Hi all A couple of years ago I left my work after being diagnosed with 2 neurological illnesses, this meant I could no longer work and am now on a long (3 year) ESA award and am awaiting a PIP assessment in a couple of weeks (thats another story sigh) I owed £300-400 to Capital One and due to the illness, depression, hospital stays and lack of money I just stuck my head in the ground and ignored everything. Today court papers arrived from Lowells (attached) apart from filling them in online what else do I do here? The debt is only 2 years or so old so not statute barred and probably half of it is fees and interest I think as the original debt wasn't that high. Thanks for the help

my sister-in-law has received a letter from a DCA stating that they are taking the matter to Court (Northampton) They do state a date when this action will take place. The Provident debt is quite old. She did not stop making payments previous DCA they just stopped taking them (via D/Debit) without any explanation , then she made the mistake of phoning old DCA who was taking over. My advice was to ignore any phone calls from them until they had at least sent her a letter. As she had not received any letters from current DCA. my s-i-law in her early 70's as is quite worried. any and all assistance will be heeded Thank you DK

I kid you not. I do it all the time, this time there was a trout on the out of date shelf going for the pricely sum of 10p! So I decided to take a photo of it and post it on twitter with the line 10p trout! for a laugh, because I'm a bit silly. No sooner had I taken the photo though before one of the staff came up to me and said he was afraid he was going to ask me to delete the photo as they don't permit taking photos of stock or prices or something. I was like, are you have a laugh mate? Is Jeremy Beadle hiding round the corner? Nope, he was serious and when I said no he then said that he was going have to ask me to leave, and as I walked away he picked up his radio to call security. I whizzed round and pick up the item I was after, paid for it and left before security could apprehend me. Who knows what happened with security, I expect the guy was on the other end of the phone saying "you want me to what? Kick someone out for taking a photo of a fish?" So there it is, your funny That's Life story for the evening. Interesting to see if they let me back in, maybe I can make some money selling the story to The Sun. I suppose I was wondering as well, where the law stands with regards to this? I do this all the time, normally to take a photo of something I might be interested in buying. But the fish, no. I'm vegetarian!

I am looking to bring a debt recovery agency to court on the grounds that they have no proof of a debt that i held. I asked for documentation to prove the the debt which they are yet unable to produce. Below is the full story. I would really love some advice and information My reasoning for bringing them to court is because there is no accountability with this debt. No paper trail, no nothing. When i asked the company 5 months back to show me where this debt had come from they were unable to produce the documents" it came from a santander account i closed 4 years ago at £0. I was then sent a letter (8 months later) saying that i owed santander £688. When i contacted santander to ask why this was i was informed that it was down to a sky bill that was due to come out of my account. I did pay thatbwill so im not sure how this happened. supposedly this was just a £30 charge and it kept snowballing as i didnt pay the £30 (I knew nothing about) and so on and so on. When i called into the bank to speak with the manager they informed me that i had to pay the fee. I asked why i was never told when i was closing the account that these would still be direct debit or why wasnt i informed sooner before it reached this unpayable amount. If i got a loan from the bank i would have felt morally obliged to pay it but i wasnt paying back something that i never borrowed. It was then passed on to robinson way where i left it until the past 6 months as i now am applying for a mortgage. I was young and never taught how a bank operated, to screw the people. I always just thought it was there to store my money. These are things that should be taught in school. i now have a bit of insight and i want to fight this. Any advice would be much appreciated. The road i have taken is for this company to show documents which until this day the cannot. Thanks all

Hi all, I bought a car on 01/04/2016 from car sales trader for £500. After a week ABS fault light came on, exhaust blowing, brakes and 2 front tyres worn. Halford Health check said head gasket leaking oil, all brakes disc and pads needs changing, clutch worn. AA breakdown patrol man confirmed that clutch is worn (high) but not slipping. I paid to get exhaust replaced due to needing a car to work and school runs desperately. I paid a garage to use diagnostic equipment to check ABS warning light on dashboard. I spent these money before I learnt of clutch and oil leak issues. I don't mind spending to get brakes, tyres, and exhaust fixed but, clutch and oil is a no no and too expensive for me for a car which I purchase less than a month ago. Trader not polite on the phone, shouting and hanging up on me because, receipt/invoice stated non refundable, no warranty given or implied. Guys, do you think I have any leg to stand on concerning this matter. Many thanks for any help or suggestions.

