I purchased a new 2 seater sofa and 2 chairs from SCS, the delivery turned up today and the delivery men were unable to get the furniture into the property. They were useless couldn't speak much English and give up. There is another attempt arranged to deliver tomorrow with a different crew, hopefully this crew will be more professional. What I would like to know is what would happen if the second crew also fails to get the furniture into the property? Could I request a refund? I have never had problems before with getting furniture in and out of the property and that is with larger furniture i.e a 3 seater sofa.

There are many people who find themselves in my position . Interest only mortgage coming to the end and there are either insufficient funds or no funds to repay the capital sum. In my case I took out a 10 year Interest Only Mortgage ( Idon't know why it is only 10 years) I have contacted Santander a few times over the last 2 years to see if they would extend the term but they just refer you to customer services to start a whole new loan . I no longer fit any criteria to get a loan . I have never missed a payment even though I am on a very high rate compared to other lenders or teaser rates . I am now retired with a younger wife and four-year old son . I got until February 2017 to find an answer to my problem. I have read the FCA guidelines 2013 but its just guidelines and Santander doesn't wish to play ball. Anybody got any ideas?

Hi, I have been reading lots of different opinions on here regarding debt from Australian companies being chased in the UK. I had a fairly large credit card, plus some other unsecured loan debt in Australia where I lived for some years. Due to illness I ended up back in the UK and out of work for 4 years. As a result I defaulted on the debt and had not made a payment on any in about 2 years. About a year ago I received a letter from Stevens Drake regarding on of the debts and threatening generic legal action if I did not pay. As I was still unwell at the time I did not have the energy to research my options as what best to do, as a result I started making £xx per month payments. The debt in this time has gone from about $18,000 to over $23,000 as the payment I have been making are fairly small. Long story short, I asked if they would accept a few thousand pounds to settle the debt in total as that is all I can scrape together from family and friends but they refused it. I cannot go bankrupt in Australia as I am not there, I also cannot go bankrupt in the UK as I do not have any debt and that debt is not even located here yet - so I feel in a catch 22 situation. I feel like I should just stop paying and force them to issue proceedings here so I can then go bankrupt but I am not sure how bad an idea this is. I will not be able to go back to earning the sort of money I did previously which means in reality I cannot repay this debt. If anyone can give any advice I would be extremely grateful.

Hi, Wonder if someone can point me in the right direction. Back in December 2004 (Paragon have quoted Feb incorrect below copy of their letter) my wife and I took out a £20k loan, and this loan had the mandatory PPI of £7k on the paperwork. With news of the Plevin judgement I approached Paragon and they have said the are unable to uphold my complaint and if unsatisfied to approach the Ombudsman. Is there anything I can do? can I even ask for the commission rate of the PPI? any help much appreciated Many thanks, Dusty Our investiqation ln the case of Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance [2014], the Supreme Court indicated that commission in some circumstances could result in an unfair relationship between the lender and the consumer, under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Act). However, for the unfair relationship provision of the Act to apply, the Credit Agreement had to have been taken out on or after 6 April 20A7 or, for an agreement taken out before 6 April 2007 and be ongoing as at 6 April 2008. As your loan was taken out on 13 February 2004 and was redeemed on 23 January 2006, your complaint is considered ineligible under the Plevin judgement. Our decision. Based on the above information. I am unable to uphold your complaint. Whilst I appreciate this may not be the response you had hoped for, under the terms of our complaints procedure this is our final response. You may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge - but you must do so within six months of the date of this letter. Paragon PPI letter 250118.pdf

