Why am I still being billed for a mobile phone that I sent back last September?
LAST September, I ordered a mobile phone costing £269.99 from Very.
Before it was delivered, I realised it was going to be a bit complicated, so tried to cancel it.
I was told it was too late, so took delivery, but immediately sent it back with the return receipt.
When I received my statement, it said ‘item not delivered’, so I called to tell them it had been delivered and I’d returned it.
On my November statement, they had credited the cost of one phone, but added the cost of another.
I informed them of this through dozens of emails and letters, half of which were ignored.
I could not afford the phone. I am a pensioner and the Very customer service phone number is expensive and you are always put on hold for a long time.
Eventually in January, after writing yet again, I received an apology and was told it would be taken off my next statement. It was, but then in March it was added on again.
To add insult to injury, they are making me pay monthly payments plus interest on this item. If I don’t they will charge £12 missed payment charges. This is taking over my life, please can you help?
P.P., Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham. Your saga sounded like one of those that used to feature on Esther rantzen’s consumer affairs TV programme That’s Life.
Every time you thought you’d resolved the problem, Very made a mess of it again. How hard can it be to simply cancel an item from a statement and leave it cancelled?
Very has apologised for the persistent errors it made on your account and admits to a ‘number of customer service failings’.
The cost of the item and interest charges have been refunded and they have added a £35 credit to your account to apologise.
A spokesman says: ‘on this occasion we fell short of our desired level of service and will look into the circumstances to help ensure these mistakes are not repeated.’
one other point. You refer to Very’s number as being expensive. It is, in fact, an 0344 number. These numbers are becoming more common, but they are not well understood.
By law, calling an 0344 number must cost the same as if you rang an 01 or 02 number — so if these are included in your package then so is calling an 0344 number (as are all 03 numbers). for example, if you have free evening and weekend calls, you could call an 0344 number at those times at no cost.
If you do not have an all-inclusive package, it will typically cost between 8p and 12p per minute plus a call set-up fee of between 13p and 19p — just as calling an 01 or 02 number would.
The same goes for calling from a mobile. If you have inclusive minutes, an 0344 number will simply come out of these.
But if you are on a pay-as-you-go mobile package, it could cost between 3p and 45p per minute depending on your operator.
BEFORE my husband died in 2005, he opened a Woolwich savings account. When he passed away, it
had a balance of £293.57. I have the original savings book and have never withdrawn this money. As Woolwich was taken over by Barclays, I have been to Barclays to try to withdraw the money and close the account.
Barclays said this was dealt with by their dormancy department.
This department says that after investigating, it can find no trace of this account and is unable to pay the money.
Since receiving this correspondence I have tried again, but without success.
Mrs J. C., Middlesex. I CONTACTED Barclays on your behalf and it seems that, as sometimes happens in these cases, you have withdrawn the money and forgotten about it. Barclays provided a copy of the 2007 statement. This shows that £250 was withdrawn on May 25 that year.
on July 22, the remaining balance of £43.97, which included some interest, was transferred to another account. This account was closed in May 2011.
Barclays apologises for not making this all clear to you and has offered you a £25 goodwill gesture.
I HAVE heard there have been a lot of changes to pensions recently and am concerned my wife will not be allowed to inherit my pension. She is 80 and I am 78. We have already paid extra years. Do we need to pay more?
J. M., Lancs. no, You don’t need to pay more.
There have been huge changes to the state pension recently to add to the constant fiddling over the previous three decades, so it’s no wonder that you and others are confused. But the latest changes do not affect those who are already retired.In a nutshell, if your wife is receiving less basic state pension than you, and then if you die first, her basic state pension should be topped up — based on your contributions. But she should also get the benefit from any additional state pension you have accumulated.
In your case, the defunct state earnings related pension (Serps) is most relevant. Widows are entitled to between 50 pc and 100 pc of their spouse’s Serps, depending on the date of birth of the person who has died.
The older you are, the greater proportion passed on; in your case, the amount would be 90 pc.
Widows and civil partners are also entitled to up to 50 pc of the second state pension. This was launched in 2002 so, given your ages, this is likely to be minimal.
To give you an example, at the moment, if one partner was deceased, the maximum additional state pension you could claim would be £164.36 per week, based on both people’s contributions.
The rules changed for those retiring from April 6 this year — but that is a subject for another day.