Northern Rock blunders - and then blames customer for being too polite

A year ago, Legal & General Mortgages took £3,747 by direct debit from my bank account instead of £567. After several phone calls, £3,474 was refunded. I also asked L&G to refund my overdraft charges but instead £3,231 was credited to my bank.

Mistakes continued almost monthly until in August I moved my mortgage to the Co-op. In October, L&G said it was unable to collect my mortgage payment as the direct debit had been cancelled. I don't want any more apologies but would like financial recompense for the considerable time and expense I have incurred.
PT, Exeter

Northern Rock now handles L&G mortgages and blames the initial mistake on a system problem. It re-credited your account when it saw the mistake but your bank had already demanded the money so it had to pay again. This triggered the year-long sequence of problems.

The correct amount has been refunded and you will receive one more letter of apology with £250 compensation.

Northern Rock blames your behaviour for part of the problem. You were so polite and restrained that staff thought you were inquiring, not complaining. Customers shouldn't lose their temper but perhaps it is the only form of complaint that Northern Rock understands.

A ?300 annuity? Is that Equitable

My employer made a pension mis-selling
complaint against Sun Life of Canada and I am
getting ?300 compensation. I bought an annuity
from Equitable Life, which is holding the ?300,
and it wants to know what to do with the money. I
want to give it to charity but I am told I must buy
an annuity.

Because of Equitable's bad publicity, I had
switched my pension to Clerical Medical,
expecting to work until 65, but changed my mind
and retired two years later at 60. I now receive
the odd ?20 from Clerical Medical. Surely it is not
worth starting another tiny annuity?
PH, Ilford

The Inland Revenue has a rule allowing pensions that
would pay under ?260 a year to be handed back in
cash. Your ?300 compensation will buy only around
?10 a year from Equitable Life but Revenue rules mean
it has to be treated as part of your Equitable pension
so you cannot get hold of it. The pension trustees have
given Equitable Life permission to deal with you
directly and the company is preparing quotations.

Beneficial quick off the mark

I have enduring power of attorney for my brother and have run down his Beneficial Bank account paying for his care. In May, I closed the account and was advised to write a cheque to myself for the final £92. I did but the cheque was returned, endorsed 'account closed'. I continue to receive regular statements but am refused access to the account.
BC, Totnes

Beneficial Bank acted promptly on your first phone call and closed the account straight away. Your cheque had not yet cleared and so it bounced. At the same time, the bank posted you a cheque which has never been cashed and was stopped six weeks later. Perhaps they wrongly sent it to your brother. When you contacted the bank again in September, the clerk failed to notice the power of attorney on the file so would not let you use the account. The bank will send you £92 plus £50 as a goodwill gesture.

Is Norwich being a little nosy?

I wrote to Norwich Union complaining about a mis-sold endowment. Now I have received a letter asking the outcome of a previous complaint I had made about another endowment with a different company, which I had disclosed on the questionnaire. I fail to see the relevance of this to my complaint against Norwich Union.
GG, Dunfermline

Norwich Union can ask the question but you do not have to reply. Each mis selling case must be investigated on its own merits. Norwich Union says it asks because, if the Ombudsman has decided you had already been mis-sold one endowment, it indicates that you are an unsophisticated investor and the chances are you were mis-sold the other policy as well.

· Email Margaret Dibben at money.writes@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, Money Writes, The Observer, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.