Hello, I'd be really grateful for any help you could offer. I'm live chatting with Sky to raise a complaint about their poor customer service and they're refusing to log my complaint. They're telling me "As there is no further action required by us to remedy any failures on our part." Can they behave like this?! Thank you

Hi, I have read a few of the threads regarding npower so I know how incompetent they can be. I will outline my problem in the hope someone can advise: During 2012 and 2013 I had to contact npower a few times because they did things like send me three letters on the same day saying I was variously in credit by £75, £391 and £1078. I pay by direct debit and have always been in credit but I called and told them I thought their administration of my account left a lot to be desired. I have also put through meter readings by phone which on occasion have been ignored and I have had to waste time on the telephone with them. Their meter reader also misread the meter on one occasion and I received a bill for well over a £1000 - so more phone calls necessary. On to the basis of my complaint: My average annual gas and elec bills total £1500 and I normally paid between £115-£145 a month. Inexplicably (and without notifying me) they reduced my monthly DD in June 2014 to £57. I called more than once and told them this couldn't possibly cover my bills but was "assured" they knew what they were doing. They didn't raise it until January 2015, and then only to £93. I decided it would be a good idea to switch suppliers, which I did in April this year and cancelled my DD to npower once I had received all the letters saying the switch was complete. I then received bills totalling £258 for gas and elec. I completed npower's online form in May, saying how annoyed I was as I had always previously been in credit and it was their mismanagement of my account that led to this debt. I then wrote to them in June (Peterlee address) detailing my complaints about their service and suggesting that my preferred outcome to my complaint would be for them to accept some responsibility and accept a payment of 50% of the total from me. Since then I have written two further letters, one of which was returned "addressee gone away"! I have also sent several emails and keep telling them all I want is a letter, replying sequentially to the points raised in my original letter. I have now received three emails from them, all of which simply detail my bill and don't attempt to address the issues I've raised apart from explaining that they do a mid term assessment and raise or lower DDs as necessary. Well their assessment in my case was way out! I have also received 8 bill reminders and 4 letters from Debt Managers Services Ltd. I have emailed DMS but, surprise surprise, have received no response. Last week I received an email from Mark Howe, Head of Customer Service, which is as useless as all the other emails. He has, however, 'taken the opportunity to raise a complaint' on my behalf and given me a complaints number. But my complaint, with a different number, has been open now for 16 weeks! In his email he says he has opened a complaint but also says the account has been passed to Debt Managers and the collection process will continue until I pay up. This new complaint will apparently stay open for 10 days. He also thinks 'it would be great' if I could set up a payment plan. Totally unprofessional language and I think part of the problem is when npower does bother to reply they are only replying to my latest email - no-one is looking at all the communications from me. So, questions: 1) Surely npower should suspend collection letters and demands for payment until the complaint is concluded? 2) Is it worth going to OFGEM? Previous threads suggest not? 3) I am thinking of writing again and telling npower I am going to claim compensation for their inability to manage their own complaints procedure which is causing me undue stress and taking a great deal of my time. What do you think? I should say I don't need a payment plan and could just pay the bill, but I feel they are treating me like dirt and their incompetence is absolutely astounding! Thanks for reading.

Hi There, Earlier this year, I made plans to go for a "1 week" executive programme at the London School of Business and Finance. To support my visa application documents, It's required to make a hotel reservation. Bearing in mind that my first visa application was refused because the hotel I booked via bookings.com refused to confirm my booking. I made sure to search for a hotel directly and didn't mind paying for it (even though UKBA says not to pay for flights and hotels in visa application) as long as it serves my purpose. After paying for the hotel, I found out that easyhotel Babrican does not have a phone and does not response to emails. Meanwhile, the booking I made will be used to determine if my visa will be issued, it means UKBA must be able to reach easyHotel by phone. Bottomline, I had to cancel after I had made a reservation and paid 396 Pounds and my debit card has been charged. I was about to cancel when I noticed the clause which was hidden in their TOS, easyHotel will deduct 10 pounds on cancellation (which was okay) but they will not refund money directly, they will only give it back as easyhotel credits which are available to use only at any easyhotel. I felt cheated and I think it's very unfair. I cancelled the booking just after 3 hours and easyHotel did not refund my money. Are they right to do this? My name is Tunde, I'm from Nigeria

