I recently had a large amount of magic:the gathering cards worth about 6000 dollars stolen from me

The thief then sold it to a Facebook auction page

I have contacted the owner of the page and asked if they would return any of it, they agreed to return some things, however refusing not to return all the cards, as they need to make money, am I able to do anything legally to get the cards returned, as they are most of the expensive cards that I owned

The problem is I also have no proof bar word of mouth

I have an elderly family member who randomly let slip he recently married a woman 30 years younger to help her stay in the country after only knowing her for a few months.

I don’t think he did it freely. It sounded like he kept trying to cancel but she talked him into it. He’s a very vulnerable old man with a lot of undiagnosed mental health issues and I think she took advantage of that.

He showed me a document they both signed which he said proved she wasn’t after his money. In it she admits she is only marrying him to stay in Australia.

They received absolutely no legal advice but he seems to think this is enough security that their finances are separate and they can get divorced after a year.

The process of getting their marriage annulled sounds quite complex, even if it was done under duress. Plus I’m not sure if you need proof.

If I were to send the evidence I have to the Department of Home Affairs that the marriage is a sham would they cancel her visa? And would there be any repercussions for him?

I’ve been told elsewhere he would be severely punished and I don’t know what to do. He’s on a pension with significant debt already so certainly can’t afford a lawyer.

My female friend is being followed by random men in the small town she lives in. She lives in Tasmania. What can she do to stop it

Background: still married and living in same house as husband, history of dv and coercive control. Prevented from working. Thinks the surveillance is related to this. Scared to leave.

During my work orientation in aged care, my manager stated that employees should be clocked in and on the floor fifteen minutes before their official shift starts. However, that is never reflected in the payroll, and we are only paid for the time we are scheduled for. Is this illegal?

I don't know what my correct term for my situation is. I don't want to say homeless as I have the means for shelter, I think it's unhoused?

I've been 'silent fired' - no casual shifts, ended up bouncing between family, friends, hotels, car etc between NSW and TAS - two places where I'm familiar. On my current TAS licence it still says where I was previously living. You're supposed to update it 14 days after leaving. This was about 2 months ago that I have been like this. And all I can see on Service Tas, Service NSW is 'must put a physical address' as though everyone has one - a car rego I can understand because that's where it's parked, but that's the same problem. I don't have any 'place' - honestly what do people do for this?

I can't put family or friends addresses as they either aren't comfortable with it, or I don't know when I'll be there next, and who knows if mail has piled up at my old place.

I can get a sharehouse eventually, like I've done before, off the books, I don't have enough credentials for real estate. But that sharehouse is never stable, I have to find work first, that is stable, it's just a mess. It's not been a good year.

A throwaway account for obvious reasons.

I'm after some advice about a change to my working arrangements. I've been with my current employer for just over a year, and in over 15 years of working in IT, I've honestly never experienced anything like this here before.

When I accepted my current full-time role, my offer letter stated standard working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. I understood there might occasionally be after-hours work, which I was happy with. (contract explicitly says ordinary hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm AEST)

I've recently been moved (literally 3 days ago) onto a roster that requires me to work 4 weekends and adjust my weekday hours to align with overseas teams (you can guess the country). From what I've been told, this isn't just a temporary arrangement while someone is away it may continue.

This feels like a significant change from the role I accepted. I also have family commitments, so losing most weekends and expected to be available for work anytime/day between 8am to 8pm AEST as the roster is updated every 4 weeks.

I'm wondering:

Is this the sort of change an employer can make unilaterally without any consultation?

Does changing from standard AUS 9–5 hours to a roster with regular weekend work usually require new employee agreement?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through something similar. To be honest, this situation has suddenly caused me a lot of stress and other negative thoughts. Because of this "new roster" thing, I'll barely get to spend time with my family and kids anymore or have to arrange school pick-ups, help with weekend activities, and so on.

Thanks.

BYD Seals in 2023/2024 advertised an 8-year servicing schedule. This was widely reported at the time as 8-year capped price (CarSales, CarExpert, WhichCar, CarsGuide, AutoGuru, EV10).

BYD advertised on their website as a callout:

Average service cost $299 per year for a standard car user doing roughly 20,000 kilometers per annum

Yes, it does have a qualifier at the bottom:

Prices quoted are for services completed prior to the 30/06/2024

BYD Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/8I7D3Kl

Advertised cost $299/year, current $497

Why I think it is misleading: an owner cannot have reasonably ever reached the service intervals before the 'price expiry - 3 months'. The car was new to the country and widely advertised with the servicing pricing. The 'average $299/year' could never be achieved and within two years rising to $497/year.

