Doug Embleton

I had severe problems with a package ( documents) posted 6/8/26 using Evri Next Day Tracked. Too complex to summarise here but:
- I subsequently went to the trouble of compiling and sending on 01/09/26 all details to the Evri CEO’s Office in Leeds as the AI chat line was incapable of addressing the issues. I sent this package by Royal Mail Recorded/ Signed For delivery . I now have photographic evidence that receipt of that explanatory package was signed for at the Evri Leeds Office.
- I heard nothing. Not even the basic courtesy of an acknowledgment of receipt . So I emailed the CEO’s office on 15/08/26 with a reminderbut I have still had no response whatsoever.
- The items were not delivered by Evri and resolving the issues involved was , for me, time consuming and a further expense.
- I have stage 4 cancer and obviously can do without this hassle. I am appalled by having gone to all of this inconvenience . Hours and hours of it.
- And…. Evri simply ignore me. Not great, is it ?!

There is a visible gulf between 5* ratings and 1* ratings for Spa Medica. Obviously, if your cataract surgery goes swimmingly well then it’s 5*. However, when there are post- surgery complications the ratings drop to 1*. I have had many months of ongoing complications and my most recent experience of the telephone helpline has been worse than previous below par experiences.
My situation is complex as my eye complications are running in parallel with other health issues. From very recent events I am awaiting news of an urgent but complex biopsy for a possible recurrence of my cancer. I cannot afford to have potential problems from an eye injection scheduled for next week if they necessitated delaying my biopsy. In addition, I cannot afford see from a paper in Focus, the journal of The Royal Opthalmological Society, that I may well be a steroid responder ( steroid drops and injections can exacerbate as opposed to alleviate post surgery complications). As I have only just found out that my injection next week involves Kenalog ( a steroid) and that the Society recommends non- steroidal injections for steroid responders I have been trying since pm yesterday Friday 21 March to speak to somebody. These are my experiences:
- The telephone helpline is advertised as being open 8 am - 6 pm Monday to Saturday. It is not possible to phone the actual Spa Medica hospital, only this call centre.
- I called at 4.40 pm Friday 21/3 and there was a recorded message saying the helpline was closed until the next day.
- I waited until the message said “ hold on if it’s an emergency”. Well, it’s an urgent scenario so I did. The call was answered by a Receptionist who took all my details and said that someone would call back. Nobody did.
- I then used an online enquiry form and outlined my problem. Have heard nothing yet.
- I called the number again this morning ( Saturday 22/3) at 9.40 am and after holding for a while I opted to be put in the queue for a call back. Well had to go out at 10.30. Nobody had called. On our return we checked that there had been a callback at 10.40 am. A 1 hour gap from my initial call.
- I have been busy all day out of the house but called again at 5.40 pm. Recorded message that they were closed.
- If you state that you are open 8 am - 6 pm then you should honour this.
- In any event , that first call is only to speak to an “ agent” who then arranges for an optometrist to call you back. So that’s only stage 1.
The NHS diverts millions of pounds of our taxpayer money to Spa Medica. Any organisation is only ever as good as the way in which it handles problems and communications. This call centre system is currently not fit for purpose.

The Post Office is now pushing customers to use Evri !!! Like making Dracula a Non Exec Director of the Blood Transfusion Service !! PS - just sort out the Horizon scandal, eh ?! I don’t think that all of us complaining online is remotely enough.So:
- write to your MP
- tell your story to the media
- don’t rest until Evri is finished. THE WORST remedial/ enquiry service imaginable. Designed to avoid communicating with the customer. An oxymoron. My story?
- I have successfully sent parcels to my family in New Zealand for 12 years For the past 8 years this includes our grandkids. Royal Mail/ ParcelForce have not once let us down. Average 6 parcels/year. So I’m no novice.
- I always pay a higher price for Tracking and when the item arrives in NZ I can then track it on the New Zealand Post website. The NZ family live 30 minutes from Auckland airport.
- On 3/2/25 I posted a carefully packaged box including birthday gifts for granddaughter and son in law. I was - with quite a bit of opposition from me- persuaded to use Evri Internstional. Contents value £127; postage with tracking £68; post office box £5: total £200.
- The package seemed to be in London for ages but on 14/2/25 tracking said “ arrived in country”. I saw it. Our NZ daughter saw it.
- it hasn’t been delivered; we’ve missed the birthday dates; it disappeared from the Evri tracking on 16/2/25.
- I have wasted literally 5 hours this far in simply dealing with a moronic AI system.
I was promised a phone call today. Didn’t get one.
Evri … and Post Office. SHAME ON YOU BOTH. ENOUGH!!!!!! Your customer base starts really campaigning FROM TODAY!
( Will I get a response on here from Evri? Hmmm….,,,,take a guess)

