying to get my head around what the law says. Firstly I should point out currently my debts are being managed through the CCCs and I have one CCJ i will be paying for a VERY long time. This CCJ also carries a Charging order on my property - but i'm staying put so no worries there! Most of my defaults are three or so years old and I am paying nominal amounts on them. I suspect of the three non-ccj debts that have been sold on two of them will not be able to provide a valid CCA. One of these debts for some reason doesn't have a default against it but shows as an arrangement to pay on my credit file every month. Is this allowed/legal/acceptable as they bought it with this arrangement in place? I've seen estoppel mentioned but I don't know if it applies to me? If i understand things correctly this DCA can register a default on my account if i were to stop paying - and this will be the case until such time as i have paid this debt in full or come to a full and final figure? With regards to the other debts if i just pay for the next three years and then stop on the basis for example that the debt is unenforceable i cannot be punished on a CRA by any means ie second defaults can't be registered, i cannot be taken to court, etc as i will have already had the default registered on the account. Hope this is making sense. Would welcome any input - especially on the legal side of things. Hx

I need some advice please on how to get a deposit back after placing one on a 2nd hand car. 2 weeks ago we found a car at a small 2nd hand car dealer but it had some issues. The deal was we would purchase the car if the issues (repair some bodywork, pass MOT, fix door seal, stop car veering to right when driving) were rectified. We agreed and I placed a deposit of £495 (Car cost £3995) on a visa debit card, signed an agreement and left. I have returned today to collect the car after being told all repairs agreed were fixed and the car was ready. On arrival we found that only the MOT and the door seal was repaired. The car still veered to the right, the original bodywork damage hadn't been sorted and in fact there were more paintwork issues since we first inspected it and agreed the deal. The salesman offered to repair the bodywork issues for £100 discount or they would repair them but we had to come back a week later. I was not happy with this offer and instead requested a refund. Ultimately they had gone back on their word and now i didn't trust the deal. The sales man said he couldn't authorise the refund and put me onto a call with the manager. The manager listened to the issues raised, provided the same offer of £100 which I declined. He then told me it was his policy not to offer a refund and if I wanted my deposit he would "see me in court" after a heated exchange he then threatened to "send the boys round" I understand that if you change your mind you shouldn't be entitled to a refund but surely in this case i have a right? 1. he breached the original agreement 2. The goods are faulty and have not been supplied correctly. the car is actually still for sale on a number of websites so surely i can also argue that he is not at a loss. what options do i have? thanks for any advice

Evening all, I'm after a bit of guidance on an outstanding balance on an old credit card. Here's a brief history: March '08 - Took out the credit card with £500 limit. Used the card for 2 years, during which time the limit was upped to £1000. June '10 - I stop making payments. Various reasons I shan't bore you with. Oct '10 - Default notice issued and an outstanding balance of £1300 (with a limit of £1000, I'm guessing that's £250 or so of interest and charges). At some point the debt was sold to a debt collection agency, before then being returned to capital one themselves. I don't have the details of this as I typically filed any such letters straight into the bin. Fast forward to now and I want to shift this debt off my credit record. Now I know it'll vanish October next year, but I want the balance shifted off my credit record before then so I can set about repairing my rating sooner rather than later. Now, my options as far as I can see are: Pay them in full. Which I can do. It'll mean a few luxuries will have to be sacrificed, but will not adversely effect my normal standard of living. Offer to partially settle for 50% or less. But from reading around, this will leave the account as partially settled on my account, which could upset the likes of mortgage lenders in the future (it'll be easier to explain away if it's fully settled) Ignore it and wait for it to go away (which will mean I'll be 18months further behind getting my credit score up to scratch, so not really an option) I keep going back and forth between the first two options. I can't remember the exact details of the account. I'm fairly certain I didn't have any PPI on there, as I never went in for PPI on anything else. Please weigh in with your views on what I should do. At the moment, I'm thinking option one as it'll get the whole lot done and dusted quickest. But at the same time, saving a couple of quid does appeal, so I'm open to ideas on how to go about settling with them. Thanks everyone