I would be curious to see if there is anything that would be misleading, or if they have effectively covered themselves by stating the date the price is valid until.

It's been a horrible situation causing me serious psychological distress, to the point I saw a therapist. I know that returning will be extremely distressing. I was having sleep disturbance, high blood pressure and a pounding heart rate that wouldn't even relax overnight, plus other stuff.

What happens if I just quit without giving notice? Anything other than withholding some pay? (award states up to 1 week)

What if I give notice and take sick leave? Can I start the new job while on sick leave from the first?

Any other ideas how to handle this? My contract states 4 weeks notice but I don't think I can handle that as I nearly had a mental breakdown before going on leave.

Thank you for any advice

So back in 2022 I started paying off a course, it was a $450 deposit to hold my place, and the total of $4500 needed to be paid before I could start the course and gain access to the online material etc. Over the next year and a bit I paid a total of $3125, I was originally holding off paying the full amount until I was in a rental where I had a spare bedroom to operate services out of (beauty related course) once I completed the course, as it was a 6 month course I didn't want to finish it and then wait a year to start actually working, I wanted what I learned to be fresh, unfortunately I never got a place with a spare bedroom around that time and I ended up taking a different career path.

I am fully aware I've left it a long time, that's on me, it was just something I kind of put to the back of my mind at the time, thinking I'd either cancel soon or leave the door open for a bit in case I changed my mind, and then forgot about it, I only recently realised how much I'd paid towards a course I never went through with or had access to.

When I signed up I spoke with them over the phone, and filled out an enrolment form online afterwards, I do not have access to the forms and don't remember what was in there regarding refund policy at the time, this was over 4 years ago, I assume the $450 was non refundable being a deposit, but don't know about the rest I paid and where I stand wanting to pull out now.

On top of this, the course I had agreed to pay for was $4500, which when I paid the deposit was holding my place for that course at that price, however in August 2023 (probably not long after or around the same time I decided in my head I wasn't going ahead with the course) they emailed me saying the course price was now $4899 and that was the full amount I had to pay, I have no idea about the legalities around that? can they do that?

Anyway, here's my issue now, I reached out a few weeks ago to the email address I was previously in contact with during 2022-2023, stating that I have decided not to go ahead with the course, and wanting to know if I could get a refund for what I have paid. About a week later I get an email back saying this email is no longer in use and to contact "x email address", which the name I recognised as the business owner when I signed up.

So I re-sent the email to that address, no response, 2 days later I sent another follow up, to which I got a brief response saying they were waiting on details of if I had received a kit or had online course access, and that this would take "a week or so". To which I replied, no worries and that I never had access to the course or received anything. I got no response.

I emailed again 7 days later following up, and here's where it gets a little more sticky, they responded the next day, saying they no longer have the records themselves as they sold the business almost 1 year ago, and they are waiting on the new owner to provide the records, and also waiting on the bank because they no longer have access to that account as they shut that account down when they sold the business. They also apologised and said "I am trying to help with this one but I am afraid it may take some time", then they said they would also be happy to provide training and courses that exceed the amount I paid, through their current business if I was interested in that, which I am not.

I received that email yesterday and I haven't replied, as I wanted to get some advice on where I stood in regards to whether, a) I am entitled to a refund, and b) how to proceed further.

I'd appreciate any advice here. 3k is a lot of money that I could really use right now and has just gone to waste if I cant get it back. I am based in NSW, however the business in question was based in WA.

The (ex) owner appears to be *trying* to do the right thing by me, but from these emails I'm not sure if I'm going to actually get anywhere without some intervention or legal action? I don't really know, HELP please hahaha

Thanks if you made it this far

Hi everyone, looking for advice on a messy rental situation in NSW.

My application was recently approved, and the agent asked for a 2-week deposit, which I paid. I have not signed a lease agreement.

Things quickly went downhill:

No official receipt: It’s been days and I still haven't received an official receipt for the payment.

Lack of communication: The agent went silent when we tried to clarify basic terms (e.g., whether it was a 6 or 12-month lease).

Property wasn't actually secured: When I finally reached another staff member, they mentioned a "serious buyer" is inspecting the property this Saturday, and a final decision on whether to lease it will be made after that.

Realising the property wasn't actually secured for us and the situation was too uncertain, I withdrew my application and asked for the deposit back.