Sorry for bring this up again If the vehicle is not owned by the debtor, and is clamped or towed. then surely this is a breach of Data protection, as some one who is not the debtor will find out about the warrant?

A thread to explore what is and isn't working, and highlight issues where the old problems are rearing their head again, like charging multiple fees, refusal of all offers until visit and £235 garnered, application of Sales Fee before even a controlled Goods Order is in place etc.

https://mzolobajluk.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/universal-credit-in-work-part-time-claimants-sanctioned-for-taking-holidays-and-for-working/

I purchased a Diamond Engagement Ring from Vashi.com online and paid the full amount of £2,464.05 on 10th July 2015. I proposed to my partner with the diamond ring on a holiday to Barcelona. I went to great expense to get everything right,*which was very important to me. We stayed at a 5 Star hotel in Barcelona, I hired a table on a secluded veranda overlooking Barcelona, hired a Mariachi band who were playing a serenade where I proposed with the ring I had purchased from Vashi.com. Everything went and seemed perfect. On our return from Barcelona we asked Vashi.com to alter the size of the ring as it was too big and to upgrade to a different stting design, which we chose in person at the company’s London shop and paid a further £301. I received the amended ring at my home by registered post on 12th August 2015 and signed for it. The Engagement ring was given away to my fiancée as a gift at the blessing ceremony on the next day 13th August 2015. Vashi.com telephoned me on 18th August (7 days after I received the ring) checking if I have received the ring because their system showed that the ring is still in the depo and during their stock check they suspected an error. Upon my confirmation of receipt of the ring Vashi.com expressed the suspicion that I may have received an incorrect item and asked me to send our Engagement ring back. To cut a long story short we refuted their claims believing we had our ring we paid for. They then accused us of retaining a ring that did not belong to us saying that another customer wanted their ring back, giving us an ultimatum to return the ring or pay an additional £1000. Also the so called diamond certificate is not a certificate (has no number on the diamond) and is indeed their own appraisal. They have harassed my fiancee and I since and now have issued a claim in court against us! Any advice? surely this must be a breach of our consumer rights. We are in court on the 16th March 2016.

I bought a car last year for £3000, a month later a hole blew in the block and the engine was a complete write off as you can imagine, I was on the M6 and had been driving at a steady speed for over an hour when this happened. I had only driven the car for 1000 miles since buying it when this happened. The car was sold with a 6month / 3000mile warranty. I had the RAC tow the car to the garage I bought it from. The garage provided me with a courtesy car for 2 weeks until I had purchased another car and assured me they would honour the warranty and repair the car. Since this time the garage has still not repaired the car 6months on and I'm at my wits end with it now and have had enough, I have spoken to CAB in relation to it and they have advised me to send a letter before action to the dealer and take them to small claims court for breach of SOGA. The letter I had sent to the dealer is below. My question is what is the next step in relation to the small claims court, I understand I can do it online but I'm unsure what to put for the particulars for the claim, the claim amount and whether I can add compensation and interest to the claim. Any help would be appreciated.

I bought my car in Feb 2015. It was an ex-demo model and I bought direct from the manufacturer as they have their own showrooms. It came with a 1yr warranty. Its had several issues and already spent 6 weeks back with them as they diagnosed and fixed and ECU fault. In early Jan I got a letter to say the car had been recalled for a safety issue (throttle sticking on) and it was arranged that they would collect the car on Feb 19 for the work. The work is quick, no more than a few hours work. The work was finally complete this weekend. After much persistence and telling them I needed the car back by this weekend I am now being told they won't return it before 5th April. This is because they don't have their own driver available to bring it back, and won't pay for it to be transported. I am almost 500 miles each way from the car's location I am in Scotland, car dealer is near Gatwick), so collecting it myself isn't an option (financially or time-wise). The sales of goods act says when repairing goods a retailer must do this 'within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience'. I would say the lengthy delay is causing me a significant inconvenience. I have no courtesy/replacement car. What are my options - if I pay someone to collect the car am I likely to be able to reclaim this money?

