Last Wednesday, completely out of the blue I was called to a meeting at my HO and told that due to restructuring my job is at risk, the company produced a settlement offer and has given me a week to think about it (unlike 10 days as in ACAS guidelines) They refuse to announce the nature of the restructuring, just that I don't fit within it and if I decline the offer then I have been told in no uncertain terms that I will be made redundant and end up with less money than they are offering. Although I don't know (and probably never will) I am almost certain based on noises from the past few months that the restructuring involves paying off half the people that do my job, and then replacing the job of the remaining people with a new one with a bigger remit to cover the loss of those of us that are gone, and they are doing this entirely arbitrarily without any due process or allowing me to reapply for the new job. Given that there are already a small number of people doing this bigger remit job, and they have always said I would be suitable to do this if the opportunity gave up, I believe I am being constructively dismissed, and they are relying on the fact that I won't be able to claim that if I accept the offer. A few hours after the meeting I sent an email to the people that were in the meeting (my line manager and her line manager) asking firstly for an extension of time to consider the offer, secondly for a fuller explanation as to what is going on and why I won't fit into the restructure, and thirdly asking if they will revise the sum offered. I did stress that I had not made any decisions and nothing in the email was intended to constitute a decision or limit my options. That evening I got an off the record phone call from my line manager stating that I shouldn't have done that, I should have just taken the money and because I am seen to be arguing with them they might now just withdraw the offer and make me redundant. Can they do that? I thought if the offer is open then it remains open until the window closes or I accept/decline it. Negotiation and asking for an explanation is surely not declining it? I also don't think they would be that stupid, because if I stay I will get to see what they are doing and retain all my employment rights including the right to take them to a tribunal. I ask because I have now been offered another (better) job and if they want me gone I'm just happy to take the money at this point!

Hi, I wanted to get advice on if I should continue with a small claim I started. I paid £475 for a course in July 15, the course was to run for 4 days in September 2015. My mother had a stroke and I informed them that I would not make the dates and it was postponed. As things in my personal live changed it became apparent I was not going to be able to do the course at all, and let the facilitator know in October, asking for a refund. She refunded half in line with her terms and conditions. Refund Policy: As per Trading Standards, a full refund is available 7 days from receipt of payment. If you have paid your course and are unable to commence study, you may request a refund of the course fee. We will refund your fee on the following basis:- If you cancel your place at least 28 days before your course starts, all tuition fees paid are refundable less an administrative fee of 20% of the full course fee. If you cancel your place less than 28 days before your course starts or withdraw before start date, 50% of the full course fee is refundable. If you withdraw after commencement date no refund is payable. Any refund will be paid within 4 weeks after receipt of your completed request for refund. If the course is cancelled by the course provider, a full refund is available. I said I did not think the t&c's were fair and asked for a full refund minus £50 for her administration. She refused and I issued small claims my main point being OFT's unfair contract guidance OFT 311 - Guidance for the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 4.5 A way to improve the fairness of such a term is to ensure that it does not go beyond the ordinary legal position. Where cancellation is the fault of the consumer, the business is entitled to hold back from any refund of prepayments what is likely to be reasonably needed to cover his net costs or the net loss of profit resulting directly from the default.18 There is no entitlement to any sum that could reasonably be saved by, for example, finding another customer. We went for the hearing last week, but court ran over and the judge adjourned us and also said he think it will take longer the 1 hour, so has scheduled it for 2 later in the year. His direction was that I would need a lot more than I currently had in my bundle to make a case. If I am to proceed I have to have all particulars ready to give to the defendant by 20th June. I am also in the process of becoming homeless, and only want to pursue this small claim if there is a reasonable hope that I can get some money back.

