Every Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Coupon Queen Maddy Tooke helps out, Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes, and property expert Amanda Cable will weigh in with her tips
Amanda Cable – Property expert
NEIGHBOURS have chatted over the garden fence for centuries and now a new survey reveals exactly where the UK’s friendliest live.
The most amiable neighbours are aged 65 or older and living in a detached or semi-detached home in Norwich.
The least-friendly, according to research for savings experts Portafina, are likely to be under 30 and living on a well-established housing estate in Birmingham (where neighbours spend less than five minutes each month chatting).
Below, in terms of average number of minutes spent chatting with next-door neighbours each month, are the nation’s top ten friendliest cities.
Friendly league – How long will neighbours chat to you?
- Norwich – 50 mins
- Glasgow – 43 mins
- Dublin – 40 mins
- Nottingham – 39 mins
- Newcastle – 37 mins
- Cardiff – 34 mins
- Edinburgh – 30 mins
- London – 24 mins
- Leeds – 21 mins
- Liverpool – 20 mins
Be a sand-owner
IF you’ve been chilling on the beach this summer, how about buying your own?
New Aberdour Beach in Aberdeen, complete with 36 acres of caves and rocks, is for sale for offers from £90,000.
The beach starred in last year’s Whisky Galore remake.
See details at galbraithgroup.com
SELLING an empty pad is tough as they never look their best – but a new tool may boost viewings.
The virtual tool allows sellers to “stage” a room online so buyers can see how it would look fully furnished.
Stuart Willis, who has introduced the system from the US, says: “Buyers often dismiss an empty property when they view it online.
“But like a real-life Sims game, this online tool allows customers to choose sofas, rugs and pictures and drag them into the image of their real-life pad.”
See onestoppropertymarketing.co.uk
Staging a room can be done virtually or in real life.
Here are Stuart’s top tips:
– Don’t place large furniture in the foreground – it can be overpowering. Work out sight lines and keep them free of furniture.
– Choose a theme which suits the house and stick to it.
Mel Hunter – Readers’ champion on fighting for your rights
Tickets gone all Pete Tong
Q: IN December 2016 I bought tickets for a Pete Tong gig from Viagogo as a Christmas present for my partner.
The gig is this December. I recently logged into my email to print them off, only to find Virgin Media had closed the account.
Viagogo’s recorded message asks for ticket numbers – which I do not have – and it has not responded to my letters and emails.
Faith Saunders, Portsmouth
A: What a shame that your big night out had gone all Pete Tong!
Virgin said it closed your email when you shut your broadband account and it couldn’t retrieve your tickets.
I turned to Viagogo and it quickly found and resent the tickets to your new email address.
I am really grateful to Viagogo, although I currently have another customer query with the firm which I still need help with.
Q: I BOUGHT a leather La-Z-Boy sofa from SCS in Swansea which was delivered in May 2016.
Unfortunately the colour has “peeled” off one of the arms and the back cushions on the same side.
I contacted the complaints department who sent out an inspector, who then sent a report to say there was no defect.
I was very unhappy with this so I called them for an explanation to which they replied this problem could possibly be caused by body oils.
If I had known that, I would never have bought it.
Jeanette Wright, Swansea
A: This seems to happen with a range of different manufacturers and retailers, and often “body oils” or hair products are given as the reason.
An expensive sofa should be built to withstand this kind of everyday wear, or with clear warnings it will not.
Otherwise, the sofa may not meet the basics of the Consumer Protection Act, namely that it lasts a reasonable time and is fit for purpose.
SCS and La-Z-Boy agreed to replace your sofa for free but insisted there was no fault with the furniture.
A La-Z-Boy UK spokesperson said: “Leather care instructions are provided with all La-Z-Boy products to help customers keep their items in the best possible shape.
“A variety of external factors can sometimes interact with the surface or finish of natural leather.
“These include, but are not limited to, clothing and fabric, sunlight, pets, cosmetics or chemicals.”
Q: SIGNED up for a fixed contract with Extra Energy in September 2014.
Everything was fine that year, and I regularly paid my bills by direct debit.
In September 2015, I agreed to a new fixed rate but it was another ten months until I received a bill for £4,117.24.
They told me they had made a mistake and I should have been on the fixed rate. I called them several times asking for a revised bill to be sent.
Eventually I received a bill for £1,328.31, but this was also on the variable rate.
They now say I never signed up for the second fixed rate.
This has been so stressful and will have an impact on my credit rating. I don’t know where to turn.
Wendy Barfoot, Chingford, Essex
A: I got in touch with Extra for you and, once they looked at your case again, they worked out a range of measures to make your repayments more manageable.
They put you on the fixed rate and rebilled your account, offering to halve your balance to £560 on the proviso that you paid £300.
Do you have a consumer issue? E-mail [email protected]
Maddy Tooke – Coupon Queen finding you the best bargains
My 10 best deals this week
- Get 20 per cent off local deals from Groupon with Vouchercloud.com/groupon-vouchers. Expires tomorrow.
- Free coffee or original glazed donut with any purchase from Krispy Kreme. See Vouchercloud.com/krispy-kreme-vouchers at Krispy Kreme stores. Expires October 12.