Hello, I recently VT'd my car with advantage finance. I got in touch with them regarding it, after which they sent me a letter with the outstanding amount available. The letter was dated 01/02/16, and it stated that I needed to return the car within 21 days in order for the letter/sums to still be valid. The car was returned to their "drop off" point (transportation company) on the 22/02/16. I am still to date waiting for them to complete their "inspection" and send me a final sums due. A number of things have seemed a little "off" with the whole process, is this typical AF? They offered me a drop off point that was about 70 miles away, or a pickup for £80. I was able to be present for an inspection with the transportation company, in which we both agreed that the car was in good condition. AF have said they do not accept a conditon report from the transportation company, so how am I able to be present? Thier communication is TERRIBLE. They literally reply once I mail them 2 or 3 times with a vauge "its not done yet" They will not accept me paying off the remaining HP sums, and then whatever damages separately. I want this so I can get it in writing from them that the agreement is over. It all seems very unprofessional to me, I mean sure they are losing out here ultimately - but I would expect to be replied to in the very least, and a degree of urgency so they can sell the car on. My next step if I don't get anything back by tomorrow is to follow up with a formal letter, would this be wise? I did opt for a drop off point even further away in the end as it was local to where I picked my temporary car up from.

Over the past 2-3 years I have reported on this forum about the risks that debtors face when taking 'legal advice' from the internet and in being encouraged by the relevant sites to issue proceedings against a bailiff company/and or a local authority. In order to warn debtors of the dangers involved I have provided details of the cases together with copies of the Judgments (when available). I cannot stress the importance of this information given that debtors need to be fully aware that if a claim is instigated against either the company (either by way of an Interpleader, Injunction or Small Claims action) or against the individual bailiff (by way of an EAC2 Complaint) that the enforcement company will always ensure that they provide a solicitor (and many times a Barrister) to represent them at a hearing. So far, that have been no reported cases of a debtor winning a court action. Instead, there are many cases where significant cost order have been imposed against debtors. Unfortunately, yesterday it was being reported that yet ANOTHER two legal legal cases had failed in court and in both cases, the individuals (a lady and a gentleman) had been encouraged to pursue hopeless legal cases by a highly unqualified individual with an utterly appalling history of court failures.

Hello everyone I got a car around two years ago through a broker and lender was moneyway finance. After almost 2 years of successful payments i ended up loosing my job and was un employed for about six months, still managed to pay for the car which drained out all my savings and eventually i got caught in serious debt problems. Cut the story short i had to stop paying the monthly installments and soon the communication with the moneyway started. I asked for some extra time so that i can see the outcome of a few job interviews that i have already given but the advisors over the phone were nothing more then un helpful. I was explained about the procedures of repo. As i have paid half of the amount due they told me that they have to obtain court orders if they want to repo my car. I told them that i do not want to go to the court and i am happy to give the car back as it is but i was told even if i was happy to return the car they still have to go to the court which i dont understand why? i receieved a letter saying that my agreement was terminated and that the ballon payment is due with 17 days of this letter and if not paid within the dead line then it will go to the court. At that stage when i was already in defaults with my other debts i decided to not to respond to that letter and was mentally prepared that one day i will wake up and the car wont be standing outside my house. Couple of weeks later i had a visitor at home but no one was at home so he dropped a letter saying he was here to discuss the matter about my car. The letter had a phone number and an email address. On top of the letter there were four boxes and the first boxes was highlighted which said VISIT 1. The other three boxes said VISIT 2 and so on. S o i had an impression that the same gentlemen might come back again upto three more times. Yet again i decided to not to respond to that letter. This was about 4-5 months ago and since then i have had no communication with moneyay whatsoever. No phone call or any letter at all. After reading a lot of posts recently, i realised that i had made a mistake by communicating through the phone calls and i did not write them even once. All the negotiations were over the phone. i do not have any proofs of negotiations. What I wanted to ask is that what can happen next? And what is the procedure of repo through the court? Will i get a letter from the court? Will i get a chance to defend myself at this stage if i wanted to go for a payment plan. I know i have ignored them in the past but that was due to my financial difficulties. if i change my mind and want to defend my self in the court will that be possible? And once again the main question is what is the procedure of the repo through the court as this is a misery for me thinking about loosing my car every night before i go to bed. Its a contant threat in the back of my head that they will take it away any day. Please help me with this and any idea why they have not contacted me for so long. Waiting for ur response Fazool

