Hello, I've received a notice to keeper today for exceeding the maximum period allowed by 17 minutes. Although I was driving the car, I was not the keeper as it's my fiancé's (so the letter was addressed to her but I won't let suffer for it) My initial reaction was to ignore it but I decided to play it safe and ask for guidance. Thank you in advance. 1 Date of the infringement 11/02/19 2 Date on the NTK 18/02/19 3 Date received 20/02/19 4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? Y 5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Yes, plates upon entry and exit 6 Have you appealed? No Have you had a response? N/A 7 Who is the parking company? Euro Car Parks 8. Where exactly Marks & Spencer, Penrith BPA

Hi, I entered the Damside Street Car Park in Lancaster on 09/09 2018 at 11:57:47 with a 5 years old daughter in distress. While my partner took care of her I had to go around to find a place where to change money because I didn't have enough loose change to pay for a parking ticket at the ticket machine. Therefore I bought a parking ticket valid for 1 hour at 12:10 (just over two minutes after the 10 minute grace period finished). I left the car park at 12:13:02. In total, I stayed there for less than 16 minutes but purchased a ticket allowing me to stay for 1 hour (plus the 10 minutes grace period). A few days later I received a Parking Charge for £125. I tried to appeal with the HX Car Management and with the Independent Appeal Service but with no success. A few days ago, I received a Letter Before Claim from Gladstones solicitors threatening with a legal action if I don't pay £160. I'm not sure what to do. Shall I pay or shall I go to the court? Do I have any chance in the court with no legal experience? Thank you for your help Miroslav

Hi, I've been with Brightside Car Insurance for last two years, however my auto renewal wasn't a great price but I was away working and I totally forgot to cancel in time & it was renewed. Luckily I got back within the 14 day cooling off period and called to cancel and asked how much I would be refunded from the first monthly payment taken via Direct Debit (£60)..I realised I would be charged the £25 cancellation fee & for number of days cover provided. The advisor said he could only cancel the policy and was unable to confirm the refund amount & I would have to call back once it was cancelled (the following day) altho he estimated approx £20 ish. However I called today and I was advised that I would actually owe them more money?... I was baffled and asked how & he explained that they as brokers charge a £25 admin fee and also my actual insurance company charge £25 also... I've never come across that before to be honest in the many years I've been driving?? The policy was auto renewed on the 11th January upon which they took payment of £60 the policy was cancelled on the 21st January. I have complained to Brightside & the advisor has arranged a manager to call me back (as no one was available at the time)..altho I'm not holding my breath as Brightside customer service is terrible if I'm honest..long, long waiting to be answered and the usual "robot approach" staff. Thankfully I didn't have to call them often but I was determined upon renewal I was leaving them (just a pity I didn't realise before it auto renewed) I've requested for Brightside to waive "one" of these charges as I really think it's ridiculous. Upon cancellation on the first call I was told I would be charged £25 cancellation & the days cover was provided ..nothing about the other cancellation charge? Has anyone else had a similar situation with two charges? Any help or advice appreciated.

Hi, new to the forum, thanks in advance. The PCN came though the post, ANPR capture, no ticket. Date of infringement 08/12/2018. NTK was issued on 12/12/2019 for £60. I've been working away, so effectively ignored it. I received a Keeper Liability Notice on 16/01/2019 but I was still away and have just returned and opened it (28/01/2019). Schedule 4 Protections of freedoms Act is mentioned. I have made no contact with them. The parking company is HX Carpark Management Ltd The car park address is Vulcans Lane Car Park, Vulcans Lane, Workington, Cumbria CA14 2BP They operate under the Independent Appeals Service. The charge is for failing to purchase a ticket within 10 minutes of arriving at the car park. I was working at the theatre near by and went to get change from the theatre shop. It took longer than 10 minutes. I'm trying to find the payment ticket. I think my employer has it. I'm chasing him now. Any advice on the best course of action would be appreciated. Today 28/01/19 is the deadline for the £100 payment, according to their rules. Thanks.