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/every-little-helps-supermarket-giant-5461757

I have had one case closed following a statutory declaration and at the new hearing the DVLA case was dismissed http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?451204-being-fined-for-lack-of-insurance-Dvla-**-case-dismissed**-or-is-it but Marston won't stop persuing me! The court say they have notified both the dvla and enforcement centre but they don't appear to have any record of it and will not listen to me or contact the court themselves to verify. Please, how can I force them to check their information and leave me alone. Thank u.

Hi everyone. Ordered asda groceries as always, they didn't turn up yesterday. 40 minutes later I rang up they said they said it had been cancelled reasons unknown. They promised the local store would ring me back to try and squeeze it in that day, as payment had gone through. Checked online banking and confirmed they had taken payment. Didn't ring me so I rang them, they apologised, said they would send shopping tomorrow. Got shopping today, however they have taken money a second time. Delivery driver said loads of orders got cancelled yesterday for same reason. Phoned asda, they said if I get the authorisation number and fax number of NatWest, they will fax them so I can get an instant refund. Otherwise the money is held temporarily for 7-10 days. NatWest gave me the authorisation code, but won't provide a fax number to the public and say their mechant provider (streamline) has the fax number. Phoned back asda, they demand fax number, I merge them on a new call with NatWest, who put me through to card errors deparment. Natwest now say they cannot even act on a fax, it is completely asda's fault and up to them to get me my money back. Asda will not do anything without this fax number. Their manager just went round and round in circles. They will not let me go into the store and have cash or do me a bank transfer. They say after 7-10 days I would have the money twice. At the end of the day, I am out of pocket by £76. It is a weekend we are supposed to be taking the kids out today. We are now stuck. This is absolutely unacceptable I have to wait for this long banking process to resolve itself. Asda will not provide any sort of goodwill gesture. Surely there must be something I can do to get these funds quicker. Why should we have to suffer? I have recorded the entire call (over an hour plus 6 other calls totalling another hour) its quite comical to here how this manager, asdas highest point of contact, is so simply minded. If I went into a shop and made the mistake of not paying for the shopping, then promise to pay them in 10 working days, they would insist this is stealing. How come it is acceptable the other way round? Sorry for the rant I am livid right now. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks so much

Does anyone know if I have any recourse to a settlement I received from monarch airlines - I made the claim through a company called EU Delay- they never contacted me however their solicitor has confirmed that a settlement was awarded to me 3 months ago in the sum of £1745 . I have contacted EU Delay who said that after their fees I would receive £1100. However I'm being fobbed off as they keep coming up with excuses and delaying tactics or just blatantly not taking my calls. Is there any way I can get them to pay my share...?...

Hi could anyone help please. I have won a CCJ against the BOS. I applied for a money provisions order to register this in Scotland, the CCMCC have cocked this up and just sent a normal Judgement to me but took my £50 for the Form 111 anyway. This is being sorted today so I should have the money provisions Cert on the way. My question is; do I really need to transfer this to Scotland if the BOS have branches in England, in fact do they have branches in England? Google'ing this is unclear as they seem to be connected to other Banks in England? If so then fair enough, but I wondered. Many thanks in anticipation.

Ok my daughter in-law tried to make a payment to her door stop loan agent(provident) she has missed her for a couple of weeks told her to try to give her something even if its only a couple of pound a week till they can get back on track. She only had £3 she could give her today(She had received a letter from provident say she could make a token payment of a pound per week just now) agent refused said it would have to be £5 or nothing this agent has also been holding on to the payment book and has refused to had it over unless she can get a guarantee of £5 min a week. Now as far as I'm aware she can't hold on to the payment book or refuse a payment.