Hi, I'd appreciate advice from others who have had similar experiences with Vodafone, and am also hoping Lee the Vodafone Rep may be able to intervene and/or offer advice. I opened a Vodafone account in June 2011. My calls and text usage was always well below the plan I was paying for. In August 2012 I received a sales call out of the blue offering me a new phone. I was under the impression I was agreeing to an upgrade, and agreed to increase my DD by £10 per month for a Smart phone to replace my Blackberry. They sent me the new phone and it transpired I had been sold a whole new contract for a second phone, line rental, the lot, which I did not need. When I queried it and asked why I had been approached when clearly I didn't need a second phone, I was told it was a special offer which I could use for a member of the family. I had a young relative just starting college so I offered the new phone to him. It seemed worth it for £10 per month. However, he ran up the bill well over the monthly limit and he didn't reimburse me with the money. I came to an agreement with Vodafone to pay the bill of £120 in instalments. I went on holiday for a week and whilst still abroad my own phone was disconnected. The bill on my own phone was fully paid up to date but my phone was disconnected because the payment on the second phone was late. And so began a catalogue of bullying and punitive behaviour by Vodafone who flatly refused to see reason or to negotiate a reasonable agreement. I had no written contract and had never been told that the two contracts were linked, ie, that if one was unpaid they would disconnect the other. On my own phone the only service I was getting was incoming texts and incoming calls but I was still receiving bills for the entire package, ie, line rental, minutes, texts and data usage. I protested this because I was not getting the services they were charging me for. Again the (previously unwritten) contract was quoted which Vodafone interpreted in their favour, but to me clearly stated that I should be paying for the package of services received. As I wasn't receiving the package of services then I refused to pay the full amount. I offered to pay a reduced amount for the service I was receiving, ie, incoming calls and texts but this was refused. After this "stand-off" for a couple of months I offered to repay in full the debt on the second phone but would not pay for the services not received on the first phone. The services on the first phone were then disconnected entirely, not at my request, Vodafone took the decision themselves, then they sent me the bill for the remainder of the contract which was another 6 months. They were trying to extort (for extortion is what it is) over £600 out of me for a debt of £120. I wrote to the MD and the CEO, neither of whom responded. I eventually reached someone in the Directors office who refused to reach an agreement to settle this issue and restore my account. This all happened in January-March 2013 and 2 years later I am still suffering losses because Vodafone posted a default notice on my credit record. I am unable to obtain a mortgage so have to continue paying rent. I have been unable to re-mortgage my buy-to-let property, thereby paying more interest than I need to. I cannot obtain a credit card; I am having to pay more for a car leasing agreement because of the credit record. It just goes on and on. To me this is a total abuse of power on Vodafone's part. Instead of trying to reach an agreement with me they have literally punished me for not giving in to their unreasonable demands. In my view they breached my contract with them. I have spoken to the Credit Reference Agency, Credit Call, who've advised me to write to the Ombudsman, which I'm in the process of doing. However, even if I were to pay the amount Vodafone are attempting to extort from me, it would be noted as "settled" on my Credit record and would still affect my credit rating for 6 years. Furthermore, I'm told by Credit Call that Vodafone will be fined £400 for every complaint that goes to the Ombudsman so I really don't understand why they can't just take a commercial decision and reach an agreement to settle with me, in return for removing the default notice altogether. It's a ridiculous situation, totally out of proportion to the "offence". Six years is a longer sentence than someone would receive for assaulting someone! I'm just waiting for the letter of deadlock so I can write to the Ombudsman but if there's anything else I could be doing, please advise. Many thanks Denfar

Last year, I contacted Lloyds Bank about a couple of defaults which are still showing on my credit file, but which I felt should had been entered years before they were (and which should have by now disappeared as a result). In December last year, Lloyds wrote back to me to tell me that: 'The accounts should have been defaulted in October 2004 and I have contacted the relevant department to ensure your credit file reflects this and that the information recorded is accurate'. Imagine my surprise, then, when I obtained my credit file in February and discovered the information hadn't been amended! I contacted Equifax to challenge the incorrect info, quoting the letter sent to me in December. I didn't expect Lloyds to take my word that the information was wrong, but I hoped that they'd trust their own customer service department! Sadly, it was not to be. Equifax told me that Lloyds had said I would need to speak with their customer services department. I've since spoken to customer services, who told me (a month ago), that my account was in the process of being returned from 1st Credit Ltd (even though they'd emailed me on 26th Jan to say that 'Your account has now been returned to Lloyds'). She said that she couldn't simply arrange for Experian and Equifax to be instructed to amend my credit file - apparently, there were procedures that needed to be followed that took time, and my account would need to be returned from 1st Credit Ltd in the first instance. The other day, I contacted my case handler again, but she told me that my case was still in progress, but couldn't give me a timescale as to when it would finally be resolved. My question to the forum is this: Do banks need to follow procedures lasting weeks or months to return a debt to the bank's management and to have a credit file amended, or are they messing me about? Thanks Jeff