I have a debt to EE which is in default and I've had for some time now. A month ago I wrote to EE with an offer of a full & final settlement which they say they couldn't accept but as an act of goodwill regarding my situation they would write off the outstanding balance. Just over a month later I receive a letter from Fredrickson International saying that their client has instructed them to collect the outstanding balance. I also notice that the balance they have on the letter is actually £45 higher than what was originally owed (no interest or charges were being added by EE - I can only assume that this is a charge that has been added on by Fredricksons. I have the letter from EE saying that the balance has been written off but would still remain on my Credit Report as a default. Do EE have the right to pass a debt on after sending a letter saying that the balance has been written off? Or are Fredrickson International trying their luck? I thought one less debt to maintain would allow me to focus on my priority creditors as I have a lot of debt and my business is dying off so very little income at the moment. Any advice regarding this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there. My car payment was missed twice. This is down to a change in bank accounts and carelessness on my part. 4 days after the second payment was missed, a guy from Ceatta Ltd attended my house and attempted to collect car, which was not at the property at the time as my Mrs was out in it. I rang Motonovo and tried to pay the arrears of £850 but they have refused and claimed that the finance agreement has been terminated. I have received no notice of this whatsoever, and the only letters I have received are "notice of default sums". I am aware that those are neither here nor there with regards to the law and are made to look like default notices. The day after the repo guy turned up, a letter came through which was "notice of sum of arrears". This letter states that I should ring them immediately to arrange to bring my payments up to date. However, they won't accept anything but the car! If they take the car, I can't work. I will also owe them around 12 grand as the amount owed is 22k and I can't imagine them getting more than around 10k for the car at auction. My question is can this be done?? We received no notice of termination at all and they are outright refusing to accept payment unless it's the full amount which is around 22k. I have lodged a complaint with ombudsman which could take weeks. I understand that the repo guy isn't a bailiff and has no power to take from private property but motonovo are saying that if we don't allow them to take the car, they will report it stolen. This will greatly affect mine and my wife's job if it goes to police. Can this even be done seeing as it's our name on the log book? This is a hire purchase agreement not a loan. help!

Hi... I booked a ticket through flight centre with an agent. This guy was hurrying me up for a week to offer me this special deal which apparently closed by 6pm on Friday. I eventually booked it on the day...and paid over the phone. Prior to that I received a terms and conditions note, then paid for the ticket. I received the itinerary confirming the flight and ticket two days ago. The agent then asked me if I was still looking for hotels and I said I was, asked if he could help with that as well... a day later he sent me an email saying: "I only ask because the airline informed me that the special price I gave you can only be offered if booked with a hotel , if you don't book a hotel I will have to refund your ticket as it will be invalid ". Now at no point did this agent mention anything about the price being linked to a hotel booking., and he knew I was seeking hotels but made no mention of it,, instead he was calling me all week to get this special offer. can he really cancel my ticket? I have received it, the money has left my account... Shouldn't he have been aware of the ticket conditions. .that's if he's not just trying to scare me into booking a hotel ( I don't need a hotel and its in NY so it will be very expensive.) If I booked a ticket and changed my mind I would never get a refund. What advice does anyone have for me to pursue this. .as I do not want my flight offer cancelled. Nothing in any paperwork or ticket conditions say it must be booked with a hotel. Thanks very much

I am trying to close my dad british gas account as he has moved into a care home since my mum died in january, he has a council tenancy and I have cleared the house and elec and gas I have turned off as theres nothing that needs to be run, and the tenancy is about to be ended. I send BG an online enquiry to ask about closing the account, they have said I need a "Court Of Protection" letter, I have no such thing - cant I just write them a letter and my dad to sign it, and include the final meter readings?

I run a small limited company, and in the past we've referred our clients onto another (much larger, huge international) company who supply products and services that accompany our own. Way back in 2011 we requested some loan/demo equipment from them to exhibit at a trade show. The other day I got a letter from them saying that the loan was for a period of 1 month, and they are going to charge me a daily penalty rate for the period since (over 5 years!), unless I can prove that it was returned. The letter states (potentially misleadingly) that the value of the equipment is £1000, but it doesn't mention their 'penalty' charge rates . I don't even know exactly what their standard hire charge for the equipment is, but at a guess even that could work out at £4000 over 5 years. Looking back at my records, I did sign their loan agreement, and it does mention the duration was one month (although I don't recall this being stipulated during our telephone conversations prior). It also mentions that late return may incur penalty charges at their daily rate. I also wrote to them a couple of days later to cancel, before any equipment was delivered to us. Now, I've looked around and I can't find the equipment here, so I don't know if we ever received it, or if we did and then returned it. And if we did return it, I'm not going to be able to prove it - whatever delivery service we used (probably Royal Mail) isn't going to be able to supply proof of delivery for such a long time ago. Does it seem acceptable/reasonable that they haven't mentioned anything about this for 5 years (after supposedly lending the equipment for just one month)? No requests for it's return, or advising that we are incurring 'penalty' charges. Even now, they still aren't saying how much they think we owe. It just seems like a fishing trip to get me to offer to return it now, which would presumably give them a case to charge us £1000's. Where could they go with this next? If they go the legal route (small claims?), would they have a realistic prospect, given that they've sat on it in silence for 5 years? Presumably statute of limitations would stop them after 6 years?

