Sue Hayward’s Blog

This made me laugh…..stayed over at a Premier Inn in London last night (which I should say I rate hugely - always very clean and great value for money and fabulous breakfast - even went back for seconds this morning!)  but had a minor tv problem in that I got perfect sound but no pics when I switched it on.  

Not being a great teccy expert I had a minor ‘fiddle’ around with it and then rang reception whose immediate advice was ‘oh yes what you need to do is give it a good thump!’   Not quite sure of the technical capabilities of my fist but three hard thumps later (by which time I was a bit worried I was about to break the thing!) and suddenly teletext appeared and normal service was resumed!   Am now thinking of offering my services as a TV engineer in addition to my personal finance credentials!

I’ve been tweeting about this as I was more than a little suprised last week to have a very over eager ‘Sky’ engineer asking to take away my ‘old electrical appliances’  as part of a  recycling scheme they’re involved in.  Bearing in mind he’d asked me once over the phone when giving me his arrival ‘window’ (er yes he was well over an hour late with no apology!)  he then asked again before he’d even finished the job.

Being a cynical journalist, (and having never heard about this before),  I did ask where any appliances would end up…..and bearing in mind he was so push asked if their final resting place could even be eBay or a market stall?   He assured me it was a recycling scheme but couldn’t tell me much more.   As you can imagine I didn’t give him anything to take away and funny enough in spite of pushing the ‘green’ recycling issue he managed to leave without taking away the packaging for the new Sky box and leaving the old Sky dish in my front garden?   Hmmmm not really very convincing on the ‘green’ front then…..

So I got onto Sky. Both the press people I spoke to were very forthcoming promoting the fact that Sky engineers take away old boxes/dishes and all the packaging when they’re doing a job but knew nothing about any ‘electrical’ recycling policy…….

The mystery deepened…..but yesterday they rang back to say that  a small minority of their engineers are subcontracted from a company called AVC; and it’s this company that is trialling a recycling scheme with a big recycling plant in Hartlepool apparantely.   As it’s not a ‘Sky’ initiative there’s nothing on the website about it but the deal is that if you get one of these subcontracted engineers they may be able to take away any small appliance on the spot and if it’s big items like dishwashers etc they’ll arrange a free pick up.   

I’m all for reycling but would you want to give your old or unwanted electrical appliances to a company that can’t even take away its own rubbish?     My advice if you’re getting rid of old electricals (including broken ones) is to contact recycling companies like www.weeebuy.co.uk which offer a free postal or collection service and you’ll get some cash to boot!  Around £10 for your old hair straighteners and £40 for an old sat nav -just enter the model number online and it tells you how much you’ll make!

I’ve written and talked about this handy bit of legislation but until recently never needed to use it myself. 

Section 75 as it tends to be known is part of the consumer credit act, and kicks in if you’ve bought something on your  credit card but the company you buy from goes bust,  goods don’t arrive or when they do they’re faulty.  Under this protection you can ask your credit card company to stump up.  Handy to know and the small print bits are short and sweet, just that what you buy must cost between £100 - £30,000, even if you only pay a portion of the cost on your credit card.

So far so good except in reality how easy it is to  make a claim and get the payout?  Not that straightforward if you’re dealing with Santander and after my experience it was no suprise to learn last week this same bank ranked 3rd on the list of most complained about banks, lagging not far behind both Barclays and Lloyds TSB.

So what happened?  I wanted to make a claim after the company I booked my holiday acccommodation with (an ABTA registered website) went into administration a month before my holiday.  I rang my card company (which comes under the Santander umbrella group) to ask for a section 75 form.    The chap I spoke to didn’t seem to have a clue what I was talking about and kept asking if I had travel insurance.  But in fact with this bit of legislation there’s no need to pursue other avenues first; you have the right to go straight to your card company for the money.  So I asked for his supervisor but after holding for over ten minutes gave up and rang the Santander press office.