I took out a bridging loan secured on property last year. It was arranged through a broker. There was a £500 commitment fee paid separately to the loan but to be refunded on account at draw down ( I have this in writing although its not in the loan contract. ) The missing £500 does not appear in the completion or redemption statement but my banking shows it as paid and they confirm receipt. Additionally the redemption statement includes extra unexpected fees, surplus to 7.1 below, ie fees added at closing and not taken from monies advanced to borrower. There is already an agreed redemption fee of £1500 and they have added these £600 worth of misc extra fees at closing, admin, discharge sealing fees etc 7.1 of my contract states I pay on full indemnity basis all legal fees and other fees and expenses incurred in connection with facility and that the borrower agrees that these and and expenses fees will be deducted from the advance paid to the borrower. This is fine as I knew what they were and they are listed in the completion statement but the £600 have been tapped on to the redemption statement and I don't think that is right as I only ever agreed fees would be deducted from the advance as per contract 7.1, ie I knew what they would be. There is already a £1500 exit fee. The drawn down date was also extended due to legal delay, they are now saying that the £500 is NON refundable. we agreed to extend our Facility terms to xxx with a completion date set on or before this date. However, this was on the basis that we would NOT refund the commitment fee to the borrower. Thing is we didn't agree and I never signed anything to that effect, never had a conversation or email or any kind of agreement saying that. The only thing I have in writing is them stating it is to be set off to the account. First I heard of this was after a requesting a redemption statement. My broker has no correspondence either on this. Basically I am being fleeced for an extra £1,100. What steps can my solicitor take to put the squeeze on them as obviously their unscrupulous behaviour can mess up my house sale. Would appreciate some advice on how to handle this firm.

Hi In 2005 I got the following: Together Mortgage £113000, Picture Loan £33000, Welcome Loan £21000, RBS Debt totaling £25000 credit card debt totaling £ 9,000. PAYDAY LOANS total £1200. I was in great despair as I was going through a divorce had an ectopic pregnancy and lived in a house half built. I was off work due to ectopic pregnancy and was losing money fast. On top of this my step daughter came to live with me and I was trying to help her through college etc. My ex husband was very nasty and he was due to leave the army and I got frightened in to not taking any of his pension that I deserved for giving up my career to bring his daughter up. He cashed in all our joint policies and left me with nothing but debt. I was in despair literally and had a breakdown turned to alcohol (not badly but enough). I then tried reading self help books to try and change my mind set. I wrote myself blank cheques to all the people I owed and had them on my wall so that I could visualize on attracting money. I won £3800 from a 10p bingo ticket then I got a windfall of £32000. I cleared the credit card debt, got the house finished and reduced the welcome loan to £9000. I still owe the rest, I got the RBS loan secured against the house to free up monthly spends. My house is now worth £136000. I was annoyed though as I have paid over £37000 to IDEM not realising that to settle I need to pay another £42000!! I was younger stupid and scared. I have now rented out my house and I am living in a room, I have started my own company using all the skills I have and have enlisted friends to help me with their trades (I take a small percentage from them as I get them work). [EDITED] It is about visualizing and felling the luck and wealth. It takes only 16 seconds to vibrate mentally and put good thoughts out. I do not ask to win the lottery e.t.c but I try to create ways that I can help myself out of the mess I got in with money. [EDITED]

Will try to be brief: Bought a car circa 7 weeks ago for £2000. Dealer gave me a receipt. Also gave ME the entire V5 to fill in and send off! Within days I thought that there were issues with the car. I had filled in the V5...but did not send off. I figured at this point (perhaps somewhat misguided?) that if the dealer refused to carry out repair work to make the car right....I might stand a better chance of getting a refund and giving the car back if I told him he could have the V5 back - tipex my details - and so hence not record another owner on it - who then would look like he was selling it on within weeks of buying! I took the car back to dealer and complained saying he needed to put things right. Have since had it back to dealer with various different issues - multiple times. Work has been done - but are still issues. Dealer has just now had car again for a few days - and has just informed me that he is going to give me a full refund. I'm wondering about the V5 thing now. If I go in and tell him i never sent the V5 off - ask for my money back as he has said - and ensure V5 is tipexed and my details gone - is this ok? Any possible risks? Via DVLA or any other way? I have had the car insured in my name and taxed since buying it. Any recommendations on what to do? Sorry if this is foolish...just suddenly got concerned.