Can anyone help on this issue. About 3 years ago I put a cigarette out when unexpectedly being called into a shopping centre. I shouldn't have, and I got caught by council enforcer. At the time, I was going through a very difficult break up, and was homeless as a result effectively. I am self employed on a low income, and could not claim tax credits as the previous relationship I was in meant my name is still on the deeds effectively its my home to the tax credits people they said I was still living there, even though I wasn't. Hadn't for 7 years. I had spent my time travelling around , and staying with clients, friends, the new girlfriend I had, and my brother. My reasonable income and security was effectively taken when the Banks called my business loan and overdraft in when they got in trouble, as they did to a lot of self employed. Stupidly I remortgaged and that's a drag too. still have to pay it so my ex doesn't get evicted. And just surviving off the little I earned. Very difficult to do my books as its all a mess and I have nowhere I can do them properly atm despite being under the tax threshold I still have responsibility to do them but that is difficult in the circumstances. I had a big row with my brother 3 years ago as I was staying there. We don't speak. He just put return to sender on any of my mail that came there, which was mostly junk. But apparently he has discovered they have been chasing me for a fine as a bailiff company told him. He pointed out that it wasnt him and I haven't lived there and we don't speak. He is demanding to know where I am living so he can pass it on to me. I had completely forgotten about it and now its about £1500 as it went to court and everything. There is no way I can pay it, prove my very low income, or effective homelessness (I am staying with two lots of very kind friends free, and don't want the bailiffs knocking on their door). So what can I do? I am told I could even be arrested for it? This is terrifying me as I only have a subsistence living and cannot pay it and cant prove my income atm . I never received any notification of the court date three years ago and had forgotten all about it. They are looking for me but dont know where I am obviously and neither does my brother. I dont want to get him in trouble either, so can I approach the Court or what? If I had known re the court date obviously I would have paid when it was low.

On the 4th November 2016 a decree was granted against me for the sum of £1550, I was in attendance however had no defence at the time. I had absolutely no knowledge of the matter and very little paperwork. The matter relates to money paid to a bank account by the Student Awards Agency For Scotland. I'm 49 and not a student. They claimed that several payments were made to me via a Lloyds Bank account very recently. No money had been paid to me and I believe it was an administrative error on their part, the bank account in question is not my bank account but on the day I had nothing with which to prove this and the Sheriff granted a decree against me. For many months I’ve been writing to Lloyds Bank and finally they responded a few days ago to confirm that I had no links to that bank account but also that the account was dormant and that no money had in fact been paid into that account. Obviously I thought I could have the decree overturned. The court have rejected having the decree recalled as they say I was present in court, I could have it recalled if had not attended. The court have also refused to allow me to appeal since an appeal must be done within 14 days of the decree being granted. So I seem to be stuck in a place where I’m now faced with possible bankruptcy over money which I never owed in the first place and does indeed seem to be an error. Can you advise on how I might proceed? I had considered contacting the Sheriff Principal in Edinburgh to ask her to reconsider the case.

Hello. At the moment i have five credit cards totaling £7500. most are balance transfer cards and some are coming to the end of the offer. oldest card is about 3 years. (MBNA) i am finding it difficult to keep up payments (not currently working) with the cards and usually end up robbing peter to pay paul. i have a disposable income of £80 a month and at the moment card payments total £110 which will rise after christmas due to interest being added on mbna card MBNA i owe £4000. currently pay £45. i also have another mbna card with a 0 balance what i would like help with is, would i be better off using my other mbna card to clear the other £3500 debt and just then deal with mbna? instead of multiple agencies. ? don't want to fall behind with payments but i dont know what else i can do thank you

Hello Everyone. I set up a direct debit for my road tax, but due to some severe financial upheaval, it failed following the first and second application. Will the DVLA allow me to try again to pay by direct debit? Or am I now stuck trying to find the full amount? I can call Monday but I'm really worried and hoping for some advice before then if possible. Thank you in advance.

Bought car on evening of the 7th December. Car insured at dealership. Attempted to tax at dealership but website wouldn't allow. Drove car to gf's home and tried online unsuccessfully again a few times but thought must be a site issue. 8th left car parked and commuted to work. Tried website but still not able called DVLA number and attempted to pay online. Was told i would have fill out information at post office. Finished work after post office closed. Had leave gf's house early next day for 2 week holiday before Post office opened. Returned to UK on 24th late afternoon to find car clamped with local council enforcement insignia and clamping company information but no explanation of reason. All telephone numbers went to voice mail. Paid clamping fine through online service. Rang every number and organisation i could throughout night. No one could explain reason or remove clamp. Stuck alone in gf's house - she was with family on other side of country- No food, freezing and missed all family Xmas duties with my grandparents who are 90+ years old and whom i am a carer of due to no trains running. Car remained clamped until 29th! Took visit to Local county enforcement office and then long wait and conversation with Local Council to determine DVLA had issued clamp. 6 Weeks later received further fine from DVLA. Written long letter to explain situation, circumstances and overly distressing punishment for £30 tax i had on numerous occasions tried to pay. Fully expect to get generic letter saying it was my fault. If so intend on going to court or arbitration. Does anyone have any advice or experience of court process?

