Santander had promised a stamp

My wife has a tremor in her hand, which makes it difficult for her to sign cheques.

After checking out a section on Santander’s website titled “I have a disability”, I read a paragraph that explained that a cheque template can help with dexterity problems. The man we spoke to in the branch did not know what a cheque template was.

He rang Santander and, while on the phone, informed us that another option was to have a rubber stamp made using a sample signature so that is what we agreed to. Several weeks passed and we had not heard any more so we returned to the branch and spoke to the same person.

He called somebody again on the phone and assured us that we would hear from them shortly.

Six months ago we received a letter from the customer diversity support team at Santander asking for a sample signature. This was returned. Several months passed so we wrote again asking when we may receive the stamp. We have had no response to date. PC, HERTS

I spoke to the bank which said it could not locate either of your letters. You were then asked for a further signature sample, which you sent by email.

The stamps are made by an external company so, while you waited, a cheque template was sent to use in the meantime.

Santander has paid £30 for goodwill, which you have donated to charity.

I understand that, if a customer is unable to provide a signature due to disability, Santander has some identification options which it accepts alongside the usual ones.

Cheque templates are plastic overlays which help the customer position the signature, date and payee on a cheque.

Customers can request new identification methods by visiting a branch or via

the bank’s telephone contact centre or by sending a secure message online.

me endless anxiety and unbearable distress and I am at a loss to know what to do next to resolve this matter. HM, LONDON

In fact, there are two alternative resolution schemes for telecom communications problems and you contacted the wrong one.

TalkTalk comes under Cisas (cisas.org.uk or 020 7520 3827).

Your problems had started when you decided to join TalkTalk seven months before writing to me. The engineer was unable to get your broadband service to go live due to a fault that couldn’t be explained.

It arranged for a Qube engineer to visit. These engineers assist customers when they are having

problems with internal telecoms equipment.

The engineer did not arrive and so another visit was arranged. The engineer was then unable to attend at the last minute.

When eventually someone did come, nearly two months after the service had been due to go live, they decided a new router was needed.

That, however, did not sort the matter out.

You gave up and then rang to say you had decided to leave TalkTalk. This request was not actioned.

Further to my involvement £84 was offered to cover the cost of the broadband service you had not had from installation to the latest bill.

TalkTalk also cleared the outstanding balance

of £25 and at last fully disconnected the account.

Voluntary guidelines for automatic compensation for UK residential landline and broadband customers will, Ofcom assures me, come in about a year’s time.

TalkTalk, I understand, will be adhering to them. Under these you would, I calculate, be entitled to around £1,100 in compensation for your problems.

Ofcom said that £25 compensation for each missed scheduled appointment, such as you had, when an engineer does not turn up or if they cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, will be payable.

If a service starts late you’ll get £5 for each day of the delay, including the missed start date. For a

delayed repair following loss of service, which has not been fully fixed after two full working days, you’ll receive £8 for each day the service is not repaired.

TalkTalk has now sent a cheque for £100 as a gesture of goodwill.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “Next year, customers will get money back automatically when things go wrong, without having to claim.”

It will indeed be interesting to see how this all pans out.