As it’s the season of goodwill I thought I’d offer some advice to all those poor people who get taken in on a daily basis by unscrupulous salespersons.
Beware salesmen they often come in sheep’s clothing!
Eleven years ago my insurance company rep from Royal Sun Alliance knocked on my door and invited me to take out a 10-year savings plan. “Of course I can’t give you precise information but at the current rate of interest your money should almost double”. I can see the chap now and I remember thinking “I wonder where you will be in 10 years time”. On a beach in Lanzarote perhaps!
Last Christmas my plan matured and you might think it was a nice little earner as the previous 10 years had been a time of boom bang a bang bang – alas nooooooo. My final figure was far less than I had paid in and when I had the audacity to question this I was told “admin fees”.
While I am on the subject of RSA (now called More Than I think) I’d like to warn people at this stage that they are probably the most customer-unfriendly insurance company in Britain.
I have had my motor insurance and home insurance with them for most of the 30 years I have lived at my current abode and have never yet made a claim on either – however – I had the misfortune to be banned for speeding after speed cameras were placed on the road I live on and in total ignorance I sped through them at 38, 39 and 39mph on the first day they were implemented in February 2001. Three months later, in May, the summons’ arrived on my doorstep all at once and in September I was banned for four months on the totting-up procedure as the magistrate thought it wise to give me three points for the first offence, four for the second and five points for the third, although they were all awarded for a 24-hour period. Incidentally, I subsequently found out this year that I should never have been taken to court in the first place as there were three months between offence and summons!! Anyway my insurance company RSA took it upon themselves to write to me to the effect that I was now persona non grata and that was that. A little irked but undeterred I have continued to pay them my home insurance premium and in September put in a claim for structural damage to my hall wall as a gaping crack suddenly appeared. I sent the builder’s estimate in (£660) as they asked me to but eventually was told this was cosmetic and they would not be honouring my claim. Be warned everyone
Now back to investment issues. This Christmas I had been looking forward to a Capital Bond maturing. I opened a bank account with NatWest five years ago and immediately a personal investment banker called me into his office to tell me that my money would be best served by taking out a Capital Bond. He told me there were three types of Bond, High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk but all of them would DEFINITELY serve me better than the interest earned in the account I had opened. Yes, I fell for it again I’m afraid (but remember I didn’t know about my savings plan at this time) and the letter duly arrived on my doorstep last week congratulating me on my bond maturing and relaying to me how pleased they were to inform me that all I needed to do was sign the letter and send it back to the bank. I smelt a rat immediately when no figure was mentioned so I rang the bank and was eventually told that my bond was worth considerably less than five years ago. So much for the words of the investment banker who wasted several hours of my time five years ago and completely unsolicited I might add. Be warned everyone
It seems Christmas is not always the time for good cheer. On 28 December 2004 I purchased a laptop from PC World in Crawley. It never held a charge and had to be plugged in constantly.
I was busy getting my sports book out so didn’t have a chance to take it back initially but rang them up several times during the course of the year to inform them of the situation and they told me to bring it along when I am next in town. Unfortunately for me this was 29 December 2005 and the chap in the store seemed to take great relish in informing me that my warranty expired the day before. My explanation stood for nothing and another lesson was learnt. I bought another laptop this Christmas – from Currys : )
With me it is usually the principle and so the worst crime of all is when you know someone is taking advantage of you but you are helpless to do anything about it. I bought an ear cleaner from a mail order catalogue called Healthy Living in September – it cost me £15.99 i.e. £9.99 +p&p. It was advertised as having a ‘gentle suction action’ but laughably it was just a whirring noise with a light. My GP told me it was useless so I duly sent it back as the company asked me to. I checked my bank account in November to see that £9.99 had been credited and when I rang them last week was told they do not refund postage. Now come on guys I would have expected my original postage back plus the carriage in on the return. More than that I asked for an investigation as I felt this was a con and far from believing this was a faulty machine I rather fear that there could not possibly be a ‘gentle suction action’ on any of the stock as it has a solid head with no compartment for residue wax!
Be warned everyone Healthy Living could ruin your health.
The lessons learnt are twofold. Never be swayed by smooth-talking men in grey suits and if something seems to good to be true then it usually is.
A very happy new year to everyone
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