How to help your mental health by creating a home that’s a safe haven
EVERY Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Jane Hamilton will give you the best advice for selling your home and Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes.
Paula Higgins, Homeowners Alliance chief, says: “Home and garden are crucial to our wellbeing – we need them to be a safe haven.”
Here are eight key ways to to stop you from climbing the walls at home . . .
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Mel Hunter, Reader's champion
Q) A FEW weeks after buying a Toshiba TV from John Lewis, I noticed there was a ‘flicker’ on the left-hand side of the screen.
A member of John Lewis’ technical support team talked me through how to conduct a factory reset, but this didn’t resolve the issue.
John Lewis informed me that as the TV was still within its first year after purchase, the responsibility of repair fell to Toshiba and that it would provide a replacement.
Toshiba told me this was not correct.
When my TV set was returned it still had the same fault, although John Lewis insisted no problem was found.
I recorded the flicker and sent the video to John Lewis and the TV was sent off again – leaving me without a set for four weeks. When it came back it still wasn’t fixed.
I knew I was entitled to a repair or replacement as the TV was purchased less than six months ago, but the TV needed to be tested twice to show a fault. It has now been sent off yet again.
Liam, Romford, Essex
A) John Lewis, famed for its fair refund policy, had given you the run-around. Not only was the TV new, but it also came with a five-year warranty, so your faulty set should have quickly been sorted.
What’s more, the law only requires you to give one opportunity to repair a fault. If the fix is unsuccessful, the customer can claim a refund.
I pointed this out to John Lewis and it did replace the TV and gave you £75 in vouchers, too.
A spokesman said: “We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused. We have offered him a refund and a gesture of goodwill as a way of apology.”
Q) WE recently made a reservation with Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, Staffs, costing £208.
Two days later, two payments of £104 were taken from our bank account.
The following day a further payment of £208 was taken under a different booking reference.
I asked for this to be refunded and, a week later, I got just £104 back.
I asked for the rest and that was paid back three days later.
However, on the same day, two more lots of £104 were taken once again – and we have not yet been refunded.
We are back to where we started and we don’t know if our original reservation still stands.
Nicholas Charlton South Tyneside
A) The hotel got in a pickle here, charging your twice then making a further mistake, re-charging the booking that had previously been refunded.
Luckily, the booking still stands – and you now get to stay there for free.
A spokesperson for Holiday Inn Express Tamworth said: “We’re sorry that there was a mix up with these booking charges.
“We have of course issued a refund for the duplicate charges and as a gesture of goodwill we have additionally refunded their booking.
“We hope the Charlton family enjoy their stay with us.”