I did receive a follow up from Chill customer service. However:
- I write as the former owner of a Ltd Co which won several major customer service awards. I am now in my 70s and those awards were 20-odd years ago. I recognise that times have changed. But if it walks, talks and feels like customer service then it IS customer service. My experience ISN’T. You can’t enact it so that it feels to the customer like AI. Robotic. Assumptive. Inadequate explanation. Etc.
- I was told in an email that my Order had been dispatched “ at the end of last week”. This would mean that it took 10 working days ( or 12 full days) to dispatch the order. Zero explanation as to why. This surely cannot be standard practice? I received a previous order within a few days.
- People are often using vapes as a means of quitting. I am. And I’ve got myself as far as zero nicotine. A vital stage. However, I don’t want to wait what will already be over 2 weeks to receive an order placed in good faith. I have had to hunt round for alternative vapes. Twice. And the email from Chill still gave me no real details such as, erm, delivery date.
- Chill: if you foul up ( and you clearly have) then:
- just fess up; saves time
- ensure that the remedy offered to the ( by now affected) client goes way beyond and above normal service standards. For example- a special delivery carried out urgently and with a guaranteed delivery date
- and make sure it sounds as if you actually care.
Over and out.

I ordered 3 zero nicotine vapes from Chill on 18 November. The payment (£38.97) was taken from my account on 19 November. No dispatch confirmation/ no delivery DESPITE BY NOW FOUR QUERIES SENT TO CHILL by their own recommended contact mechanisms. A previous order worked out fine. However, ALL companies are ultimately judged by how they handle problems. Thus far it is 0/10. And….. I actually still want the products.

Gloves arrived ok but given that for a boy’s 11th birthday a £100 price is not inexpensive I was a tad disappointed that having had a grandad senior moment and omitting a single item ( one number) from the personalisation and having very promptly emailed customer services to explain this I recd a reply to say that the people doing the personalisation had been informed. When I recd the gloves they hadn’t added the single number.

