Capital letters

Capital letters

I bought a Chinese "bracelet of happiness" from the Best Of mail order catalogue in August 2005 at £12.50, plus £3.90 postage and packing. But on the second wearing, the clasp broke. I sent it back to a Hounslow address. I heard nothing. I then wrote to an address in Belgium for a refund, but no reply. Can you advise me?

IG,

Surrey

The Best Of catalogue reads like a Private Eye spoof. There is the "Cockeral" (sic) hand-painted thermometer, the "genuine crystal luxury adhesive tape dispenser" and the Cross of Jesus with secret compartments containing Lourdes water and Bethlehem soil.

Your "bracelet of happiness" was meant to "regenerate your body, decrease your stress". It did the opposite.

Tracking down Best Of is not easy. The Hounslow post box is only for inward orders. A second post box in Nivelles, Belgium, is for returns. And there is a third post box in Arras, France.

Or, at least, there was then. Now it seems the whole operation has moved to Dublin, although the Irish call centre does not know Best Of's legal base. It refuses to compensate you, as it cannot find your letters - not surprising given the number of moves the firm makes. You are a victim of a small print clause.

Your delivery note says "goods damaged, opened, used or worn will not be refunded or exchanged". So Best Of probably binned.....continued below

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There is nothing here about your statutory rights, which include a refund if the goods are not fit for their intended purpose.

The difficulty here is, the one-off amount involved. It is important to you, but not to lawyers or trading standards. As Best Of will do nothing more for you, the best you can do is to tear up future catalogues.

Police were too busy to log missing mobile

My mobile phone recently went missing. I reported this to my contract provider O2 within minutes to prevent anyone running up huge bills. I claimed for its £150 value on the insurance with my Lloyds Bank Gold account.

The insurer's helpline told me to report the loss to the police. I went three times to the local station but was unable to log the loss because the police were too busy. Now my claim has been rejected. Please help.

EG,

London

You are not sure whether you lost the phone or it was picked from your pocket, but as no violence occurred, you cannot blame the police for treating this as ultra-low priority, the more so as you live near an area associated with the alleged airline bombing plots.

But you did try. Capital Letters put this to Lloyds TSB which accepted your version. It says the problem was that while you did not have a crime report number, you failed to note your attempts to get one on the claim form. Its recording of your first contact, however, shows you had attempted to get a crime number. A cheque is on its way.

What's the mortgage beef with architects?

I have recently been applying for a mortgage, and a number of better offers are available to professionals. However, as a registered architect, I was deemed ineligible. Surely a list that includes lawyers, doctors and dentists should include architects. What do lenders have against us?

FJ,

London