While I should say I’m not in the habit of calling press offices to get them to sort out my personal woes I figured in this instance if I was thinking of writing about this I wanted to hear their take on it.   After much chasing and promised calls back I finally got a call from someone with the complaint resolution team at Santander who took all the details but still insisted that travel insurance should be the first port of call.   My letter from them clearly states that customers wishing to make a ’section 75′ claim must send all revelent paperwork to them, ‘providing a customer does not have insurance that would cover this’ and going on to say that  ’if a customer has insurance they must pursue a claim with the insurance company first’.  

When I raised this with my contact at Santander she later backtracked to say customers could come to them first but if they had travel insurance ‘whilst we review your claim under section 75 we would ask you to refer the claim to your insurance provider’.

 Er hang on a minute…..so if I’ve got this right surely what they’re now advising is trying to put in two claims at the same time?  Isn’t this potentially fraud? Claiming for the same thing twice over?  

I had a chat with the very helpful Financial Ombudsman Service who say of course there’s no obligation on consumers to pursue claims through their travel insurance or any other avenue first; they can go straight to their card company for a section 75 claim.  They were also concerned about the wording of the email from Santander, which to me sounds like they’re advising pursing two claims at the same time, so I’ll be sending all my paperwork to them so they can decide whether Santander’s advice and handling of this has been good practice.

I did get my money back and managed to rebook the very same accommodation through another company in time for my trip.  But what would have happened if I hadn’t been so sure of my rights?   If you ever need to make a ’section 75′ claim on your credit card and feel your bank or card company is trying to fob you off get in touch with the Financial Ombudsman Service www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk who can help you get things sorted. 

I wonder how many other Santander customers out there may have tried to make a section 75 claim and either given up or been given the fob off too?

Shacking up with your friends to afford a roof over your head; it’s something millions of us have done; but probably more in our student renting or house share days and let’s be honest when push comes to shove how many of  your ‘house share’ friends would you trust enough to take out a mortgage with? 

Yes taking on a mortgage with your mates is the idea being mooted by Grant Schapps the housing minister; while ”mates mortgages’ may sound a way to overcome the widening gap between salaries and house prices in practical terms I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen.  

Take the case of ‘bed man’ (as he will forever be known among a few of my friends);  he bought a new two bed place with a mate a few years back; both went dutch on the deposit and mortgage payments but then when the ‘mate’ ran into financial difficulties he upped sticks and left; leaving ‘bed man’ to literally flog off the mate’s furniture (hence the ‘bed’ tag as a mate of mine actually bought the bed!) in an desperate attempt to try and cover the mortgage payments.   

Aside from the whole issue of whether ‘bed man’ actually had the right to flog off his (now ex) mate’s stuff it’s a salutory tale as most mortgage lenders will usually initially chase whoever’s still living in the property for the cash rather than hunt down the person who’s attempted to disappear into the sunset.   I never heard the final instalment in the saga of ‘bed man’ but what sounded like a great idea turned into a financial nightmare and may even have had long term repercussions as regards his credit rating.

In practical terms you may have a hard job convincing most lenders to lend you the cash if you’re ‘mates’ rather than ‘family’ right now although I suspect if mates or group mortgages  became more common lenders would insist of big indemnity style insurance policies to protect themselves in the style of those they required back in the late eighties.

It was supposed to be a one year account; you could pay in up to £100 a month and get 6% a year in interest; at the end all the money was swept across into a separate account.    And if you wanted to do it all again; you had to set up a new account; but then the rules changed…..or did they?  

I’ve just come across a case where a branch made one parent ‘reapply’ to set up a new account; took an opening balance from her but then continued taking direct debit  payments from the ‘old’ childrens regular saver account?  

 Call centre staff say they’re confused too as they thought the rules changed so you could continue paying into the account; effectively starting another year’s savings; but they’ve not had confirmation of this.   And the Halifax website is still claiming after one year money is swept across to a holding style account…..

Wonder how long before Halifax realises the customer in questions has multiple accounts for the same child?   Anyone else had this problem?