Hi Needing some advice and guidance, will keep this to the point and hopefully someone can help, It was a 40th treat for myself which makes it even worse for me. Viewed a vehicle on 04/11/18, at a Lookers dealer in Carlisle, 70+ miles from our home address, Paid full screen price, £12,500, paid £8000 on debit card and £4500 on finance, asked for a few cosmetic repair's to carried out as well as serviced, mot'd and fully valeted. Got train back to dealer on 17/11/18 with wife and kids to collect vehicle, only thing was it hadn't been cleaned at all well apart from that happy with vehicle and service received. Drove home, on returning home (82miles covered) not even 3 hours into ownership the vehicle has smoking badly from under the vehicle, the transfer box on the transmission had been leaking all over the exhaust and underside of vehicle causing the burning smell and smoke when arriving home. So at this time on a Saturday night the dealership was closed so emailed the salesman. The workshop manager contacted us Monday to arrange vehicle collection as they wanted the option to repair the vehicle at the purchasing dealership (which turned into a joke), the vehicle was collected on a trailer (20/11/18) and took back to Carlisle. The oil leak was rectified and the vehicle returned to my place of work on 23/11/18. I took delivery of the vehicle as the leak seemed to be rectified, when I left for work I tested the 4wd system which displayed a fault, contacted the general manager as it had been passed to him to deal with and verbally agreed he knew the 4wd was working prior to repair as he drove the vehicle when it was traded in, as I also knew it was working as I tested it before purchase. He contacted me to let me know he had booked it into the Lookers Ford dealer nearer to my home, great, dropped it Monday 26/11/18 to be inspected Tuesday, this didn't happen, the inspection took place on Wednesday, they condemned the transfer box, the General manager from Carlisle contacted me to state a new one would be fitted and he had authorised the repairs. Collect the vehicle 03/12/18 far dirtier than when I dropped it off and to discover a second-hand unit had been fitted not new, which has now shown a fault 1 day after the replacement transfer box. I'm at the end of my tether. Now this is where my problem starts...…. and for my post needing help!! (sorry for the long post) I don't think for one second they will challenge my rejection as he has already made this a evident to me over the phone. We have been more than reasonable and in turn they have been fine with us. But.. Its a 63 reg vehicle and only had 44K miles recorded and had a very high spec. if I'm just to simply take my money back and finance cancelled there is not another vehicle on the market to replace this one for the same value, some are £2000 plus more, I may be being stupid but I don't see why I should now be without a vehicle because of Lookers incompetence or having to be another £2k plus deeper into a vehicle. Not including all the cost to collect the vehicle etc. Is there any advice on how to progress with this? I want the vehicle that was described to me at initial purchase, however I have lost all faith in the one I have. Are they obliged to find me one either from group stock or from an alternative source? and if they are and it is at a higher price - do I have any rights with them to ask them to price match for the one I bought? I don't see why I should be out of pocket and back to square one, after viewing a few vehicles before purchasing this one. Thanks

Completely out of the blue Arrow Global have sent me a 'Periodic Statement' in relation to and old MBNA credit card account that they purchased (or so they say) in 2011. This is the 1st communication I have had from them in years! This debt is no longer showing on my CF and it's SB mid 2019. They say I need to contact Capquest which will explain why I've been receiving texts from Capquest. Has anyone on here had the same happen to them and can anyone explain why Arrow have decided to send me this now? Many thanks Fred

Hello Guys, I'm new here and any help would be greatly appreciated. Over the past 2 years i have received around 35 parking tickets from UKPC, the majority of which have been issued in my work place office car park. So far i have not replied and ignored any correspondence from UKPC and their debt collection agency. Previously they have been sending all 'debt' letters separately but in July 2018 the debt collection agency have issued me with a letter accumulating the full amount (£5000+) and stating 35 tickets have been issued and that if i don't reply by 08/08/18 they will inform their 'client' to take legal action. It is now 23/08 and nothing has happened. While most people online tell you to simple ignore them as speaking to them in any capacity makes you agree to their 'terms' and by ignoring them they have no power, i have since had a colleague in the same situation for a smaller amount £1500 had a CCJ taken out against his name and his car clamped! This has now panicked me a tad bit and want to resolve the issue ASAP! I can think of two options and would like to know what is best or if you guys have any other advice for me. 1). Call UKPC and negotiate to pay half the amount over the period of a year, or something. Saying i was not the driver (cannot give driver details as i don't know who was driving on the given dates) but would like to settle the issue regardless, not accepting fault but wanting to settle this none the less. Do you think it is likely they would agree to these terms? Also how on earth do i get into contact with a person at UKPC as they have no number and hard to find someone to get into contact with! I don't want to go through the number provided on the debt collector as i assume they have no power and will request the full amount. 2). As i said the majority of tickets were issued at my place of work, if i am able to get a email on a headed page or headed paper from the building manager/security guard who is employed by the property management company who look after our office, who i assume engage UKPC, saying that there was an issue with my permit and that i shouldn't have received the tickets (along the lines of this) then forward this to UKPC. Again i have the issue of trying to contact someone at UKPC and then i can say i will pay any other tickets issued at another location but i want may void any of the ones issued at my place of work. Sorry for the lengthy post but quite a large amount of money of which i neither want to or can afford to pay. Is there any advice you guys could give me about what to do and how to get hold of a person at UKPC. Many thanks, Kyman595

