Pickpocket lucky with a Pin guess

Pickpocket lucky with a Pin guess

My wife's purse was stolen while we were Christmas shopping. She used her card protection service to stop all her cards and spoke to Sainsbury's Bank when we got home. Already £300 had been drained from our joint account in fraudulent withdrawals from a cash machine. The bank also added interest to the stolen amount. It says the Pin must have been in her purse for the thief to withdraw the money. This is unlikely as it's the card we use most and we know the number by heart. KD, York

When you telephoned Sainsbury's to discuss this problem further, the operator dealt with you herself, whereas she should have referred you to the fraud team, which had your notes. This is why nothing happened.

Unfortunately, the fraudster used the correct Pin at the first try, which doesn't look good for you. I would have felt happier if you had told me you never write down your Pins. However, Sainsbury's has no proof that your Pin was in the purse and agrees that the withdrawals were outside your normal spending patterns. It has cancelled the £300 and the interest charges.

Dent in hired van made big hole in my deposit

My son hired a van from Renault London West. I paid £110 in rental and a £1,000 deposit. We checked there was no damage when we returned the van but, two days later, Renault said there was a dent in one of the doors. Renault estimated the repairs would cost £560. We were shocked.....continued below

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at this price and were told we could have the van for 24 hours to get it repaired ourselves. We were quoted £320, but it became difficult to collect the van. Eventually we agreed that Renault could repair it for £529. It did this, but refused to return the balance of my deposit because I had messed them around.

PL, London

Car hire firms wait until vehicles require several repairs which can be done at once. Even if they tried, it would be difficult to distribute the cost fairly among customers who had recently used that van. That aside, withholding half of your deposit without justification is illegal. Renault insists it was entitled to hold on to all of the money, but cannot say why. It eventually agreed to refund the balance after deducting £529 for repairs, but instead of sending you £471, it wrote a cheque for only £411. It no longer returns my phone calls asking for an explanation, but I will persevere.

Royal Bank backs down over overdraft charge

In June 2007, I complained to Royal Bank of Scotland about an unfair unauthorised overdraft charge. RBS paid a direct debit after we had moved our current account to Alliance & Leicester. The manager agreed to waive the fee, but the bank charged me anyway. I have written to the bank four times without reply.

AH, London

When the manager agreed to waive the charges, she overlooked a £30 referral charge. This is what stayed on your account. RBS has refunded the £30 and added £20 to apologise.