You’d think being in the communications industry Vodafone would have it sussed when it comes to keeping in touch……

Well they do; just as long as you’re happy to chat to them face to face in store; not if you want to get in touch using  the very product they actually sell; a mobile phone (or any other phone for that matter) to call them.

The other day I needed to ring one of their stores to check  if my daughter’s mobile had arrived back after being repaired; all still under warranty……

First up I discovered there wasn’t a  number on the paperwork; oh yes there was the store address and the usual Vodafone customer care line but no number for the store.  Having done a free ‘directory enquiry’ search at www.bt.com I found two numbers; both 0870 or 0845 numbers and they both went direct to the customer service department. So I then rang head office but the only option there was for a generic ‘customer service’ department again……

This meant I finally got hold of a chap in Glasgow - a couple of hundred miles away from the store I wanted to contact, but he offered to call the store for me, although yes, you’ve guessed it, he couldn’t give me their phone number…..

The message he left with the store disappeared into a Vodafone black hole so I finally gave up and went in.  When I asked the store manager why it’s so hard for customers to get in touch he claimed it’s because they’re a ‘front facing’ company; my interpretation of which is that they’re happy for you to pop in, in the hope they can flog you something but don’t reallly want to waste time answering the phone…….

I popped into the Post Office yesterday to get some Euros;  paying with cash, rather than debit or credit card as you’ll pay more for your money this way.

Now as in the case whenever you buy anything these days in the high street, the shop you’re buying from is keen to try and capitalise on the opportunity to flog you something else…..

In Bhs they try and flog their store card; in WH Smith it’s chocolates at the till and in most banks they’ll try and start a conversation about whether you’ve got house or travel insurance or would like to switch your savings or mortgage……

In the Post Office it’s no different of course; after a bit of chit chat about where I was going, the lady at the counter then questioned whether I was taking enough currency for the trip……(hoping to sell a few more Euros I’m sure….).  So I told her I’d got a credit card for anything else….whereupon she leaned forward as if imparting some great secret, to tell me that, ‘did you know some cards have big charges if you use them abroad?  What about a Post Office credit card?’.   

I then pointed out that using a Post Office credit card to withdraw cash abroad would incur a fee; 2.5% at ATM machines, subject to a £3 minimum, (which she was totally unaware of), whereas the card I’ve got has no charges for foreign exchange loading or cash withdrawal fees.  I told her about a couple of the best cards on the market for foreign usage which include the Santander Zero and Halifax Clarity which don’t charge fees for taking your cash out abroad whereupon she started scrabbling around in the leaflet desperate to prove me wrong.  

Must be honest, I do enjoy this kind of banter as I know staff are often told to push their own products;  but I do worry when they don’t really have a clue about the financial pros and cons of the products they’re pushing, it’s all too easy to mislead people into thinking they’re getting a great deal when they’re not.   Having had a chat with people working in the Post Office before they tell me they’re under pressure to push products and told to look for any opportunity to introduce them to customers.

If you’re genuinely interested in the product you’re being offered, then take the info away, read up on it, and do your homework using one of the comparison websites to check out the pros and cons, but my advice is to always be wary of any advice given by the person at the till as they may not know that much about the product they’re pushing.

So VAT (Value Added Tax) goes up to 20% today; that’s a 2.5% rise (up from 17.5%) and the hike is reckoned to raise another £13 billion for the economy and cost households a few hundred pounds a year more from their pockets and purses……

So how can you beat the VAT rise?  I’ve just been chatting on BBC Radio about this and here’s just a few of the things I mentioned……

* Petrol prices will go up; but while you can’t actually ‘avoid’ the VAT rise you can cut the cost per litre….check out www.petrolprices.com which is a briliant website that checks out the cheapest petrol in your area.  It’s updated constantly and can easily save you 10p a litre every time you fill. 

* If you’re paying for services; say having a new kitchen fitted, bathroom decorated or plumbing work; remember that companies with a turnover of under £70,000 won’t pay VAT so you shouldn’t either.  While you want the best person for the job; if it comes down to a choice between two contractors for similiar prices and standards of work and one’s charging VAT and the other isn’t then you can save money this way….

