Thorpe Park with Trevor McDonald. Rides, cries and lost luggage Blog Discussion

lynzpower

MArtin,

When you have a spare minute in your schedule LOL, I suggest you start up a campaign against the vagaries of the Benefits Agency, the complete waste of money IT "system" that is not a system at all as the people who work there seldom have a scooby whats going on, and the sheer incompetence of the tax credits system that leaves people dangling in debt, and coming onto the DFW with problems with it almost daily. I will help in any way I can. Ive "worked " with the BA, and this brings shame on the UK so called support system. :mad:

Keep up the great work Martin, and Chrissie, I hope/ know you do get your cash back, Ive had 150 back from the co-op and of course banks are coughing up daily. Sending a hug to you!

Bookworm, you deserve to be knighted mate, all the hard graft you put in

MSE_Martin

Yes Bookworm - you (along with the rest of the CAG) do a fab job - and it was lovely meeting you too

bookworm1363

Awww shucks, you guys make me blush now. Stop it.

Edinburghlass_2

Loving the signature bookworm

bookworm1363

Thank you. Some really nice Scottish person helped me with that. Gosh, if only I could remember who that was...:D

foreveryoung_3

Hi Bookworm, it was nice to meet you, yes I still I hope have your number (amongst the paper work) I have statements everywhere, I am having problems with my other pc I seemed to have got a virus oops. It was a great show and you made strong points and given me more courage to fight on. Say hi to your lad from callum he was waving at the telly. Will try to ring you to meet up. Take care

MSE_Martin

Hi Chrissie

I must admit i was rather surprised when I got in to go through the script and voiceover yesterday to find that you weren't in the programme. Apparently it was a pure question of timing, and as we'd got a very late result with one of our contributers which meant 'following' her through the 9 weeks they decided to use her case instead.

I thought your story one of the most powerful though, and am thus glad we at least got it in the blog. Either way i hope it was a fun experience for you and the kids

martin

foreveryoung_3

Hi Martin, its ok as the experience was wonderful for all of us, we felt a bit special and had a great family time together.
Just to update you, I walked into Lloyds TSB with my crisp 10.00 note and handed over the letter from the Consumer web site, the customer services lady just read it and looked blankly at me as if I'd handed over a robbers demand for money and I have a cucumber in my carrier bag look. I asked her to stamp my copy as a receipt which she did, I smiled and left it with her. I shall now wait to hear from them. I also sent the same letter to Capital One and have further letters to La Redoute and Vodaphone. I am still waiting for the statements from Abbey. I was on the edge of going Bankrupt which would of cost me further money I did not have, and now it looks like I am going to be able to clear my debts, stop some court actions from happening, and still probably have enough for a cheap caravan holiday. I dont owe as much as I have paid in charges, yet my debts have increased because of bad management of my money by the BO. "Bring back the post offices, make small print illegal, communicate in basic, our country is being run by the banking system, no wonder the gypsys move around the country to avoid all the small print and paperwork".

I picked up a leaflet today about Titanium cashplus prepaid MasterCard. It does what it says on the tin. You load it up with money up from 10.00 to 5.000 and use it as you would a MasterCard anywhere you see the sign etc. Also you can get additional cardholders over 13 years of age so good for kids pocket money. There are some charges but I havent checked them out yet on there site. Use it to buy online, abroad instead of travellers cheques load up your card bobs your uncle. No credit check, No bank account required, card you can use from when you sign up. I am off to check out the web site for charges. https://www.titaniumcashplus.co.uk . I forgot to say you can have your wages paid direct into the account, so if your bank threatens to close your account there is another way.

Chrissie

bookworm1363

Very useful info about the titanium thing, Thanks, will pass it on to our users!

deejay62

I just couldn't believe what I was reading when I read about Chrissies plight. It was me!! Only 10 years ago. The benifits agency hadn't paid two cheques into my bank over the Christmas period and all the D.D's bounced not once but twice. I was usually so on the ball, getting a statment EVERY week from the hole in the wall, always living within my budget but with it being Christmas ect, it was the first Monday in the New Year before I'd gone to the bank and realised what had happened. I was distraught. Before I knew it I was £80 in debt and no way of repaying the charges. I contacted the Benifits Agency straight away and they admitted that it was their oversight. They paid me straight away and said that they would send a letter to my bank for the charges to be waived. The Bank wouldn't do that (I couldn't, at the time, blame them. They wanted their money whoever it came from) and the Agency wouldn't pay the charges. I was just the jam in the sandwich. I went from being a single mum who managed her money very well thank you very much, to being in debt up to my eyebrows. I ended up putting everything into the hands of a debt charity who deals with your creditors and pays them on your behalf. I have to pay off the debt and it ended up being £10,000 by the time it was all sorted, due to the companies and the bank charging me interest on the overdue amounts. It was an absoloute NIGHTMARE. I wish you had been around 10 years ago Martin, I would of saved thousands if the bank had been challenged over the bank charges.
Good luck to Chrissie and her children. I wish her all the best.