There is an announcement about this at the top of each forum but if anybody wants to discuss any concerns or flag up any problems that we have not yet become aware of, then please do it here on this thread.

I contacted an ebay seller before Christmas regarding the purchase of FIFA coins for my son. He promised me that he would be online on Christmas Day so that he could email me the details. I spent £79.99 and seller has not responded. My son has not received his much anticipated FIFA coins and the seller has ignored all my emails. I contacted both ebay and paypal to be told that they do not cover electronic downloads as part of their buyer protection scheme. I have been left in limbo. The money has left my account and I have nothing to show for it. I have emailed the seller stating that I would like a refund as my son has bought FIFA points elsewhere. What can I do? I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you.

Ten percent of all court fines relate to using a TV without a valid licence. It is a sad fact that the vast majority of people who receive a visit from a TV Licence Enquiry Agent ignore the summons and the accompanying Means Form. A large percentage of people subject to these fines rely upon state benefits. In almost all cases, the person receiving the summons should respond to plead guilty. In doing so, 'credit' will be credit (which will be a reduction in the standard fine). Secondly....it is vitally important to complete the Means Enquiry Form (as outlined below). The following is a copy of an excellent post by a Magistrate that featured on a 'blog' today: "Went in to Court today to fill a gap in the rota. I found myself in a non-CPS court dealing with TV licensing offences, and local authority Council Tax cases arising from non-payment of the tax. http://magistratesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/this-isnt-what-i-signed-up-for-three.html

I appreciate any help and advice I can get on my case as I feel I have hit a brick wall with Vodafone. I will try and keep the summary below brief. In short I sought to upgrade my old 12m contract to a new 12m contract and upgrade my old iPhone 6 to a new iPhone 6s Plus. I placed a pre-order, only to receive a 6s and not a 6s Plus which was delivered around 5 weeks ago now. Phone was returned promptly as possible. Vodafone charged me for the upgrade via direct debit and have yet to refund me for the returned handset. Furthermore they have not rolled back my tariff as I was advised to ask them to do, and there has been a problem with my contract dates, meaning they do not see me as being owed a new handset, believing I have already upgraded. My old iPhone 6 has been associated with this new contract and I have had problems unlocking it as a result, to this day I have not been able to successfully unlock the phone. So to summarise, I am owed £385 plus the difference of my new tariff versus my old tariff (approx. £10 for the 2 months that have elapsed), an apology for the sheer incompetent and inaccurate customer service wouldn't go amiss either. Given the time elapsed I will soon be considering legal action if not resolved to my satisfaction. Long version: On Sep 12th, 2 weeks before the release of the new iPhone I received an email inviting me to upgrade. I called customer services and explicitly placed an order for a 6s Plus and agreed to a new monthly tariff. On Sep 24th I received an email from Vodafone thanking me for my 6s order. I queried with customer services to be told not to worry and a 6s Plus was on the way. On Sep 25th I took delivery of a 6s and not a 6s Plus. I called customer services who told me I could try and return the phone to store, but would most likely need to wait for a returns bag which I was told should be with me within a couple of days. 1 week on and I had not received a returns bag. Another call to customer services revealed a returns bag had never been ordered for me, but one would be dispatched. Extremely frustrating, but this time a returns bag did turn up. It was also confirmed to me I was due to pay for a 6s Plus and not a 6s, so appeared to be a "picking error". I received the returns pack and posted the unopened box back on Oct 7th, and can see via tracking the package was signed for on the 8th. No confirmation of receipt of return was given to me, despite customer services claiming I would be sent an email or text updating me with the status. On Oct 14th I called customer services to confirm they recognised I had returned the phone, which they did. I was informed I would be charged for the phone in my next direct debit payment. I asked if, given receipt of my handset, they could reverse this charge, but they said no. I was told the refund payment would be processed within 72 hours, but to this day there is no sight of the refund. I was given the option of cancelling the direct debit payment (including the contract payment), which I declined as I didn't want to end up in a situation where I was showing a missed payment opening a whole other issue. At this point I asked for my tariff to be rolled back to my previous contract terms, and was told this would be done. On 15th Oct I was unable to make or receive calls, despite having full signal. I thought this might have to do with a tariff adjustment. On visiting my local store to home this seemed to be a network issue that was resolved 3 days later, but over this time I could not make or receive calls via 4G. No notice from Vodafone on any network issues. On 19th Oct I visited a store local to my work to check on the process of my refund, my tariff change and my showing of eligibility to upgrade. Nothing had changed despite being more than 72 hours since I was told these changes would take effect. On 20th Oct I attempted to unlock my iPhone 6 which was now past its 12m contract date, only to receive an email saying I hadn't yet paid 3 months worth of bills on this device. It then became apparent my old phone had been linked to my new contract. A further visit to my work branch saw me have to repeat the sorry story again, and this time the sales rep sent an email to "HQ" telling them what needed to be done. I saw him type the email and it covered all the necessary points. Despite promising to keep me updated, this individual has not contacted me once with an update. The manager local of the branch local to my home has called sporadically but hasn't manage to resolve any of the key issues. On Oct 27th I sent a recorded letter to Vodafone head office, detailing the above points, requesting I wanted the above to be rectified; a refund for the handset and the excess tariff charge, to be able to upgrade my phone and to be able to unlock my old phone. It has been a week now and the letter has still not been signed for. I cant recall sending a recorded delivery letter and it not being delivered within a couple of days. I called customer services last night on 3rd Nov, explained my story again and was told it takes 72 hours for a refund and they had been promising this for nearly a month. I told her I had written a formal letter of complaint and would be seeking further action to recover monies that I am owed if not resolved, to which she hung up on me. Throughout this process customer service has been atrocious, plain and simple. Lies is a strong word, but it would appear I have been told false information on numerous occasions. No one seems to be able to help, and no one I have been able to reach in the company has any authorisation to override what is a relatively simple mistake, and a mountain has been created out of a molehill. I have spent hours on the phone to 191 and would estimate the average wait time is about 45 mins, and on more than one occasion I have been cut off. I will not hesitate to proceed with a small claims charge if need be. Vodafone have been quick to take money from me, and slow to refund, and have not refunded when they have said they would have. This has caused me some financial inconvenience as I have had to move money around to cover this handset charge that would usually be offset by me trading in my old handset. I would be extremely grateful if anyone with sufficient authority at Vodafone could contact me to resolve this (if this person even exists), and to also receive some advice on how I would prepare a case for a small claims court and what I should be looking to claim for. I would need to take a day off work, so would seek cost associated with this too. Beyond the financial aspects, I would like to receive an apology from Vodafone, for what is their error, but yet I am the one having to chase all loose ends to try and get a resolution. Thanks for taking time to read.