Hi everyone My dad is over 55 now and wants to move as much money as he can out of his pensions and into UK government gilts. He's sending off his application to join the approved group of investors soon but needs help with withdrawing the money. He believes he'll make more interest and that the gilts are a safer bet with the way the market currently is. He was thinking of buying a 5 year and 10 year gilt but doesn't want to pay the tax to withdraw the money from the pension pots. He's got three pension pots, I know you can take 25% without tax but does that apply to all pots or just overall? and would there be a way to take the rest out tax free or with low tax applied? Thanks Andrew

Hello all, I have a secured loan with First Plus that I have already won PPI back from. My main complaint has always been the interest rate. The salesman specifically told us that the rate would be kept competitive, "otherwise you will move the loan elsewhere", when we could have moved to a fix of 4% or so the PPI penalty of £8000 and the rule of 70 interest penalty stopped it being practical. We won the PPI when I asked a lawyer to pursue this, who then held onto my paperwork. I put the complaint into the FSO last August after I had forced the lawyer to surrender the paperwork. The FSO tell me that the case is being considered with a number of others. Has anyone with a similar complaint be told the same thing?

Hello, I was wondering if dx or someone could offer some urgent assistance. Hillesden Ltd via Mortimer Clarke Solicitors are taking me to court for a debt. I believe this to be statue barred. Details are below. I should mention that I sent through the AOS to allow for an extra 14 days. Just to let you know that this debt does not appear on my credit file. Name of the Claimant - Hillesden Securities Ltd Date of issue – top right hand corner of the claim form – this in order to establish the time line you need to adhere to – 14 DEC 2015 ( by my calculations 33 days is up tomorrow) – What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? By agreement between Black Horse Ltd & the Defendant on or around 07/11/2006 (‘the Agreement’) BLACK HORSE lTD agreed to loan the Defendant monies. The Defendant did not pay the instalments as they fell due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was aa signed to the Claimant. The Claimant therefore claims 5500 What is the value of the claim? £6000 Is the claim for a current account (Overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? LOAN When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? BEFORE 2007 Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. DEBT SOLD TO DLC/HILLESDEN. THEY ARE THE CLAIMANT. Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? I DO NOT RECALL. Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? I DO NOT RECALL Have you been receiving statutory notices headed "Notice of Default sums" – at least once a year ? I DO NOT RECALL THIS. Why did you cease payments? LOW SALARY – I WAS NOT ABLE TO AFFORD PAYMENTS. AT ONE POINT I WAS OUT OF WORK. What was the date of your last payment? APPROX 2007. I MADE A PAYMENT OF £10 FOR A SAR TO BLACKHORSE – WHICH I MADE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR WAS FOR ACCESS TO MY RECORDS. I DID RECEIVE MY RECORDS. THIS DEBT AT SOME POINT WAS PASSED / SOLD TO ZINC WHO CHASED ME FOR THE DEBT. AT THE TIME I SENT THROUGH £1 FOR A COPY OF THE AGREEMENT. THEY DID NOT RESPOND. THIS WAS IN 2010/2011. ABOUT 2/3 YEARS AGO I RECEIVED A LETTER FROM DLC STATING I HAD MADE A PAYMENT OF £1 TO MY ACCOUNT. I DID NOT RESPOND TO THE LETTER AS I KNEW THIS TO BE INCORRECT. Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? NO. I MADE PPI CLAIM – WHICH BLACKHORSE PAID. THAT WAS APPROX 2 YEARS AGO. AT THE TIME THE DEBT WAS ALREADY SOLD TO ZINC / DLC/HILLESDEN Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? WHEN THE LOAN WAS TAKEN OUT ORIGINALLY, I DID CONTACT BLACKHORSE OVER THE TELEPHONE. BUT THAT WAS WELL OVER 8 YEARS AGO. I BELIEVE BLACKHORSE/ DLC/HILLSDEN HAVE THE DATES WRONG. I NO LONGER HAVE THE ACCOUNT OPEN WITH THE BANK FROM WHICH I MADE PAYMENTS FROM. I HAVE MADE CONTACT WITH THE BANK AND THEY INFORM ME MY ACCOUNT HAS NOT BEEN IN USE SINCE SEPT 2007. I SWITCHED BANKS OVER 10 YEARS AGO, SO I KNOW I HAVE NT MADE ANY PAYMENTS TO BLACKHORSE IN THAT TIME PERIOD APART FROM REQUESTING ACCESS TO MY RECORDS VIA A SAR, PLUS £1 TO ZINC FOR A COPY OF MY AGREEMENT. I hope I have provided enough detail above. I am seeking assistance in what to state by way of defence. Many thanks mbk.