Newbie here, Thanks for your site, i've been lurking here for a week or two, so i know a little bit of what you kindly offer. DD got the claim with issue date 17th April solicitors are Moon Beever, Claimant Ist Credit as per attachment She is adamant she has heard nothing from claimants or OC in over 6 years, She thinks it's M & S, she worked there around that time, and staff were pushing cards on each other for commission, and this was not ever supposed to be taken up, the rest as they say... I sent Moon Beever CPR and SB forms WP ditto Ist Credit SAR CCA 1974 and AOS by signed for post 27/4/15 The only response i've received is from 1st Credit and believe it or not it is to acknowledge my request regarding my own business Debt to HSBC lol I've not heard back from the Court so i phoned them, they say they are 10 days behind with acknowledgements... Anything else i should be doing, i have a defence in mind regarding non documents and SB .. thanks in advance.

Hi I am the executor for my late mother's estate and we are in the process of selling her house. We have hit an obstacle in that there is a secured loan which was paid off in the early '90s but it is still listed as outstanding on the title deeds. The loan was with Cedar Holdings Limited, which is now a dormant company and comes under Black Horse Finance Management. I have called them today and been given a number for their secured legal department in Cardiff, but the number is constantly engaged. We are trying to get proof that the loan has actually been repaid, can anyone give me any advice on the best way to take this forward, apart from trying to call them constantly? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!

Hi All, I've read lots of info on here but nothing that helps me for my specific case. I hope someone can throw their tuppance in! I have just found out that I have a CCJ in my name for a bill that I am not liable for. First thing I knew about it was when I checked my credit history. I am very distressed that this is on my credit history because I was hoping to get a mortgage in the next few months and this has completely messed up my credit score! The water bill at a place I now no longer live at is in arrears. I lived in the property as joint tenants with some friends from November 2013- March 2014. I moved out and they stayed on, amending the tenancy agreement and all the bills accordingly. I have loads of documents to demonstrate I moved out (council tax bill, tenancy agreements etc) the other tenants kept telling them I didn't live there but the water company refuse to change their records retrospectively. They quote a law which says we should have given 2 days notice which we did but it just wasn't recorded on their system. It's my word against theirs essentially. I had never received a summons or case judgement. Part of the money owed £85 was sent to a Debt Collection Agency and I've squared it with them. The DCA accept that I don't live there and put it on hold whilst they go back to the water company). However, I still have £600 debt in my name and this CCJ on my file. The other tenants maintain they didn't know about any of this but I can't 100% trust them on that. They said no post has come in my name but they didn't tell me my name was on the water bills they couldn't pay so I'm not convinced. However, the court document I got lists my recent address, and I assume they got this from the Electoral Roll, yet nothing turned up there either. Things I have done so far: • Scanned in Council Tax Bills and sent to water company (I've been told they won't take them into consideration). • Telephoned the water company to ask why the CCJ was issued in October 2015 in my name only. It was explained that they don't do joint claims and couldn't tell me why just that "it was policy to use the first name on the account" even though they had been dealing with the other names on the account. They told me that the other tenants had set up a payment plan which they missed a payment on, ignored the water companies calls and letters so the water company started court proceedings. • Written to the water company asking for copies of all correspondence. I plan to do a SAR/Data Protection request too. I have no idea of the exact dates, what payments have been made and when etc • Written to the court and asked for more info. I was told that the "claim pack cannot be reproduced" and they emailed me a scanned document with some basic details of the case. Not entirely sure what this document is but it lists the breakdown of costs and addresses of both parties. Anything else I should do? I know I need to get the application to Set Aside in ASAP but my partner is worried we'll lose and end up paying more money. I've explained that even if we pay it off it will still be on my history so I really need to fight it.