I am posting this on behalf of a friend so please bare with me when im answering as I have to double check before I post replys. A letter came through the post this morning from County court money claims centre giving claimants name and address and listing myself trading as my company name with my address as the defendant. I knew nothing at all about this. They are claiming £414.90 plus £50 court fees for services rendered by the claimant for advertising charges on menu booklets. The defendant has failed to make the payments due on their account. The particulars state 'The claimant contacted the defendant on a number of occasions regarding the balance however no payment was recieved'. This is where it gets a bit odd. They claim I am the defendant and that I signed the agreement , they have contacted me on numerous occasions requesting payment. However, on the agreement they have provided as proof it has my company name and my company email address (which I have only now got back because my ex changed all my passwords), my ex girlfriends address, my ex girlfriends name, her telephone number and her signature signing herself as company sec. She has never been company sec or had anything to do with my company may I add. I contacted her and she admitted taking it out and signing it, she had even paid the first two payments out of HER personal account and has offered her statements to show this, she said she was trying to be nice and get more business for me. I knew nothing of this and because we have split up she has stated she is not paying no more and refused to deal with them so this has now landed on my doorstep . Do I owe this money seeing as I know nothing of it?, I didnt sign anything, I paid nothing etc. I have sent in the acknowledgement of service stating I wish to defend this however the place where they have registered this claim is over 300 miles away from myself and I cannot travel up there so will need to do it all online. Thanks

