WWhen the year began, I began to listen to Your problemsmy column for the Observer. I am now a Guardian consumer advocate. Rethinking is always invigorating. My former life was spent battling airlines, insurance companies, and energy providers all out to plunder readers' savings. My new life? Struggling airlines, insurance companies and energy suppliers are set to plunder readers' savings.
In this era of seismic shifts, it's comforting to know that some things remain the same. You can count on energy companies to cool your brain with billing psychodramas and phantom accounts. Meanwhile, certainty is still the business model of insurers: many would say that you can rest assured that if you damage your car or yourself, your insurer will look for a reason to hold off on your claim.
Airlines and accommodation providers have a long tradition of charging you cash for bookings, but actual flights and actual beds are sometimes considered optional.
This year I found out where to buy coffee to go for £100; mysterious reasons why Travelodge guests may be moves to service stations on motorways at night; So what “forever” means in the banking sector (apparently about two decades in the Santander lexicon).
I researched How long does HM Revenue and Customs think it will take to complete the agreed bank transfer? – 33 weeks – and why some teachers are retired must prove every year that they are not dead.
At this time of year, I would like to express my gratitude to those organizations that have worked so hard to keep their clients at arm's length and keep me employed.
A round of applause please for the 2025 Anne of Infamy Award winners.
Sensitivity ambassador Dead clients are much easier to deal with than living ones. Perhaps that's why Three (slogan: 'Live your best phone life') suggested CF.”kill” her sick father when she wanted to change ownership of her mobile phone contract. The CF account was opened and he was the primary account holder since she was a teenager at the time. Three's customer service team does not have such a process, but its bereavement service does. Luckily, he offered to mark her father as deceased to oblige her to make her the primary account holder for her own cell phone. It could, Tree warned, affect his credit rating, but it promised to tell credit agencies he was still alive after the deed was done. Three later said it would review its goodwill payment processes.
Good hygiene Sex baffles holidaymakers reading the Guardian. An elderly couple discovered that strangers were in it in his hotel room while they were at a Christmas gathering. Proof? Condoms, panties and a paper hat in the bedroom. Premier Inn (tagline: “Power for Good”) apologized for “any inconvenience” and announced it was closing the case before sensitive questioning from the Guardian demanded a refund. There's also Vrbo (“Where Families Best Travel Together”), which features a young family who… discovered their vacation rental was a bloody sex den that their complaint was “minor” and they were denied compensation until the Guardian intervened.
Good Samaritan Everyone knows that the heart of Ryanair is made of… solid granite. F.B., a doctor, got to the gate late because she had a stopped to help an injured passenger. Ryanair (“Big Concern”) refused to let her board the waiting plane and charged her a £100 administration fee for rebooking. Couldn't it have waived the fee as a gesture of goodwill, given the circumstances? No, it couldn't, he insisted, because the responsibility for punctuality lay with his passengers (even if that seemed to mean not helping bleeding pensioners).
Education Award It's a close race. London Southwark Council (United to Serve) is to be commended for leaving a 91 year old cancer patient damp, mold and insects for a year while he considered how to fix a leak elsewhere in the unit. But housing association L&Q (“Our vision is that everyone deserves a quality home that gives them the chance to live better”) went further when, without warning left residents without running water within 12 days until the leak was belatedly fixed.
Philosophical prize Airbnb (“Belong Anywhere”) must inform one of its hosts about this. When the 100-year-old oak tree fell to a French dachaHaving narrowly missed the occupants (who were having breakfast on the terrace a few minutes earlier), damaged the roof of the house and smashed the windshield of the rental car, the owner refused to refund the money for the interrupted stay. “You chose to remember the anxiety and trauma instead of celebrating a unique memory,” she told them. Airbnb was equally optimistic. “We understand this may have caused you some inconvenience,” the department said, before closing the complaint (without a refund) and saying, “Take care. Stay healthy.” (He eventually issued a full refund along with a £500 voucher after our intervention).
Social justice warrior Where are you potentially facing trial? confuse the letter “O” with zero? The London Borough of Ealing, which protects its residents from harmful forces without fear or favor. When an out-of-town driver mistook the 'O' on his car number plate for a zero and entered the wrong number into a parking app, the council gave him the choice of an £80 fine or legal action. The numbers O and 0 on the license plates of the cars are identical, and the driver paid for parking. This has not helped Ealing, nor has government guidance on parking fine enforcement, which requires councils to exercise caution in a “reasonable and reasonable manner”. They insisted that he cleared his throat “out of fair respect… for motorists who comply with all parking rules.”
Corporate repentance Nobody feels your pain like big business. In fact, he adopted a platitude to express his sympathy when he realizes that he has let you down. 'We're sorry for the inconvenience' could come to fruition as the civil service pension scheme run by outsourcing company Capita demands refunds to pensioners Accidentally overpaid £25,000 over 11 years old or Virgin Atlantic does not reimburse the cost of the honeymoon it has been cancelled. This meets the needs when TSB confuses ID fraud victim and fraudsterputs fraud markers on his name and causes his bank accounts to be closed. It's really inconvenient when Airbnb bans you because he seems to have decided that you are connected with the underworld; or when Sky can't cancel package about a family whose home was destroyed by a gas explosion next door.
AA fearless travel
This award is for A.A. itself. “Join us on our journey,” he invites. But one woman's car traveled without her for six months after AA towed it to an approved garage for repairs. It was returned – only after she claimed it was stolen – with a layer of bird droppings, a £70 parking fine notice and 15,000 extra miles on the clock. To the comfort of other AA members, the association informed me that its relationship with the garage in question was now being “reviewed.”
Bereavement support
Insurers collectively deserve this premium. Their response, when informed of the death of the policyholder, may be to hit a grieving partner with a huge increase in insurance premiums for home and car. Why? One service provider was disarmingly frank with a new widow: She now lives alone, they explained, and her home is at greater risk of burglary.
