Continued from here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?374679-The-great-interest-rate-rip-off-part-8/page82

My parents have one debt each. One from great universal catalogue which was last paid £15 years ago. The other an old debt about 13 years ago from comet for a tv that had about £100 left to pay but the balance is now over £900 which is now with activ capital. These haven't been acknowledged in this long. Are these statute barred and how do I proceed from here? Thanks

Hi, this is my first post. I was stopped today by a FGW enforcement team as I got off the train at Windsor. The issue is I had used my wife's monthly ticket for the journey from Slough. I had actually driven from Uxbridge where I work to Slough to meet my wife who was on the train from Paddington; she had a patient to see in Burnham (she's a physio) so there seemed little point in her completing her usual journey to Windsor to then drive back so we did a swap; she took the car, I took her ticket (with photo ID). We didn't think it would be an issue, the ticket had been paid for and only one person was doing the journey. the enforcement officers didn't agree; they confiscated her ticket (so now she'll have to either buy a new one or dailys until it is returned, if it is returned) we are losing money there and i may be faced with prosecution. They didn't mention a fine so i feel i'm completely in no man's land. The journey to Windsor from Slough costs £2.30, the idea of a hefty fine and possible criminal record over such a stupid mistake is really scary. There was no intent to fair dodge, we felt as a couple we'd paid and had a valid ticket. Also one of the enforcement officers said when asked that if i'd had no ticket at all I'd have just been fined… so to FGW it seems it's worse to have your wife's valid ticket than no ticket at all. Any advice on what I should do would be very much appreciated.

13th October, took iPad into Kendal store with wifi hardware fault. Assistant very knowlegable and agreed that it seemed to be hardware. Said I wanted to claim under SOGA as iPad 17 months old and wifi chip problems are a known fault and connected to upgrade to IOS7. ipad sent off and went today (30/10/13) to collect. Letter with iPad saying could not find fault - Pardon? Ok, lets have a look at it now - iPad completely dead and would not even turn on. Plugged into charger etc - nothing, completely dead. Store said will send back again and it will be collected in 7 days time (06/11/13) I don't think this is acceptable and I think I made a mistake in purchasing from store rather than direct from Apple. My wife's birthday is next week and I was about to buy an iPad from the store. Can anyone give me any reason why I should do this rather than from Apple direct? Overall, I feel that PC World has reasonable staff but is let down by its systems and policies. Not as good as Comet, who were there before.

Hi all, I am writing to ask for advice on a letter I received recently regarding a train journey I made on 18th September 2013. On the date in question I was late arriving at Ashton-Under-Lyne train station, as I approached the station I saw the train (the 7:49am to Huddersfield) pulling in to the platform so I ran for the train and just managed to jump through the doors before they closed. I arrived at Stalybridge train station and exited the station by the side of the pub (as I have done on numerous occasions to have a cigarette on my way to catch my next train), however, as I approached the entrance to the station (where I usually sit on the wall and smoke) a lady approached me in a blue uniform, she asked me whether I had "just got off the train to Ashton" to which I replied yes. She then asked me whether I had a ticket, I replied, no I was going to buy one in a minute, as I have done on numerous occasions. She asked me to go inside the station with her and she would "get a ticket sorted out". I went into the station with her, she then pulled out a badge and told me she was working in conjunction with the police, this was all she said on the matter. She then said she would have to place me under caution so that our conversation would have to be recorded, she then proceeded to ask me questions such as my name, address, did I have means to pay for the ticket, did I intend on not paying for a ticket. I gave my details, she radioed through and asked for conformation of an address, and told her I had the means to pay for a ticket, and in response to the questioning of my intent, I replied "obviously not, I think a bit of common-sense wouldn't have gone amiss", this was due to the fact that I was boarding a train again from Stalybridge to Manchester Picadilly, I had previously told her it was my intent to travel to Wilmslow. She then got the station attendants to print off a single ticket between Ashton-Under-Lyne and Wilmslow with a voided fair. I have since received a letter of "PRE-COURT ACTION" informing me that I have committed an offence in law, being contrary to Section 5(3)a of the Regulation of Railways Acts of 1889 and or Railway Bylaws and they are now "preparing the case for court", if convicted of the offence, I could be ordered to pay a fine of up to £1000 and/or be sentenced to 3 months imprisonment. The Magistrates' Court also has the power to order me to pay their costs of bringing the prosecution together with compensation for any outstanding fare. The letter states "I have reviewed your case and I am, on this occasion, prepared to offer a settlement of this matter upon payment £72.10 which equates to the outstanding fare owed of £7.10, plus a contribution of £65.00 towards the costs incurred to date. This offer is made without prejudice." From what I can see the section they believe to be applicable here is the following: Section 5(3)a of the Regulation of the Railways Act 1889 states that If any person – (a) Travels or attempts to travel on a railway without having previously paid his fare, and with intent to avoid payment thereof; However, I think that it was obvious that my intent was not to avoid payment as I was travelling onward, produced a catalog of previous rail tickets, which I have since calculated to amount to £686.40 between 01/10/2013 and 08/06/2013. Needless to say I am disgusted that I have been treated this way by a company to which I provide regular custom. What I want to know is: - Do First Great Western even have the power to issue me a fine? - Has she conducted herself properly in the practice she has shown? - Is it in her jurisdiction to exit the train station and coach me inside to issue me a fine? - Did she in fact have the right to place me under caution, or was this "scare tactics"? - Is it correct that she has charged me from Ashton-Wilmslow without offering me opportunity to purchase a ticket from Stalybridge onwards Thank you for any help. Regards, Andy