Hello TCAG forums, I currently have an ongoing dispute with VM over a Galaxy S6 home button manufacturing issue that has been denied exchange/repair over evidence the phone has been rooted. Most of my case has been documented here - hxxp://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Mobile/Repair-refused-on-days-old-handset-due-to-root-Galaxy-S6/td-p/2918695 To summarize for everyone on these forums, the home button was loose on delivery of the phone, but operating okay for the first few days. It then began to stop registering some pushes when the button was pressed on the right hand side. After contacting VM a few days in (within 14 days) I was offered a doorstop exchange. This was cancelled a day later and I was told I had to send for repair. Repair was refused under warranty for evidence of the phone being rooted and I was quoted £200. I refused. I contacted Citizens Advice who advised me to write to them and state the sale of good act and burden of proof. I also enclosed a copy of this article - hxxp://fsfe.org/freesoftware/legal/flashingdevices.en.html I stated it was a physical fault, and not anything caused by software. Today I was contacted and told VM are sticking to their guns and the reason for the exchange being cancelled was they wanted to inspect the phone first to make sure I hadn't misused it, dropping for example. I tried to argue that I shouldn't be held guilty to misuse until proven innocent and that other companies all exchange within 14 days and inspect the handset after exchange. I have now contacted CA again, and know the next step they will advise is raising with the small claims court. I contacted FSFE via email to seek more advice on their article and law as well. Has anyone else experienced issues over flashing an android device with other software? I've had a Nexus phone in the past sent back to Google with no issues, and even read many examples of people sending phones to Samsung under warranty with no issues. Thanks a lot.

Hi all. Three have in the past switched me to contracts without explaining fully what I'm gaining/losing. I ended up losing quite a lot, without them telling me so. I was meant to lost nothing in terms of allowances. They've admitted they did wrong and are trying to rectify it, but (very) insufficiently. So I am considering going for deadlock and taking the case to Ombudsman level. Would you recommend this? I previously posted regarding this but got no responses (as the post was a wee bit lengthy perhaps). That post is called "Three mis-selling - mission to rectify!", posted a few days ago here in telecoms. Sorry, I couldn't paste the link as forum won't let me. I actually need to get back to them within 24 hours or so now, so replies would be very much appreciated!

There was a BBC2 programme on last night, now available on i player, showing the BMW Mini production plant, where they have over 1000 robots involved in production. They also employ 4000 people as well, to do the tasks that robots cannot currently perform. The question is who will be the future consumers buying products made mostly by robots. With humans being made redundant by robots, there will come a time when there are insufficient people with enough money to buy the products. The companies investing in too much robot technology to replace humans will also reduce the size of the market they can sell to. Within 10 years there will be the AI technology that can replace many call centre and customer service type jobs. You will be able to talk to a computerised call centre agent, who will probably tell you that your complaint is outside of its parameters and was there anything else they could help you with.

If anyone out there can throw some light on the subject of Cabot taking over a debt I owed on credit card. Due to the recession, I lost my business which is why i ended in a debt I can no longer pay as I now have a low income to my outgoings. I now have Cabot who apparently have brought the debt of £13.5k. Only £1 token payments can be offered. Cannot believe this debt has been passed over to a DCA that does not care if you cannot possibly pay it off and keep harassing for more. I have now heard from other forums they could put a charging order on my house and even force a sale, which to me seems crazy, seeing it was an unsecured debt. If I lost my house, I could not even afford to rent anywhere as my income is far too low and impossible to allow it, plus as my credit file is totally screwed, it would be extremely difficult to be get into rented home. Seriously at my wits end they will take me to court to take my house, not caring about the consequences for my wife and I. I worked all my life so hard, the banks screw up the economy and ruin my business and now I could end up with nothing. So angry how banks have been bailed out, yet i have to pay a hefty price for something that just honestly went wrong. does anyone know or has anyone been through this. Can I stop them from taking a charging order on my home.