Hope someone can help me. I moved home a few years ago and paid for Royal Mail redirection. At some point about18months later (redirection still in place) a bill was sent to my old address, but not forwarded by Royal Mail. The claimant then began court proceedings and this was also not forwarded. The case went to court and went ahead without my knowledge and I 'lost' as I didn't appear. The first I heard of this was when I did eventually get a redirection saying that judgement was made against me and that a CCJ had been issued against my name! You can imagine the horror on opening that letter! I had to pay £155 to the court to have the case 'reopened' and judgment set aside so I could request the CCJ to be removed.. The court had no objection to that due to the fact that Royal Mail didn't redirect the claim or documents. I then spent three months trying to clear the CCJ from all of the agencies. I had no problem paying the debt (I would have done in advance if I'd have known about it!), and that was paid. But can I claim from Royal Mail these additional costs that I incurred due to Royal Mail's lack of redirection? ie the cost to have the case reopened? Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi all, Please could you help with the following issue. Around the 25th Oct 2015, I was due to complete on a few property transactions after buying at auction. On one of them, the finance deal that I had in place collapsed and I was forced to find another method of payment and so my Dad and other family members to see if I could get some cash together. Fortunately, they were able to help and I got the funds through in time to pay. Long story short, my Dad went into his local branch and did a CHAPS transfer for £25,000 which the bank sent to me twice. At the time, I didn't know how much each person was going to send so when I saw two lots of £25,000 come in from him I assumed that £25k was the maximum he could send in one go (as it is for my bank) and that he'd done it twice. Assuming that it had come through from my Dad, rather than as a mistake, I spent the money on getting the place paid, some work done, and some other payments that needed to be made. My Dad then contacted Barclays after he saw two faster payments had been sent instead of the CHAPS that he had paid for after realising that he was now way overdrawn. Barclays have put the money back into his account as it was their mistake and not his. Since finding this out from my Dad calling me, I have made contact with the Barclays employee who made the mistake to arrange a solution. He told me on Tuesday that he'd get back in contact with me Wednesday after speaking to his team leader. This didn't happen. I've since tried calling twice with no answer. I had a look at my online banking today to make a payment and saw that the balance I had remaining had been taken by Barclays. I need the money in there to pay for bills etc so called Halifax (my bank) to ask why they allowed this payment without any authorisation from me or any contact with me. They have now put the money back into my account and are going to be in contact with Barclays to find a way forward. My questions are: 1) Is it legal for the bank to just take the money out of my account without contacting me? 2) Although I have no major issue paying the money back, am I legally obligated to considering it was their mistake and I spent it thinking it was given to me by my Dad? 3) I don't currently have the full amount available to pay back. What would be the suggested way forward if the answer to 2) is Yes.? Many thanks in advance for any help given, Alex

Morning all. Bit of background, took a £150 payday loan from Cash Genie in February 2011 and kept rolling it over after paying my £45 per month. What also happened to me is that the solicitors starting taking monies from my account also. Spoke with them on several occasions to not effect. I finally managed to close in July 2012. Total loan was £150 and total I paid them back was £1267.80 to Cash Genie but another £980.60 was taken from my account by their sister form carter forbes. I was in direr needs then and had several other PDL's so robbed peter to pay Paul. I have finally sorted myself out and feel strong to challenge them. Would anyone have any suggestions as to how I do this? I have all the paperwork from my bank dates , times etc..Thanks

Please if you could help me in getting my money from funkyclock [problem]: 28 Oct VIS FR FUNKYCLOC.CO LONDON 75.97 28 Sep VIS FR FUNKYCLOC.CO LONDON 76.06 after 3 day trial period which they took which is not mentioned clearly. I want my money back. Please let me know how to go about getting my money 152.03 GBP back.

I run a local tyre shop. recently a customer rang up to buy some tyres. I ordered the tyres in for the customer and the customer paid for them over the phone. A couple of days later someone came to collect the tyres for the customer. Now i have a Chargeback letter from worldpay telling me that the customer never bought the tyres. I sent proof of the transaction to worldpay and they responded telling me there was nothing they could do and i had to pay the money back. I cannot get in contact with the customer, and the police refuse to help. What should i do?