Hi Advice please. I'm likely to be unable to pay off the capital amount owing on a mortgage with Woolwich in 3 years time. I've informed Woolwich of this and all they say is try and pay off as much as you can and then you'll be able to extend the mortgage with them when the term ends. I've got a great tracker deal at the moment which is interest only. Woolwich have calculated that any new repayment mortgage with them will be approximately £500 to £600 per month which I won't be able to afford. I got made redundant 5 years ago and have struggled to find full time well paid work since. I now work part time and am trying to pay off as much as I can. I 'm 62 this year and I have got a small private pension which was given to me as part of my redundancy package. My mortgage ends when I'm 65 and I don't really want to be paying a mortgage after then. My endowments didn't pay out as much as expected and I did get some compensation which I paid off some of the capital owing. I know that I can downsize my house and pay off the mortgage but I don't really want to do this just yet. Can anyone suggest any alternative options. Many thanks for any help given. Best Regards Baching Mad

Hi, I've recently had a letter from robinson way, offering to close my account and to record partially satisfied. Ideally I'd like the default completely removed. I'd like to know if this is even possible, or is it a waste of my time trying to negotiate this with them? Thanks!

The rear of our car was flashed doing 35mph in a 30mph zone by a parked up mobile van, there is only one photograph from the police as we requested photographic evidence, but it is impossible to tell who was driving at the time as there is only a small part of the top of the drivers head visible, we have no clue as to who was driving, what do we do now? Any advice would be great guys thanks

Hi I had a default placed on my account by Lowell Portoflio 1 limited. It only appeared about 4 months ago and had no relation to anything else on my credit file - it appeared out the blue as a default with a value of just over £100. I've since sent an initial letter that I found online, talking about how as they are the data processor they are responsible for providing with certain pieces of information etc. I have gone back and forward with them using letters - I had a response from them telling me they were unable to provide any of the information relating to the account or the default notice as they didn't keep this on their records. They have advised that they will also not remove the default. They mention in their latest response that the default is from a debt relating to a Vanquis account - I;ve only ever had one account with Vanquis and it clearly shows on my credit history as being a well managed and then settled account with no missed payments. I'm stuck as to what to do next! Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

Good afternoon The company I worked for has gone into administration, I have no wages coming in as now unemployed so will be unable to make a payment to my DMP (Stepchange). I have informed them but am wondering what my creditors are likely to do now. No jobs in the offing at the moment so no income at all Thank you

Hi all, need some advice please. We purchased Ultimate Amira Healthopaedic mattress via Bed Factory (1-4 Spence Lane, Leeds, LS12 1EF). We purchased the mattress on 25.4.16 for the nursery and started using it on 8.7.16 when our daughter was born. The mattress is not of satisfactory quality due to the wearing and sagging that's occurred within weeks. I'm of light build and a mattress should last years before that type of wear occurs. The retailer advised they're not in a position to refund or exchange and referred us to the manufacturer. Basically asked us to take pictures (which barely show the issue but it DOESN'T FEEL LIKE NEW at all) to be sent to the manufacturer to'make a decision'. I decided to contact the manufacturer and the retailer's head office directly as I wasn't happy with the store manager's advice. The manufacturer advised the responsibility lies with the retailer. The retailer's head office asked for pics to be forwarded to them. The mattress was comfortable to begin with, the past 2 weeks I noticed once you get up it doesn't regain its shape. I did my best with the pics- they barely show the dents and I'm worried I'm just being fobbed off. My last email (no reply to it yet) is below: Good morning, Images attached. Would you offer a comment on why Steve advised these were to be sent to manufacturer 'to make a decision' and it had nothing to do with the store? First attachment- please also take a closer look at the left border/side- it's not straight and already dented as well. This isn't what a new high quality mattress should look and feel like. Please treat this as a formal complaint- a similar replacement product would be an ideal resolution. We used the store before and bought the mattress for our master bedroom from you-still very pleased with it and happy with the service provided at the time. This is the reason why we decided to use you again-unfortunately, at the moment this situation appears a blatant attempt to fob off a returned customer. Please include at attachment or a link to your complaints handling procedure. So any advice on where I stand with this one and who I take it up with if I get no joy with the retailer would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!