In January of this year, I was hit by another car that drove between two lanes of traffic to overtake me from the left. The car pulled out in from to me, lifting my car off the ground and damaging the front side panel and bumper. In doing so they damaged all of the side of their car. Their damage to their car starts at the top higher up and then drops down. There were no witnesses to the accident , but there are photographs of the damage, which I believe support my case. The other driver has claimed that I overtook them from the right, in doing so that I mounted a raised diver between separating me from traffic coming from the opposite direction. I do not think that the evidence supports this. However Aviva are now saying that the want to settle this as a no fault claim, unless I can provide a witness of CCTV evidence, which I can't. Worse still, the are implying that may settle the claim in favour of the other driver, unless I accept this. I have indicated that I am not willing to and would be happy to go to court on the matter. Any advice please ?

Hi folks, I'm looking for some advice on the next steps to take in regards to a PPI complaint and a OL charges with Capital One, let me explain for you PPI - back in March 2013 I got an offer from Capital One totally £1,086.58 of which only £87.94 was refunded for the premium and the rest was associated interest £998.18 & a further 8% interest of 0.57. They deducted the basic rate of income tax at 20% on the interest element, which equated to £0.11 now maths is not my strong point but those tax figures make no sense to me, I've had 2 other PPI payouts both from HSBC both amounting to no more than £1500 but both had tax figures well above £100. Due to recent (2014) findings I came across, Capital One along with Lloyds, Barclays & MBMA were suspected on under paying their payouts so I wrote to Capital One asking them to recalculate the payout, I received a letter from them yesterday advising that they had actually "paid me a far greater level of interest then was required" also they have failed to break down how they came to this sum even though I had requested this information. I received my SAR and no information on PPI is included, I have copies of my short statements but that's it. Also weirdly I've noticed on the original PPI letter that they were supposed to take the payout and pay it towards my balance but i actually received a cheque but I doubt thats a relevant point. So my question is what do I do next? write back asking for the long copies of my statements so I can see just how much I paid in premiums? are they likely to furnish me with these copies or is this a matter than I will need to follow through to the small courts? Any advice/help would me much appreciated. OL Charges - £600 in charges have been placed on my account mostly between the years 2009-2011 I wrote to Capital One requesting for those charges to be repaid I used compound interest of their current rate on my card of 39.9% - an increase of 10% from the initial opening rate - I only found out about once I received my SAR. The total payment amounted to over £3000 obviously they said no to the claim but in their own words, they would "robustly defund their entitlement to these charges" entitlement indeed even though they haven't even attempted this in the letter. So I'm looking for advise on this issue also, do I write back to capital one now even though they have said it's their final response or do I just look at small courts for this issue also? Is it wise to issue two subjects on the same court papers or would I need to file two separate claims? Thank you for any help you may be able to offer, these sharks really are something else OCB

In March 2015 Lowells got a CCJ against me on an old credit card debt . .. my last payment was in October 2010 . ... which was when I lost my job and my finances went in to 'melt down'. I had received a number of letters from EquiDebt and Red Castle in 2012 and 2013 chasing this debt. We left that address in May 2014 and had mail forwading set up to October 2014. I never knew this claim was happening as all the paperwork must have been sent to my old address and even though we had 'mail forwarding' set up for six months after we left (in each of our surnames), I assume this must have been sent after the mail forwarding had finished. Would it not have been returned to them as 'undelivered', so why did they continue sending to an address I obviously did not live at?? I'm not sure its relevant but I am not a house owner, it was my partners property. I only found out about the CCJ when next door neighbours emailed my partner before Xmas and along with all the local gossip they mentioned that the new owners of the house we left had told them they were annoyed to have bailiffs knocking at their door a .... asking for me!! I sent away for my credit file in December last year and there was the CCJ! I didn't think there was much I could do at that point so just 'cursed' and did nothing, hoping bailiffs wouldn't come knocking at our new address. Yesterday I received a letter from Lowells at my current address (I'm on electoral register / not trying to hide) saying "We have recently confirmed you live at the above address" ... "unless I pay this debt they will proceed to legal recovery" ... it's gives details of the same credit card debt for which they already have a CCJ. Why are they starting again ... they already have a CCJ? They sent bailiffs to my old address, why don't they just send bailiffs to my currect address. A couple of questions:- 1. Can I try for a set a side as I had no knowledge of the first CCJ. 2. Why are they going for a new claim when CCJ (only 1 year old) already exists? I don't own any property . .. have no assets apart from a 12 year old car worth about £1,500 Currently 'between jobs' so no regular income although I do a bit of sales 'interim' work on an ad-hoc basis that generates some irregular income. I do know how to defend a claim (acknowledge, make them prove documentation exists, etc) so if they proceed to a Claim ... I'm ready and waiting. Any advice welcome.