I recently purchased some office products from an online office supplier. The products were very cheap and the sale went through and money was taken from my account. The order never arrived and I contacted the office supplier who informed me that they have cancelled the order due to a stock discrepancy at the warehouse, and a refund had been issued. The products are still in stock by the supplier, but now at a much higher price. The question that I have are companies allowed to cancel orders once money is taken?

Hi there, A confusing story to say the least. I was young and stupid and took out a contract for my ex partner... (obviously he defaulted it) but just before he defaulted it he took another out by ringing 3 customer services and because he was a authorized user he was allowed to get a new contact in MY name. Now until recently I had no idea about this new contract in his name, amazingly he was able to change the billing address to his own house so i never received any correspondence. Only now I have checked my credit report I can see this, and he has nicely registered 3 late payments whilst having the contract. He is slowly destroying my credit report and I have no idea what I can do!!! I understand that the first contract is completely my fault but what can I do about the second one? surely 3 are not allowed to do this?! And how can I repair my credit from this.. I was hoping to apply for a mortgage soon!! Thanks,

Good Morning All, My dad took out a couple of loans and credit cards in the early 1990s with TSB (Later part of Lloyds). He was advised at the time that he could not take out the products unless he also took out PPI. He did not need the PPI as at the time he had a very good job which had an excellent sick pay/redundancy policy. He recently tried to claim this PPI back through a claim company. The claim company were eventually sent a Data Subject Access Request showing basic details of the accounts my Dad held with the TSB. Lloyds (TSB) claim that my Dad did not have PPI on any of the loans or credit cards. He knows that he did but has no way of proving otherwise. The Loans and CCs were taken out so long ago he has no proof. The claim company have since sent him a letter along with a copy of the DSAR stating that they have rescinded their contract with him. My first question is this, where does my dad go from here. He knows he was mis-sold PPI but has no way of proving this. Secondly, If there is a way of proceeding and he was successful in his claim, can the Claim company demand any of this money from him? Thank you so very much to anyone that takes the time to respond to this post. My Dad and I will be most grateful for any advice.

A test case of Goel & Trivedi v Ryanair could lead to Ryanair successfully putting a two year time limit on claims, despite the Supreme Court ruling that passengers have SIX years to claim. Ryanair argue that by accepting the airline’s Terms and Conditions when they buy a ticket, passengers are waiving their right to the six year limitation period. As Goel & Trivedi v Ryanair is a test case, all Courts in England and Wales are likely to follow the decision. Most other airlines also have a two year time bar in their Terms and Conditions; if Ryanair win this case, all airlines could potentially put a two year cap on claims. The Judge gave a reserved judgement (meaning he will hand down his decision at a later date). http://www.bottonline.co.uk/press-releases/ryanair-fights-passengers-over-how-long-they-have-to-claim

Hi i have had a similar experience with a child minder She took me via MCOL to a county court over a debt the claim was struck out but now she has instructed bailiffs.(correction -a dca - DX) What I need to know is if the claim was struck out how come she can instruct bailiffs , has she broken any laws in doing so and can i now counter claim?

Hi floks, I think it's a reasonably simple issue (or so I hope). I have had set up by the property agency a direct debit for my rent of £800 from my account. It's been going smooth until today. The agency DD'ed the full amount - however, I'm moving out of the property 10th of this month. The agency, of course, knows about it as they have themselves informed me long time ago I had to move out as the landlord is sellling the property. I had in this bank account less than £800 so it shows right now that my balance is negative. I guess, it will have me incur, not because of my fault, various penalty fees on top of that. What next step should I take?

Hi there my credit card company "Capital One" have taken me to County Court and i have received the response notice. The total is over £1,600 and includes bank charges and interest. 1. Is there any way to get off this? It is a few years old? 2. Can i counter claim or defend for bank charges? 3. How do i find out if i paid PPI and can i defend or counter claim for them? What is the best thing to do? WorriedAnnie

If you had administrative action taken against you as a result of a police caution it may be that you have grounds for a complaint. If you have now left the armed forces and had administrative action taken against you as a result of a police caution between December 2008 and September 2011, it may be that you have grounds for a complaint. The MOD has written to serving and former serving personnel because of changes to the law which took effect in December 2008 that meant such cautions should not have been taken into account after that date. However, whilst action has been taken to contact those affected directly, it is apparent that we have not managed to reach some people and they will be unaware of efforts to contact them about this issue. READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/information-for-those-who-left-the-armed-forces-between-december-2008-and-september-2011