My son has a Samsung Galaxy S4 on PAYG which was locked to Orange when he bought it 2 years ago. He has requested the Network Unlock Sim from Orange as he wants to change providers to Vodafone. He paid the £10.00 admin fee and waited. This was over a month ago and every time he rings them he gets a different excuse or fob off as to when he will receive the code. The second call he made after waiting 10 working days for the code, he was told the IMEI number had been taken down wrong by Orange, and he will have to wait another 10 working days for a new code. Yesterday he was told he would be emailed the code by midnight. Nothing arrived. Now he's being told because his phone no longer has a Orange number, there is nothing Orange PAYG team can do to help, goodbye. Surely this can't be right. All he wants is the code so he can start using his phone again, because he hasn't been able to for over a month.

Hello Finally & T.G., I won my ESA appeal. Please can I ask a few questions? (1) How long (roughly) will DWP take to pay arrears? (2) How will HB / CTB treat my case? (i.e. will an overpayment of HB/CTB be created whilst on Assessment Rate?) (3) Does DWP ever appeal the HMCTS appeal decision? (4) Do DWP take notice of any reassessment recommendations? (5) I have been advised by a few advisers to claim DLA / PIP but am stressed enough with claiming ESA. Is there any correlation between ESA and PIP decisions? Thanks (thanks for answering previous HB etc. questions)

Hi, My husband and I have been on a debt management plan for 9 years know. During this time we have done regular reviews and our repayments to creditors have gone up as well as down depending on our circumstances. Various debts have now been sold on to debt collection agencies, one agency who currently has 3 of my debts is cabot financial. After a recent review with payplan our repayment has unfortunately gone down temporarily. Cabot financial have been ringing me constantly since. I eventually spoke to them on Friday and they said it was because i wasn't meeting the contractual amount on my Barclaycard account so it was now in a pre-default state. They recommended i ring Barclaycard and inform them of my situation which I did only to be told by Barclaycard that they sold the debt to Cabot so it is no longer anything to do with them. I rang Cabot back who then started saying if I don't meet the "contractual amount" each month then my account would default. I asked why the contractuall amount couldn't just be changed and all he kept saying was that they couldn't and that they have a legal obligation to update my credit file, he also kept talking about "they" implying it was Barclaycard that set the rules and nothing to do with Cabot. when I asked who he was refering to when he spoke about "they" he denied saying that and said he said "us". My query is, if during the 9 years of being on the debt management plan my payments have gone up and down, why hasn't this account defaulted before now? Can Cabot change this "contractual amount" and could any one give me advise on trying to find out when this contractual amount was set please and if it can or can't be changed legally? Thankyou in anticipation

Hi hope you can help, I took my car insurance out with Chaucer Direct through the company go compare. I paid extra for a courtesy car if in the event of an accident. I didn't look at the documents when they arrived in the post I just placed them in the filing cabinet. last tuesday evening a lady drove her car into mine while after I had managed to stop but she had continued on a country lane. My car was dented on the front & side panel dented. They now say my car is a right off, I have no courtesy car and I have until tomorrow to remove my personal items out of the car because they are towing it away. If I am not able to get to the car by tomorrow to remove the items they will be removed and held at the garage for me. Can they just do that? Take my car and move my personal items out of it?

Hi, I urgently need advice with regard to my Resignation Letter and what it should say. My maternity leave officially ended on 31st March. As the tribunal was set for Tuesday 7th April, I did not want to resign before the hearing. I am happy to say, after 18 months of upset, financial hardship and my poor mother's relentless efforts to get justice for me, I won my case for Pregnancy Discrimination and Victimization outright on Tuesday (7th April) After announcing the verdict, the Judge told me that, now, I must resign immediately and make a further claim for unfair dismissal. I would like to know, what I need to include in my letter bearing in mind my new claim for Unfair Dismissal Many Thanks

Hi can anyone give me any advice please. I have been into store & spoken to a vodafone phone rep today without success. I have an iPhone 5, I'm in a 24 month contract, and the battery doesn't last more than a few hours without charging again. I have diagnosed it through the apple website & the battery is faulty. The contract has 3 months left to run, and under statutory law, I would understand that with regard to durability I should expect the phone to last as long as the contract and its now not fit for purpose. Vodafone will send it away to apple - but it might cost me £204 - I will have paid £40 a month for 24 months - and now I need to pay more. They deny that I bought the phone from them - I only bought a contract - apparently I bought the phone from apple. This is bonkers. I don't normally take issue with stuff but surely a phone that is on a 24 moth contract should last 24 months?? Not according to vodafone! Help!