Upgraded my old handset last September to the latest Moto G 3, all worked fine until it became unworkable, kept freezing, and rebooting itself three or four times a day, came to a head when I couldn't even make a phone call! Put it into O2 to repair under the 12 month warranty in March this year, so technically, although I would need to check the exact dates, within 6 months of purchase, so faulty from the start. The letter enclosed stated that the handset had been replaced, it hadn't, a 'board' had been replaced. All was fine until it came to update the software, this update was in German? Then it again started to do it's rebooting habit again. So this was put back into O2 to be repaired Last week, and today I have received a message off them, claiming that the repair isn't covered by the warranty? Confused?, You bet I am. Just waiting for the handset to be returned to the store, so I can read the enclosed letter giving me my 'options' to have the fault rectified. Why is nothing simple? Do we have any O2 reps on here?

I am now in a position to tidy up my finances. I have been making monthly payments to Lowell for 6 accounts. I have sent to a CCA request for all 6 accounts. They have replied for 3 and the other 3 are currently on hold. The 3 that i have have had a response for were all mobile contracts. Lowell stated Three have been unable to supply all the documentation i have requested and because of this Lowell are unable to recover these 3 debts by court action. They also said "never less, we do believe they have supplied enough evidence to demonstrate the accounts are valid and owning as i have been making payments since 2012." They go onto to offer me a 20% discount to close the accounts... I emailed them requesting as they could not pursue i would like to request that you do not contact me regarding these debts and continuation to do so will be classed as harassment and will be reported accordingly. They replied along the lines of "please be aware that the outstanding balances are correct and due" Where do i stand with these account now? Thank you.

I took out my brand new Vodafone contract on 22 November 2014. They ported my number from my old network (3 network) on 2 December. Since they ported my number on 2 December, a month ago now, I have been unable to receive calls or texts. I can make outbound calls and texts which displays as my newly ported number but I cannot receive inbound calls or texts. The number is unobtainable. I first reported this problem on 3 December and was promised a resolution within 48 hours. One month later, I have been promised a 48 hour resolution on 9 separate occasions. The 9th 48 hours has now expired and my phone is still not receiving incoming calls or texts. I have been promised resolutions from their contact centres, including their porting team and technical teams, a sales rep in my local store and by their web chat advisers. I have now been without service for 1 month and there is no sign of any resolution. Each time my 48 hours has expired I call again only to be told their system has been updated to show that the problem has been resolved. This incompetence is truly unacceptable as they only need to dial my number to see that it is still unobtainable and that they have not yet fixed my problem. I simply cannot understand how they would fiddle about a bit, think they have fixed my problem and then not bother to dial my number to test it. Surely that test comes within the first 10 mins of basic technical training. Also, nobody is willing to take ownership of my problem i.e. giving me regular updates despite my constant requests. Equally, their customer service advisers refuse to put me through to the complaints team by telling me that they don’t have a specific complaints team and they all just deal with complaints. So how do I escalate my problem? How do I get someone to take ownership of my problem? If I call again should I believe the 10th promise of a 48 hour resolution?

Hi, I was wondering if anyone may be able to offer some advice or point me in the right direction. My friends younger brother started working for himself around 2 years ago, he didnt set things up and didnt really know what he was doing and the business never actually took off. He ignored a self certification form sent from HMRC several months later because in his mind he was no longer self employed, never properly had been and hadnt made a profit to be in a position to pay tax/vat. He had a further reminder with fees / charges added on, he then wrote to hmrc explaining the above, they refused to accept his explanation and added further charges. He continued to ignore the situation as he didnt know what to do, the debt has been passed to Moorcroft and now stands around £3000, they want him to pay £100 per month. He is unemployed has no fixed abode and is not in receipt of any benefits {he refuses to claim} his girlfriend and family look after him and in he return he does odd jobs, he has no savings or assets to be able to settle this debt. His family are looking at how they can help him but they cannot afford £100 a month either - I understand that this is an important debt, what course of action is best for him to take? Any help /advice would be appreciated - Thank you