- Save 25 per cent on La Redoute new collection for women, men, plus size, kids and home with code 25OFF at the checkout. Order through Topcashback.co.uk/la-redoute for up to 15 per cent cash back on top. Expires August 20.
- Save 36 per cent on Euro Car Parts with code MID36. Expires August 21. See eurocarparts.com.
- Sort back-to-school stationary for less with 25 per cent on orders over £10 from The Works. Use code QUID25 at the checkout and order through Quidco.com to get 17 per cent cash back on top. Expires tomorrow
- New customers get £10 off a £50 spend at Brand Alley. Order through Quidco and earn up to ten per cent cash back. Use code QUIDCO at the checkout. Expires August 31.
- Get 58 per cent off PrinterPix.co.uk with code SUMMER17 order through Quidco and earn 13 per cent cash back. Expires August 31.
- Save £5 on £50 spend at Charles Tyrwhitt with code UKSTP5, £10 off £75 spend with code UKSTP10 or £15 off £100 spend with code UKSTP15. Quidco has ten per cent cash back. Expires tomorrow.
- Get 20 per cent off adult styles of £50 or more at Clarks with code BTS17 from Vouchercodes.co.uk. Expires October 1.
- Save 20 per cent on full price orders from Ann Summers with exclusive Vouchercodes.co.uk code SEXY20. Expires August 23.
My top 5 freebies
- New Topcashback customers get £15 cashback on a £15 spend at B&Q. Sign up at Topcashback.co.uk/tcb-b-and-q17/. Expires September 3.
- Free Thorntons ice cream for O2 customers with the O2 Priority Moments app. Show the app in store to claim yours, while stocks last. Expires August 25.
- There’s a free Aptus dog joint supplement sample from aptuspet.co.uk/order-samples/.
- Print £1 off coupon at Goodfellaspizzas.com/coupons-uk/1-off/ for a free Goodfella’s pizza. Redeem in store at Tesco where they are currently £1. Ends September 4.
- Free sample of Similac Growing Up Milk 1-3 years from Boots. Request your sample from www.boots-sampling.co.uk/similac/growing-up-milk/.
Have you any money saving tips? E-mail [email protected]
Judge Rinder – The Sun’s legal expert
ONE of the pleasures of writing this column is I get to share a little bit of joy with readers in a world otherwise saturated with turmoil, terror and Trump.
So I had to share a legal story this week which made me chuckle.
I am able to speak several languages — French and Russian are my two fluent-ish ones.
The good news is that I get to impress my friends and could have a perfectly affable chinwag with Vladimir Putin.
He hasn’t stopped writing since my big chest reveal on Strictly last year.
One of the many benefits of being a “polyglot” — which is what they used to call Nick Clegg who speaks French, Dutch, Spanish and political suicide — is that I would often be able to communicate with my foreign clients without the benefit of an interpreter.
As a matter of law, every defendant must be able to understand criminal proceedings they face.
This has led to some extremely amusing and rather strange results.
On one occasion, a German interpreter failed to show up so the magistrate asked if anyone in the public gallery might be able to help translate.
The clerk repeatedly asked the defendant his name and home town but the translator failed to say a word.
Eventually, after some nudging from the judge, the man from the public gallery turned to the defendant and said, in full ’Allo ’Allo! style: “Vot iz your name and ver do you cum from?!” Obviously our hapless joker was held in contempt and spent the night in jail.
This week, lawyers used Google Translate when Xiu Ping Yang, the proprietor of a now-closed takeaway was accused by Redcar and Cleveland Council of food hygiene breaches.
The defendant was unrepresented and could not understand proceedings so, rather than delay matters, a canny lawyer used his common sense and an iPhone to translate the proceedings.
When I read the story I was seriously concerned that this woman would be deprived of a fair hearing, then I read the staggering statistic that 2,600 cases over the past five years have been delayed due to interpreting services — millions of wasted taxpayer pounds.
During my own trials, time would be lost as the wrong interpreter had been asked to attend.
If we can make this tech work and the fairness of proceedings are not impaired then courts should use it. It will save a fortune.
Summing up
Q: MY wife and I have divorced as she fell in love with a married colleague and told me our marriage was over.
I kept telling her he wouldn’t leave his wife but we split and sold the marital home and divided the assets. She got nearly everything as she is the primary carer of our daughter.
She borrowed £6,000 from me in 2008 to buy a car, with the promise to pay me back when her ShareSave at Abbey National matured.
But she left the scheme before it matured and got back what she paid in, never offering to pay me what she owed.
She sold the car to buy another and then sold that for one she has today.
After the divorce and marital home assets have now been split, am I entitled to the cash owed?
CALUM, Essex
A: This is a really tough one. I am deeply sorry for the hideous angst you’ve been through.
The difficulty here is whether the £6,000 you gave your ex-wife all those years ago was part of the marital assets.
If it was then this should have been declared – by you or your wife – and dealt with at the time of the divorce.
It seems unlikely you are going to be successful at unsticking this issue from the divorce proceedings by saying that this was a wholly separate contract.
I would recommend you get some legal advice in the meantime nevertheless. The Law Society can help.
Mr Rinder regrets he cannot answer questions personally. Answers intended as general guidance, they do not constitute legal advice and are not a substitute for getting independent legal advice.
Got a question for Judge Rinder? Email [email protected]
Read the full article here