A member of a religion called the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is lodging an appeal against the DVLA for not allowing him to be pictured wearing a colander on his head. A musician has accused the DVLA of discrimination after his driving licence photo was rejected because of the 'religious' head-gear he was wearing - a colander. Ian Harris, 51, is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - a 'religion' also known as Pastafarianism - that regards colanders as sacred headwear. Mr Harris has lodged a third appeal against the DVLA after it refused to accept the picture of him wearing the kitchen utensil in his driving licence photo. His so-called faith, which is widely considered as legitimate, is a light-hearted take on religion which opposes the teaching of creationism and intelligent design. It believes Fridays are national holidays, pirates were the original 'pastafarians', and that beer should be celebrated. The religion argues that belief in a flying spaghetti monster is just as valid as any other - although critics claim it is just a parody religion. However, in April 2013 a court ruling was overturned in Poland, allowing the church to apply to be registered as an official religion. Mr Harris, from Hove, East Sussex, says he was "insulted" by the DVLA after their response to his driving licence application implied it would damage their credibility. "Who are they to decide which religions are true or valid?,” asked Mr Harris. “Our religion is a minority, but the DVLA is discriminating because it allows people who practice major religions to wear headgear in pictures. "The letters implied the picture would damage the DVLA’s credibility because the religion has a comic element to it, which I found insulting. "Other church members have been very supportive of my complaint, and have said the headgear is allowed in photos in other countries." A letter from the DVLA said: "Unfortunately the decision remains the same and you will be required to make a new application for a driving licence with an appropriate photograph. "You will appreciate that we must work within a framework set by law and the decisions we make have to be in line with the relevant legislation, therefore, we may not always be able to meet your expectations." Mr Harris, who plays the banjo for successful busking band The Iron Boot Scrapers, based in Brighton, East Sussex, has no intention of submitting a new picture. He said: "I will continue to fight the good fight for our savoury Lord. I have checked, and their guidelines do not say I cannot wear my colander." A DVLA spokesman said guidelines on acceptable photographs were the same as those issued by Her Majesty’s Passport Office.

Hi there I'm new to this forum so please be gentle! I won an item at the end of auction and when i went to pay for the item it would not let me then when i rechecked it someone else had bid on the item after the auction had ended and got the item i had already won i contacted ebay and they say it is a glitch in there system and they will get back to me but have not got back to me yet i sent them copies of my message showing i clearly had won the item normally if im not going to win an item i get the option to bid higher which i would have done but because i had won the item and the auction ended could not add extra bids so what i seek advise on is if ebay is at fault should they re run the auction or what are the legallities as once you have won an item is it not a legally binding contract between you and ebay. be glad to get any advice on this thanks:tea:

Hi, I'm posting on behalf of my sister. A few weeks ago she was parked in a supermarket carpark and was just about to open the door to exit. She had the door already ajar, while she gathered her handbag etc, before opening the door any further she looked over her shoulder and a car swung in wide into her space (at speed) and caught the side of her door (see picture attached). The chap at first admitted liability and apologised. Luckily my sister had the common sense to look otherwise she could of easily had her leg crushed. What we thought would be a open and shut case has now been going on for 3 months. My sisters insurance company are next to useless and keep saying she should claim on her policy and claim back later. My sister refused to do this. She said she wanted to claim direct from the third parties insurance. Today she receives an email stating the other party will not admit liability and she is liable for the full repair. We have supplied a number of pictures which clearly shows the point of impact, however the third party are now saying she swung her door open. I believe the pictures shows this is not the case as the damage would be on the inside of the door. We are now thinking about claiming via the small claims, would this be a route to follow?, perhaps this would persuade the other party to admit liability? She has legal cover, this hasn't been any use what so ever so far. Can anyone help with suggestions?