If a contract states there is no notice due during a probationary period does this mean the employee can just tell HR they're going and leave there and then. Everywhere I look to check I'm finding a statutory period of one week - does this only apply to the employer? The employee is three months into a six month probationary period and has been head hunted. They wouldn't dream of just walking out under normal circumstances but their line manager will make their life a misery during any notice period.

Unsure if I am in the right section to ask this question so apologies if I am not. My daughter is currently on a hairdressing apprenticeship with a local salon and will have been there 2 years in May. She has qualified for level 2 Hairdressing and should be going on to do the level 3 as a designer in the salon. A couple of weeks ago the owner of the salon took her to one side and advised there were no designer places available and she needed to have a think about her options whilst she was off the following week. He didn't advise her what her options were and gave her no indication of where she could find any assistance with it. Just to consider her options. He didn't sign her up to the new Apprenticeship people they have gone with despite transferring all the other assistants. She told him her Dad would probably ring him to speak to him about this matter and was told he didn't know why her Dad would ring as he didn't have anything to say to him. On Saturday he took her to one side again and told her he is giving her one months notice. They usually on give one week but he thought that was a bit unfair given the amount of time she has been there. He will give her the contact details of the lady who runs the scheme for them and 'hopefully' she will be able to assist my daughter in finding another placement to do her level 3. I am trying not to interfere in this as she doesn't want to make it awkward in the last month of her working there. But at the end of the day, she is only 17 years of age and obviously not as worldly wise as her mother. I think he should give her this notice in writing and not verbally. I also think he should advise the reason for letting her go. I think the 'talk about her options' was his way of telling her to go and when she didn't, he had no option to tell her. I know there has been one member of staff who has been doing a lot of tale telling to the owners wife and this has included my daughter in the tales more than once. She has 'invented' a problem between my daughter and another member of staff when there wasn't a 'problem'. This was confirmed by both girls. I had to have words with the owners wife regarding her conduct at having my daughter in tears over this matter. The salon is well known in the hairdressing community for bullying its staff but my daughter has managed to stay of the radar so to speak. Half of me wants to let it go and get her the hell out of there and the other half of me wants to go in and rip his limbs off. So if you can answer any of my questions below I would be grateful. Can notice be given verbally? Can I ask for it in writing giving the reason for it? If he puts it in writing the reason is no designer places available, then makes somebody a designer, do I have any comeback? Any help or advise anyone can give would be great.

Hi, I gave my company 2 months notice as per contract, this was on the 1st feb, I have just received a letter that are suggesting I finish my employment on 13th Feb... Is this allowed? I had planned for the 2 month notice period and this has thrown me.. Many Thanks

We have had numerous issues with a caravan purchased from a dealership in less than a year we have had approximately 44 issues with the caravan with several issues being serious. Four of the issues resulted in the front and rear panels being repaired and then replaced. The advice I got from a lawyer was as follows; Although I appreciate you approached XXX Caravans to supply you the caravan, as you took out a hire purchase agreement with Black Horse, they are the retailer of the caravan. T herefore any rights you have under consumer law are to be exercised against Black Horse and not XXX Caravans. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 Black Horse have an obligation to ensure the goods supplied to you under a contract are of satisfactory quality. This means they should be fit for their purpose, free from minor defects, safe and durable. For the problems you have described in your email it would appear this is not the case, as a result Black Horse are in breach of the contract between you. I have always been under the impression that the supplier is the retailer and that the contract is between the consumer and the supplier and if there are any issues I need to approach the supplier and not the finance company although the finance company do have a responsibility. As we have had so many issues with this caravan which appears to be a Friday afternoon lemon made from left over pieces of other rejected caravans, we are considering rejecting the caravan even though we have had it since July 2016. The £1000 deposit was paid using a credit card with the balance financed by a trade in and HP. The caravan cost in excess of £30000. We have had approximately 100 days usage from the caravan. The question is whether the advice from the lawyer is correct or not? Thanks.

