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B&Q finally clears up the mess in your bathroom
I paid B&Q £4,445 in May 2007 for a bathroom upgrade. But I have suffered problems since it was fitted, including a blocked loo - caused because the toilet had been fitted in the wrong place. This was eventually fixed, but left gaps in the wall and ruined floor and wall tiles.
I am not happy with the electric shower which makes a strange noise, or with the replacement floor tiles which do not match the others. This job is a total mess - can you get B&Q to put it right?
EW, Essex
You first contacted Capital Letters in June when your patience with B&Q was already exhausted - unsurprisingly after a full year of hassles - and despite a £2,000 goodwill refund from the DIY store in November 2007.
Besides the problems you listed, others included a hole in the floor behind the toilet, a broken bath plug, bad grouting, lost hot and cold markers on the basin taps, and a musty smell due to a lack of ventilation.
You have spent the past 18 months with a bathroom in disrepair - B&Q could not even arrange someone to visit your home at a time convenient to you to look at the problem until Capital Letters sorted it out.
It is really hard to understand why B&Q, which was paid in full before starting the job (unlike many independent contractors who collect on completion), made such a mess out of a simple bathroom refurbishment.
But after several months of Capital Letters dialogue with B&Q, during which the store had said the matter had been completed to your satisfaction (it was not), you now have a sparkling bathroom. The repairs were so extensive that you had to move out of your home - B&Q will pay the £330 hotel bill plus £100 in other expenses.
It will write to apologise for the difficulties and send you a further £250 compensation (despite refusing earlier). B&Q now has just £1,800 or so left from your £4,445 payment.
Cloned, then left cash and cardless
Three weeks ago, I paid £497 into my Abbey business account via an ATM. I was shocked to see my balance - which I expected to be around £12,000 - was under £2,000. I contacted Abbey customer services, who said my debit card had probably been cloned. I was assured it had been stopped and I'd get a new one immediately.
A week later, and I was still cardless and £10,000 down - only now the promised resolution is even further into the future. I was also told I could not withdraw my remaining money at a branch because it was a business account. Please help - I need some cash.
PH, Lancashire
Why did Abbey not pick up the unusual spending pattern? Your card was used 32 times in 10 days - all in Australia including "tests" where tiny sums are stolen. But even after the fraud was detected, Abbey made life difficult, keeping you without cash.
Abbey acted when Capital Letters intervened. It says its monitoring normally identifies unusual transactions but it did not notice the small amounts here. But this does not explain the £1,800 paid to a Sydney plant hire firm. Nor does its statement deal with why you could not withdraw your remaining money. It says it could have done better. It will write to apologise - and send you £300 compensation.
Be warned, don't get caught up in chains
My mother is a semi-retired teacher of limited financial means, and I am concerned over her joining what she describes as a "multi-level marketing" plan called Success University. Can you throw some light on this.
CG, London
This has nothing to do with any UK university. It calls itself "multi-level" but it would appear to be a pyramid scheme where earnings depend on recruiting others who have to sign up still more people.
It was set up by "30-year-old US internet millionaire" Matt Morris. He claims earnings "of over $100,000 a month" provided you "follow my simple step-by-step system" based on "affiliate marketing". What are you marketing? Online self-improvement courses, but these are likely to be unread. The scheme is now in the UK where it's sold at get-rich-quick seminars.
It costs £75 to join plus a further £25 a month. Where does the money go? It moves up the chain to those who signed your mother. But eventually all pyramid schemes collapse - the only winners are those who set them up.
Trying to get all square over my lost cube
In January I paid £150 for a furniture cube at New Heights. When it was delivered it was the wrong colour. It was taken away and never seen again. We now know the shop went bust but our attempts to contact the administrators have failed. We would like our money back so we can buy another - or even the wrong colour cube.
SC, Nottingham
Your emails to insolvency practioners Baker Tilly bounced back as you misspelt Tilly as Tilley. But you would only have had bad news anyway.
In returning paid-for goods, you passed ownership back to the now defunct store, but as you were an "after sales customer" there was no record of your goods or of your existence. So your cube - worth virtually nothing as a second-hand item - now belongs to the administrators. So you have lost your money just as you would if it had never been delivered - there is no bank style compensation scheme.
The only good news is that your Abbey Visa debit card may be of some help (but don't rely on this). Baker Tilly will now send you paperwork so you can claim from your bank.
One parcel scam down ... another to go?
I received an email saying: "Royal mail postal scam. This scam has been confirmed by our Royal Mail account manager and is especially relevant as Christmas is fast approaching." It then continues: "A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). Do not call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15."
CM, Middlesex
You are not the only one to send this to Capital Letters. It relates to a scam which was shut down three years ago but which seems to resurface every subsequent autumn. Regulator PhonepayPlus said this time last year that the £1.50 a minute line had been shut in December 2005 and the Belize firm behind the scam fined. But at least, if a similar racket is set up this Christmas, you are warned in advance.
At 82, it's time to call off the debt collectors
I got into financial difficulties in 1997. Citizens Advice came to arrangements with my creditors. Some of these have now passed to debt collectors. Must I keep paying now I am 82?
BH, Devon
Debt collectors only earn if you pay up - so it is unsurprising they hassle you. However, they cannot squeeze blood out of a stone. Tell them firmly that there is no money available and, if they wish, they can take you to court. They won't as they know they will get nothing - it might even result in your paying less than you do now.
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