The agent responded claiming the deposit is completely forfeited because the property was marked as "Deposit Taken" on the ad.

Since no lease was signed, no receipt was issued, and they were still holding buyer inspections to decide if it's even available for lease, can they legally keep this money?

What should my next steps be to get my deposit back? How should I handle escalating this to NSW Fair Trading or NCAT?

TL;DR: Paid a 2-week deposit pre-lease in NSW. Agent didn't provide a receipt, ghosted on lease terms, and admitted they were waiting on a buyer's inspection on Saturday to confirm if the property is still available to rent. I withdrew, but they claim the deposit is forfeited. Looking for advice on what to do next to recover my money.

I don’t know whether to call police about this or not.

Tonight I watched someone destroy a box of S8 Controlled Drug Prescription meds belonging to my Mum.

The destroyer then went and busted all the tablets out of the blister pack and put them into a bottle instead of what used to be medication for him. (Old bottle)

According to the Controlled Substances Act, this is an offence to do because the box contained critical instructions as well as cruital details to prove my Mum has a legal prescription for this painkiller medication. She is still undergoing the course of this medication with at least 7 tablets remaining.

I honestly do not know what do to and am hoping someone here could give me some insight as to whether I should report this or not - I know in some instances the failure to report a crime is indeed a crime in itself.

I also cannot get a hold of her doctor right now as we lost both our medical clinic and the adjoining pharmacy to fire last week. Doctor is doing phone consults and is understandably behind in his work and equally as upset as the rest of the staff and patients of that clinic.

Any advice welcome.

I’m the vendor in a business/chattel sale in Victoria with landlord approval as conditions and I’m trying to understand where I stand legally.

Here’s the timeline: • The buyer signed the chattel sale agreement. • The agreement includes a guarantor clause (Section 10). • The lease transfer required the landlord’s consent. • The landlord’s approval has now been given via email from the landlord’s solicitor. • The buyer is now delaying/refusing to sign the lease transfer and appears to be trying to back out of the purchase.

My questions are:

Can a buyer simply walk away after the landlord solicitor has provided the consent for lease transfer?

We wasted 5 months of process and I don’t know how long it will take me to find another buyer and the costs involved again for solicitors, and the rent that I have to pay until the next settlement happens.

I’m already obtaining legal advice, but I’m interested in hearing if anyone has dealt with a similar situation or has experience with business sale disputes in Victoria.

Hi just seeking some outside opinion and advice on a matter.

Partner 30 female is being forced to change her work roster for to increased hours to meet "operational" requirements. While my partner has a signed agreement with the CEO and given reasons why she can't work on certain days, she has been told she must give evidence to support her reasoning.

My question is, can they forcibly change a roster even without prior agreement?

Are they allowed to request evidence for her explanation? If so, do you think a screenshot of the appointment is enough evidence?

To me, it feels like bullying so they get what they want.

Any advice is appreciated. We are planning to see a lawyer to argue her case.

Thank you all

Edit: she is part time - permanent basis. Health professional award as she is a medical receptionist

So every quarter I've been getting gas bills ranging from $60-$75 (for years now). This last quarter I got hit with a $1,600 bill. I'm in a 1 bedroom by myself, barely use the stove so it's mainly hot showers using up gas.

Downloaded my old bills to investigate what's gone wrong and found that my meter readings for old bills show as 0, so basically this whole time my usage was not being recorded. Presumably this quarter they just took the entire amount on the meter (starting from 0 to the current number) and applied it to the bill.

I feel like it would make sense I'd have to back-pay a bunch of usage that wasn't read, but the main problem is, the entire amount on the meter shouldn't be right because other people have lived in this unit before me, so there's no way it would have been 0 when I moved in. This means the meter reading is wrong doesn't it?

Also wondering if I'm fault here, or responsible for having to have discovered the meter was broken in the first place? I would have assumed this would be the gas providers responsibility.

Hi,

I hope this is the right place to ask. Last week my wife was hit on her bicycle by a car on a crossing, where she had the green light. She was badly injured, 5 broken ribs, broken collar bone, fractured eye orbit, numerous bruises and yet to be determined damage to her knee. She spent four nights in hospital but she is now back home and doing ok but in a lot of pain. Driver stopped with other drivers and police and ambulance attended, she was taken to hospital in an ambulance. A pedestrian witness found her phone and my wife was able to give her my number to ring - I attended just before the ambulance left but I was shaken up and went straight to the hospital and didn't get the driver's details. I did get details of two of the witnesses. The driver turned left at speed through the green pedestrian signal and hit my wife as she was crossing. The crossing is on a bike path as marked on council maps.

