TONY HETHERINGTON: Anyvan were supposed to take £12,000 of belongings to Spain - but all we got were excuses
D.R. writes: My wife and I have purchased a property in Granada, Spain, and we wanted to get some bits and pieces taken there from our home in Stockport. I used a website called Anyvan to find the best price from a transport firm and I gave the business to Stephen Charlesworth of The Man With The Van Limited.
The goods, conservatively valued at £12,000, were collected a day later than promised, and we have since been given five delivery dates, all no-shows.
I contacted Anyvan for assistance but was told it has no responsibility for the transport providers. I have reported this to the police and our insurers.
Pain in Spain: 'I used a website called Anyvan to find the best price from a transport firm and I gave the business to Stephen Charlesworth of The Man With The Van Limited', writes D.R.
Anyvan Limited, based in Hammersmith, West London, looks to be a good idea. Its website brings together people who want goods moved, and those with a van or lorry to move them. You enter details of what you want moved, and where; the transport owners quote a price; and you choose the one you want.
The company advertises: ‘Anyvan aims to provide both customers and transport providers with a safe community where they can interact to mutual benefit.’ And when you complained, Anyvan told you it had suspended Charlesworth and it refunded the £166 deposit you had paid.
But this was no help in getting your hands on your missing property, or on the £625 you had paid to Charlesworth. When I checked on The Man With The Van Limited, the signs were not good. It failed to file details of who owned it – these were legally due at Companies House last June. It has since been struck off and dissolved.
But I did eventually manage to contact Charlesworth, and you and I were given a string of excuses over what went wrong. A van needed attention to its brakes. A lorry broke down. Charlesworth’s Spanish partner went bust. I was even told that you had given the wrong delivery address – in fact, there was a one-digit error in the Spanish postcode, which you corrected by phone.
Anyvan Limited brings together people who want goods moved, and those with a van or lorry to move them
Fortunately, your belongings have now arrived in Granada, though not in a good state, you have told me.
Charlesworth himself confirmed his company had closed down. ‘Anyvan killed the company off,’ he complained.
Surprisingly perhaps, it proved harder to get a comment from Anyvan and its boss Angus Elphinstone. I supplied written details of your complaint, twice. Anyvan denied receiving them, twice. Finally, customer services manager Kat Tope told me the only check that was made was on a transport provider’s driving licence or EU identity card.
She added: ‘We have recently introduced Goods in Transit in addition to this check as a necessary requirement.’
I hope this will mean that customers’ possessions are insured in future. Neither Charlesworth nor Anyvan gave me an answer when I asked about the insurance of your belongings. If there is no insurance cover, and since Anyvan does not take responsibility once you have handed over your goods, all the risks would seem to fall on the customer. And that’s too much to risk.
Questions: My husband and I wonder whether you could investigate the reason why we have not been able to withdraw our savings which were deposited with Barclays Bank, says Ms B.A.
Why can't my husband and I access our savings account?
Ms B.A. writes: My husband and I wonder whether you could investigate the reason why we have not been able to withdraw our savings which were deposited with Barclays Bank.
You and your husband both opened monthly saver accounts at the same branch of Barclays in 2013, and you both deposited £250 a month. Recently you asked the branch to close the accounts and issue cheques for the savings plus interest, but you were told only the bank’s head office could do this.
However, your telephone calls were not returned and you were left without your savings and not even knowing if your money was still earning interest.
Soon after you contacted me, you received your cheque but your husband received nothing. I asked staff at the bank’s head office to investigate and they say cheques were sent to both of you when you applied to close the accounts.
Those cheques were cancelled when you told the bank you had not received a penny, but Barclays slipped up and only issued a fresh cheque to you, with nothing to your husband. The bank has now paid him – and sent you £100 as a gesture of goodwill.
'Final' bill is driving me power crazy
P.W.S. writes: After I wrote to you last year about Npower, you were able to confirm that the company had closed my account (as it had already said) and I would hear no more.
Well, would you believe it, I have received a ‘reminder’ for payments on the same account that was cleared and paid in full more than 12 months ago.
I have even received a demand with threats of a debt collector or county court proceedings. Npower must be in utter confusion over its accounts, and I am at a loss as to what to do.
You were an Npower customer but you closed your account in 2013 and received a final bill. Months later you received a further bill, also described as ‘final’, asking for £229. I investigated after you contacted me, and Npower told me that its first final bill was wrong, but it agreed to scrap the demand for £229.
P.W.S. writes: After I wrote to you last year about Npower, you were able to confirm that the company had closed my account (as it had already said) and I would hear no more
That should have been the end of the matter, but Npower’s billing system is clearly chaotic. The same demand has resurfaced, this time with another £20 added to take it to £249. Npower has told me that a ‘systems issue’ is to blame, and it describes the latest debt collection threats as ‘unfortunate’.
A spokesman told me: ‘I have corrected this error so that Mr S receives no further letters from us.’ The company has also sent you £100 by way of an apology.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, Room 301, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. 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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