Helen H.

This is the worst experience I have ever had with a bank or credit card company. I noticed a few weeks ago that two cash withdrawals totalling £380 had been taken from my account. I never, never withdraw cash using a credit card due (a) to the high charges and (b) to the fact that I have more than enough in my bank account to cover any cash requirements I may have. I contacted them to report the matter and they told me to destroy my existing card and they would send me another. They also said they would investigate the fraudulent activity. Initially, they refunded one of the withdrawals quite quickly and, when I contacted them, said they were still investigating the other but credited the amount anyway. They then informed me that they had concluded this was not fraudulent activity and intended to charge me for the withdrawals and the associated charges. I was completely shocked. I live alone and no one has access to my card or a pin number. In addition, in the many years I have been with this company I have never once withdrawn cash on a card. Suddenly they were implying that at the age of 68, having never in my life been involved in any form of criminality or financial impropriety, I was attempting to defraud them of £380 or colluding with someone else to do so. I appealed the decision but they refused to overturn it saying it was "not possible" to reach any other conclusion other than my having used the card myself or allowed someone else to do so. Well, they are wrong and I am both beyond furious, and extremely upset, by this event. Just a cursory look at my account history should indicate that this was totally unusual activity. An almost identical thing happened to a friend of mine with an Amex card a while ago and they refunded the money immediately. This is so wrong, and while I will appeal to the Financial Ombudsman and disseminate the details of this experience as widely as I can to warn others, I am left feeling pretty helpless and badly used by this experience. This company is not acting in good faith. If they want people to use their products they should be prepared to compensate fir fraudulent activity due, I can only conclude, to inadequate safety measures on their part.

Shockingly poor service. I ordered some touch-up paint for my car which did not arrive for a lengthy period. When I emailed about this I was told to wait an extra couple of days and get back to them if it did not turn up. It didn't but all my emails and voicemail messages were ignored. I disputed the payment to them with my credit card company who contacted them and they did send it - except it was the wrong paint and not what I had ordered so absolutely no use. Based on my past experience I am not hopeful this will be sorted out even though I have forwarded them details of my original order. This has been a complete waste of my time and money. Appalling.