Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
Mrs D.H. writes: After reading your recent report about Nectar, I hope you might resolve my problem.
I saved 43,000 Nectar points, worth £215, towards purchasing a vacuum cleaner. Suddenly, I noticed almost all my points had gone. I knew I had not spent them.
I am virtually housebound and had not physically shopped in Sainsbury’s since the start of 2020.
Mystery: Mrs H saved 43,000 Nectar points for a new vacuum – but almost all then disappeared
Tony Hetherington replies: Nectar told me this would be fully investigated, including examining CCTV footage. However, it allowed so much time to pass that CCTV was no longer available. I spoke to Sainsbury’s but they said it was up to Nectar to sort it out.
Lots of companies belong to the Nectar loyalty points scheme, including big names like Argos, eBay and Esso. But Nectar is owned by Sainsbury’s, so for Sainsbury’s to tell you that it is up to Nectar to investigate your missing points is just a brush-off.
My recent report told how a Mail on Sunday reader lost 6,000 Nectar points which were spent at an Argos branch he had never entered.
After I intervened, Sainsbury’s told me it would investigate, and it did replace the missing points. But staff called the reader and told him they did not believe any fraud had actually happened.
The implication was that the reader had let someone use his card to spend the points, and then falsely tried to reclaim them. Sainsbury’s knows the identity of the person who spent the points, but refuses to reveal it.
If anything, Sainsbury’s response to your own loss is even worse. It told me you had contacted it to ask for an additional cardholder to be removed from your account, and only three months later had complained about your missing 43,000 points which, Sainsbury’s told me, the other cardholder had already spent.
Again, the implication was that you allowed your points to be spent, and were now trying to cheat Sainsbury’s into replacing them. But what Sainsbury’s told me was untrue.
Fortunately, you had saved a complete print-out of your online ‘chat’ session, asking where your missing points had gone. This shows the Nectar representative telling you: ‘I have checked this for you and I would like to inform you that the points were redeemed by the additional cardholder of the account.’
The print-out shows you telling Nectar that you do not have an additional cardholder. Nectar tells you the name of the person, and says he spent your points at Sainsbury’s in Burnley. You recognise the name, but deny ever having authorised any such additional card, and Nectar tells you: ‘Not to worry, I will remove him from your account.’ You ask whether Nectar can reimburse you, but the representative explains he personally cannot do this.
So, a million miles away from the picture painted to me by Sainsbury’s, which gave the false impression that you had cancelled the additional card, and only later complained about missing points. The print-out shows the truth, that you made contact about the missing points and were only then told about the mysterious additional cardholder, with Nectar itself saying it would cancel it.
Sainsbury’s has offered no explanation for why it tried to mislead me. However, it has said that the additional card was issued in August 2014 ‘with the same security details’ as your own card. I have asked five times for a copy of the application for the additional card, so I can see who it came from. Sainsbury’s has refused to produce it. They were also supposed to be looking urgently into why they gave me false information about you, but they have gone strangely silent on this as well.
Nectar is a leaky ship. It claims to have its own fraud investigators, but cardholders repeatedly tell me they are instructed to ask the police to investigate, while Nectar seems to do its best to avoid replacing stolen points or helping cardholders themselves to investigate.
You are £215 out of pocket. I think if I were you, I would shop at a different supermarket.
Monese shut my mother’s account…and kept £3,000
Ms V.A. writes: Card company Monese ruined our Christmas. On December 7, Monese emailed my mother to say it was closing her account and she should supply details of a bank account to receive her balance of £3,068.
She immediately replied with those details, but despite calls and emails, Monese did not transfer the money.
This was the only money she had available in the run-up to Christmas, but Monese said there was nothing it could do about that.
Tony Hetherington replies: You have told me that not only was your Christmas ruined, but by January your mother owed payments for rent, council tax and utilities. Your mother never contested Monese’s right to decide which customers it wants and which it dumps, but either way, it had no right to hang on to thousands of pounds.
With your mother’s consent, I approached Monese, and a few days later it released all her money. But it explained: ‘Due to our regulatory obligations, we cannot comment further on, or disclose, the individual circumstances regarding the closure of accounts. In regards to this case, we have acted in line with our legal and regulatory obligations.’
Monese lists 13 reasons why it might close an account, such as a customer running up debts, or being violent towards staff. But the explanation it offered only applies to criminal offences such as money laundering. I suspect Monese believed your mother was a crook but later changed its mind, though it will never confirm this.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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