Fighting for your money

Virgin let my wife’s credit card expire while she was ill, leaving her helpless at the checkout

QIn April, my wife had a quadruple bypass and then a cardiac arrest in the ICU, resulting in her being totally sedated and unable to speak for five weeks. During this worrying time, a £1,317 bill arrived for her Virgin Atlantic reward credit card. I phoned Virgin Money to check whether she usually paid by direct debit, but I was rebuffed due to “data protection”. I decided to pay the bill in full myself to ensure that her payment record was not affected.

After six weeks, when my wife came out of hospital, she told me she had previously estimated what the bill would be and had tried to pay off the balance in advance by bank transfer. But Virgin Money said she could not have a credit on the account and sent the money back.

On Aug 1, when my wife was up and about again, she did a large shop at Tesco. Her Virgin credit card was refused at the checkout three times despite her using the correct PIN. This was embarrassing as it was the only card she had with her and she was 52p short of sufficient cash for the total bill.

The cashier kindly used her own card for the 52p and refused to accept the money back after my wife had found some change in the car. Well done Tesco!

When she got home, we discovered that the credit card had expired and wondered why she had not received a new card, as usual. She phoned Virgin the next day and was told the company had decided not to renew the card, but it gave her no explanation as to why.

My wife was then forced to change her details at all the places where she used the card automatically to make payments. I find it quite unbelievable that Virgin could do this without notification and explanation. – SB, Middlesex AI

sympathise with your wife’s experience at the Tesco till. I can imagine the tutting of fellow shoppers and the stress caused to someone who had recently had major heart surgery. I hope the cashier involved received an employee-of-the-month award for her can-do approach to customer service.

Awards were certainly not what you wanted to present Virgin Money with for its handling of your wife’s credit card issues, both during and after her hospital stay. When you took action to find out whether her bill would be paid automatically, you hit a brick wall.

You did not know it at the time, but she had tried to make a credit payment in advance. But this was returned as it is industry practice not to permit a credit balance on any credit card. Virgin Money told me this was because if anything happened to the balance due to fraud or bank failure, customers would not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. When you phoned the company on April 15, as your wife was in hospital, you were passed to a specialist team, which applied a 30-day freeze of interest and charges while it gathered more information. This was to be reviewed at the end of the 30 days. Unknown to you was that this also put a halt on issuing a new card to your wife.

Virgin Money requested, by post, evidence of your wife’s medical condition so that it could discuss her account with you. You described this as highly insensitive, as your wife was sedated and you were unable to visit her due to Covid. As a precaution, you went ahead and paid the £ 1,317 balance to avoid interest and late-payment charges.

Virgin Money then asked for a letter of authority from your wife giving you permission to handle her account. You arranged this once she was home recovering in June, but unfortunately it did not get linked to her account promptly. This meant the account was still frozen when your wife, weeks later, made her Tesco visit with no new card to present at the counter.

On my prodding, Virgin Money accelerated things and concluded its review of your wife’s account within

‘I phoned Virgin Money to check how she paid but was rebuffed due to data protection’

three days. It has now been unlocked and, last week, a fortnight after her discomfort at the Tesco till, your wife received a new card by fast-track post.

A Virgin Money spokesman said: “While we took action to protect the customer’s account while she was unwell, we’re sorry we didn’t carry out our usual 30- day review or communicate more clearly the steps needed to ensure her account was fully operational again.”

To make up for the upset, Virgin Money has credited your wife’s account with the loyalty points she would have earned had she received the new card, plus £350 as a goodwill gesture.

Had you known about lodging a letter of authority with Virgin before your wife’s surgery, your difficulties might have been avoided. This is something I will certainly consider if I am ever in the same position. Sending a letter of authority to a financial organisation can be equally useful in the case of someone travelling abroad for a set term or for students going off to university.

Such a letter allows a family member or trusted friend to carry out basic transactions, such as checking bank balances, taking out cash or paying bills, for the period you are away.

Although a letter giving authority is often enough, some organisations, such as your bank, might ask you to attend a branch with your chosen representative for security reasons. Alternatively, some will request ID to be uploaded online.

For longer-term arrangements, especially for individuals concerned about losing mental capacity or who need someone else to run their affairs, a lasting power of attorney is more appropriate. You can arrange this through a solicitor or take the do- it-yourself approach using the official government website at gov.uk/power- of-attorney. Once it has been set up, an LPA needs to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

Scottish Power is pursuing my 80-year-old sister for £7,300 she doesn’t owe

Q I am writing on behalf of my sister, who is 80 years old. She lost her husband a couple of years ago and now lives alone, and I do my best to help manage her affairs, although I live 170 miles away.

My sister received a letter from a debt collection agency demanding £ 7,327 for an unpaid bill with Scottish Power. I have been trying to make contact with the company for several days without success. I tried its online chat service, which, at the age of 78, I found very challenging.

To put you in the picture, my sister changed her supplier from Scottish Power to E.On in March and after that she received no communication until this letter arrived on Aug 2. She has always paid her energy bills by monthly direct debit and was paying £126 a month.

There is no way she owes this money and I believe someone must have taken incorrect closing meter readings when the switch was made from Scottish Power to E.On. I requested an engineer make a visit to check the supply and the meter, but this was refused. My sister is beside herself with worry. – DH, Hull A What a terrible shock your sister must have had on receiving a demand for £7,327 she did not owe.

I asked Scottish Power to investigate how this bill could possibly be correct for a woman living alone.

Within a few days, the company phoned your sister and told her the meter readings were indeed wrong, as you had suspected, and it turned out that Scottish Power actually owed your sister £4.

As an apology for the upset caused, the company is sending her £155. This includes the official £30 compensation it must pay for not sending her the credit it owed her in a timely fashion after her switch to E.On. All power to you for getting me involved.