Been having problems with Vodafone all year - they just get worse and worse! I called in Feb to report poor network coverage. They assured me it was just 4G upgrades and would be over soon. They promised that once the maintenance was finished they would refund my monthly tariff, back dated to when the problems started. In March, I was still having problems (ironically even the call to complain failed from my mobile as I had no signal!). Same story but conveniently they had no record of my previous call and compensation promise. However they offered £15 goodwill and a months tariff. Pretty poor considering I had only been able to communicate via imessage / whatsapp (anything using wireless but not Vodafone's line!) 90% of the time since December. In May I had had enough and with my contract up in June I called to discuss leaving. The representative I spoke to gave me my PAC code and explained that it's activation would be the start of a 30 day notice period. We agreed this would work fine as my contract was up on 6th June. I passed this code to my new supplier on 9th May and they activated it on 12th May. An subsequent online chat with another rep after this was the most dreadful customer service experience of my life! He was rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. I had got in touch again as my credits had not been activated. He agreed to arrange these then he also then told me I would have early termination fees added to my final bill! After 2 hours (!) online chat, he and a superior assured me that this would be waived due to the advice their other colleague had given me. So, obviously, on Sunday I received a bill including termination fees. A phonecall got me nowhere. The rep (again conveniently) could not see the online chat transcript promising to waive the fees. So I got back on online chat and the rep checked the transcript and again arranged to waive these and resubmit my bill. I am yet to receive the recalculated bill and struggle to believe that it really will be changed. Pretty sure they will take the money then I'll have the mother of all fights trying to get it refunded. More time, more stress. I don't think I can put into words how shocked I am that such a company has such terrible procedures and gaps in communication between departments. Never, ever again will I go back. Vodafone has a long way to go in terms of customer service (bordering on aggressive in some situations) and also coverage for their customers. They really do not care!

A careful driver who only nips to the shops: why was Stan asked to pay £12k to insure his Fiesta? Millions of elderly motorists taken for a ride

Hello all, Thanks in advance for having a look at my post. I've been abroad since finishing university in 2004, while my loan was taken out in 1999 making it a new style loan. No contact was made by either side (i did not tell them I was moving abroad nor gave any info about my work life) until march this year when my old UK address received a letter asking for income info. I sent a reply stating I am abroad and working and an SAR to boot. 2 months later no reply. I am about to sent the "no reply to SAR within 40 days" letter but I'm worried about follow up. I no longer have an official UK address, will this hamper me going through the county courts? What can I expect to gain by doing so over data protection? I hope I've been clear General advice would also be most welcome! Thank you, dale

At my current place of employment ( a warehouse) , up until last november we had £0.90 attached to our basic wage (national minimum wage) This was described as an "attendance allowance" In November 2014 they said they were going to take this attendance away and reduce our pay. In exchange for this we received a monetary buyout equivalent to 2 years of the extra we would have received were we still receiving the additional pay. I was a union rep at the time of the negotiations, and one of the conditions that was mentioned was that if we left within 12 months of the payout being received (November pay), we would give half of it back (approx £1800). It is important to note at this point that no amendments were made to our contracts, there was no verbal agreement and we never signed anything to declare this as legally binding. Owing to medical problems I have been advised by HR (pre buyout) and by my doctor(post buyout) to look for another job as my current one is making my issues worse. I have since started doing this and had several interviews. I since found another job, and so I contacted my employer to see what they were going to do with regards to me paying back this money. The manager of the warehouse simply said they would take the money out of my final salary, which is 6 weeks pay. I only take home £880 a month, so 6 weeks would be about £1300, which means in turn they are refusing to pay me any wages for my final month. I wouldn't mind if they released me instantly so I can go to my new job and start earning money again, but they are insisting that I work my 4 weeks notice as well. So essentially they want me to work for free... Are they legally able to do this? Once again I must stress that no contract was signed by anyone.