Hi there I've just attempted to post in banks,finance,credit forum but it states that it's not accepting any more posts.. .. I hope you can re direct this for me and hopefully help. I have four credit cards (all defaulted against) and one loan (with a ccj) that I am looking to settle . two of the cards are in my husbands name but I will be negotiating in the same instance. All of the creditors have payment plans in place which I negotiated myself which have been running and paid on time for a minimum of two years agreed payments are between £20-£40 per month each. I have recently contacted Vanquis and Halifax with proposed settlements and have used template letters from the Internet requesting full and final settlement to avoid the debt then being sold on. Vanquis has a balance of £1800 of which I have offered £1000.. ..they are happy to accept this but only on the basis that the debt will show as being partial settlement on my credit file. They have stated that the account will be closed and that the debt will not be sold on ( which I do not believe) I have had a very basic email accepting the offer (with no mention of the debt not being sold on) I really am not in the habit of liasing over the telephone but meerly contacted them to confirm they had received the letter. I then asked for all dealings to be done in writing. I am not disputing the debt as my credit file shows all payments to them, hence the phone call which I hope hasn't jeopardised any future negotiations. The account was opened in 2006 with an initial credit limit of £1200 which rose to £3000 I'm not certain when the default took place but I'm guessing approx 2013 it's fair to say every penny of the outstanding balance is charges and interest only. (Cringe) The Halifax letter I have yet to chase but is of lesser amount being approx £700 of which I have offered £350 taken out in 2012/13 again being made up now of interest/charges this is still accruing interest and only approx £3 per month reducing the balance I am certainly not flush but in a position to clear these hopefully over the next 6-12 months based on each creditor accepting approx 50% of the debt. Your advice on how to push for a full and final settlement would be very much appreciated as I'm finding it very difficult to get any help elsewhere and I don't want to jump out of th frying pan as it were by settling on a non favourable basis. Any other loopholes would be very much appreciated you guys appear to really know what you are talking about!! The other outstanding cards which I have not yet contacted are with lloyds approx £1200 held by my husband literally forever 25 years? and is made up totally 100% charges/interest........ ... ppi has however been claimed against this account as it was the only one with it (we have just had a letter reducing the balance by £800 due to some legal error on their part also) this has been outsourced to Robinson way for some time although the refund letter came directly from LLOYDS you never know who you are dealing with!! Barclaycard....held since 2005 balance approx £5000 AGAIN all charges/interest nightmare negotiating with to stop interest and charges managed by LINK (charge refund request made a couple of years ago by requesting bank statements to no avail) Finally a loan initially taken out with LOMBARD for £12,500 in 2008 then passed on to idem/Arden/idem I can't keep up with this!!! CCJ in 2013 sadly again the original loan has been repaid in essence but outsourced due to late payments with an outstanding balance of approx £5000 All of the defaults as a result of my mom dying and me losing the plot for a while sadly!! In 2013 -So frustrating as my credit history wasn't bad until then Any advice you can give me would be so gratefully received - I appreciate you taking the time to read this and appreciate that my circumstances may not appear as desperate as some- my mental health is however suffering a great deal as I am desperate to keep my family home I am the midst of a very complicated lost will scenario three years after my mothers death With a Contentious probate scenario not of my making. My only way out is to raise enough funds to buy out my very wealthy brothers (I am not) .hence my need to clear outstanding debt as efficiently and effectively as possible. This is my only way forward and any help for the sake of my sanity and my children's home would mean the world to us all.

Hi, I'm looking for some advice, haven't used the site before but came across it when trying to research. I joined JD gym in December, joining online. The main reason I joined was because it was the only gym in the city that was contract free. The website clearly states several times "No contract- cancel at any time". Because of various referral incentives I persuaded my husband and mother to join also. We were supposed to receive free towels, bags and a PT session. Over the 5 months that I attended I saw the club deteriorate; it took us 4 months to receive the bags and towels as they were out of stock or manager not available and no one else had access to them. We booked in a PT session twice and turned up both times to find the PT could not carry out our session as he'd been left on the floor by himself, there was never any effort to contact us beforehand to avoid a wasted trip. The showers got smellier, the gym got busier, often despite paying a premium for off-peak membership there wouldn't be any treadmills or rowers available for the best part of an hour. My mother and I decided to quit. We spoke to the guy at the desk who gave us a number for Harlands who are responsible for procuring the direct debits. I tried to call them but one of the digits had been incorrect so I called the gym and they gave me an email address for Harlands Customer services. It took 2 emails for them to reply stating that they couldn't find my name on the system and asking me to provide my DOB. I did so, they replied again saying they still couldn't locate me could I send my address which I did. They still couldn't find me so advised me to call their customer services. I called and was cut off the first time, put on hold for 40 minutes the second time and eventually they also couldn't find my details with my full name, address, DOB and start date. They advised me to email customer services detailing my intention to quit and cancel my direct debit, a view shared with several others trying to cancel on JD's facebook page. This was at the beginning of May. This week I received a debt collection letter from Harlands stating that I owe nearly £53 in charges including a "cancellation period charge" and an "admin charge for default of payment". Naturally my mother and I were appalled at this so I called the number on the letter; Harlands Customer Services. The lady was not particularly helpful claiming that I need to email customer services informing them of my intention to cancel. When I read the emails out to her she told me to "tone down my sarcasm or she would have to end the call". I'm not entirely sure whether she thought the responses I was reading from Harlands was sarcastic or the fact that I was disputing the effectiveness of emailing them. She told me that JD gyms had changed their cancellation terms recently and had sent correspondence to all members to inform them of this. Not myself, my husband or my mother have received anything via email, post, text or phone from JD other than fitness updates. She said they were unable to cancel things at their end as it was up to JD so I could either contact them to sort the issue or.... email Harlands Customer Services. I did both. After sending two emails I am still waiting 4 days later for Harlands to reply. JD only replied once I had made a public post on their facebook page about being very disappointed in their customer care and response to cancellation. (Upon looking on the facebook page I can see there have been quite a lot of people who have struggled to cancel as the process is not clear and they get no replies). JD have messaged basically sending me a copy of the generic Harlands T&C's. and stating that I have to give 14 days notice via email if I wish to cancel. This would be entirely fine if they would accept a cancellation but two months on and I am struggling to make any progress and incurring more fees each month. The T&C's are geared towards a contract-based membership and make no mention of contract-free memberships. In fact, to my mind the only contract that should be in place is the direct debit agreement. I can't see how legally you can have no contract with a company and yet be billed for services unused, paid in advance and cancellation periods. Please can anyone advise on this. Thanks in advance.

