No faith in church meter

EC writes: I am chairman of the finance committee of our local church. I am experiencing difficulty in obtaining a refund from Scottish Power for money paid to it based on false information. Last March, the company claimed we owed £1,549.38. We could not identify the meter it related to and called to query this sum. We were then told that in fact we owed £376. Based on our Christian principles, we paid this, but continued to search for the meter without success, and contacted Scottish Power once again, at which stage we were told that it could not find the meter either, and that the £376 would be refunded. More than two months later we have still not received any money.

This was complicated by the number of premises involved, including a monastery and a meditation centre, which all had separate meters.

However, Scottish Power has, after a further month or so of investigation, concluded that you (and it) were right first time; it did not supply any power to the properties, and that a Meter Point Administration Number had been registered in error. It has now sent back the £376 and paid you £75 compensation.

Ins and outs of my Abbey headache

JY writes: I am writing in desperation as Abbey has refused to sort out or accept responsibility for sums going out of my current account each month, supposedly to pay off my Sainsbury’s credit card, and I am about £900 poorer as a result.

The nub of this tale, which began in December, was that you believed the £100 going out of your current account every month was making its way to your Sainsbury’s card — but never arrived.

Sorting out problems that straddle at least two separate companies is always a bit of a nightmare. In the end, I spoke to both the companies involved. Abbey took up the baton and has resolved it for you; it seems you are not any poorer, as the wayward £100 which left your account was returned a few days later. The answer, you say, “was apparent all along but it needed someone more knowledgeable or experienced to look closely at the account”.

Abbey offered you a bunch a flowers as an apology, but you negotiated instead for a £50 donation to the charity Brainstrust, for people with brain tumours.

Someone forged standing order

RN writes: We are managing agents, and last November arranged a tenancy of a residential property. The tenants, Mr and Mrs S, signed a standing order form for the rent. We prepare this form for all tenants, having our bank details with Alliance & Leicester on the top half of the form, and space for them to fill in their banking details on the bottom half. Everything appeared to be running smoothly, and Mr and Mrs S had their bank statements from HSBC showing £850 going out every month under the reference of our firm’s name. But four of these payments — a total of £3,400 — went to a different account with Halifax. The couple have gone to inordinate lengths with HSBC trying to get the money refunded.

HSBC took a long while to produce a scanned copy of the standing-order form, which I asked you to send to me. Certainly, this seemed a forgery. It was as if the top half, with your bank details, had been cut off and fresh banking details inserted, albeit with your reference. It was only a scanned copy; there may have been another explanation, but after some time for cogitation, HSBC accepted there was an “element of doubt” about the form’s legitimacy. It has refunded Mr and Mrs S the full £3,400, while not admitting that there was any internal fraud. This was the right decision, although it is a pity the bank took so long to make up its mind. It has paid Mr and Mrs S £50 ex-gratia, and is pursuing Halifax to try to get the money back for itself.

There’s no end to Barclays Isa saga

JB writes: At the end of March, I went to Barclays to open a cash Isa for £3,000 at its advertised rate of 6.5% for the 2007-8 tax year. It took months, and numerous inquiries on my part, before I heard anything, and eventually I was told the bank had opened an ordinary cash Isa — paying 4% rather than the Tax Haven Isa I had asked for. Five months down the line, I am getting nowhere with my complaint.

Question of Money has continued beavering away on problems that investors have been having with Barclays’ Isa administration all summer, although out of respect for the boredom threshold of all you readers, only a few have appeared in the column. You are not going to be let off entirely scot-free, however; the following are just a few of the cases that have passed across my desk, and been, I hope, satisfactorily resolved.

The common feature in so many of these cases is that the bank has spent months writing standard “holding” letters to people who have complained, but achieving nothing, and certainly not a sensible resolution. Only, it seems, when Question of Money becomes involved, does something happen.

JB’s complaint was resolved by the handover of £100 as a gesture of goodwill, which will compensate her for the difference in interest between the two products for rather more than a year.

Meanwhile, GW went into Barclays to open two Isas — one for 2007-8 and one for 2008-9 — on April 4. The earlier Isa was opened with some, but little, delay; but, the bank admitted in August it had lost his application for the 2008-9 Isa. He now has his 2008-9 Isa opened with interest correctly backdated to mid-April, and has accepted a £50 gesture of goodwill.

Then there was HM, who got so fed up with the fact the bank lost her cheque that, four months on, she decided to go elsewhere for her Isa this year — but as her money had sat not earning interest for the months it took the bank to establish it had lost it, £150 has been sent to her for the interest and inconvenience.

Classic case of lost interest

DK writes: I have been in touch with my bank, Lloyds TSB, as the interest on my Classic Plus account for July was much lower than I expected. I was told there had been an error in working out interest for that month, and because I had made a phone call it would be reimbursed. The bank appears to be giving priority to those who spot the difference. Your readers should be warned.

Lloyds admits there was a “technical glitch” on this account for July, but it has now reworked the figures for all customers and paid it, including any interest on the delayed interest, so no-one was disadvantaged.

25 years’ notice and they’re late

JP writes: Norwich Union is stalling on paying out on a policy and is even refusing to say when I will get my money. Why do big companies feel they can treat their customers as if they were something stuck on the bottom of their shoe?

Life companies often fail to get maturity payments out on time — despite having known for maybe 25 years exactly when that date will be. But I think you’ll admit that the company has redeemed itself — and without much, if any, prompting by me. You finally got the proceeds about three weeks late, including interest of £10, and, even better, £150 as compensation.

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