I have been at the same company since it started 3 years ago. I have been presented with around three contracts, all of which I refused to sign due to mistakes in the badly written contracts (out of date law references, conflicting information etc). I have heard that if you continue to work more than 30 days and receive regular payments, then you automatically accept the contract. How does this work for someone like me that has expressively and with reason rejected the contract?

Hi, I am posting in regards to my girlfriends Vodafone account as I don't know what to do now. 2 and a half years ago she got a 2 year contract with Vodafone for an iPhone 4s (£37 pcm), the contract ran out in august 2015, we didn't realise the contract continued so were billed for another month. When we saw this charge on her bank statement we contacted Vodafone immediately and agreed to pay for the last month and then the contract would be cancelled. We felt happy the contract was over and didn't think about it again. 3 months later, in December, we received a letter in the post from Vodafone stating we owed them £120 for the contract that we rang up and cancelled. I immediately rang them and after an hour long conversation on the phone, they agreed it was their fault and said they would drop all charges and close the account (as it was still open for some reason) So now its 1 month later (January) and we receive a letter in the post from Fredrickson debt collectors saying we owe Vodafone £160 for this contract. I phoned Vodafone straight away and they said although 2 cancellation attempts were made, the account remains open, and apparently this is a "common problem"!!!!! They claim that the sim in question was used to make 55 minutes of phone calls during the month of October. and say they will only cancel the debt of £160 if we pay £41.17, which I think is ridiculous, as 1. We didn't use the contract in October, my partner now has a sim only monthly Vodafone contract, and has been using this since the 22nd of September. 2. If, somehow, the contract was used, then how is it our fault that we used it if it was meant to be cancelled? I only see it as fair that Vodafone wipe the debt completely, as the error is completely their fault. They have even admitted this on the phone to me, but refuse to budge that we owe them money. I am happy to take them to the small claims court over this as I am certain I am not in the wrong. I will be going into a Vodafone store this sunday to speak to a manager about this, but from all my experiences with Vodafone Im sure they wont help at all. So what I really need is advice on where to go from here? Am I in the wrong, or do Vodafone owe me an apology and they should drop the charges? Thanks for reading, I really hope someone can help as Im at the end of my tether with this now. Thank you. Ewan.

Hi all, Need some advice please... Details are as follows... I took out a finance agreement for a car with MoneyBarn in Nov 2014. Made all payments up until June 2015 which was missed (an error on my part which I never noticed). Every subsequent payment made successfully. Monday Feb 1 I have a knock on the door with 2 bailiffs requesting to take my car there and then. They showed me on an iPhone a copy of the termination notice which was the first time I had laid eyes on anything like that. I telephoned MoneyBarn immediately to ask what was going on, they told me the car was being repossessed for that one missing payment from June 2015. I had the funds to pay in then and there, and requested to do so, but the rep said it was all too late. I asked why they hadn't contacted me at all about this, and their response was that they had written to me and called me on my mobile and home phone numbers and had left messages. I have CATEGORICALLY not received any correspondence from MoneyBarn regarding a missed payment, and I have categorically not received any emails, phone calls, phone messages or calls or voice mails on my mobile. This was a bolt from the blue. I refused to let the bailiffs take the car. On Wed 3 Feb (2 days later) I receive a letter from MoneyBarn stating that agreement has been terminated. This is the first correspondence I have ever received from them. I do some research on the internet and apply to the County Court at Maidstone for a Time order. This is turned down on the grounds that the agreement was already terminated So where do I go now? This is so unfair. I am easily able to pay the monthly premiums, and offered to on my first phone call to MoneyBarn. I don't want to lose the car as it is in negative equity by I estimate £5-8k. Thanks in advance for any advice. Regards, Sam