Now that it look's clear that a conservative government is going to be running the UK, I am very concerned for my future. I cannot work and have been unable to for four years now, and housebound for much longer than that. What I would like to know is am I likely to be treated more fairly and be more welcome in an other EU country. Or any other country for that matter! I understand this is not the usual topic, but I'm just wondering if anyone knows about this. I don't have enough ties here to stop me moving, and I imagine everyone in my situation is just going to suffer here.

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help. Recently my money has taken a turn for the worse with more going out than coming in. It's putting me and my partner under serious stress and difficulty and we just can't take anymore. I recently took out a logbook loan from Loans2Go in Feb for £700, the total repayment amount they are charging is £3,220.00 over 36 months. Well since then, things have gone down hill badly and it has left me unable to pay it anymore. I haven't missed a payment yet, but it's due very soon and I physically just do not have it. I recently had to move too to cut down my costs and they don't have my new address yet either. Well anyhow, I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice? The car is kept in a locked garage, which is guarded by a locked (very large) gate. Are they allowed to break into my garage to take it? Also, I checked my agreement and I can't find anywhere saying that I can't sign the car over. They have the MOT cert and V5 (both replaceable). I'm stuck here, I don't want to lose my car - it's nothing special it's just a cheap car but if I lost it I wouldn't be able to take my son to school, go to my psychiatrist appointments, nothing. Is there anything I can do? Kind regards James

My father passed away on 21st December 2014 and his benefits stopped. Fair enough as the Housing Association flat was paid up until the end of the month. We managed to clear out the flat well before the end of the month and handed back the keys. We were then told that two weeks notice has to be given and that they want £212.52 less £100 as the flat was clean when handed over. We received the invoice this morning almost 2 months after the estate had been settled. I am not sure how my father is supposed to notify the Housing Association that he is going to die and to give them appropriate notice? They have a clause written into the tenancy agreement stating that in the event of death, two weeks notice should be given. I would have though this was an unfair clause in the contract? do they have the right and can they legally pursue us for the money although we did not sign the contract?

I have had an ongoing issue with British Gas since my renewal dropped through the letter box in September 2014 for £340/yr. A fairly simple telephone call you might imagine to negotiate a better deal to compare to competitors at around £200/yr for the same level of cover. Anyway, two telephone calls that failed to result in a new price, due to "computer issues". Followed by various methods of them delivering the same £340/yr renewal quote with no explanation. Plus my complaints via on-line message through the website and to various complaints/customer service email addresses has still not resulted in a resolution. The most annoying fact is after the initial phone calls they said I would continue to be insured, and they would take the direct debit at the monthly amount stated. Now they never did this, so i would assume I am not insured, but they have not responded to my questions to confirm this. Please give some thought before you take one of these policies, and not just with BG by the sounds of it. I am going to try and find a good recommended boiler service guy and hope that any breakdowns and repairs are not too painful. Thanks for reading..