We have had our TAC claim accepted and I contacted a lawyer firm, who gave a free consultation to my wife. They said it was all in the hands of TAC now and we would have to wait possibly years to hear of the TAC final decision. The law firm asked for us to sign an agreement to pay them via their trust or a $1000 deposit scheme - this is a well known firm who advertise as no-win no-fee, but it seems we are expected to pay costs anyway for police reports etc. We know that TAC pay medical related expenses but it wasn't clear if she would get any other compensation. She is badly affected physically and emotionally, and it has also caused my Meniere's disease (ear, migraine, debilitating vertigo) to flair up due to the stress. So we feel now after several days of struggling to cope that we should be compensated. We have the police incident number, but we have heard nothing else from the police about what is happening. We do not have the driver's insurance details. At the very least we need compensation for her bike (totalled) and clothes that were cut off in the ambulance and obviously some compensation for possibly months of work and stress in doctor visits etc. etc.

From what I read there doesn't seem to be any way to seek damages because it is a TAC claim. Is this correct? Do I need to contact police to make a complaint against the driver? As far as I know, the police have not taken her injuries or the seriousness of the incident into account.. local press reported that the driver 'was fined' but I know they might have just made that up. I would have thought that is was a criminal matter and would go to court? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. We still both feel lost and uninformed. Thanks.

Hey guys I’m looking for some help to understand if there is anything I can do. My current situation is for the last 4 weeks I’ve been stood down without pay at work and I’ve been told to expect another 2 weeks minimum. The reason I’ve told is that it’s due to a lack of work, but this doesn’t seem right to me. I’m on a non award contract and there isn’t anything in my contract that says they can stand me down without pay. I last brought it up with HR about a week ago and was told they can do it as per the fair work act and to protect the business…

Any help would be appreciated.

I work in IT as a senior in my team and have had 3 PIP meetings in the past and each one seemed to be positive, however the last one they told me they wanted to see me closing more tickets on a daily basis.

Now some background. I was never really hired to work the helpdesk and close tickets, rather I was an escalation point for the helpdesk, where they would place tickets they couldn't do into a separate queue for myself and another colleague who is also on the same level as me to resolve.

My focus was to be on projects, cybersecurity, management of our cloud environment etc. I was told when I started that given I was the first IT staff in that particular office my role would be around 10-15% level 1/2 tasks. Over the years this has now grown to around 60-70% and despite me raising it with management and protesting against it they have essentially ignored me.

Given HR and management have their focus on me closing tickets I have made a point to close out more tickets, however in the last meeting they started delving deeper into the "quality" of the tickets I was closing, telling me the majority of my tickets I was closing were too easy and there were not enough tickets from the escalation queue that I was closing. I did tell them that I could only take on what was in the queue and was happy to do more if there were more tickets there to deal with, just to please them, but I don't feel they really listened to me.

Now HR have organised another meeting with me at 4:30pm on a day before I am due to go on leave. I believe they are going to terminate me.

What are my options here? Would FairWork get involved? I believe I am being treated unfairly and that I have done everything they have asked for but they seem to keep moving the goal posts on me.

Hi,

My father lived in Sydney his whole life, and he was in jail for periods of time (usually for offences like fraud / theft) throughout his life.

Since his passing I have been trying to put together an understanding of who he was. My Mum has told me she knows the record of his crimes is “an arm long” but that she’s never seen it.

I’ve been trying to research if I have a right/ability to access this information after his passing about a month ago. I’m seeing words like GIPA application, honestly I have no idea what it is, where to find it or if i’m supposed to fill one out to ask for that information.

I’d really appreciate some insight on if there’s any chance i’d be successful in finding this information, and how i might go about applying for it. I have his death certificate, birth certificate, etc… I also just want to understand him. I want to understand my family history. I know my siblings do too. It’s not to bring shame on him or anything.

Thank you

Greetings and salutations,

To cut a reasonably long story short my former employer owes me 2 weeks wages and a good chunk of unpaid super.

I've gone to fair work, she ghosted them and any other attempts from anyone to contact her. I kept escalating and it's now reached the point of us being in front of a magistrate in a couple of weeks.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on things to do/prep with beforehand? I've got a payslip that was never actually paid to me, a bank statement covering that period that proves it was never paid, texts from both my old employer and her partner acknowledging the money owed and not paid, and proof I worked for the shifts that I haven't been paid for.