Sorry, deleting temporarily as I don't want to be identified. Moderators feel free to delete this post/thread.

Hi Caggers A long story cut short, I went on holiday paid for some duty free on the flight and used my debit card. On checking my bank statement when I got back to the UK, I realised I'd been overcharged by the cabin crew by £45. I emailed the company and they said I was overcharged and they would recredit the debit card with the £45. Unfortunately since paying for the goods and getting an answer back from Thomson I'd lost my debit card and got a new one. They informed me to contact my bank to have the payment refunded and to charge Thomson; my bank said no chance. I went back to Thomson explained what my bank had said and there answer was "well we can only credit the money back to the card that was used to pay for the goods". I asked if they could use an alternative method and they said no; so I'm now £45 down and looking at taking them to the small claims court to get my £45 back out of principle. Before I go down that line, I was wondering if anyone else had had the same type of issue and if they had it resolved without having to go to court. I just cannot believe that a major international company does not have various different means of refunding people who are in my situation. Any input or advice appreciated. Cheers PM

Hello guys, I am sorry two questions in one post I feel they are related and can be answered together. Question one. After 9 months and £13,000 of legal expenses. 2 barristers, 3 solicitors, 2 high court visits and 2 tribunal visits, my friend has won against the local council. They wanted him to pay £3600 in council tax and his argument was the tenant was responsible 8 years after the event. All contracts, letters and recorded delivery slips which he used to inform the council were kept. He won the case out right. Now a lot of people are telling him you cant claim legal expenses or personal losses due to the fact its the council. If he did it everyone else would. He is being informed unto total cost of £18,000 is his. He cant claim a single penny for his loss. Please advise. Please note he has proof of everything. From the case to earnings to legal invoices. Question two. After seven phone calls including to head office, local office and individual who invited us to the local car show room the following happened. They failed to understand the car I wanted. They failed to understand the cost of the car. They failed to understand the monthly repayments of the car. They failed to understand the context or pretext or the ONLY reason why we would visit them. At the cost of 2 hours round trip. At the cost of diesel and time. When we reached there we were informed the maximum I could borrow was 45% of what I wanted. And also they did not have the cars. Both cars were not available. Discussing this with the manager he said unless you were here we can not tell you about the car or the finance. In seven phone call including the one that invited me down was the following. “Are you sure I have been accepted? Yes! “for the Galaxy” Yes! “for the Prius? Yes! “what is the maximum they are willing to lend?(3 lenders apparent)! Any! I even went further, I said I am only going to travel because YOU are saying I can get either of the 2 cares. Yes come down I was told. When we went there nothing. All lies. If I was on minimum wage along with my friend. I think the total lost including time and diesel is £22. What shall I do? Please I cant let them get away with it. This is pure day light robbery. Ali Hello guys, I am sorry two questions in one post I feel they are related and can be answered together. Question one. After 9 months and £13,000 of legal expenses. 2 barristers, 3 solicitors, 2 high court visits and 2 tribunal visits, my friend has won against the local council. They wanted him to pay £3600 in council tax and his argument was the tenant was responsible 8 years after the event. All contracts, letters and recorded delivery slips which he used to inform the council were kept. He won the case out right. Now a lot of people are telling him you cant claim legal expenses or personal losses due to the fact its the council. If he did it everyone else would. He is being informed unto total cost of £18k is his. He cant claim a single penny for his loss. Please advise. Please note he has proof of everything. From the case to earnings to legal invoices. Can he claim, if so where to go? Question two. After seven phone calls including to head office, local office and individual who invited us to the local car show room the following happened. They failed to understand the car I wanted. They failed to understand the cost of the car. They failed to understand the monthly repayments of the car. They failed to understand the context or pretext or the ONLY reason why we would visit them. At the cost of 2 hours round trip. At the cost of diesel and time. When we reached there we were informed the maximum I could borrow was 45% of what I wanted. And also they did not have the cars. Both cars were not available. Discussing this with the manager he said unless you were here we can not tell you about the car or the finance. In seven phone call including the one that invited me down was the following. “Are you sure I have been accepted? Yes! “for the Galaxy” Yes! “for the Prius? Yes! “what is the maximum they are willing to lend?(3 lenders apparent)! Any! I even went further, I said I am only going to travel because YOU are saying I can get either of the 2 cares. Yes come down I was told. When we went there nothing. All lies. If I was on minimum wage along with my friend. I think the total lost including time and diesel is £22. What shall I do? Please I cant let them get away with it. This is pure day light robbery. Ali