Good Evening All! Apologies for the duplicated thread - my original one is in the "General Debt" forum but due to mentioning several queries, was advised on posting in the relevant sub-forums. I have 2 catalogue accounts with Lowell Portfolio - one for Great Universal and one for Littlewoods. 1) Lowell re: Great Universal - Paying back a small amount each month. This one is for a catalogue debt going back 6+ years and is one of the defaults on my account (due to a divorce at the time). It is small (£300) and I'm nearly ready to offer a full and final settlement (I've already tried the full amount in return for removing the default, but they refused - so I told them they can keep getting their £5/month). HOWEVER, looking through some of the statements I've found several charges before the catalogue passed it to "NDR" and then over to Lowell. I've seen some posts on here in regards to "CCA" and "SAR" - can I do anything with this debt in regards to these that may wipe the rest of - or maybe the charges situation? 2) Lowell re: Littlewoods - Another one paying back a small amount each month. Again, 6+ years old and again due to the divorce it has a default on my credit file. I have found 12 statements from them (4 months of non-payment before they sold it to Lowell despite me trying to contact Littlewoods to sort it out - see below) - with plenty of charges on. This debt is £1,400 and a fair percentage is "missed payments", "late payments", "non payments", "default" etc. Can these be claimed back? In both cases, I was actually advised by the telephone operator to let it go in to default and the debt collection company can help me better - I did... although I doubt they would ever admit it, they actually advised me to default. Can I argue the default at all? Will the CCA/SAR things help? Refund of charges will certainly help reduce the debts. In reality, at the amount I'm paying, it is going to take nearly 20 years to clear the above debts. So surely it is fairly pointless to Lowell? Any help would be appreciated. NCCA

I have watched this a few times, and still can't work out how it's done.http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ai4tPe80S6Q?rel=0

Do you think Penalty Charge Notices should be reviewed? http://www.britishparking.co.uk/Great-British-Parking-Poll What have they got to do with the B.P.A? Edit-I voted 'Don't know'.

Not sure if this is in the right place , but please move if not. Went into Currys Friday pm, saw a fridge/freezer basically half price. Bought it but it came up at £100.00 more, OH queried it, manager said it was their fault, sold it to us for the original price, got delivery before 10am Sat. and they took the old one away. Delivery and removing old one cost 20.00. A very pleasureable experience, well done Currys.

I have been with brighthouse for about 8 years, and i have had no problems at all. When i could not make payment i called my local store and explained. I was given a commitment, for the next week, sure i had to make up the two weeks, but i kept the deal. I have had to do this a few times, and not once have i had bad attitude from any of the staff. Any goods i have had have worked perfectly, a sofa had to have a repair done, again this was no problem, i did have to wait a few weeks for an upholsterer, but so what?? I always think if you are upfront with people it helps a lot, and if you miss payments without contacting them, of course they will hassle you. I read some threads from 5 years back, and i have to say respect is a two way street. Sure there is high interest etc, but we people on low incomes dont have much choice except Brighthouse if we need stuff:!:

If a debt has been written off by a DCA, do they have to stop reporting it as an active default to CRA's? A bit of background.... .Lowells bought an old Shop Direct catologue debt back in 2008. I sent them a CA request, they defaulted on this request so I put the account in dispute. I received a letter from them in July 2010 stating that they were closing the account due to the fact the CA was no longer available...... Fast forward to this afternoon, and I was going through some old paperwork following our house move and I came across another letter from Lowells dated Aug 2010 stating and I quote....".. ...as a gesture of goodwill and strictly without any admission of liability, we have decided to close the account and write of any outstanding balance...." From where I see it, that's written evidence that they have written off the debt, the debt ceased to exist as of the date of that letter so thus they should not be still reporting it to the CRA's.. ..or have I interpreted it incorrectly.. .Any thoughts and guidance would be very much appreciated

Greatly saddened at the news, he helped a lot of people, my respect to his family.