I am using this new review to reply to Jack: Cooperative Bank as there would appear to be no system on Trustpilot to easily reply to a response from the company reviewed. My points are:
1. One reason for my having used Trustpilot for the previous review was that having experienced numerous difficulties with the new “ improved” Cooperative online banking system i did attempt on Thursday to write to the bank describing these problems using the online banking secure messaging/ email system but I was “ timed out” just seconds before completing the message and it was all erased. I am 76 years old; going through complex medical issues. I do not need this utterly unnecessary hassle. So, I will yet again define in this new review my issues ( the selfsame as in my original review) as the bank claims it wants “ further information “😳. I will then simply send in an online banking secure message: “ FOR JACK- WHO REPLIED TO MY TRUSTPILOT REVEW- PLEASE REPY USING THIS SYSTEM “. This will hopefully bypass the Trustpilot inability for me to send a reply.
2. I have temporarily resolved the issue of transferring money between my own accounts online. I had to set up our own joint Premier Account as a new payee from our joint savings account on the list of payees on the improved system. However, on Friday I’d had to borrow £330 from my wife to pay for the urgent items I needed. And in any case my question is this: if your previous online system had a separate Dropbox for defining one’s own accounts thus enabling quick payment transfers between them, why on Earth call it an “ improvement” if you suddenly remove this Dropbox?! In order to set up a transfer between our accounts today I had to go through a process of whether “ I trusted myself “ !!
3. Your initial reply indicates that you believe that the improvements were installed to improve “ accessibility “. If the system is infinitely more cumbersome than the original system how on earth are you actually defining “ accessibility “? Serious question to which a pragmatic ( vs lip service) answer is required.
4.I am not willing to forgo receiving posted statements by opting to simply view my statements/ transactions online. Your new system states that if I wish to view my transactions/ statements online I firstly need to agree to stop receiving posted statements. But… reviews of the new improved formats of these statements/ transaction details on Trustpilot are so very poor that I am unwilling to do what you are ( unreasonably) offering me as options. I want to see clear, listed statements online which I can print off on A4 sheets to conduct my own interim checks and balances and I ALSO want to go on receiving posted statements. CAN / WILL YOU DO THIS ?
5. I have clearly stated in several previous reviews that you, as a bank , have:
- closed down my local branch
- advised me that my nearest branch is a 50 mile round trip away from where we live
- now declared that I cannot even telephone that branch directly in order to raise a query or , more importantly, make an appointment *
- * but you earlier this year advised me to arrange international money transfers by making a face to face appointment at this branch !! ( so appalling is your telephone banking service for international transfers; we make 4-5 per year yet you will not enable us to do them online; we cannot ever speak to your international transfer team); in addition, every trip to that distant branch involves ** up to 5 hours of my time; car fuel costs; parking costs; food costs. ** ( up to 5 hours because we sometimes, now that we cannot phone the branch directly, have to walk in and make an appointment for later in the day). I know of people who have driven all the way there only to find that they cannot get a same day appointment. Finally I have never yet had a telephone banking response delay of less than 45 minutes in over 3 years. Indeed, when we wrote to your CEO about that and other issues created by the closure of our local branch in 2020(!) we were categorically reassured that the branch closure would be offset by a much more effective telephone banking service. So my question is: how can you say that I am receiving a “ Premier” service if…I have no local branch…. the nearest one is a 50 mile round trip away with all of the concomitant costs defined above…. you now won’t even allow me to phone that branch directly.,,,and your telephone 24 hour banking now closes at. 6pm and is manifestly not fit for purpose…HOW DO YOU DEFINE THIS AS A SERVICE ?
Those are my questions. I will send the message defined above on your online secure emailing system addressed to JACK and do expect some responses.