Hello Im really hoping that someone can help a terrible decision that i have made. I have no previous convictions and are 100% sorry for this and i a bit of a state. I paid for an annual pass for 2 years. Cost was £4k per year. Half way through year two the ticket was lost for a second time. For a further two months i had to pay the cost of the ticket from salary in addition to directly with the station each week as southeastern refused to issue a replacement. Costs were spiralling as this was all happening at the same time that deposit for a house was required which was due for completion late June. During a stupidly drunk night out in south west london we were talking to some people and they said they knew someone who could help - i realise how irresponsible and stupid this sounds. They put us in touch with a man who said he would sort for £350. He met us in the pub took another ticket from my partner and returned in around an hour. He said it wouldnt work in a barrier but it would if i showed attendant. I used this ticket every day from around mid July until my actual ticket expired in October 2014. Stupidly and due to so many racked debts i used from time to time - maybe 50/50 going forward. A guard spotted this one day and held the ticket which also has my photocard. I ran away as i was so scared. He kept my ticket on entry to the train in london I realise this is the stupidest thing i have ever done. The address that is registered to that ticket i dont live at any more. I am also moving from current address next month. I have read on blogs here that i should wait for a letter to arrive and then contact a solicitor in the hope of a settlement outside of court. I am of course willing to pay all fees and even double on top of necessary. What should i do? How do i know if they have written if i dont love there any more? Will they find my new address and arrest me because i have not responded to the letter? Will i receive a court summons? Please help me - i am absolutely terrified and appalled at my out of charachter behaviour. Thank you. S

Hi all! I hope someone can advise me here, I'm due to go to appeal for my daughters DLA and it is likely we will win (again!). My problem is i owe a large amount of money to the DWP and to the housing due to a massive over payment. I strongly suspect the backdated carers allowance, DLA and housing benefit will be taken off my debt so i wont receive the back pay? Am i correct? The Housing underpaid us recently by over £500 and that got deducted from our debt. I will get to keep the backdated tax credits i assume but i was looking forward to buying some specialist ( and very expensive!) equipment for my daughter to improve things Thank you for your help!

I am not working due to disability, I get ESA and DLA plus a small pension. My wife works but only gets a low wage. For the last few years we've claimed Working Tax Credits (WTC) and sent HMRC all the required info, we've not held anything back or tried to hide anything. They do the maths and send us an award letter. As far as we're aware we've done all that's asked of us yet they have sent us overpayment letters every year. Anyway, we recently got a letter from Concentrix, on behalf of HMRC, asking us for pay slips, evidence of my self-employment (?) and so on. We sent them off, with a cover letter to complain about being told to send originals by post - we used special delivery and will never see that extra cost back! HMRC have told us they are stopping our WTC as they cannot determine that my wife works 30 hours. She is a home carer and changed company towards the end of last year. The sad nature of this line of work is that people go into hospital, or even die without any notice, which means the carer then loses out as the company they work for will not pay them for visits they don't do any more. It can take a while for them to gain a new client, or shuffle calls about, to give that carer more work. We had not realised what the backlash of this would be. It is not my wife's fault that her hours were sometimes cut back. You can't really blame the people she was caring for either. It is possible that some weeks she worked less than 30 hours without realising, but it was not deliberate. Obviously she's lost money through doing less hours, which made the WTC even more vital towards being able to pay the bills. Concentrix said they would send a fuller explanation and we would be able to ask for mandatory reconsideration, that was 3rd February, 4 weeks ago. We've heard nothing more from them. HMRC sent a letter to inform us the credits had stopped and they were claiming an overpayment. Concentrix also say they may be giving us a penalty charge. Can it get any worse ! Obviously we will appeal the decision as we feel it's not our fault. My wife may have to get a letter from her employer to explain any weeks she worked less than 30 hours. It is confusing anyway as she is paid in 4 week periods, not monthly. We are unsure if Concentrix have mis-calculated her pay and hours anyway. For example: a recent payslip shows she worked so many hours but also had a day off for which she was only given half a day holiday pay as she didn't have enough days available. Because of this her assumed hours averaged 29.75 over the 4 weeks. Has anyone else had this sort of action taken ? Is there anything we can do ?