Been in a rental property for the past six years on a yearly lease basis. We normally get given a new lease to sign every April but last year landlord didn't give us one so we've been without ever since. Does this affect the notice we need to give the landlord as we are planning to move out this summer? Also what notice is normal? I ask because I can't see anything in our previous leases that says anything about notice periods.

Hello I am in receipt of CB ESA with the support component having been migrated from Incapacity Benefit several years ago. I also receive DLA High Rate Mobility and High Rate Care. I had no entitlement to Income Related benefits as partner was in full time employment. New scenario - Partner has to leave employment due to chronic lung condition. We ask at Jobcentre how and who should claim. Were told partner should make separate claim for ESA which he did. Was placed in support group without a medical. When he asked for housing costs (SMI) to be included, these were added from 13th week, (this was waiting period at the time). My question is - When I advised DWP of the change of circumstances (partner leaving employment), should this have prompted a supersession exercise to establish potential entitlement to Income Related ESA, and the issue of form ESA3 ? If my claim had been made into the joint claim would SMI have been payable straight away or would I be subject to the waiting period. In addition to housing costs, several premiums would also be included in the applicable amount. I have raised this query with DWP and have a letter that says if I had made the claim for Income Based ESA, I would still have had to serve the 13 week qualifying period. Having looked online the information I have found suggests this is incorrect. Any thoughts on this would be gratefully received. Thank you.

This is questionable, Some work coaches are saying the above whilst others claim they can use their own discretion , really that isn't what the DWP's official guidance says about EPS As someone who is very sceptical of the establishment & DWP Sounds like someone was in la la land or stoned maybe, or is there something more sinister at foot , why do this , to cause confusion for fun ? or are they testing the waters, to see how much opposition they meet, before they scrap eps , ? https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470857/v4am47.pdf

Hi can anyone help. Relative starts job on 8th February with 6 months probation which by her calculation takes her probationary period to 6th August. She assumed after 6th August she had successfully completed her probation. She was informed around 18th August that she had got it wrong and that her probation would conclude at the end of this month. Last week they advised her that they would like a further 1 month extension to assess her. No letter explaining what she needs to do to improve nothing. Her contract only states that she will have an increase in salary at the end of the successful 6 month period nothing about extending it. I think there is some kind of failure here but correct me if I am wrong She should have had a meeting around 6th August and not when they felt like it. She should receive a "extension of probation letter" explaining what she has to do. I know there is not much else she can do but it is galling to think that she thought as they had not contacted her around 6th August she had completed a successful probation. I think they dont now want to pay her the increased salary and that by extending her probation they dont have to pay and she will leave Any comments appreciated.

Hello Friends, I have gotten into this trouble with Virgin-Media. My contract was for 18 months and a few days before the end of contract I called them to say that am not interested in continuing. I was able to get to speak to one of the customer care after a long wait and she then wanted to transfer me to yet another team for this. I said I will not wait any longer and as I have informed the customer care , whoever picked-up, it is their internal matter how they process my request. They have now come back with tall bills saying that my disconnection was not done and that I will have to pay for it. My question is (1) If my contract period ends, I am not bound by anything. They say that I will have to give one month notice. Can this be legally correct and bounding on me that my contract will be automatically extended, if I don't give notice? Also I had moved to Sky and the telephone line was being serviced by Sky.

I came from EU to London in November last year, 2015 and i was working as self employed for 1.5 months in that year. I was waiter through an agency working for minimal wage, now i am employed already but I am concerned about those several weeks that i worked as self employed last year, i haven't submitted any documents about the salaries i received and i don't know if i should and what documents i need to have, i don't have all of my pay slips either. Today I was in the agency that i worked for to ask these questions, and they told me not to worry about that, since I worked for a short period and for little money. I haven't received any letters from HMRC either so what do you suggest i should do ?