I have persevered with this Bank for too long. In truth, in respect of EVERY major UK Bank there is an acute need for a CUSTOMER- LED NATIONAL CAMPAIGN to start to force Banks (…. You know… the Banks which we, the taxpayers bailed out !!!!) to actually PROVIDE A SERVICE for we PAYING customers. My issues with the Cooperative Bank have peaked today with my first experience of the horrendous new , erm, “ improved” 😂 online banking facility. But firstly let me explain why this is the last straw AND LAY DOWN A VERY REASONABLE CHALLENGE TO WHOMSOEVER RESPONDS WITH THE USUAL BLAND “ So sorry to hear this; I’ll pass your feedback on; why not try Twitter or Facebook?” . Why? Well, I am 76 years old, am having cancer immunotherapy,have an urgent need, have banked with you for years and also and for example:
- you closed our local branch down ( in a town with a population of + 100,000) several years ago;
- our nearest branch now involves a 50 mile round trip, petrol, parking and usually food expenses…. but now….ONE CAN’T EVEN PHONE THAT BANK DIRECTLY to make an appointment. I know of people who have made that 50 mile round trip only to be unable to secure an appointment “ on the day” and who have thus returned home “ un- served”- how crazy is THAT ?! But……
- the phone number which one is given to contact is what used to be the 24 hour telephone banking service which now closes at 6 pm and…… on the past 5 occasions when I have been FORCED to use it ( no local branch, no direct phone access to make an appointment) there has been an average waiting time of 50 minutes …..and…. even when one does get through , the service and competence levels are utterly atrocious . As one example:
- in January our daughter, husband plus our 2 grandkids age 4 and 10 months had their home in Auckland, New Zealand, flooded. We needed to send emergency money and previously would have simply spent 15 minutes by prior appointment with our local branch manager. Hmmm. No longer. I waited 1 hour for a telephone banking response; I was not allowed to speak to anybody on the international transfer team; it was a large and urgent amount; the person concerned had NEVER before carried out an international transfer; to cut a long story short, she totally mucked up the process; then further complicated it by claiming it was resolved when it wasn’t; the money was lost in the ether for several weeks (!!) and our family obviously didn’t receive it. I spent literally tens of hours pursuing it whilst simultaneously undergoing cancer immunotherapy. Not great. It was eventually resolved after letters of complaint and with a muted apology and a £75 “ compensation” but that basically covered a subsequent half day driving to and from the 50 mile round trip branch , a lunch, petrol, parking, etc on a day when I wasn’t very well. And today ?? Well….
- I use online banking for various needs ( paying bills, weekly checks and balances and switching between accounts ( eg current and savings); I also receive posted regular statements from the bank. Well, erm….
- the new online system is not worthy of having been a school project by my UK grandson unless the target was “ totally ruin something which currently works if not perfectly then at least adequately”!! Because, inter alia;
- I urgently need to transfer money from the savings account to the current account to make a payment for something which I need; the new system appears to have lost the facility to transfer between one’s OWN ACCOUNTS- yes, there is a list of other existing payees but NOT a facility/ Dropbox for transfers between accounts as previously existed. And…
- there is now a FIVE DAY wait for a response to an online email query from me. TOO LATE for my current issue. And if was previously a 48 hour response. In addition….
- having read recent Trustpilot reviews of the new Transactions / Statements columns ( a disaster apparently) I refuse to be forced to choose between ceasing receiving posted statements if I now want to view a statement online. Indeed, I cannot currently fathom what I CAN do with this “ improved” system. So , in summary :
- I don’t want what will simply be a template “ oh dear, I’ll pass it on or you could try Facebook” response. We all know that this is not customer service. It is actually lip service. I pay £ 15.50 per month for the dubious privilege of being a “ Premier Banking customer”. I would like some help please. And some honest answers to questions like:
- what are the actual IMPROVEMENTS I have received?
- do you genuinely think that I am by now receiving ANY service whatsoever ? And if YES, can you define it for me?
And to all readers out there…IS IT NOT TIME FOR A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO ADDRESS ALL OF THE WOEFUL CUSTOMER SERVlCE LEVELS FROM ALL OF THE MAJOR UK BANKS ?!
AND;
I am not sure how to reply / “ reach out”. I am 76 years of age and cope as best I can.How do I do this ??

Why on earth a) offer delivery to NZ b) then allow me to design, order a large card + gift c) only then tell me at checkout that you can’t send a gift to NZ d) so I revert to reordering and in the absence of a gift, choose a giant- size card e) then again only at checkout you tell me you can’t deliver a giant card to NZ ???? Very poor process design.

Very accessible website. No hassle.Very prompt follow up with e-tickets. All good.

