STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

MY EMPLOYER has covered my mobile phone bill for almost six years. I have now been made redundant and my company is allowing me to take over the contract so I can keep my mobile number. However, EE won’t offer me a deal for less than £50 a month, which I cannot afford.

D.M., via email.

EE SAYS it needed permission from your previous employer to transfer ownership of the contract. It now has this and offered you a consumer tariff that costs £35 a month which it says you are happy with. MY SON told me that I’d been paying for a TV licence for six years since I turned 75. I spoke to TV Licensing who said this overpayment would be refunded. I rang ten days later and was told that I may have to wait four weeks for it to be processed. This week I was told it could be ten weeks. S. K., Darlington.

TV LICENSING says it has to verify proof of age before accepting a claim. It apologises and says it is now processing the refund. AT THE start of lockdown, my 21-year-old son ordered a set of dumbbells costing £268 from an online company called Platinum Supps.

When they failed to arrive, my son contacted the firm, which said they were out of stock. He was offered a replacement and then a refund — yet, five months later, he’s had nothing. I. A., via email. THE firm says it has struggled with staff shortages so closed its website to fix ‘all issues’. It has now refunded your son and offered a 40 pc lifetime discount. I AM ready to exchange contracts on a flat, but my solicitor insists I insert a ‘Covid clause’ so I can delay completion, if someone has to self-isolate, for example. The four others in my chain refuse to accept the clause. Is it essential?

E. H., Putney, South-West London. IT’s not considered essential by The Law society and many deals have been completed without it. It protects you from financial penalties if you are unable to complete due to coronavirus. But if someone else pulls out due to the pandemic, you will not be owed compensation.