Good afternoon all, I'm hoping someone can help with regard to a housing benefit issue. I am currently employed by the NHS but have been off sick with a serious condition for quite some time. I believed I would get sick pay for 6 months and until recently I did get a flat wage. However, when I checked my pay last month I had only received £41. I called payroll to investigate. They advised that due to an audit, they had discovered they had been overpaying me and that my sick pay should have stopped in January! (My length of service meant I should have got full pay for 2 months and then half pay for 2 months) Also that SSP should have stopped in April. They said they would send me a form SSP1 to enable me to claim ESA. This they did and I've made my claim successfully. A week or so later I got a letter from payroll advising the details of the overpayment (£2500)which they want paid back within 18 months following my return to work. My question is this....If they hadn't overpaid me, I would undoubtedly have claimed and received housing/council tax benefit for that period. Since I have to repay the overpayment, is there any way I can claim this 'lost' housing/council tax benefit back? If not, do I have any claim against my payroll dept? To my mind they've cost me 4 months rent and council tax! Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Paul

Hello Everyone, I recommended a friend to buy a SIM only contract from the same mobile company I am using to have more data on less price. She called the mobile company and took a SIM only contract. Unfortunately the service of this particular network is very bad in her home area and she only gets 1 point on Signals bar, which make it very difficult to make and receive calls or use the 4G service for internet. Following is the contract details. Order: 11/04/2016 Post Date: 12/04/2016 SIM Arrived: 13/04/2016 Contract Start: 13/04/2016 She called the network provider on 23/04/2016 to cancel the contract but she was told that there is some service improvement going on in her area, So she must wait until 25/04/2016 evening. If the service level is still low then she can call back on 26/04/2016 to cancel her contract. She called the network yesterday, the Customer service guy told her that she is within 14 days of her contract and he is going to transfer to cancellation team to cancel the contract. Unfortunately the cancellation team member think otherwise, Cancellation team member asked my friend to check the delivery date on the letter received with SIM and tell what date is it? It was 12/04/2016. So based on delivery (Postage Date) which is written 12/04/2016, they can not cancel the contract. After a long conversation the cancellation team agree to open a case for the management to listen to the conversation of Saturday 23/04/2016 and decide weather to cancel the contract or not. So my friend is still waiting for the call from Network Provider. Today she received a welcome letter and first bill, on this letter Contract start date is 13/04/2016. So based on above information, Can network provider be that stupid and lie to customers? She has submit a formal complaint to Network provider about the incident and she is going to complain to OFCOM aswell. But is it fair for Call centre staff to lie to keep the customers for 12 months?

In October 2015 we ordered a new Buccaneer Cruiser caravan and paid a deposit of £1000. The caravan is due to delivery within the next few days. We chose this caravan as it is wider and has self levelling making it easier for me as I have rheumatoid arthritis and therefore mobility problems. Between the time we paid the deposit and now we raise a few issues about the rear panels on these caravans as there was an issue with some developing cracks. The caravan is advertised with a 10 year water ingress warranty and one would assume that this covers the outside panels however on reading the owner's manual which cna be obtained online I found out that the panels only had a 1 year warranty. I emailed the dealer on a few occasions with our concerns about the rear panel and they replied and gave us re-assurance and I left it at that however on Saturday someone went to take delivery of their 2016 Cruiser and foudn crazing on the rear panel. I raised this with the dealer as we were have 2 units fitted onto the caravan and requested if we coudl view the caravan when it was delivered and before they did any fitments to the caravan. This was their response; Martyn is on holiday at the moment and won’t be back for a few weeks .I have just been looking through your email with the concerns you have with the buccaneer cruiser 2016. I then started to look though the rest of the emails you have sent us over the past few months. You have great concerns with the caravan . On a personal level ,this occasion we feel this would cause you a great deal of stress to yourself and the company if a problem was to happen in the future with the buccaneer cruiser. with this in mind on this occasion I obliged to return your deposit and cancel your order. we feel this is the best course of action for you .can you please call us to return your deposit asap . Can they cancel the order and issue a refund bearing in mind that they have had our deposit for 5 months plus I have had to paid £425 for the air con on our current caravan to be transferred and another £99 deposit for a Paintseal treatment? The wife is absolutely livid as she has been looking forward to us taking delivery of the caravan.