I won my PIP reconsideration have finally been awarded PIP at the daily living rate component. Cannot stress what a huge difference this will make for me, not only financially, but also that at last my illness has been recognized as being detrimental to my well being. It has been a long hard struggle, one I did not think I would win.

Slightly complex claim here. I topped up an Egg loan at the beginning of 2007. The total cash amount of the loan was £9331 and the payment protection premium lent was £1730.85 with the total amounts payable at £10668.00 and £1979.04 respectively. I subsequently defaulted on the loan and it was sold to various debt collection companies, ending up most recently with Arrow Global. They stated that the purchase balance of the account was £8193.79, down from the £11061.85 advanced by Egg. Added to the complications, I now live in the USA. Restons for Arrow Global obtained a CCJ by default judgment against me and I applied to have it set aside once I found out about it. I ended up deciding to settle with them and we eventually agreed on £3000.00 in full and final settlement of the account. So I have effectively repaid £5868.06 of the debt, plus whatever interest that I'm unable to calculate. In the meantime, over a year ago I was sent a letter by Canada Square Operations asking me to complete a complaint questionnaire, as I belong to group of customers who MAY have been affected by a PPI policy being mis-sold. I never sent it as at the time I still owed the debt. The letter they sent noted that the debt had be sold on to another company and asked permission to contact them to find out the status of the debt. Since I have now settled the debt I filled out the questionnaire and sent it off. I'm wondering what I can expect given the circumstances surrounding my case. I'm also wondering if they will respond to me at my US address?

I did some voluntary work at a festival this Summer. I had to pay £100 deposit, of which £20 was non refundable, to make sure I attended. I did 3 days work and was told on my last day that they wanted me to return next year as they were so pleased with my work. I've just emailed the company to ask when I'll get my deposit back and been informed that I was involved in a fire on the campsite, along with 2 others, and have therefore forfeited my deposit. I was aware of the incident, somebody set fire to a chair, but was not involved and replied stating so and asking what evidence they have. Their response is that they have a witness. Is there anything I can do about this?

Hi, I took out a TV, Phone and Broadband(free broadband lite) package a year ago with the dreaded SKY. 24 hours later they informed me that the broadband was insufficient for my needs and therefore they would be charging me for a compulsory upgrade. I sent several letters complaining that I should have been sold the correct package in the first place and had I been, then I would have declined as it was over my very tight budget and I could have got cheaper elsewhere. After being taken around the houses, twisted and turned until my brain was ready to explode, never once getting a relevant explanation, I then sent notice of my intention to cancel once my minimum term contract expired. This notice gave 10 months notice: my contract states that my contract can be ended at the end of the minimum term by giving at least 31 days notice AT ANY TIME[. As I have stated, I gave them 10 months. After I gave notice I received 2 emails from them acknowledging my intention to cancel. My final subscription was taken by DD in December which takes me through to Jan when my contract ends. After checking my account to see if there would be any charges (phone calls etc,) that would be carried over after my final payment I was shocked, and amazed (ridiculous considering it is SKY) to find that an invoice had been raised for a further month. Upon contacting SKY and arguing with them for the past two days (very difficult when one is deaf and slurred speech) the latest email states that I have given TOO MUCH NOTICE. They now inform me that I can give no more than 2 months notice but at least 31 days. Considering that I cannot find anything to that effect in my T & C's and have also checked their online T & C's, how can they insist upon this? In addition, whilst this drama is going, on block me from changing suppliers by refusing to release my phone line.