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ASK TONY: Halifax lost me £317 but it won't say sorry

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I am now being told that there was a clerical error and nothing can be done. No apology was given. W.T., Aldershot.

You are indeed the victim of a clerical error. When your fixed rate Isa was about to mature, Halifax wrote in September 2011 to say that you had earned £2,218.47 on top of the £24,770.32 you had invested, making a total of £26,988.79.

Once it received your reinvestment instructions, it wrote again in October 2011 to say that £26,670.86 was being invested in your new Isa. This was, in fact, the correct amount because you had really earned £1,900.54 interest.

Halifax has now looked at your case again. It accepts that you were originally told a larger amount would be invested and it is now going ahead with this.

So you have an extra £317.93 plus an additional £27.97 in interest covering the period from October 11, 2011, to October 10, 2013.

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In addition, Halifax has spoken to you and arranged to pay you an extra £160 in recognition of the distress, inconvenience and costs you’ve incurred.

That’s an excellent solution, and one Halifax sorted out extremely quickly once I had made contact.

As a general note, I would always advise investors to check the interest on their Isas — no matter which bank you are with —  as mistakes do happen from time to time.

I can't make sense of my British Gas bill, why are my charges so different year to year?

I am trying to make sense of my bill for electricity from British Gas. In 2009/10 I was charged 31.37p on the first 115 kilowatt hours (kwh) and the rest was 11.40p per kwh.

In 2012, I paid 27.68p on the first 174 kwh and the rest at 14.97p.

I queried this and was told it was calculated on the number of days on a statement. Mrs M.C., Droitwich, Worcestershire.

It’s no wonder that few people can understand their energy bills — or find the best deals — because energy companies seem to do their utmost to confound us.

So let’s start at the beginning. Energy companies have two ways of charging. Some tariffs have a standing charge which you pay no matter how much energy you use; then you also have a price per unit of energy on top.

Others don’t have a standing charge but instead charge more for the first units you use and less once you have used a certain amount of energy. What you ask in the full version of your letter is what period British Gas uses when calculating how much to charge at each rate.

What you were told is correct, in that it divides the number of kWh charged at the higher rate by the number of days in the year.

In fact, on your tariff, the first 1.97 kWh you use every day are charged at the higher rate and the rest at the lower rate.

The figure of 174 units is roughly a quarter, which is your usual billing period.

So why have the numbers charged at each rate changed? Well, British Gas has put up your bill! But it’s done it in the most devious of ways.

Until December 10, 2010, the higher charge was levied on the first 500 kilowatt hours per year. From December 11, this threshold was raised to 720 kwh.

To confuse matters further, the charge for the first units was cut, while that for later units was raised.

The changes meant that someone who sat in the dark all day and used less than 140 kwh a quarter could actually pay less.

British Gas has recommended that you move to its Discount Variable November 2013 tariff, which has a daily standing charge but will price all of your electricity at the same rate.

This tariff offers a 4 per cent discount on its Clear & Simple tariff until November 30 next year.

You did have a Warm Home Discount of £130 credited to your account in September.

You may want to shop around to find out if you can get a cheaper deal elsewhere.

You can do this on the internet at uswitch.co.uk (telephone 0808 178 3492) or which.co.uk/switch (telephone 0330 808 9303).

I was incorrectly charged £150 on my Barclaycard after a night in a hotel

I stayed at a hotel in Croydon in September 2011 but had £150 incorrectly charged to my Barclaycard account.

I have written to Barclaycard many times but they still reply that they are looking into it. I need to know that they will cancel this incorrect charge. C.P., Beckenham, Kent.

Barclaycard has now refunded the £150 after an investigation by its fraud team.

Reading between the lines of the letter it has sent, it appears that fraud was, indeed, committed on this occasion.

When a customer claims that a transaction should not have been put through, then the card company will usually recredit it. This is, however, conditional on it not gathering evidence that the payment was, in fact, authorised.

