My gripe is with Norwich Union, now Aviva. For the past 24 years I have paid a fixed sum monthly for a Joint-Life Guaranteed Minimum Cost Endowment policy.

When the time finally arrived for Aviva to pay out, it managed to display standards of ineptitude that I have rarely encountered in my dealings with customer services departments. The maturity date was July 1. In mid-June I asked if I should have heard something. I received a letter to say that it had sent me an information pack in May. I informed Aviva that I hadn’t received it, and was told to expect a new one. It didn’t arrive, so I called again. Six days later I called again, and was angry. This time the pack arrived two days later.

I returned it, then received the original pack, dated May 21, on July 11. It had been sent by standard post. The next conversation was on July 16, when I thought we had arranged payment. Tomorrow will be August 4 — still nothing.

I had intended to deposit the fund into a one-year fixed-rate bond, but I have already missed out on a couple of deals.

Richard Hoyle, Milton Keynes

Aviva published some company results this week. In them, it reported that its “capital position has strengthened significantly”. Troubleshooter can’t help but wonder how much of this new ballast is a result of failing to pay out on endowment policies on time.

It would be possible to take its explanation that a printing delay was the innocent, if incompetent, administrative problem behind the delay that you and others experienced, were it not for a similar case earlier in the year. In January Troubleshooter reported that several readers had experienced delays on payouts of about £40,000. The company said then that this was because of the relatively high number of policies maturing at the time.

A repeat offence six months later, when the insurer formerly known as Norwich Union has had plenty of time to beef up administration operations, is inexcusable.

The group has been focused on cutting costs lately. Troubleshooter sincerely hopes that this is not happening at the expense of its customers. Perhaps it is nothing unusual to pare down customer services in a recession, but that does not make it a good excuse.

After Troubleshooter intervened, Aviva apologised for the inconvenience. Your matured investment is now with you and Aviva will pay compensation for the delay. It added, for the benefit of anyone else affected, that the backlog has now been cleared. Troubleshooter awaits reports to the contrary.

I am experiencing difficulties with Barclaycard over a request for a “chargeback”. I booked a ferry crossing online with LDLines.com, which subsequently refused to supply me with a confirmation of the transaction by e-mail. I immediately contacted Barclaycard, requesting that it cancel the transaction. It said that it would have to wait while the amount was pending and could not investigate until it had been charged. The merchant refused to supply written confirmation of the transaction.

I have just received a letter from Barclaycard informing me that unless I can supply a “refund voucher”, it is unable to refund the sum of £86.70 charged by Louis Dreyfus Line, the merchant. I get the distinct impression that Barclaycard is fobbing me off.

Guy Emberson, Leicester

The problem is that, though the transaction went through, you did not receive a confirmation e-mail, which would normally be sent automatically. Barclaycard has now arranged to charge the amount back to the company, giving the reason as “non-receipt of services”.

However, it added that Louis Dreyfus Line has the right to reply if it does not agree with that assessment and can provide evidence in support of its appeal, which can take 60 days or more.

In the meantime, Barclaycard has put a temporary credit on your account, but it warned that this could be removed later, depending on what Louis Dreyfus Line provides as evidence.

I booked two theatre tickets with Viagogo for A Little Night Music at the Garrick Theatre on August 4, at a cost of £63.36. When I rang the Garrick for more details, I was told that the show was ending early on July 25. There was no replacement show and the theatre would be dark on August 4.

I e-mailed Viagogo to request a refund. It said that there would be no refund because the tickets would be valid for the new show that night. I replied that there was to be no show. Viagogo has not responded to further e-mails. How can I recover my money?

lydia schmitt via e-mail

Viagogo is an online exchange that allows fans to buy and sell tickets from one another. It promises to provide a full refund “should any problem arise”, but clearly failed to do so in your case.

After Troubleshooter called, Viagogo immediately admitted its mistake and gave you a full refund. You should not have been told to watch the Garrick’s new show (or non-show in this case). Viagogo blamed “human error” and is certain that this has never happened before. Troubleshooter is keen to hear the experience of other readers.

Additional reporting by Lauren Thompson

• To tell us your problems, visit timesonline.co.uk/troubleshooter or write to Troubleshooter, Times Money, Times House, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1TB. Owing to the high volume of correspondence, Troubleshooter cannot guarantee individual replies.

Readers to the rescue

I opened an NS&I joint income bond in 1989 with my partner of the time. The income is paid monthly to a joint HSBC account. We have gone our own ways and I have no idea how to contact her. However, I cannot close the bond without her signature so the income continues to go to the HSBC account. I would like to be able to close both accounts. I have had no joy with NS&I and have even paid for legal advice, to no avail. An added problem is that she is Australian.

Alan Sale

Australia taxes all citizens on their worldwide income, so if you report the account and income details to the Australian tax authorities with enough information, such as her date of birth and date of entry to Australia, they would track her down and the prospect of a tax bill would soon get her to close the account.

Ellie

£25 voucher winner

I would suggest using a tracking agent, such as kin.co.uk or findersuk.com. These are reputable companies whose services are used regularly by solicitors to do exactly what you require. Ask how much they charge before you commit to anything.

Jon Farmer

Tell everyone you know that the bond has paid out a huge bonus. Your ex will find you.

Rupert Mallaby

Have you tried Facebook?

Lg

One solution would be to have your name removed from the HSBC current account, which you should be able to do without the signature of your former partner. You would lose any money from the bond, but you would be free to contact the credit reference agencies and request a notice of disassociation from your former partner. This would separate your finances and provide you with a fresh start, but there would be an obvious financial cost.

Luke Fojut

Maybe an advertisement in The Times would bring forth somebody who knows her whereabouts.

Trish Middleton

Can you help?

E-mail troubleshooter@thetimes.co.uk with your answer to the following problem for the chance to win a £25 John Lewis gift voucher

My husband is worried about the security of his job and we feel that we can no longer afford school fees for our children. Our eldest child, Joseph, recently left his private school, but our middle child, Sebastian, is about to start sixth form and our daughter, Pippa, secondary school. It would be difficult to remove Sebastian from his school just before his A levels, but if we send Pippa to a state school for the rest of her education, I am worried she will feel that she has been treated unfairly.

Have other parents experienced a similar dilemma? I would be interested to hear readers’ opinions.

Helen Ross

On the bright side

Bernadette O’Hare, of Belfast, writes: “Last Saturday evening my brother made an online booking with Aer Lingus for return flights from Dublin to Toulouse, on behalf of both of us and our spouses.

“After completing the transaction, he realised that he had accidentally used my maiden name on my ticket. He contacted customer services the next day, a Sunday, and explained his mistake.

“Although Aer Lingus normally charges €100 to change the name on a ticket, it accepted that this was a genuine error and waived the fee.”