I echo all the sentiments posted by fellow Caggers Martin was really good at a lot of things, including being really techy, I was in awe of Martin's understanding and abilities regarding all things techy. Martin was really good at poetry, I'm not sure Martin would of won any prizes, but it was very good indeed. Martin was always rising to the challenge, which ever consumer area it happen to be. Martin wasn't restricted to consumer knowledge, but had loads of worldly knowledge. As has been said, he was there for many, many thousands of Caggers over the years . Martin will be sorely missed. He leaves an amazing legacy with his contribution to CAG. One of the good guys.

Martin will sorely be missed from the site. Not only did he provide excellent advice, but went that extra mile for caggers. He also provided a great stabilising effect on posters when the need occurred. So very sorry to learn of his death. Sincere condolences to his family.

Continued from part 6 here; http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?346170-The-great-intrest-rate-rip-off-part-6/page11

Sorry guys and gals... a long story. Questions: should I take this to the ombudsman? How strong is my position really? last summer i received notice that my dual fual provider was going to up my monthly by about over 25%, to approx £125 ....time to switch I think....I duly switch and agree a monthly payment, £100, to cover projected energy consumption, a few £'s more than my original Monthly bill, I'm very happy. A couple of weeks later nice man 1 from the original Energy Company rings me and, after some discussion, states he can offer me a new deal....£80 pcm. I say "can you assure me that I won't be hit with a demand for extra payment at the end of the year. Assuming the same energy consumption as over the last year of my last contract with you, will £80pcm definitely cover to cost of me?" "Absolutely!" came the assured reply. Wow, of course I'll return to your company. I'm a very happy bunny now....they've cut me a great deal to get me back. That's competition at work. I monitor monthly consumption and both G & E usage is less than the last year so i might even be due a rebate, I think....towards the end of the year i get an email that i miss for a while due to life events; an additional charge of £250 paid by DD. A month later it dawns on me i have to take this up. First i use the web-site email. "what's going on" I say after explaining the above. After a week or two, Nice lady 1 rings.....after repeating the story she says she hasn't got access to the data regarding my previous account and consumption. After some pushing, she'll check it out and get back to me. She rings back acouple of days later, i'm not in, i hear no more. After a week or two i ring them up. nice man 2 says she went on holiday, so that explains it. Evidently they just allow things to drop when someone's away. that's customer service that is! Someone will get back to me. A week or so later i email via the Web-site again. I'm not HP...What's happening? No answer was the stern reply. A couple of weeks later I go on line and engage in a"live-chat" where the nice person (uncertain of gender) tries to explain that the cost of my energy consumption totalled more than my monthly £80.....by £250, it's perfectly reasonable. Ordnarily i'd agree, but I was assured I wouldn't pay more if I didn't use more..I didn't so i shouldn't! I want to to speak with someone in person please! Nice person raises a complaint for me; a week or so later nice man 3 rings and we go through the story again. It's all so reasonable...the cost of the energy used by me cost more, etc, etc. The agent who made the deal with me must have just misinformed me. I challenge him to trace the recording of our telephone coversation in which I was given these assurances. Oh, alright then, He'll do that and get back to me. A week or so later, nice lady 2 rings me...they can't trace the recorded conversation from the previous year but the energy I used cost more, etc, etc. This is a con I think...I want my money back! A few days later nice man 3 rings back, so sorry we can't find the recording, but the energy I used cost more....i've had enough, i'm adamant. Ok then, nice man 3 will have to pass it on to his manager. A week or so later nice lady 3 rings me..."ever so sorry we haven't been able to resolve your query. How about £25 compensation?" I'm incredulous. Why £25? "Oh, it's our standard offer when a customer's query can't be answered satisfactorily." No thanks I say, I want my money back. nice lady 3 has to get her manager to look into this. What a great [problem] I think. Make false promises to regain a customer, con them out of £250 and offer them £25. This is a fantastic [problem]! A few days later nice lady 4 rings; she has succeeded in tracing the the recording they couldn't previously find. I have listened to it and, Yes, the advisor did assure me that my £80 pcm would cover the costs; but, he was wrong! Her proposal in view of the circumstances, How about £125, to be paid into my account. But surely, I say, this advisor made a verbal contract with me; He lied to me for the purpose of regaining my account. Oh no...she doesn't believe he would do that. she has no idea on what basis he could have given me such assurances, and she has no other explanation for his assurances, but he didn't purposefully lie and it's not a [problem]. If I not happy with £125, what will satisfy me. £250 I say; what i have been conned out of. Well she has to pass that on for her manager to talk to me..... And that's where i am now. So, back to my questions please. How strong is my position really? Should I take this to the Ombudsman? What do you think? Thanks for reading.