Four-year fight with NatWest goes on

Back in 2001, divorce proceedings set Jeff Bloom's finances awry and he applied to NatWest to increase his overdraft limit. His branch agreed but forgot to push through the necessary paperwork before going on holiday. Consequently Bloom exceeded his authorised limit and missed a month's mortgage repayment. The manager admitted his oversight and offered to add the arrears to the mortgage, which was to be paid off imminently when the marital home was sold.

Unbeknown to Bloom, however, NatWest had referred the missed payment to the credit agencies and, since he hadn't yet paid it off, each month it reported that he had fallen further into arrears. This meant that Bloom was refused permission to add his £20,000 overdraft to the mortgage, and was obliged to take out a far more expensive loan. It was only when he was turned down for several other mortgages when trying to buy a new house that he discovered his poor credit rating.

NatWest admitted its guilt and got his name cleared but refused to compensate him for the extra costs incurred: Bloom claims that he is gravely out of pocket because of the bank charges he had to pay, the high interest rates on the loan, and, later, the cost of a new mortgage that his blackened reputation forced him to accept.

NatWest takes Bloom's predicament very seriously. So seriously that it requires five months to look into his case and get back to me. It blames "a breakdown in service" for starting the problem, and decides, four years on from Bloom's original complaint, to refund the wrongful bank charges along with £500 of goodwill. According to Bloom, this magnificent gesture nowhere near covers the expenses he was caused, but NatWest denies further liability. If Bloom has any energy and resources left, he will have to fight the giant through the small claims court.

Terminated, charged, threatened

Stephen Douglas is also being penalised for not using a service that was denied him. The internet service provider Wanadoo had cancelled his broadband account because he was using the service too heavily. Three months after Douglas had signed up with a rival, it then helped itself to a £111 fine for terminating his contract early. Douglas pointed out that it was Wanadoo who had expelled him, and the company eventually repaid the money. However, six months later he received a missive from a debt collection agency threatening court action unless he paid a £140 cancellation fee.

Whenever Douglas calls Wanadoo, he is told either that the agency will be reined in or that no one knows what he's talking about. In the meantime, the alleged debt has risen vertiginously.

It's startling how little time and effort the press office requires to admit the mistake and knock off a letter to the debt collectors. Douglas should now, we hope, be fully liberated.

Clutch of problems dog Fiat owners

In all my years as Dear Anna, I have encountered very few insurmountable hurdles, but there is one body that continues to defy all reason: the car manufacturer. The thinking that unites them is infallibility - their own, of course - and it takes uncommon stores of patience, courage and wealth to persuade them otherwise.

Since Andrea Jones bought her Fiat Punto three years ago, it has got through four clutches plus numerous other interesting symptoms. An internet trawl showed that dozens of other Punto drivers were in a similar predicament and that two had successfully taken Fiat to court to get their problems acknowledged. However, Fiat will not accept that Jones's car is faulty and insists that it will merely replace each dodgy clutch until the warranty expires next year.

When I call Fiat, it does, surprisingly, admit that there have been problems with some clutches and that a new, modified one is available and can be fitted free of charge, if necessary. However, a spokesman insists that no faults were found with Jones's car when it was tested at head office and that she is therefore on her own. Sadly, it seems that Jones will have to face her own day in court if she wants to budge them further.