apologies ..I am having great difficulty learning how to use the forum.. cannot find appropriate place for this thread.... Please move it where it belongs ! ... Thank you Hi folks, Desperate situation.. I'm hoping someone can advise.... I am living in Wales and own my own home along with the borehole/well, which services the property in adjacent field Back Sept- 2011 I received a letter from a water company claiming that there were going to be ~ CHANGES TO THE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR DRAINS AND SEWERS They stated, " by law, the government has decided that the pipes that go beyond the boundary of the property called " Private sewers and Lateral drains " would be better looked after if they were part of the public sewer network...and the responsibility of your local water and sewerage company... " They stated also, " ~ You Do Not Have To Do Anything the transfer of ownership will happen,automatically. " The letter looked very official along with an enclosed leaflet. I wrote back to them stating, briefly, " I am . NOT your customer and I do not give my consent for you to assume ownership. I, also, told them that I had sent a dated copy of my reply letter to a solicitor, for reference... " The water company, promptly sent me a letter of apology and never bothered me again.... I am now faced with ,yet, another water company, attempting to take over the ownership of my water.. However, unlike the other company they have official Local Council headed paper, they have, already sent me letters, three or four times, asking me to fill out a questionnaire for them... I KNOW, they want to trick me into taking over my water supply, so they can make me PAY for my own water.. .. a farmer told me, this happened to him, and he has, henceforth had to pay for the water supply which is on his land, which, legally ~ Belongs to him, which he ~ Owns ! If these people take over my water supply, or sues me, I'm done for as my financial situation is, already, extremely limited. ..and I am,already, living on the barest minimum possible... This company is threatening me with legal action, and a fine of £5000 if I do not fill out and return the questionnaire to them within 14 days.... What do I do ?

Whilst in the process of dealing with a PCN that had reached the enforcement stage, that had become a mess due to Maidstone Council authorising Marston and Phoenix. I quickly paid off another that i knew i needed to be paid directly using Maidstone councils online portal. Unbeknown to me this had been passed on to the EA's (Phoenix in this case), i paid on the 27th of Aug, i have a letter that was dated the 24th of Aug that i hadn't opened or was aware of due to several reasons. This was the first letter in the process telling me i owed £187, £112 of which was to the council and the rest to Phoenix. I foolishly disregarded this as i had paid and i assumed it would be updated an Phoenix were no longer necessary. I then received a 2nd letter stating that i should pay now or face the enforcement stage, i also ignored this for the same reason as the last letter. Eventually someone called Miss Taylor turned up with a letter which she handed to my Mother, it said that i now owed £422 and she would return to collect goods from my mothers house, i instantly called her and disputed this and told her i had paid and gave the date. She denied this and called her office, she then called me back and said the amount was now £310. After this i tried to get some advice from a different forum, both by asking and reading similar threads. The advice i was given was that as i had paid during the compliance stage i was liable for the £75 but no other fees, and that the initial warrant couldn't be used to take any goods as the original amount had been settled. I understand it looks as if I've tried to get away with dealing with the Bailiffs but i happily would've paid the extra £75 to avoid this. My question is, is this advice correct? Or am i liable for the amount of £310. I have searched and read the forum for similar threads to mine but just wanted to make sure i got advice that was up to date and explicitly relevant to my situation so apologies if I'm going over old ground. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Hi guys and a happy new year to you all. a friend at work has come to me for help regarding a parking charge from our old favourites parking eye. the letter she has received says that the alleged offence took place on the 29th of December last year but the letter demanding 100 pounds is dated the 13th of January (received on the 16th). I seem to remember reading somewhere that the company concerned has 14 days from the offence to make contact with the rk is this still (or was ever )correct? thanks in advance