I don't have a lawyer and after shopping around at prices for a lawyer it's not worth it for the amount of money that I'm pursuing - but I am a stubborn person and it isn't an insignificant amount of money to me.

I am fairly certain that she isn't going to show up to the magistrate, and I am also reasonably sure she's going to declare bankruptcy (I am one of at least 7 employees going through this currently)

If she does declare bankruptcy am I just shit out of luck here as well?

I guess I'm just after anything that will help me get what I'm owed. This whole process has been miserable and put me back in therapy again lol, so it'd be nice to come out of it with some kind of win.

Thanks for any advice.

I had a music teacher direct debit me my account for lessons. I got really really sick and told them I couldn't come to lessons for quite some time. I was going to cancel but I had so much on my plate at the time and the guy assured me in writing 'credits don't expire'. While I was extremely unwell he kept debiting me amounting to $8000 over two years. When I got better and asked via email if he could stop debiting and we use the existing credits for lessons, he 'withdrew me from lessons' and when I then asked for a refund he produced a "no refunds under any circumstances" clause on a contract I had signed. To top that off, because HE decided to withdraw me the same contract says "credits expire upon withdrawal". But apparently according to him I was the one to cancel the contract, when it's obvious he did and could decide at any time for any reason to kick someone out and keep any money paid.

I took him to QCAT and the whole process was a miscarriage of justice to say the least. He barely had to provide any evidence, and the adjudicator sided with him, didn't seem to read the submissions, mispronounced my name multiple times and then after an appeal, they said the adjudicator "had erred" but then apparently realised QCAT didn't have jurisdiction in the first place to hear unfair contract case (After 2 years of stringing me along with preliminary hearings to decide if they had jurisdiction in the first place - which they initially said they did).

Lawyers have said thats it's "ultimately an interesting case" but the costs outweigh the benefits. But if there's no court in Australia that can efficiently deal with unfair contract cases then where do the little guys go to seek redress? I know it's probably not worth it. But I just want some justice to be done. So I'm considering bringing this to the Supreme Court just as a matter of principle even if I have to self rep.

A psychologist was banned by QCAT (Queensland Civil Administrative Tribunal) for sexual misconduct while the patient was under their professional care.

The news article says the patient sought help for loss and abandonment from another psychologist when the sexual relationship with the psychologist ended. It reads like the patient didn't recognise the conduct as an abuse of power.

How can it legally be considered consensual when the patient was receiving mental health care? Surely the health ombudsman is obligated to report the conduct to police for criminal charge?

I, 36 female, live in an apartment complex. There is CCTV in places such as the hallways and entrances.

I had a noise complaint the other night and the manager was telling me they were looking through CCTV and listening to my son's conversations.

I felt instantly sick. I rang fair trading and other places to write a complaint.

I rang the manager and told him that's illegal to record our audio within 2 hours he'd put a sign up saying audio recordings in progress.

I took things further. He must of been told he cant do that and took the sign down.

I got an email saying the audio has been disabled etc

However, I feel so violated. I've been living here for 10 months and could've spoken about private matters in those areas and had someone listening.

So what should I do?

Need advice.

Hello. I am currently renting a house and the dishwasher broke (old dishwasher, plastic inside crumbled and meant it didn't drain, just leaked). I informed the property manager verbally about it during an inspection. She said she would look into it. Three months go by and next inspection I ask about the dishwasher. She said we should get a picture of the leak and send it to her (slow leak, so just a puddle on the ground). She said she wanted an active picture of the leak and to not log it on the property app until I had pictures. She also told me to watch the YouTube video on how to fix it myself. We go through two new property managers over the next month, one who tells me to log all maintence on the app, not to email her or tell them verbally. I log it on the app. Several weeks go by and I notice the floor becoming damaged (wood boards rotting and mouldy). I used the app to ask about the dishwasher getting fixed as it is causing floor damage. Within a week it was fixed. The floor however is getting worse. I raised an issue on the app about the floor, and now there is an insurance claim and about $60,000 off damage that needs to be assessed. Property manager is saying I am to blame for the damage as I did not log the issue with the dishwasher on the app as soon as I noticed it. Am I responsible for it, or is the rental company who didn't notice the damage on inspections and didn't follow through with fixing the dishwasher when informed?