Hi I'm wanting to get information from Blemain with regard to my loan. It's due to finish later this year and they claim the current balance is approx £4.5K which won't be cleared by the payments! I'm going to send a SAR but I'm not sure which template to use from the library. There's Full Subject Access Request or Debt or DCA Subject Access Request I was going to use the "Full" one, but then the "Debt" one looks better as it specifically mentions insurance and additional charges. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. BB

Hi All, I work full time I recently finished my probation period. My line manager is inept and did not carry out any probation meetings at all, even though company policy states they must carry out 3 meetings, at certain weeks during the 26 weeks' period. I wasn't asked to complete or sign any forms. The manager didn't complete any forms, though he was supposed to, supposed to sign them, get me to sign them, get the senior manager to sign them, and send them to HR. The manager didn't carry out an induction or any training with me, and I haven't completed or signed an induction sheet or training sheet. Company policy states that as soon as the probation period has ended, the line manager must give me a letter stating that my pp has ended satisfactorily. I asked my line manager for this and he stated that he is going to speak to his line manager to extend my probation period as he never carried out any meetings. I am being advised by the union and they have already stated that they will back me all the way if the company do this. (It's a big union.) Anybody come across this before? AA

Hi, I purchased a period return ticket from Oxford to Manchester last week. I didn't have a problem on the way up, but I had an issue with using the return ticket on my back. I don't remember which stop it was after but, somewhere between Manchester and Birmingham New Street, the guard came through and stamped the return half of my ticket. When I reached Birmingham New Street, a new guard replaced the previous one. When he came through to check the tickets, he told me that I had already used my ticket and I could only use it once. I explained to him that the ticket had been stamped by the other guard, who he had replaced, on the same train, but he didn't believe me. He told me that I would have to purchase another ticket. As he was threatening to get the police involved and being intimidating, I begrudgingly paid up. Is it possible to get my money back for this ticket? I shouldn't have had to purchase it. Unfortunately the second guard confiscated both halves of my ticket, so I have no proof that I already had a ticket.

hi there, I need some advice as I am now going out of my mind. On Thursday 14th January 2016 I took out a contract with Vodafone pay monthly for an iPhone 6s in Rose Gold 16gb I received an order acknowledgement but no further information. I then called on 15th January 2016 to find out what was going on with the order. After being passed around at least 6 different departments and often without being told and just being put on hold I got through to a very helpful sales advisor. This advisor took it upon himself to cancel my original order placed on the 14th and place a new order with himself which was a much higher tariff and quoted exclusive of VAT. He also took £29 for the phone cost upfront and £9.95 for it to be delivered the next day before 1pm. I was promised a text message and email of this order in the morning for delivery which NEVER arrived. Neither did an email confirmation of the order. On Saturday 16th 2016 by 10am I had not received any email nor any text. Thinking this suspicious I called Vodafone to find out where the order was. I was hung up on 4 times, passed to 3 different departments and in the end my husband had to talk to them as I couldn't handle the stress ( I suffer from a depressive illness and anxiety disorder). I broke down in tears from the stress of it all. I was shown no empathy, no friendliness nothing over the phone. Just spoken to like I was an inconvenience My husband was told by their customer service person (as not one of them will give their names willingly) that the phone would not be here until the Saturday 23rd January 2016. She was adamant and all we could do is take her word for it, as she was at least the 7th advisor we had spoken to and despite having paid £9.95 for the next day delivery. That same customer service agent advised to go into a shop and sort out the contract there as it had already passed credit checks. My husband told her not to cancel the contract in case we weren't able to get it sorted in the store to which she agreed over the phone. I was listening to the whole conversation on loud speaker. Being the gullible/trusting people we are we went to the Vodafone Store to get this contract sorted out. They looked into the order to discover the last advisor who promised they were going to leave the account alone had taken it upon herself to cancel the contract, which she had promised she would not do. So the store set up a new contract for the iPhone 6s in Rose Gold, 64gb. I was also told I would need to pay £69 up front for this phone also. At this point in time Vodafone had taken £136.95 whether in debits or reserve payments. Just to get this contract sorted out I conceded even though that is a lot of money. All was fine until we got home after having to drive 30 minutes back from the most local Store and then a knock on the door came. It was the first mobile, iPhone 6s in Rose Gold 16gb. The very phone that we were told would not be delivered until the following Saturday and which the advisor had cancelled . This arrived at 3.38pm. So I was charged for £9.95 next day delivery before 1pm via Royal Mail which ended up with a cheaper courier not wearing a Royal Mail uniform. On both occasions I was misled by the tariff with the advisor's so I decided to cancel the contracts and instead use the business tariff. Since that day I have been on the phone countless number of times trying to cancel both these contracts within the 14 days cooling off period and return the phones for a full refund of the upfront costs. This has proved stressful, difficult and impossible. The first phone that arrived through the post has been returned and received but has still not been refunded. I am having to take time out of my business to get this sorted out and it's not forthcoming. The other phone that I purchased from the shop has proved near impossible. I tried to return it to the shop but they wouldn't accept it as the customer service team had already cancelled it. To this day I have not received the returns bag and have called every few days to chase a new one. I am always told it will arrive but has not till this day. I'm now out of the cooling off period and received a letter dated 4th Feb stating I now owe over £800 as am out of my cooling off period. The line was cancelled over the telephone well before 21st January and by recorded letter which I have proof of. I have also kept every online chat with service advisor's. I have tried numerous attempts to get through to a resolution or complaints team only to be told they don't exist. Their very own website points you back at customer services - no dedicated complaints service. Today I asked for a deadlock letter so I could see resolution through the ombudsman quicker to be told I couldn't have one as the resolution team have not dealt with it. So I asked to be put through to them. I was told that no I couldn't be as their is a process. I asked what their process was to be told they couldn't deal with it. WTF?!!? I'm at the point where it is now affecting my mental health. I get extremely stressed and anxious at the thought of contacting them to only suffer the same treatment each time. What can I do? I haven't received a refund for the first phone and the second phone has still not been returned due to not receiving the returns bag. Even when that is returned the process for getting my money back is really going to affect my health. I have filed a complaint with the trading standards team but too early for the Ombudsman to get involved (shy of 4 weeks). I have never in my life experienced anything like this. I just want these phone lines cancelled and my up front costs return with no further hassle. Why is it so hard? Any advice would be greatly appreciate, this is the worst experience of customer services I have ever experienced and I will be moving my business mobiles as soon as the contracts on them run out. Jody