In 1997 we paid for a local company to install and service an excellent home alarm system and simultaneously a similar system at the offices of the Ltd Company which we at that time owned. A very few years later, ADT took over this local alarm security company and since then the service levels which we have received have deteriorated in inverse proportion to the exponential increases in annual charges.
We later very successfully sold the company and retired but continued with ADT for service and maintenance of our domestic alarm system. Thus, +20 years of “ customer loyalty”. These notes are a summary ( I am compiling a longer article for another genre) of the ever increasing lack of customer care provided by ADT. The comments are measured, practical and fair.
Over the years, ADT gradually increased its propensity to cancel agreed appointments, change dates at the last minute. In tandem with this the quality and attitudes of its call centre staff deteriorated considerably. And the icing on the cake ( ADT’s cake, not ours) was that they charged us more and more for these ever worsening levels of service.
At the moment it is at least 2 and a half years since our system last had a maintenance visit/ inspection from an ADT engineer. The last visit consumed about 20 minutes of the engineer’s time. We were eventually given a Ref No. for a visit in August 2021 ( we rescheduled a family visit to accommodate this date) but this inspection visit was cancelled at the very last minute and we were given a revised visit date of today, 16/12/21 ( a further 4 month delay) and a couple of weeks before this visit we received an annual bill of ca. £263(!).
In the interim period and utterly out of the blue I found that I needed urgent hospital cancer surgery. A massive shock and not ADT’s issue. However, given that I am self isolating presurgery AND given that we have waited already two and a half years for a maintenance visit it did not seem unreasonable for us to contact ADT prior to today’s visit, explain my situation and ask what safety precautions the engineer would take ; and also whether we could reschedule to a “ first thing in the morning “ visit given my situation. It was agreed that today’s visit would be at 08.30.
By mid morning today nobody had turned up so we not unreasonably phoned ADT only to be bluntly told that “ the engineer was very busy and had decided the 08.30 visit couldn’t be done”. Well- nice of ADT to tell us, eh?!! “ The visit would now be between 1-5 pm today”.
By just before 16.00 it was getting dark and we had been waiting from 08.30 so we phoned again. This time we were bluntly told “ No. Your inspection visit is scheduled for next Monday 20/12/21”. It wasn’t but….hey presto…. halfway through our call to ADT, my wife’s iPhone pinged, to reveal a text from ADT to let us know they had been too busy today and would come Monday 20/12/21. No indication of whether this would be morning or afternoon.
We asked whether it would be morning or afternoon and only after a titanic struggle were we eventually given a Ref No. and a 1-5 pm slot.
But …..of course …. we had a time slot and a Ref No. for the August inspection visit which was cancelled at the last minute, didn’t we ?! And we had not one but two time slots for today. Can we believe they will turn up on Monday? Errr… would YOU?!
There are very very clear indications that ADT has become dysfunctional. My longer article will also cover, e.g. an ongoing battle to get them to define precisely what our contract with them is. But for now I would suggest to ADT that even if you are going to have customers waiting ALL day for promised visits ( not a “ good look” anyway) you can at least be infinitely more courteous when, late in that day, they ask if anybody is going to turn up. Don’t just imply “ you are wrong- your visit is next Monday” and then suddenly send a text.
And above all, try to give loyal ( + 20 years) customers a smidgeon of feeling that you
kinda might value them !! In no business can you PERPETUALLY use the term
“Priorities” to imply that there is always a priority which overrides that customer. It can work a few times - but not always. If said loyal customer has endured several previous late cancellations then why not devise a pecking order system which pushes said customer up
a league table so that, come what may, they WILL get an 08.30 visit next time ?
I will continue feedback on this saga at close of play Monday 20/12/21…….

Excellent service from William. A group of us could no longer make it to a Covid- rescheduled gig. Refund was arranged very efficiently. Any company’s service level is only as good as how it responds to such situations.

I have been a customer for many years and have had not insignificant £amounts in the bank in savings/ bonds as well as current account.
The stupidity of the bank in employing that “ crystal methodist” and other unwise mgt actions have had and continue to have a major impact upon customers. The inclination to remain loyal as a customer is reducing exponentially in tandem with the obvious cost cutting measures which continuously degrade service levels. Everything has a tipping point beyond which the law of diminishing returns kicks in. This bank is well past that point.
A couple of years ago my wife & I were sadly involved in a highly complex set of probate issues. Face to face access, sometimes in private meetings, with our local branch Mgr were absolutely fundamental to the resolution of some of these complexities. This local branch access was also vital
for, e.g. reviewing investments, sending large sums overseas arising from the probate etc.
Yep. You’ve guessed. They closed our local branch ( in a town with a population of 100,000). I can cope with online banking but there will ALWAYS be issues which require a face to face. Our nearest branch is over 20 miles away , in a smaller city, in a location where parking/ access is complicated ( well... it is if you’ve never been there before). My wife & I need to go; to discuss a complex issue; and this with somebody who has never met us.
Even phoning that nearest branch was painful. I tried their website’s landline number: no reply. I used the 0345 number: a recorded message asked for my 16 digit debit card number ; in my wallet upstairs so had to put phone down and then call back ; then, recorded music, “ your call is in a queue”; then got to speak and eventually made an appointment to see somebody face to face. As I say, at a location we’ve never been to an unwanted trip which will consume half a day and petrol/ parking/ hassle costs.
So, yes, this is well beyond the tipping point for that law of diminishing returns = in this instance ,when the return on the actions you’ve taken diminish to an extent that they eventually lose you more than you are saving.

