Firms cannot use virus to hang on to your cash

IN MY answer to Ian MacDonald’s question today I have made the point that many companies are just not meeting the standards they should be when it comes to keeping in touch with their customers.

There is no doubt that many companies are finding things very difficult at the moment, and in fact this week we have seen several examples of retailers that have found it so difficult that they are not likely to be able to continue trading.

That is desperate at any time of the year but even more so as we approach Christmas and many families will be left without much-needed income to see them through the festive season and into next year.

While all of the above is very difficult for the companies involved, you would think that through these difficult times firms would want to keep hold of their customers in any way they can.

Most of these customers are struggling as well to make ends meet, and so it’s hard to understand why so many companies seem to be making it so difficult for consumers to communicate with them, especially when it comes to returning goods and refunds.

Every day I read horror stories from people who are being told they are not getting a refund or will have to wait for months for it to be paid into their banks.

It almost seems as if some companies now have a deliberate policy of refusing refunds as a matter of course. They will argue that they need to do this for cashflow reasons. But what about their customers’ cashflow? Consumers don’t have bottomless pockets either.

There are genuine reasons why payments are delayed from time to time, as we read about today, but the least that a company can do if it is going to delay a payment to a customer is to keep them informed. It takes a minute to write an email and I know that the most frustrating experience as a customer is when a company that owes you money just seems to ignore you.