‘I was overcharged for council tax for 14 years but only refunded for one’
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help
18 May 2021 • 7:00am
A reader from Bristol had not claimed the single person’s council tax discount, which meant paying about £5,000 extra in taxes since 2007
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help. For how to contact her click here.
Dear Sally,
I have lived alone at my current address since 2007 but unwittingly have been paying the full amount of council tax and not receiving the single person’s discount of 25pc.
NatWest charged me £600 to hold two sheets of paper
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help
17 May 2021 • 6:00am
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help. For how to contact her click here.
Dear Sally,
I have a private account with NatWest, with whom I have banked for decades. Recently, I was going through my statements and discovered that I had been charged £50 a year – two payments of £25 each – since 2009 for something called “safe custody hold”. Before 2009, there were no charges.
I rang the bank to ask what these charges were for, and was told they were for two A4 envelopes that had been held at the bank since 1995. I have subsequently visited the Wilmslow branch to reclaim the envelopes to find they contained two out-of-date wills made in 1986.
PC World and Carphone Warehouse to disappear in Currys rebrand
Decision to rebrand as Currys is a no-brainer says chief executive Alex Baldock: This is a gearshift - not a facelift.
13 May 2021 • 11:19am
The PC World and Carphone Warehouse brands are set to disappear from the high street as DixonsCarphone rebrands all its stores as Currys.
The electricals retailer said all Currys PC World, Carphone Warehouse, Team Knowhow and Dixons Carphone stores in the UK and Ireland will be renamed by October.
The Currys name will appear on more than 300 stores, 13,000 staff uniforms and more than 300 delivery vehicles, the FTSE 250 company said.
Burberry shares out of fashion despite sales rebound
Spending in FTSE 100 retailer s UK stores continuing to suffer from the absence of foreign tourists
13 May 2021 • 10:42am
Shares in Burberry sank despite sales jumping by almost a third following strong demand from rich shoppers in Asia and America.
The FTSE 100 company said the fourth-quarter rebound in like-for-like store sales came despite 16pc of its shops globally still remaining closed due to lockdowns as it resumed dividend payouts to shareholders.
The strong performance helped limit the fall in annual revenues to 11pc, with retail turnover down 9pc.
Burberry said its UK stores had good promise since reopening on April 12, but were suffering from the lack of spending by tourists. They accounted for two thirds of UK sales before the pandemic.