* Kids’ clothes are free from VAT and as sizes often go up to ’small adult’ sizes in some cases you can cut costs this way; I bought a great pair of ‘boys’ walking boots a few years back in M&S; they were nearly half the price of the adult version and have seen me through the ice and snow of the last few years…..

* Out for a meal?  Cut the cost by taking your own wine along?   This can often boost the bill with even the cheapest bottle of house plonk costing around £15 plus so check out www.wine-pages.com/food/byoblist for restaurants that let you do this.  Some charge a couple of pounds corkage but still worth it!

* Ask for discount; paying cash will often bring down the ticket price; especially good if the sales people are on commission and eager to make a sale; buying towards the end of the month when they’re under pressure to meet targets or from smaller independent outlets and when you’re buying big ticket items like furniture, kitchens, laptops and cars.

* And check out sites like eBay - over half the items sold are brand new so you can snap up a bargain….and with many of the high street stores taking the hit on the VAT and delaying the increase till the end of the month or the end of their sales there’s still time to snap up a bargain…………

Yes that’s what the lady on the till in Boots told me…..hmm maybe not such a great idea if I’m spotted by the store detectives on CCTV…….

Perhaps I should explain….I was in Boots buying some toiletries and when I got to the till the lady said there was a ‘3 for 2′ deal on one of the items.    Old eagle eyes consumer journalist here usually spots these things so I was sure it hadn’t been flagged up but I offered to pop back and pick up a third while she rang the items through the till.   ‘Oh no that’s ok; just stick one in your bag on the way out’ was the reply….hmmm so that means that if I’m spotted on CCTV it’s going to look as if I’ve just pinched something off the display…..   And call me cynical…not only do I not fancy the embarrassing hassle of being hauled to one side by a store detective but if the assistant then couldn’t be found or realised she’d given bad advice….well you can see how the situation could rapidly turn nasty….

Instead I insisted on returning to the till to show her the third item and getting the ok to pop it in the bag before going on my way……but I’ve heard Boots isn’t alone in this.    Seems with the shops getting busier, queues at the till and so many deals and offers it’s the ‘easy option’ for stores to get customers to grab and go on the way out…..how long will it be before a hideously embarrasing potential ’shoplifting’ incident?

Can’t believe the penny pinching mentality of Sainsbury’s Customer Service…………

Now you’d imagine the idea behind  ‘customer service’ is trying to turn unhappy customers back into happy ones……well that’s idea….just not the way they go about things at the store I’ve just been to…………..

Popped in and picked up a couple of Christmas presents (hence can’t spill the beans and say what exactly!) and thought I’d cash in my Nectar points to cut the bill….. 

Due to a problem with their nectar card machine; (and the fact that there was a queue growing while other Sainsbury’s colleagues seemed to be doing everything apart from actually serving customers) the poor man serving me was getting a bit flustered so he suggested I took my receipt and nectar card to customer service and they could easily give me a cash refund against the nectar points I’d tried to use.

All well and good, but over at customer service, after a ten minute wait, I was  immediately told they couldn’t do this; so I suggested a way round it was to give me a refund on the purchase I’d just made and then I’d ‘buy’ it again but this time using my nectar card to pay part of the bill.   Sounds a simple suggestion but oh no; the lady on the desk pointed out apparantely during the original transaction, points had been added to my nectar card, so although it had failed to take any off;  a refund and resale meant I’d get ‘double’ points.    Ok so if that’s a problem then we must be talking about a huge number of points if they’re so worried about this……….er no……we’re actually talking a total of 268 points - a measly £1.25 in cash value…….

So would she rather I went away a ‘happy’ customer after being able to cash in my nectar points but walk away with a huge extra £1.25 of Sainsbury’s profits by means of extra nectar points……or leave me a very unhappy customer who was likely to then ask for management to be called……    So should Sainsbury’s profits fall dramatically it could be down to that extra £1.25 worth of nectar points they handed out……