Consumer Watch
08 May 2013 - These Government plans where outlined in todays Queen speech.
The so called "Bill of Rights" for consumers will include many reforms covering digital content, insurance, and mis selling of goods & services.
Consumer
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08 May 2013 - The Queen's Speech has promised carers new rights as the number of elderly and vulnerable people being looked after by family members continues to rise. The move is designed to help family members who have to give up jobs to care for ailing relat
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25 April 2013 - Santander are in trouble for not informing Abbey mortgage holders know about raising capped rate. An agreement has been reached between Santander UK and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to contact more than 270,000 customers about unclear inform
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19 April 2013 - Soon those who have been mis-sold identity protection and card protection policies from a bank or credit card firm will be able to claim a refund. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) formally called CSA, announced last night its plans to enact a ma
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18 April 2013 - Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator plans to ban companies profiting from customers using their mobiles to ring 0800 numbers, which in principle are free. This investigation was sparked as many of us are only too aware that calling these numbers can cur
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12 April 2013 - A vehicle recall due to faulty passenger air bags will affect about 152,000 UK drivers. This recall is not confined to new cars as many to be recalled are 10 years old. The main responsibility is with the car manufacture. The manufacture will get nam
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11 April 2013 - From the 5th of April the government banned “excessive” fees for using a debit or credit card to complete online purchases. Under the new law traders are still allowed to levy a “small charge” to cover processing costs. Since
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03 April 2013 - The 2013 Budget has brought about some major changes to Tax and Benefits, as follows: Income tax In the current tax year (which ends on 5 April) people aged under 65 can earn £8,105 a year before they start to pay income tax. The tax free perso
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02 April 2013 - From 1st April 2013 Consumers can now take larger claims to the small claims court in England and Wales, as the maximum claim limit has risen from £5000 to £10,0000. The Small Claims Court was designed for Consumers to be able to bring &#
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18 March 2013 - If you have savings with the Bank of Cyprus UK your savings will not be raided The bank has announced today that British Customers with Cyprus’s UK won’t have their accounts raided, following the bailout agreement which could mean Cypriot
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15 March 2013 - In a move unlikely to endear the debt company to anyone dozens of fraud victims who had Wonga loans taken in their names saw their bank accounts raided
for more than £30,000. Wonger refuses to explain how and why the fraud is occurring o
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07 March 2013 - Natwest customers are tonight reporting that their bank accounts have been frozen and that they have been unable to draw cash. This sounds like yet another banking computer glitch. We will report further on this when we hear further information.
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06 March 2013 - A further blow to High Street as the beds giant Dreams falls into administration with a loss of 400 jobs. Dreams has been forced to appoint Administrators Ernst & Young to oversee the sale of the business. Fortunately 1,675 jobs are being saved d
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25 February 2013 - Nationwide customers should be extra vigilant against spam emails after email addresses were shown in the building society's monthly newsletter. The error occured when customers tried to enter a competition by clicking a link to confirm the custo
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15 February 2013 - The OFT has analysed nearly 4,000 complaints made by people renting or letting out a property. The findings are that both tenants and landlords are concerned about: fees and charges levied by agents poor value for money service provided by agents sur
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07 February 2013 - Over the past few weeks we have been hearing the horrifying story of how various supermarkets and fast food outlets have been selling food products containing horse meat. What makes this worst is that those products did not openly say that they conta
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22 January 2013 - Customers of Lloyds and Halifax couldn't transfer cash yesterday using The Faster Payment system, due to a system crash. Lloyds have said that all other transfers have been unaffected. The Faster Payment scheme which was launched in 2008 allows m
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21 January 2013 - Customers of the collapsed music and DVD retailer will be relieved to find that HMV's administrators have done a U-turn on their decision not to accept gift cards. The administrators who were called in last week have said that after looking at th
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16 January 2013 - Here we go again, one day after the terrible news that HMV have gone into administration now yet another high street brand has gone pop! It has therefore been announced that accountants Deloitte have been appointed to manage the struggling entertainm
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15 January 2013 - The last major music and DVD retailer on the high street called in the administrators last night after poor sales failed to back a dying business model. The 92 year old firm appointed Deloitte as administrators. Deloitte have decided to keep HMV'
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09 January 2013 - The announcement from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who have been appointed as the administrators of the ailing retail outlet, puts 2,000 jobs at risk as a buyer of all 193 stores seems unlikely. Unfortunately people who have Jessops gift vouchers wil
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31 December 2012 - Retailers are under no legal obligation to exchange or refund a gift unless: it was faulty when bought it is not as described it is not fit for purpose. REMEMBER: If you receive a gift which does not fit you properly or you simply do not like it, you
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20 December 2012 - The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has launched a consultation that could see businesses made to give money back which was gained from over-payments or mis-selling. It was announced that authorities like Trading Standards will b
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18 November 2012 - Comet is preparing to close up to 40 stores by the end of the November. This means that the administrators are stepping up the deals to get rid of stock as quick as possible. However, beware that if you buy something from Comet which turns out to be
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13 November 2012 - National Consumer Week 2012 will be launching on the 12 November and is organised by the Trading Standards Institute. This years theme is 'cold calling don't buy it'. Say NO to cold callers The aim of the nationwide campaign is to protect
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09 November 2012 - Youandyourrights.co.uk and the OFT are warning consumers who wish to access government services to check whether they are visiting the official government website or the website of a business charging for processing services. Searching on the interne
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08 November 2012 - The decision to suspend the use of gift vouchers in comet stores has been reversed after it emerged that disabled children, who had received vouchers from the Family Fund charity, where amongst those caught up in the mess. The Comet sale is now on. T
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07 November 2012 - Four of the biggest supermarket chains in the UK have cut there petrol and diesel prices by as much as 2p. Asda said the cuts are due to wholesale prices. Sainsbury's, Tesco and finally Morrisons followed suit to also say they are cutting gas pri
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03 November 2012 - If it is not bad enough that comet collapsed into administration this week it has now emerged that its administrators have suspended the use of gift vouchers even though all comet stores remain open. It has been reported that the staff have been inst
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01 November 2012 - It’s not really any great surprise to see another retailer on the verge of collapse. This time it is Comet that are believed to be on the brink of administration, which will be one of the biggest casualties on the High Street that we have seen.