In April 2014, significant changes were made to the way in which bailiffs can enforce debts. Most importantly, the fees that can be charged are fixed and transparent. The following page is an overview of the new regulations. Terminology The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 modernise terminology. The terms levy, distress or distrain are now known as the process of ‘taking control of goods’. A walking possession agreement is now called a Controlled Goods Agreement and bailiffs are now known as enforcement agents (although they can still be referred to as bailiffs). Warrants of execution (in particular for road traffic debts) and warrants of distress (for Magistrate Court fines) have been renamed warrants of control. With debts enforced via the High Court, the centuries old term of a writ of fieri facias (writ of fi fa) has been renamed a writ of control. Enforcement Agent Fees The Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 also came into effect in April 2014 and with the exception of ‘writs of control’ (enforced via the High Court), the following fees apply to all debt types (council tax and non domestic rate arrears, local authority issued penalty charge notices, magistrate court fines, child support agency arrears and rent arrears). Compliance Stage Fee: £75 Upon receipt of an instruction from the client, the enforcement company must send a Notice of Enforcement to the debtor. The notice must provide the date of the notice and the date and time by which full payment or a payment arrangement must be set up. This strict period of time is referred to as the ‘compliance stage' and must by law provide a minimum period of seven ‘clear days’ before an enforcement agent may visit the property. The compliance fee of £75 is payable for each Liability Order or Warrant of Control. Enforcement Stage fee: £235.00 (plus 7.5% of the value of the debt that exceeds £1,500.00). If full payment or a payment arrangement is not made during the Compliance Stage (or a previous payment arrangement is broken), the case will progress to the ‘enforcement stage’ and an individual enforcement agent/bailiff will attend the property for the purpose of ‘taking control' of goods. This fee becomes payable at the time of attendance. If the enforcement agent is enforcing more than one Liability Order or Warrant of Control against the same person, he may only charge one enforcement fee (of £235). He cannot apply ‘multiple’ charges. Sale stage Fee: £110.00 (plus 7.5% of the value of the debt that exceeds £1,500.00). This fee shall be charged when an Enforcement Agent attends the premises to remove goods and makes preparations for the sale of goods. It is important to note that additional charges may also be applied relating to the removal. These include storage and locksmith’s fees. Forms and Documentation The new regulations provide a series of statutory forms that must be used by the enforcement agent. Full details of all forms and the information that must be provided on them can be viewed here. Making a payment proposal The legislation provides a strict period in which to make payment or to negotiate a payment arrangement without the need for a bailiff attendance. This is referred to as the ‘Compliance Stage’ and begins with receipt of the Notice of Enforcement. If full payment cannot be made within the strict time period outlined in the notice, (a minimum of seven ‘clear days’) then it is vitally important to contact the enforcement company to make a payment arrangement. Most companies will readily agree to accept an arrangement over a period of 3 months (and possibly even 6 months) depending on the individual circumstances. Providing the enforcement company with a simple Income and Expenditure calculation at this stage may be of assistance. Failure to make payment (or to agree a payment arrangement) during the compliance stage will lead to a bailiff making a personal visit to ‘take control’ of goods. This visit will incur an enforcement fee of £235 as outlined above. Vulnerable debtors Far better protection is given to vulnerable debtors under the regulations. One example being that a vehicle displaying a disabled badge is now exempt from being taken by a bailiff. Secondly, and most importantly, Regulation 12 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 makes provision to protect vulnerable debtors who may have been unable in the early stages to seek advice (from the local authority, magistrates court, debt counsellor/debt charity etc) about the debt. If a bailiff makes a personal visit (which incurs an enforcement fee of £235) and identifies a debtor as ‘vulnerable’, then Regulation 12 provides that he should give the person a chance to seek advice prior to removal of goods. If he fails to do so, the enforcement fee of £235 is not recoverable. An enforcement agent will not know in advance whether a person is ‘vulnerable’. It is therefore vitally important to make the enforcement company aware of any ‘vulnerability’ at the earliest possible stage (during the compliance stage) and where possible, to provide some form of documentary evidence. Times of day when a Bailiff/ Enforcement Agent may visit The enforcement agent/bailiff is allowed to visit the property seven days a week (including Sunday) between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. He is not allowed to visit on Bank Holidays and Christmas Day Items that are exempt from being taken by a bailiff As outlined above, if full payment or a payment arrangement is not set up during the ‘compliance stage’, the account will progress to the ‘enforcement stage’ and a personal visit will be made to ‘take control’ of goods (hence the name of the regulations). In reality, the enforcement agent will be seeking full payment of the debt. If this is not possible, then he may ‘take control’ of none exempt goods. The regulations provide a list of exempt items that cannot be taken into control by the bailiff. The following are the most important: Items or equipment (for example, tools, books, telephones, computer equipment and vehicles) which are necessary for use personally by the debtor in the debtor’s employment, business, trade, profession, study or education, except that in any case the aggregate value of the items or equipment to which this exemption is applied shall not exceed £1,350; Clothes, beds, bedding, furniture, household equipment, items and provisions as are reasonably required to satisfy the basic domestic needs of the debtor and every member of the debtor’s household. Cooker or microwave, fridge, washing machine, dining table and dining chairs to seat the debtor and every member of the debtor’s household. Land line telephone, or a mobile phone. Domestic pets and guide dogs. A full list of items that are exempt from being taken into control by a bailiff can be viewed here. NOTE: Motor vehicles are the most common item to be taken by bailiffs. A separate post is provided below on this subject.