Good at very quickly sorting out non- arrival of tickets. Well, Calum is !!

I ordered 2 oak furniture items ( approx. £585 value based upon standard online ordering via giving bank card details) in late July and noted the promise of delivery within 10-14 days. Since our diary was/is very cluttered I contacted this company when I'd received no delivery date after 13 days. No reply.
2 days later I ( very fortunately-thank you, TrustPilot) found reviews which said that this company a) had gone into liquidation b) was trading under another name -CENTURION c) might well still be taking payments, i.e. fraudulently.
So.…..
- I checked my bank statement and the money has NOT YET been taken
- I have emailed Woodpecker to implicitly cancel my order …..
- …….and told them that there will be legal follow up should they now attempt to do so
- In that email I did ask them to acknowledge receipt of my cancelling the order but no such reply has been received
- I have notified my bank and its Fraud Department
I will obviously be furious if they now attempt to take my payment. And will update TrustPilot.

My 2nd review on TrustPilot. Why? Well...
- my 1st review basically said that even though I used THEIR MyAccount website to email them full details of my billing query, they never responded;
- so.... they then sent a response on TrustPilot asking me to contact them on a mobile number by text;
- I did this... and guess what? No reply. I have seen on TrustPilot that this frequently happens;
Where from here ???? 100% unacceptable. EDF- STOP PROMISING WHAT YOU THEN FAIL TO DO. It is unacceptable, unprofessional, inefficient ... or deliberate. Which is it??

EDF sent me a summary of my usage for dual fuel. I was in credit for gas AND electricity. They included a forecast for my usage for the next 12 months which showed ( to me) that a) allowing for my being well in credit at the time and b) adding this to any tariff increases my monthly direct debit would, by their calculations, increase by about 7%. Fair enough. HOWEVER.... they wanted my Direct Debit to increase by 21% !!! Usual “ don’t worry, we’ll simply increase your Direct Debit”. Well.... like most folk , if I receive short change at the newsagent’s till I immediately complain. And THIS increase by EDF involved + £300/ year. So.... I used their online “contact us by email” facility to very clearly spell the issue out AND to ask for some clarity. You can guess, can’t you?! a) never had any response or acknowledgement b) they have now started collecting ( the absolute curse of Direct Debits) the “ 21% increase amount”.
Dear EDF,
If you install a “ contact us by email” facility; AND if that facility pops back with “ your message received” then in the name of God do not simply ignore me, the customer , and then proceed to do precisely what I asked you NOT to do.
Appalling customer service. And you’ve now put your hand in MY pocket. Beware. There will be PR consequences.

