BC writes: My mother, now aged 87, was due a refund from British Gas when she switched supplier in January 2006. On going through her papers in February this year, I found a cheque for this sum, dated April 2006. I tried sending it to the bank, but it was returned as being out of date. I called British Gas and was told another cheque would be sent. But we then received a phone call saying the cheque had been cashed – on Christmas Day, 2006. I don’t believe any cheque can be cashed on Christmas Day; in any case, I still have the cheque in my possession. For the following six months we went to and fro with British Gas but have got nowhere.

I don’t know where that story of the cheque being cashed came from, because British Gas has abandoned that explanation, and now says the reason your mother was not sent a replacement cheque was that the sum was on an old system which had since been archived. Your mother is now being sent a new cheque and a letter of apology.

Meanwhile, TS had had problems following her switch from British Gas to Scottish Power in the summer of 2006. The switch appeared to have been carried out and TS was receiving regular bills from Scottish Power – but also from British Gas. Despite her best efforts to stop them, the bills continued, culminating in a letter threatening disconnection, fines, and the courts. The company says it has now apologised, is closing her account and sending £30 as a gesture of goodwill.

And MM, who was being billed twice over for his electricity by British Gas, under two different account numbers, has also had this sorted out, following my intervention.

British Gas has recently installed a new billing system, which certainly accounts for MM’s problem and I suspect a good few others. But there are small signs, according to a recent survey by comparison site Uswitch, that the company is beginning to improve.

Frustrations of an Abbey saver

KB writes: A year ago I decided to open a fixed-rate monthly saver account with Abbey. It has been the most appalling experience of a service organisation I have ever encountered, and trying to resolve the difficulties has been frustrating and time-consuming. A bank account should virtually run itself. Opening and holding this one has been hard and stressful work. This is an extract from the letter you sent to the bank and copied to me. I think you have put in a nutshell what customers rightfully expect from banks: a thoroughly efficient service that – once we have completed all the necessary paperwork – should then “run itself”. Something for all bank employees to stick up above their computer screens, perhaps?

In your case, the business of opening the account was unnecessarily and unduly protracted, but this was nothing compared with the problems that arose several months later when the bank inexplicably refused to accept one of your monthly payments. This, said Abbey, was due to “an isolated and short-term technical issue”. The issue may have been short-term, but the work required of you in dealing with it was anything but. You were sent off on a wild-goose chase across numerous Abbey departments, which in total required 33 phone calls from yourself to put right.

Abbey has now written to apologise and offered you £150 compensation, which you have accepted. You have now moved all your savings to another provider.

No resolution on mature policies

MP writes: We have two endowment policies with Scottish Mutual, backing our mortgage, which was originally taken out with National & Provincial building society. The two policies have now matured but, nearly two months later, we are still waiting for the money. We are being batted between the life company (now part of Resolution) and the mortgage lender (now Abbey). We have made many phone calls to both companies and visited an Abbey branch, with no success. Meanwhile, interest continues accruing on our mortgage account and we don’t dare stop the direct debit as it includes payment for our house and contents insurance.

Resolution needed to send a letter of discharge to the mortgage lender, which it did shortly after your policies matured, but according to the life company, Abbey contacted it one month later to say it had lost that letter. Resolution sent it again and the full proceeds have now been set against your mortgage, bringing it properly to a close. Abbey accepts it was to blame and is also paying you compensation of £225, representing lost interest.

My uncle’s fear of the fruit-pickers

CK writes: My uncle owns an empty farmhouse in rural Herefordshire, which is opposite a soft fruit business that employs transient workers from all over Europe. My uncle often finds large amounts of post in (presumably) these workers’ names, including credit cards and Pin numbers, TV licences, mobile phone bills and loan contracts. He has phoned the companies and received no sensible response (the Data Protection Act is frequently mentioned), tried in vain to involve the police, and is at a loss to know what to do. He is worried that all these applications will affect the future credit score of the house should he come to sell it.

Houses do not have credit scores – only people, but to avoid future hassle, I would suggest he seals up this post box to prevent anything more being posted there, and returns all mail to sender with a note saying “not at this address”. For his own peace of mind he might like to order a credit report from one of the credit-reference agencies such as Experian. It will cost him £2 and he can order it online or by calling 0870 241 6212.

Loan switch was an uphill struggle

CC writes: I have a mortgage on a shared-ownership property with Abbey, and decided three months ago to switch to Woolwich. I still don’t have a mortgage offer.

Your attempts to arrange it, which you described in detail to me, were, as you put it, a real uphill struggle. There were misunderstandings as to whether the lender’s in-house solicitors could deal with the legal aspects of shared-ownership mortgages – they couldn’t, when you first applied, but that policy changed a month or so later. As it is, you have had to employ your own solicitors, but will at least get back £200 once the deal is completed to go towards these costs. Woolwich, now part of Barclays, will also be giving you £100 as a gesture of goodwill.

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