Hi, I have a contractual dispute with BT regarding a cancellation. I've gone through the normal internal complaint processes with the company and understand their position but vehemently disagree with it. I've requested on numerous occasions to take the matter to ADR but all that happens is that I get a written response a few days later re-iterating BTs position and stating that they hope this resolves the matter. Is there any way I can force the matter? BT clearly have internal procedures to deter people from getting to ADR but I wont get a balanced view from within the company. In the mean time my debt has been passed to a debt collection agency and my credit rating is being affected by a debt that I dispute. Thanks

Hello CAG! You know, there are times when we all have to deal with 'not so good' customer service but in the end matters end up being resolved with some persistence. However with Vodafone customer support I've never felt soo helpless. I have followed their process to the letter, and thus so far it has got me nowhere. I need a Vodafone rep to action on this and get it sorted. Background: June 2012 - I sign up to Vodafone as a new customer, 24 month contract (Iphone 4). June 2014 - Contract ends, I do not change anything. October 2014 - I decide to DOWNGRADE to a sim 30 day contract plan (£11.ono) as this suits my needs and I don't want to upgrade. My plan is changed as requested, no long term contract. - See Attachment #1 [ATTACH=CONFIG]55754[/ATTACH] Everything WAS GOOD - until... Mid January 2015 a fraudulent upgrade order is placed on my account. I have a 'full-fat' version of my issue in a thread with attachments over at the Vodafone eForum... which sadly has got me NOWHERE. ## I'll need to PM the rep the forum link as I can't post the link on here ## Monday 12th Jan 2015 Text message received on my mobile thanking me for the upgrade. What upgrade? I try to login into the online portal to make sure all is well. I can't login, I'm able to reset my account, seems someone changed the username (email address), added an extra character. Price plan still shows 1mth Sim only, £11.50 ... so I think nothing of it, perhaps a glitch. Wednesday 14th Jan 2015 - 10pm DPD email received confirming that my Vodafone package is to sent out tomorrow. What the hell? - even worse... it has my name on the package and an address based in Birmingham... I do NOT have any connection with that address, nor do I live in Birmingham! I try logging into the online portal, once again my username has been changed. I managed to get access back, and now my bill has bumped up to £48.50!!... from what I can see it's a two year contract on an iphone 6! What the fraudster didn't know, was that I received the DPD delivery email, therefore I was able to change the delivery day to one FULL week later so that he/she would not get it tomorrow. Once delivery had been changed, I spoke to Vodafone web support, called lost/stolen dept on the phone and even filled in a online 'Fraud Claim' form on their site to cover all bases! Thursday 15th Jan 2015 - 8.30am Call the Vodafone Lost/Stolen dept for an update, they confirm DPD has got the package and is returning it back to Vodaphone... SUCCESS! - See Attachment #2 They also mentioned the fraudulent order was placed via the web portal. Finally I am told the non-contact Fraud team will need 7-10 days to investigate before my account is returned back to normal. [ATTACH=CONFIG]55755[/ATTACH] Thursday 15th January 2015 - 7:00pm I receive an automated email from Vodafone in the evening confirming my new 'fraudulent' plan - I know at this point I need to wait 7-10 days for the fraud team to do their thing and put everything back to normal. I can no longer login to my online account as it was confirmed by customer services online access has been deleted for security purposes. I agree with this move, though it means for the time being I have no easy way of checking my tarrif/bill. Email Confirmation of new fraudulent plan - See Attachment 3. [ATTACH=CONFIG]55753[/ATTACH] Sunday 18th January 2015 I call Vodafone support to catch up on 'RETURN' status of the package from DPD. Note that from the moment "return to consignor" was requested the DPD tracking page no longer updates (I guess it has a new consignment number). It's apparently on it's way through returns so I'm told. The billing team confirm my account is still set to bill £48.50 on the new plan(contract), and that it can't be changed until the Fraud team are done investigating. As a precaution the advisor did tell me to cancel my direct debit which I have done. The fraudsters try to trick me into releasing my account details (since they no longer have web access to my account). They send me this bogus email, hoping I'd click on the link and submit my information. They sent it twice an hour later, I guess they are pretty pi$$ed they didn't get their iphone6: - See Attachment 4 [ATTACH=CONFIG]55752[/ATTACH] Wednesday 21st January 2015 - 11:30am I use the Vodafone support chat to find out more about what is going on. The agent confirms the handset has arrived back at the warehouse. My account is still set to the new contract (£48.50)....! I've also reached the point at which I want to leave Vodafone once this mess has been fixed. See Attachment 5: [ATTACH=CONFIG]55751[/ATTACH] Sunday 25th January 2014 - 4:44pm Vodafone Forum Staff send me a special form link to escalate my issue ... a.k.a golden ticket. A WRT Reference is supplied: #9227428 I am then given the following response: Thanks for your email here. I understand that you wish to cancel the upgrade which has been done on your account without your consent. I can see that a fraud case is already raised on your account and the team is investigating on this matter. As the dedicated team is checking on this we can't comment on this issue at this point of time. As soon as the investigation is complete the team will let you know. Any corrective measures, (if required) will be taken by the team and your account will be made up to date. It may take up to 4 - 5 more working days for the team to complete the investigation. You can get back to us after this timeframe for any update if you don't get any update by this time. Your patience and cooperation in this matter will be appreciated. Kind regards, ###### Customer Service Agent (eForum) Wrapping it up 5 days on since that last update, did I get a call or any correspondence from the Vodafone team? .... No. Has my plan reverted back to what it was (sim 30day) .... No. Do they have their phone back? ... Yes. Vodafone, you can't deny I have tried everything to make sure this matter is resolved and that I am not billed incorrectly. Were the phone truly stolen (delivered to fraudster) I could understand the need for a longer investigation, but the handset is back with you yet my account is still set on a 2 year contract for £48.50 p/m. Vodafone reps, I need help with the following please: Some form of direct communication with you. I'm done with talking to web chat support, general telephone support, and eForum - I keep going around in circles. A REAL update from the fraud team. I know customers cannot contact them directly, but internal staff can - I don't want to hear another generic "they need x days" statement... they have the handset! Revert my account to what it was, sim 30 day, and provide me with a PAC code - I'm moving on, a PAC code once activated should properly terminate my account. Thanks for reading! Dal

