How to get YOUR complaint to the top of our mail bag

What a year we had in 2018! together, on the ask tony page, we brought scores of companies to heel when they tried to trample over your consumer rights.

Energy firms often popped up, including Green Star, which kept sending bills to someone who was not even a customer.

Car hire companies also behaved badly, such as the avis operator in Milan who refused to hand over a pre-booked vehicle. Back in the UK, avis apologised and paid restitution.

then there were tales of treasure you might find in your drawers. One reader had $2,000 of old travellers’ cheques issued by Marks & Spencer that it would not honour. It changed its mind after I got in touch.

another was given £350-worth of beautifully designed old travel Bonds, issued by thomas Cook in 1989 and since superseded by dull gift cards. the travel operator confirmed they were still valid.

a recurring theme was how poor some organisations can be when dealing with bereaved people or issues surrounding power of attorney.

I was pleased to be able to sort out one mess when halifax was demanding probate on an account that was just over £50,000. Funeral expenses should have brought the balance down to less than this and allow the money to be released. But our reader was poorly advised and, as a result, the building society has updated its procedures.

Complaints about broadband and phone outnumbered all others. One provider kept billing an elderly man who had entered a care home with dementia. his relatives found it hard to cancel the contract as the phone firm was demanding passwords to which they had no access.

In at least some cases, the problems are avoidable.

One reader who was facing a £4,000 hospital bill in Spain had not kept their insurer, Zurich, fully informed, nor retained the proper receipts. Zurich did cough up the money, but it was a lesson for others in the importance of speaking regularly to insurers, even in times of great stress.

however, other requests in my inbox failed the test because it became clear the readers had not been open and honest with me — or with the firm in question.

Money Mail receives thousands of letters every year and we want to help as many of you as we can. But you need to help me, too. So here are some basic rules . . .

First, be patient. I do expect you to have contacted the organisation first and given it a chance to sort out the problem. the matter should have been unresolved for a few weeks after your complaint, not two or three days, before you get in touch with us. It’s frustrating for the Press teams and me if we spend time trying to get to the bottom of an issue, only to discover customer service has already resolved it.

Equally, companies must understand I am not an unpaid adjunct to their customer services teams. those who try to cut me out of the loop or ask me not to publish will get short shrift. I won’t allow it.

Please write to me, rather than just putting ‘cc tony hazell, Daily Mail’. tell me the problem briefly, in a paragraph, before going into detail. I need full, but concise, details of your complaint. When did it start, what happened, how much money is involved, is there an existing claim number or reference and what are you claiming?

You’d be surprised how many people fail to provide details such as their name, their address or the name of the organisation they are complaining about.

You may not wish to share account numbers until we have made contact. But if you give at least your name and postcode, the firm should be able to find you — old addresses won’t help if you didn’t inform it of your move. I won’t publish your name, but I do need it! those who email sometimes don’t even make the effort to add their name at the end.

If you can’t take the time to send me a proper message, why do you expect me to spend hours or days looking into your problem? I need your name, address, daytime phone number and, if you have one, email address. If you’re writing in, please print these clearly.

In cases to do with internet companies, they can usually track you down from your email — but make sure you provide the one you gave when you signed up. If you changed your address, but did not tell the organisation, it can’t match the email to the account.

It is easier if I can email you to ask for any extra information, especially as so many people are understandably reluctant to answer calls from an unknown number or may have call-minder systems that block my call.

My email will be from a different address to the published one, but it will be clear it is from me.

With your complaint, please include a letter giving the firm permission to speak to me. the wording should be as follows: ‘I give [organisation] and its representatives permission to discuss all details of my complaint and its resolution with tony hazell of the Daily Mail.’ You should sign and date it and provide your full postal address on it. I cannot investigate without this basic letter.

there’s also the vexed question of the Financial Ombudsman. I used to make it a rule that if it had investigated a complaint, then I would not get involved. In the vast majority of cases, the Ombudsman does get it right. But, as highlighted by BBC Watchdog’s bank fraud investigation last year, there are exceptions.

So, from now on, I will no longer examine a case currently under investigation, but if you have lost yours and feel there is evidence the Ombudsman has overlooked, I may be prepared to look again.

Finally, please remember I cannot investigate every complaint I get. Everyone who writes in should receive an acknowledgement that their letter has been received, but I can only tackle a representative sample. apologies if yours is not one of those I pick out.