Virgin is billing my elderly aunt £80 a month, but I can’t see why

MY ELDERLY aunt is in a rehabilitation unit following a lengthy period in hospital. Looking through her bank direct debit I found she had a monthly payment of £60.76 to Virgin Media and £22 to Virgin Mobile.

She doesn’t understand why she has these contracts. She has an ancient TV and landline phone, and has never had a computer or, as far as I can remember, used a mobile.

I would question the selling of such expensive contracts to someone who clearly doesn’t understand what they are signing up for. B. H., Hertfordshire. You had problems when you contacted Virgin Media because you do not have Power of Attorney over your aunt’s affairs. Therefore, the phone operative would not discuss the case with you or cancel the contracts.

I faced similar difficulties initially as Virgin needed permission from your aunt to speak to me. So please, if you are writing on behalf of someone else, if possible, get them to sign one of the waiver forms you can find on the thisis

money website. The situation is that your aunt had a TV and landline package for £37.85 per month. There was no broadband.

Much of the extra, pushing the bill up to between £45 and £70 a month, was because there had been regular calls to an 0845 personal emergency alarm number.

She also had a £22-a-month phone contract taken out in August 2013. Virgin confirms she does not appear to have used this for at least the past six months.

As a goodwill gesture it will be refunding all of the payments on this account — a sum that should be close to £1,200 — and has switched the SIM to pay-as-yougo to prevent further charges.

Having reviewed the home phone account, it will be making a goodwill gesture to cover some of the costs of her personal distress alarm.

Your aunt’s case shows the importance of making sure those with such facilities are on phone contracts that include 0845 — or other non-geographic numbers often used by the emergency services — as part of their package.

A Virgin Media spokesman said: ‘under data protection laws and to protect our customers’ accounts, we are only able to cancel an account either with the account holder or someone who has legal Power of Attorney.

‘unfortunately your reader’s nephew does not have that power, which was why our adviser would not let him make any changes to her account.’ WE CONTACTED J. P. Morgan Asset Management about our investment Isa, which in 2014 was worth just over £31,000.

They told us they could not find the account and requested contact in writing. They then said it had been transferred to our son, Simon.

We don’t have a son called Simon and told them this. We have never been sent documents regarding any transfer.

Despite seven phone calls we have still not got to the bottom of this, nor has our money been returned. J. P. Morgan Asset Management also appears very reluctant to put anything in writing and we are having to deal with them by telephone. D. S., Leicestershire. I cAn only imagine your shock when you discovered that more than £31,000 had apparently been transferred to a third party.

Your initial contact with J. P. Morgan was on January 24. You might have thought that having been told they had made an error with a substantial sum, they would have made it a priority to find your money. However an investigation was only started two weeks later, when you made a follow-up phone call. And it was only resolved on April 13.

J. P. Morgan says that ‘due to the historical nature of the complaint, it was reviewed extensively by a number of departments which meant the investigation took longer than was initially anticipated’.

It seems that in 2014 someone with exactly the same name as you contacted J. P. Morgan Asset Management, sending a death certificate for his father. It closed down and transferred assets from your account by mistake.

It has now contacted you to explain and to apologise for the inconvenience caused. Your funds have been reinstated — something which should have been done immediately in my opinion — and you have received £500 compensation.

It says that this investigation took much longer than normal due to its complex and sensitive nature. Internal processes have been reviewed to ensure such an error is not repeated. MY HOME is in my name, although my husband has rights to live in it after I die. I want to pass ownership to my daughter. Will I be able to benefit from the extra inheritance tax-free allowance for married couples who wish to pass on their houses to their children? R. H., London. SArAH PATon, associate and inheritance tax expert at Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth, says that it does not matter that your husband is living in the house. Your family should still benefit from both your £325,000 inheritance tax-free allowance, plus the extra £125,000 for families who wish to pass on homes to children. This is called the residence nil rate band, introduced last year.

It means you can currently leave £450,000 to your daughter without the taxman taking a share.

This will increase in future as the residence nil rate band rises to £175,000 in April 2020.