STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

WHILE on holiday in Spain and Italy this summer, I received a text message from my phone company, Virgin. It said calls from my mobile would cost 16p a minute while I was away.

But when I arrived home, I checked my bill and found I’d been charged considerably more. How is Virgin allowed to do this?

J. B., via email. VIRGIN says the text messages you were sent were correct, but your bill had been wrongly calculated. It says this was an isolated error.

The firm says it has apologised to you for sending the wrong bill and will ensure that you are fully refunded. I HAVE found some share certificates from 30 years ago and want to know if they are still worth anything. How do I find out?

H. J., Bristol.

UsUally written on the certificates is the name of the registrar that issued them. If you contact them, they should be able to tell you if your shares are now worth anything.

If you can’t see the name of the registrar, it is worth contacting the three main ones — Capita, Computershare and Equiniti — to see if they can help. I INVESTED in a fund through Barclays and was charged 4.5 pc for doing so; I invested £15,000 so this was a charge of £675. Is this correct?

B. P., by email DEpENDING on how you invest, the charges will be different.

This is one of the dangers of investing directly from a fund house — you get hit with upfront charges.

If you use a fund supermarket, such as Hargreaves lansdown or Bestinvest, you will pay a small annual fee for investing, but will avoid having to face these upfront charges.