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Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
TONY HETHERINGTON: John Lewis binned my carpet - but refuses to give me a refund
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. Mrs J.O. writes: In March 2022 we placed an order with John Lewis to supply and fit carpeting for two rooms, hall, stairs and landing, for which we paid £8,480. We agreed with John Lewis that because one room was not ready, it would do most of the job that year and store the rest of the carpet, which was all from the same batch, until a later date. Because of unforeseen problems we were not ready for the second fitting until earlier this year, but now John Lewis has told us it has 'disposed of' our carpet. Tony Hetherington replies: John Lewis gave you no warning that it was planning to dispose of your carpet, and when you complained you were told there would be no refund or payment. You have no idea whether your carpet was resold, given away or thrown out. The closest this retail giant came to an explanation was when one of its customer advisers blamed the long gap between your original purchase and fitting, and your request to finish the job. When you questioned this explanation, a more senior figure told you the cost of storage could have been significant. You offered to allow John Lewis to deduct that cost from any refund, but it became clear that even they had no idea how long your carpet had been held or when it was dumped. I asked John Lewis to comment on all this. In particular, I reminded it that its own terms and conditions said that if you had not made contact with the store within three months of a failed appointment to fit the carpet, then this would give John Lewis the right to cancel the deal and give you a refund after deducting any costs. But this would apply only after a failed appointment – so when was this failed appointment, I asked? If there was an agreement in 2022 to postpone the second fitting, when was an appointment made to go ahead with it? And even if there was a failed appointment, the terms and conditions say that John Lewis reserves the right to cancel the deal – which is not the same as saying that cancellation is automatic. If John Lewis felt entitled to cancel the deal, then when did it tell you this? John Lewis replied that as you had not booked a second fitting of the carpet, it regarded this as technically a failed appointment! But it also admitted that it had never contacted you. It then promised what it described as a 'goodwill payment'. You agreed that the lost carpet and the fitting costs, which you had paid in advance, were together worth £1,824. John Lewis offered to refund half of this, telling you that the long delay in making a second fitting appointment was unreasonable. 'We consider a timeframe of over three months as justifiable for disposing of any goods,' it said. You rightly rejected the offer. John Lewis had not even stuck to its own terms and conditions, but was holding you responsible for half the financial consequences. I am pleased to say you have now accepted £1,448, which allows John Lewis to keep the balance of more than £300 to cover its storage costs. John Lewis told me: 'We take pride in our customer service and have countless happy customers, so we are really sorry to hear of Mr & Mrs O's case.' But they had heard of this from you, before you contacted me, so it is a shame that it took an intervention from The Mail on Sunday to remind it what customer service should look like. Big claims… big debts A will-writing firm run by an unauthorised financial adviser has been forced to take down false claims on its website. Elite Wills & Estate Planning, in Worthing, West Sussex, offered funeral plans but did not have Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval, and also claimed to be a member of the Master Guild of Will Writers and follow its strict code of practice. In fact, the organisation had ceased to exist some time ago and never had regulatory powers. Elite's boss Ian Hill blamed his website operator for failing to delete both claims. In February I reported how Elite's sister company Thurlow Wealth Ltd – also run by Ian Hill – had failed to repay an elderly investor £25,000 that was due in 2023, and its accounts showed it owes around £1.6 million. But according to Hill, his investors are high net worth individuals who can afford the losses, so he does not need FCA authorisation to offer them high-risk schemes. He also claims his investors' money has been passed on to market traders who are backed by one of the world's biggest insurance companies. The arrangement is secret, he says. The investor's family have now reported this to the police.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
TONY HETHERINGTON: I inherited a £117 BT debt which ruined my credit score
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. R.B. writes: According to my credit agency report, I owe BT £117. It says I defaulted on this in 2019 and every month since then, which is having a bad impact on my credit rating. However, this has nothing to do with me. I have called BT about this many times and it agrees, but it does not seem able to remove the default as it does not exist. Tony Hetherington replies: The frustration you have experienced in trying to sort this out was clear from everything you told me. You contacted all the leading credit agencies, but the only response you received was that if there was no such debt, then it was up to BT to delete it. And BT told you it could trace no such debt. You are not even a BT customer, but you offered to pay the £117 just so the debt would disappear. BT refused your money because it could find no bill to set the payment against. I gave BT your current and previous addresses, including an address from years ago when you lived with your parents – and this turned out to be the key. Unknown to you, your mother was a BT customer, and when she died more than seven years ago, the BT account was put into your name. There is no record now of why this was done, or why the account was not closed by BT. Just as importantly, there is no explanation of why BT could not trace any record of the debt when you complained about it, nor why you were never pursued to pay it. BT told me: 'We have reviewed and located the account in question. Our records show an account set up in Mrs B's name in March 2018, which was moved to Mr B in 2018 after she passed away.' BT has cancelled the £117 bill, so it should disappear from your credit file. It offered you £25 by way of saying sorry. This was a silly amount, given that BT failed for years to take your complaints seriously. After having second thoughts, it has upped its offer to £225, which you have accepted. Is this bond offer too good to be true? R.A. writes: I am sending you a copy of an offer to invest in a Lloyds Bank bond yielding fixed interest of 6.50 per cent. Is this too good to be true? Tony Hetherington replies: This is a scam, but Lloyds Bank is not to blame. The offer you received says it came from Worldwide Capital 4U Ltd. Except that it didn't – that's just another part of the scam. The bonds the crooks claim to be selling were actually issued by Lloyds Bank 15 years ago. They are not aimed at ordinary savers. In a nutshell, this is an investment for professionals. Why would Worldwide Capital 4U be working hard to sell these bonds to the public? They do not plan to deliver the bonds. They will take your money and run. The information they sent you is just window dressing. The crooks claim to be authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with FCA registration number 975509. And, sure enough, the registration exists and it does belong to this company. But the real Worldwide Capital 4U Ltd is an ordinary business based in Solihull in the West Midlands. It does not even have a website. The crooks, though, have a big, flashy website at where they boast about their upmarket offices. Surprising, then, that their website was set up as recently as February this year, with fees paid for just one year. The site is registered to an address in Burlington, Massachusetts, in the US, rather than the address the tricksters use at One Mayfair Place in London, where anyone can have their mail delivered for £133 a month without really being there. I asked John Nolan, who runs the real Worldwide Capital 4U, whether he had a posh office in London and an all-singing, all-dancing website. 'No, we are not in London and we don't have a website,' he told me. 'I think I had better report this to the FCA. This is nothing to do with us,' he added. Let's see whether the FCA investigates or simply adds the scam to its list of dodgy dealers. Meanwhile, nobody should give a penny to the online crooks.