Hi Everyone! First time poster here looking for some help dealing with Kapama in regards to a micro credit loan, from some general reading I see there is plenty familiarity with them here so I'll get straight to it. I took out a loan with mini credit in 2012 for £100 and they're now trying to play their old trick of adding many charges on so I apparently owe them £1056.00. I don't believe that these charges are enforceable and I point blank refuse to pay them but they're charming debt manager refuses to back down on the issue. I've offered them the original loan sum, one months interest and the default charge (which from reading around the forums is all I have to pay them). After them messing me around for a couple of months they've finally agreed to post me a copy of their companies complaints policy so I can lodge an official complaint with them which I can then take to the FOS when they still refuse to take the charges off. What I would like some help with is what I can write in my initial complaint letter to Kapama in order to have the charges removed. What are the grounds I can do this under? If anyone could help me I'd be really grateful as I would love to stick two fingers up to them. I should say I am prepared to go to court if necessary, and I've seen a few comments on this forum about the judge removing the charges in the court, but will a judge actually do this? Or would a judge force me to pay the whole amount?

Hi I wonder if anyone can advise, will try and keep it as short as possible. We have sent a SAR to the NHS for my son, NHS being difficult to say the least as the consultant basically does not like us as they breached the DPA 3 times and we put in a complaint and they accepted liability. We sent a SAR and we have received a letter back, basically stating we cannot have anything. We requested everything held on my sons file, his school had to complete some questionnaires to which we would like to see what they have said. Below is the paragraph from the letter which states we cannot have these questionnaires I must advise that we will not be disclosing any information sent to DR XXXX by either XXXX School or XXX school unless the questionnaires were completed by our staff from our organisation. They know the school completed them as thats why they sent them to the school in the first place. Can the NHS withhold these questionnaires? We also know the ED Psychologist has sent several emails to the consultant to which we have asked for copies again they have refused. Below is the paragraph. XXX Health and Care trust is not the provider organisation responsible for the provision of Educational Psychology Services, this means we are unable to assist you with data. All the above information we require is held on our sons medical file at the NHS. Can the NHS refuse to give us this information.

Hi all, back in June 2015 i was a passenger in a vehicle that was hit from behind whilst waiting to exit the motorway. A couple of days later i was contacted solicitors firm. I naively thought they had beed directed by Hastings insurance (the drivers insurance company) to act on my behalf for a potential injury claim as they had my details including mobile number. They arranged for someone to come to my house to complete the paperwork for the claim. This was a no win no fee basis .They arrived and all seemed legitimate (as for as i could tell as i had not been involved in an accident before) forms were completed and they went on their merry way. I spoke to the driver telling him about the Solicitor he called Hastings and they denied instructing the Solicitor to contact me and in fact they had instructed another company to contact both me and the driver about the claim. Alarm bells rang and i decided that i would cancel the agreement i had the Solicitor. I emailed them to with the instruction to cancel the agreement and this was 10 days after signing the agreement. I thought i would be covered by the standard 14 day cooling off period? Just after i sent the email i had a call from the Solicitor asking why i wished to cancel and i explained that i wasn't happy with way they conducted their business. I had a letter from them some weeks later saying that as they had not received contact from me the case would be closed. Then today i received another letter asking me to pay for the costs they had incurred on my behalf. The bill amount is for £1,143.00. I don't know what to do. Can someone please advise if i have a leg to stand on? I just haven't got that kind of money. :shock: Gary