What you were after was a once-and-for-all acknowledgement that the case was closed. And I think, after a year, it is reasonable that you should have received this.

Barclaycard has now assured you that no further charges will be added to your account — and it has credited your account with £75 by way of an apology.

I'm 75 with two artificial knees and had to sit through an uncomfortable six-hour flight with British Airways because I didn't get the seats I paid for

Please help me recover £56 owed by British Airways. I am 75 with two artificial knees and arthritis in my hip.

Flying home from Boston on September 19, my wife and I pre-booked aisle seats which allowed more legroom, plus easy access.

On arrival at Boston airport we found our seats had already been allocated. I had an uncomfortable journey for six hours with little legroom. I have written to BA three times asking for the £56 I paid for seats that I did not get. J.S, Sheffield.

Needless to say, if you pay for particular seats, you should get those seats.

But British Airways argue their terms and conditions specify customers are not guaranteed the exact seats they’ve selected. If  this is the case, customers are given either like-for-like seats or a refund.

A BA spokesman said you were offered the former and that when you asked for alternative seats the airline was ‘happy to oblige at no extra cost’.

BA also argued that, contrary to what you were told by your tour operator, your pre-booked seats did not offer ‘extra legroom’.

Straight to the point

My elderly grandmother loved to play the Football Pools and occasionally received vouchers to use in the Index catalogue shop as a bonus. We recently discovered £17 worth of vouchers which she had forgotten about and left in a drawer. What can we do? K.S., Halesowen.

The vouchers were a perk of taking part in the Football Pools when they were run by Littlewoods. Unfortunately, the clothing chain has now closed, as has its subsidiary Index. A spokesman for Football Pools says you can no longer use the vouchers. However, it will send your grandmother £20 as a one-off, goodwill gesture.

I run a hotel and haven’t been billed for energy for three years. Does the same backbilling rule preventing suppliers charging households for energy more than 12 months ago also apply to small businesses?L.S., Lower Largo, Scotland.

No it doesn’t. Rules state energy suppliers can back-bill small businesses for up to three years for electricity and four to five years for gas. However, not all suppliers will enforce this maximum time limit and some such as Scottish and Southern Energy, will back-bill small businesses for only one year.

I took out a with-profits pension plan with Norwich Union in 1994. I have not received any information on this policy since 2001. D.M., Taunton, Somerset.

Norwich Union changed its name to Aviva in 2009. Its records show you cashed in the policy over ten years ago in 2002. It sent a cheque for £1,250.80 to Nationwide for your account there on February 27. The cheque was cashed on March 5, 2002.

I paid a bill by faster payment from my HSBC account to Co-op Bank. Unfortunately I put in the wrong account number. How do I get the money back? P.G., Watford.

Contact HSBC, which has a ‘reasonable duty of care’ to its customers to get the money back. It should contact the Co-op. But there is no obligation on the Co-op to move the money from the wrong account. If it contacts its customer who benefited from your payment and he or she decides to keep it, you can go to the police.

I have missed the deadline for sending a paper tax return. If I decide to fill it out online now, will I avoid paying a fine? A.M., address supplied.

Yes, you can dodge a fine by paying online by January 31. However, before doing this you will need to register (hmrc.gov.uk) using your unique taxpayer reference number and either your postcode or NI number.

When I tried to spend £228 worth of Marks & Spencer vouchers I was told they are no longer accepted. They don’t have an expiry date, so what’s going on? M.W., Essex.

You have credit vouchers rather than gift vouchers. These are given out as a gesture of goodwill, usually when you return something without a receipt. In 2006, they were replaced with 12-month credit receipts. Credit vouchers have not been accepted in store since June 12, 2009. M&S says this change was advertised prominently in stores at the time.

I have entered the Halifax Savers Prize Draw. How do I get hold of a list of winners to give me faith that the bank is paying out? B.M., Birmingham.

Halifax says a list of winners for the previous six months is available on request from branches — or you can request one by phone.




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