I have received a court summons from Hoist Portfolio 2 Ltd in respect of a Santander loan. It says the debt has been legally assigned to Hoist Portfolio but I have never heard anything from them previously. The debt is from 2008-10 or there abouts and I do owe this money to Santander. Can someone else take me to court for it? I thought it had to be Santander

A lady reversed into my parked car causing considerable damage to front bumper & near side wing. She apologized at the scene which a witness overheard. I went through my own insurer who put me in touch of Accident Management Company. My car was deemed a CAT C total loss. The accident report was submitted to the 3rd party insurance who 1 month later are unable to get in touch with their client. I am left with out a car or without liability being admitted. Where does that leave me ?? I was insured 3rd party fire & theft so my insurer has told me to contact accident management company, who in turn tell me they have nothing to do with it now as no hire car was given due to total loss. Please help I want to settle this asap because im buggered without a car

Hi all So it comes as no surprise whatsoever that Vodafone is positively trending on these forums. So here I am to join the chorus: being a customer of 10+ years, I am pretty traumatised by the insanely inept customer services, whether in store, on the phone or live chat. April 10th: I ring in to arrange my upgrade - all goes apparently well and I sign up for two new handsets (both nano-sim) and told I could keep my old numbers on both. Since then, one of these handsets has continued to be absolutely unresponsive to its SIM despite trying new SIMs until I figured it was just defective and called in to demand an exchange for a different handset altogether. Being still in the hassle-free period, the exchange was readily agreed and I was told to expect a DPD pick-up of the faulty handset in a few days. This never happened so I rang in and was told the 'order had been cancelled' (God alone knows why or by whom). Early May: So I re-placed the order, was told to wait on DPD etc etc. Nothing happened for the second time. I cant fully remember the excuse given then or exactly how many times this happened but it was definitely 3-4. I think at this point I also rang in to complain about being BILLED despite the situation - I was told I would be refunded all the excess money- this never happened. Mid-late May: I rang back, they reissued the order and told me to wait again. Again, absolutely no word from DPD. I believe I waited a while after this, since, well- I have a life to live and waiting in endless queues with the world's worst customer service for absolutely nothing was driving me literally insane. June: Again I rang up to ask WTH was going on and was told there was an 'older order that needed to be cleared first before the new order can go through' (again, not the faintest inkling who/what/why/when). After waiting the instructed 48 hours, I rang in to renew my request. They confirmed that my account was all clear, placed the new order and even said she'd credit my account with £10 - never happened. She also keenly assured me that DPD would be in touch by the end of the week. ...do I even need to carry on? AND all the while, my new (costlier!) tariff that came with the defective handset has been active on my old handset. This is unfair as I did NOT agree to a new tariff alone- the deal included the tariff AND handset. I have been charged TWICE (on 2nd & 24th May) since that fateful April 10th despite the deal being incomplete (i.e. no functioning new handset). So in summary: #1: I have a defective handset still waiting on DPD to take back and a new one to be delivered. #2: I have been charged TWICE IN ONE MONTH for a tariff that INCLUDES a handset which IS DEFECTIVE AND FOREVER PENDING RETURN. Is this enough grounds to take this inept company to county court? I'm reading through the page on that now and seems like my only option at this point. I'd love to make an example of them this way. Anyone else done this/thinking about doing it? Thanks so much for reading and/or any help!