First and hopefully last UPS experience. You can have a better time with toothache.
Messsge to Amazon: why oh why do you use these incompetents?!
Unbeknownst to us, my wife's Sister in Oz arranged a Xmas gift delivery via Amazon. It seems to have been subcontracted to UPS. The gift, we now know, is an alcoholic beverage.
My wife is currently receiving daily hospital outpatient treatment. Hence, no way can we be " at home ALL day ".
Day 1: we return home to note from UPS: " has to be signed for; we will deliver again tomorrow". Knowing full well we'll be out at hospital ( 25 miles away) we arrange for neighbour to sign for it; we attach note to front door to this effect.
Day 2: return home; note from UPS:" the package is alcohol; has to be signed for by an adult who is the householder. 3rd and final delivery attempt will be Monday". We try several times over the weekend to calll the UPS telephone number given; useless; simply a recorded message of opening hours. So, we complete and sign that part of their Form which says" Sign here if you wish us to leave the package in your chosen place and if you accept liability ".
Day 3: on our return, the UPS note which we had signed and taped to our front door is untouched. Note from UPS: " you've had your 3rd and final delivery". We phone UPS and actually get a human being at the other end. He cannot remotely explain why UPS had not honoured the very policy which is on its Form and with which, along with our signature, we have duly complied. He eventually says that the driver phoned the depot who refused him permission to leave the package in the place we had indicated.
He then offers us a delivery " tomorrow"; we explain that due to
daily hospital appointment we simply cannot be at home all day; he says he cannot give us even an " am or pm" delivery option.
So, we will now have to drive 20 miles to the depot and , at UPS's insistence,BOTH take our passports with photos as the package is addressed to both of us and our driving licences ( due to our age) don't have photos.
What an utterly useless, NON- customer focussed service this is. AMAZON - this will lose business for YOU AS WELL !!!!

I have been trying to resolve several problems with Vodafone since January. Many 191 calls; several wild goose chases; several LiveChat attempts; many emails; several emails on MyVodafone ( which promised at least an acknowledgement within 2 days); Recorded Delivery docs sent to Newbury ( as per Vodafone's own website; signed for at their end as shown on Royal Mail website)- not even an acknowledgement after 3 weeks ( they promise this within 5 working days). This is NOT " service". It is appalling.

My wife & I used separate prepaid Travel Money Cards from Thomsons for a recent trip to Canada. The blurb on the brochure is very misleading. We kept an accurate list of how many Canadian Dollars we spent on each transaction ( mainly ATMs but occasional hotel extras bills). The brochure blurb for the Card says there is a fixed 3 dollar charge for ATM withdrawals and that there is no charge for normal purchases. On that basis, we had approx. a remaining 300 and 400 Dollars respectively on our cards. I only made 4 ATM withdrawals and 2 hotel extras ( restaurant,etc) payments with my card. NB IF YOU DON'T RECOUP THE MONEY, THOMSONS LEVY ONGOING "MAINTENANCE " CHARGES ON THE CARD. On our return to the UK , with these significant balances left on our cards we went to the local Thomsons shop to "cash in" our respective balances. The member of staff was exceedingly rude, firstly insisting that we had to have photo IDs in order to recover our (own!!) money; whereas when we took out the cards at that selfsame shop our Driving Licenses were all that we'd been asked to provide as ID. A holiday to Canada is not exactly a money laundering scam??!! Then, to my amazement, I was told that the remaining balance on my own card was,erm, "zero". I disputed this and the Manager arranged for me to speak to Thomsons Call Centre from the shop on their phone. Firstly and yet again, I was told that my balance was zero. Only after my persistence was I then told that my balance was in fact 95 dollars. Erm...STILL wrong. I asked the Call centre for their number in case I needed to phone them back. On my return home I called this number; none of the prerecorded options related to Travel Money Cards(!!!); so I opted for the nearest option and a recorded voice told me that I was in a queue of "1 minute"- but 12 minutes later, after no response, I put the phone down. I eventually gained internet access via Thomson's own website to an actual statement of my transactions. Frankly, the statement is the most obtuse set of figures I have read in my life as an experienced former company owner/ MD and an experienced investor. My wife's statement is even more obtuse and, like my own, is totally out of step with the actuality of our transactions and, more to the point, with what the Thomsons' blurb promised and offered. We will be back at the shop tomorrow and expect this to be sorted; correctly; with an explanation ( after all, it's the shop which actually SOLD us the transaction) ; and with an apology-an item so sadly missing from today's sad episode. Otherwise, the saga will definitely not end here. This is absolutely appalling service. And one does truly wonder whether, had I meekly accepted the "zero balance" comments initially offered, Thomsons would EVER have come back to me to say "Erm, yes, there IS money left on your card". A LOT OF MAKING UP TO DO HERE THOMSONS.