Hi all, I have come across a thread on this site (unable to post link to thread as a new user, appears to be thread 359520) which after reading sounds like a very similar situation to my own, so I thought I would post here for some advice on the matter. I have a shorthold tenancy agreement, with a fixed term of 6 months. This started on 28/08/15, so therefore this agreement ends 28/02/16. I have informed the landlord that myself and my friend who share the tenancy will be moving out, and will be vacating the property by 27th February at the latest. 2 days after informing them, the landlord called me and stated that 2 month's notice will be required. Obviously this concerned me, so I thoroughly read, re-read, re-read again and also got 3 other people to read through my contract. The contract does not state anywhere at all that a notice period would be required. Literally all that is stated in my contract with regards to the fixed term is the following: Term - For the term of 6 months commencing on 28/08/15 No mention of notice period, no mention of what will happen at the end of this term. Nothing. (for what its worth, we signed a new agreement following on directly from another friend who had rented this house for 4 years before we moved in. To my eye, the contract just appears to have been typed up in a rush, fitting with the notion that the landlord wanted us signed on and moved in ASAP) This prompted me to get in touch with the Citizens advice bureau, who in turn pointed me in the direction of the tenancy advice team at Shelter. It was shelter who informed me of case law authorities Flower Vs Darby (1786) and and Cobb v Stokes (1807), and explained that if we are simply leaving prior to the end of a fixed term agreement, then no notice would be required. I am going to take my contract in to my local Citizens Advice branch tomorrow, to have another person read through my contract on the off chance that I am missing something, or simply not understanding some of the property/landlord jargon in front of me. Does anyone else have a similar experience of this issue? I just want a bit more advice and backing before I meet with the landlord this coming weekend. Certainly do not want to look an idiot bringing this up with the landlord. Finally, the thread I linked to above has a comment quoting a guideline from The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued Guidance on Unfair Terms in Tenancy Agreements (OFT 356, September 2005). The Guidance states as follows: “3.78 A tenant is not required to give notice to bring the tenancy to an end at the end of the fixed term. That is because a fixed term agreement comes to an end at the end of the fixed term, and no periodic tenancy will arise if the tenant then leaves. We appreciate that landlords will want to ensure that their properties are not left empty between tenancies, but object to terms that impose a contractual obligation on the tenant to give notice in order for the tenancy to be terminated at the end of the fixed term…” Beyond the fact that the landlord has neglected to mention anything about a notice period on the contract, are all UK landlords subject to the guidelines stated by the OFT? Again, any advice here would be helpful. Thanks for reading!