Hi all, I know everyone on these forums are very savvy regarding PPI matters, and there seem to be some experts also. My late father owed "Monument" money but once Death Certificate was issued then it was resolved (no will, no assets). I have now received a letter saying they owe PPI, or PBP as they like to call it. However, their dealings look suspicious as essentially they say "We will not give you money unless there is some left over what is owed." Why should I pay what is owed? This does not seem fair. They also want me to sign a "Statutory Declaration" and I fear that if I sign that they may be charging me for what is owed. Please, is there any way to get the full amount of money they owe? It is over £1000 pounds. Here are the letters below, I hope you can help: [ATTACH=CONFIG]55404[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]55405[/ATTACH]

I am not sure whether this is the right section/place for this, but perhaps someone around here can offer advice on the following. I recently got a letter from the R.B.S, informing me that that "we have, with regret, decided that we will no longer provide these [bank account] facilities for you" They don't give any reasons, but I am assuming that my name has come up on some wide sweeping statistical based list for potential fraud/money laundering, and I guess that the R.B.S doesn't like the little man trying to get a piece of their action. I don't have a regular job, but work freelance offshore. This means that I don't have regular income, but instead have large sporadic payments, often coming from abroad. I have also traded Bitcoins during the bubble where I made thousands, and also during the crash, where I lost even more thousands. This involved a high turnover of funds and international payments, including many payments into Bitcoin exchanges. Due to my work, I am also abroad quite often, use my card abroad, and access my online banking from foreign internet ISPs, which has caused the bank to suspend services to me in the past. Aside from that, I have no debt with this bank, am always several thousand in the black, etc. Whilst it doesn't break my heart that the parasitic übermonolithic R.B.S doesn't want to be my friend anymore, I do find it quite concerning that these institutions, upon whom society has been forced to rely upon for 95% of all economic interactions, have the power to simply cut someone off, without any evidence or proof of wrongdoing (there isn't any because I am not and never have been involved with any fraud/money laundering). Also, the bank states; "We will not be able to provide references for you". If I am not mistaken, I will totally 100% need a reference from my previous bank, in order to open another bank account. Can anyone suggest to me any course of action that I might take? Would telling another bank the truth about why I am wanting to open another bank account with them simply result in an automatic rejection? Am I going to be forced to lie to open another bank account?

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.

Can anyone advice me if I get my name taken off an account how long will it stay on my credit file