Hi everybody, I'm new to this forum - spent a lot of time reading other threads on the issue of Xercise 4 Less/Harlands/CRS last night and now feel a bit more informed than I did previously! But I would like some help to see if I have a leg to stand on here before I go into battle! I moved to Scotland in April, and subsequently joined the local Xercise 4 Less gym on the 27th on a 12 month contract at 14.99 per month. When joining, I also paid a £20.00 joining fee - taking my first total payment to £34.99. I find it important to state now that I NEVER set foot in the gym after joining. (This was confirmed by a woman I spoke to on the telephone last Monday, 12th October '15 - more on this later) I fell pregnant and didn't really feel like going then. I continued to pay for the membership and unfortunately lost the pregnancy at just 4 weeks. The company I was working for at the time - in short - went bust, and I was found without a job. I then found out I had fallen pregnant again and after losing my first pregnancy I certainly did not want to go to the gym due to my fears if anything else! For these reasons, I cancelled the direct debit with my bank online after approximately 3 months and 11 days of membership. My partner and I then moved into a new flat in the same town. With my direct debit cancelled, I did not find it appropriate to notify the gym of my change of address, as far as I was concerned, I was no longer a member. I also find it important to state at this point that I have been a member of other gyms in the past and they took cancellation of my direct debit payments as cancellation of the service they were providing and did not contact me further - I believed this would be the case with this company also. How wrong I was! On Monday, 12th October I received a letter from a company called CRS - I have found many letters the same on these threads so will just paraphrase: They say they have been employed by Xercise 4 Less as my membership remains in arrears despite letters being sent - I had not received these letters, but the gym remained to have my telephone number/email in their records, and I heard nothing from them through either of these channels. They say they have added their fees (£111.57) to my debt, and the balance is now sitting at £321.48 They then say they want to reach an amicable resolution and give contact details telling me to phone them. Stupidly, I did exactly that. I asked the man I spoke to why on earth I had to pay so much money. He continuously repeated to me that my account was in arrears. I had told him I was not happy to pay the fees, and also explained my reasons for leaving the gym. He froze my account for 7 days and demanded I prove I was pregnant by sending forms/paperwork to him. If I sent these forms the amount would be reduced "significantly" due to my pregnancy. I also phoned the gym and asked them what was going on. The woman I spoke to had confirmed that I had never set foot in the gym (she could tell from her electronic records). I asked her why I had to pay so much for a service I had joined but never took advantage of. She told me I owed the gym £219.00 and to sort it out with the Xercise 4 Less customer service team, and gave me a telephone number. I never phoned this number. I have done the basic maths after checking my bank account - - The payments made to Harlands totalled £64.97 - this is evident in payments taken from 11th May (34.99), 26th May (14.99) and 25th June (£14.99) ---thats just raised a question in itself, why did they take my joining fee so late, and why did they charge me twice in one month...surely they've taken 2 months of payment in one month?-- - If I was still paying for the gym, I would have only now paid them a further sum of approx. £25.98, another 2 months worth of membership give or take a few days. - Upon checking my bank statement for August I see they attempted to take £39.99 from me, but I had no notification from the bank that any payments had bounced, and we can see above that they haven't - I made the payments. I wonder why they were trying to take so much from me? So WHY do I owe them £321.48/£219.00 - I'm very confused as to which it is, as when the CRS "fees" are added, the total amounts to £330.57 - so is someone playing silly beggars?! Now...some questions! - From what I have read on other threads, CRS and Harlands are the same company - does this mean they have not sold my "debt" on to someone else and have no right to be using a different letterhead as a scare tactic? - Does the court ruling of The OFT vs AMSL in 2011 apply to me, and can I use it to back up my claim that cancellation of my direct debit was notice enough? - As I never used the service, do I have any differing cancellation rights? - As the amount I'm being charged is absolutely out of this world, am I right in thinking that this is made up of silly fees/penalties and as such cannot be enforced? Remember, I've been told as I'm pregnant the amount can be reduced significantly. Why/how if they are not just pointless unlawful penalties? - I will no longer speak with any of the companies on the telephone, and will only have written correspondence. As there are a few lingering days at the beginning and end of the membership I am happy to offer them a month's payment (£14.99) as a good will gesture and final settlement of fees owed. Is this within my rights and would you say this was sensible to do? - Do I speak with Harlands on this matter? I do not want to speak with CRS (although I realise they are one and the same). Any help would be greatly appreciated! I must admit I was very upset when I first received the letter but now I am furious that they are trying to take money from me, especially at a time when this so called debt amounts to the price of my baby's pram, car seat and changing bag all in one! Thank you in advance, Elvie

To briefly explain the story, last week my wife had a car accident where a man reversed his van into my wifes car after he had stopped in the road and reversed back without looking to talk to his dad who was on the other side of the road, driving the other way. He was very apologetic and they exchanged details. This morning we had a letter from a no win no fee solicitor, claiming that my wife had driven into him, failing to drive without due care and attention. This is obviously very upsetting, and I guess it means at the very least we are going to have to pay our excess for repairs to our car since he has his own version of events. Any advice please? Thank you in advance.

i have debt with a few credit agencies who have taken over the original debt from banks/credit card companies. i took credit in approx 2005, but now making token payments towards them. i know it will take years if it continues like this. what can i offer the agencies to partially clear this debt? is there a minimum they would accept? how long do the agencies hold the debt for before selling it on to another firm?