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29 October 2012 - On 7th January 2013 a new Child Benefit Scheme is being introduced which will affect 1.2 million families. Under the new scheme if you or your partner earns more than £50,000 per year you will be affected as follows: i) If you or your partner e
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25 October 2012 - 75% of state schools tell parents where to shop for uniforms. The Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) recent report on school uniforms found that a staggering 74 per cent of schools impose restrictions on where parents can buy their child's unifor
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11 October 2012 - Tesco are giving £10 off when you spend £75 or more on Tesco direct (their online portal). All you need to do is enter discount code: TD-MXTN when you get to the online checkout.
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10 October 2012 - Tesco are giving 25% off Wine by the case for new customers using eCoupon code XXKXFP.
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10 October 2012 - The M&S Monthly Saver offers a fixed rate of 6% gross AER (or 4.8% after tax) to those who can deposit between £25 and £250 a month for 12 months. That means the most you can invest in a year is £3,000. No partial withdrawals ar
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01 October 2012 - We are all experiencing an increase in unsolicited ‘spam’ text messages, usually about PPI, reducing debt or other similar services offered by claims management companies. These texts are both annoying and in most cases unwanted and histo
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27 September 2012 - Waitrose are offering £50 off your first five online grocery shops. To qualify you need to: 1.spend £75 or more 'per shop' 2.place your first offer for delivery by 3 November 3. receive your fifth delivery by 15 December 2012.
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26 September 2012 - Customers with a mobile subscription with Tesco are being offered 12 months' free home broadband and calls when they also take out line rental. All Tesco Mobile customers - including pay monthly, pay-as-you-go and SIM-only users - are entitled to
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25 September 2012 - In a move that clearly goes against recent trends Asda has cut its fuel prices pleadging that unleaded petrol will cost "no more that " 135.7 pence-per-litre at its forecourts and that diesel will be cut to 139.7 pence-per-litre. Sainsbury
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16 July 2012 - Ofgem, the energy regulator, set out plans today for a £22bn upgrade to the UK’s ageing gas and electricity networks. The work will allow the connection of more renewable energy projects but will also add £11 a year to the average &
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09 July 2012 - If someone told you that an energy company would give you a FREE new boiler and cheap electricity and gas you simply would not believe it. Why would you in an age where the energy companies cant stop increasing prices. However, this is exactly what a
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20 June 2012 - Have you ever been caught out by the small print (ie: those tiny terms and conditions)?? If you are one of the many many people that has i want to hear your story as something needs to be done. We are going to campaign for 'ban the small print
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09 June 2012 - Are you in debt due to a car loan that you took out before 2008?? If you are it is possible that the loan does not comply with the Consumer Credit Act and therefore that it cannot be enforced against you. If this applies to you send us your story...
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19 March 2012 - An investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has revealed that PiP implants made before 2001 may contain unauthorised silicone gel, contrary to initial guidance from French health authorities , therefore meaning that th
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05 March 2012 - A survey has revealed that the top supermarkets are offering fake price cuts to consumers as whilst they reduce one item they put others up so the weekly shopping bill actually rises. A further study by “The Grocer” has found over the las
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20 February 2012 - Do you know someone that died shortly after having a hip replacement? We are investigating this as we have receieved so many messages from people who someone that this happened to..
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20 February 2012 - We are being informed by many women who have PIP breast implants that they have been asked by their surgeries to sign disclaimers before the surgery will replace the implants. STOP, DO NOT SIGN THIS. It is totally immoral and frankly wrong. Why shoul
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20 February 2012 - Do you understand the charges that your bank charge you for your overdraft? I am guessing not but I want to hear from as many of you as possible to confirm this. Together, we can do something about this!
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19 January 2012 - We are being informed about an alarming amount of cases where credit card companies are refusing to pay out under section 75 claims. We feel really strongly about this as the Consumer Credit Act makes it clear that consumers are protected. We are the
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