Nominate your Scrooge of the Year 2007

We have written about all types of scrooge-like activity by some firms this year. Broadband companies who are sending their customers round the bend with poor service and slow connection times.  Gas suppliers who are getting their arm into unsuspecting homeowners by hiking up their rates.  Banks charging hefty overdraft charges and paying paltry rates on savings. If you have suffered at the hands of a company this year, we want to hear about it.  Or perhaps you have experienced really good service? If so, tell us!

NOTE: We are no longer accepting nominations. Your top Scrooges have been named and shamed. Many thanks for all your entries. We welcome comments on the results.

To check if the firms you nominate made it onto last year's list of shame, have a look at last years runners and riders

Comments

[Posted Off]

Southern Water, British Gas, the post office. All are rubbish. Common theme: privatised monoploies.

[Marcus Simons]

It has to be the Revenue. Tight as as two coats of paint when it comes to our money but as liberal as anything when it comes to our data....

[Ray Nipper]

The FSA gets my vote for the most inept regulatory body with no responsibility for it's errors.

Ray.

[debbie]

British Gas: they almost doubled my monthly payments. I am now hundreds of pounds in credit, money that I am not able to retreive, it seems. Reasons for not being able to access my account when 'phoning: "our computer is down", "we are updating our hardware", "you have come through to the emergency number!" Writing got me absolutely nowhere either. Meanwhile they gather interest on my hundreds.

[D Kemp]

My nomination would have to be Abbey National. Having waited for six weeks to get a debit card, without telling me they changed the PIN. Huge shame at the till and another two weeks of misery.

[Realist]

Alliance & Leicester, for delays in updating bank statements after transactions have been made. This makes it hard to know how much money is actually in your account, making you more likely to go over your overdraft limit. This must be deliberate - they have the technology to update statements immediately - HSBC does it - so it is not too cyncial to assume that the reason they do it is so that people go over the limit and they can charge them ludicrous amounts of money. In fact, all banks deserve to be nominated over bank charges this year - so the BBA - their representative body - gets my vote.

[Berty]

The university of ulster has just job evaluated its support staff using the H.E.R.A system. Its results which are disputed by the union show that it has red circled more posts for down grading than any other university in the United kingdom.They are also paying off most of their catering staff and closing canteens offering them statuary redundancy. If money is so tight why did all the senior officers of the institution get a 10% pay rise and the human resource manager get a 20k Bonus this year.

[John]

Virgin media, they let loyal long term customers pay full whack for any of their services whilst advertising cut rates to "new customers only"

[Victor Taylor]

My vote goes to Excel Parking Services. When I appealed against a parking fine they said they cannot use discetion to overturn my fine and all fines must be paid. they said that even if a disabled car parking space was obscured by snow, leaves or flood water, it is up to the car driver to have a brush or shovel at hand to clear away the obstruction and to verify that a disabled sign existed or not.

[David Shepherd]

I nominate Scottish Widows. In November 2001 I bought a with-profits annuity,with an initial payment of £130 per month and a promise that if the bonus declaration was more than 4% in any year then I would share in the bonus. Every single month since then the return has declined, so that the most recent payment was £119.00. In the same period the FTSE has risen from 4,600 to 6,300, and the SW annual performance, according to their own proud factsheet has varied between 8% and 16% per annum.
The policy proposal also said that the monthly return would never fall below £107.00. A letter from SW last week now declares that the monthly return will never fall below £81.00.
Quite frankly the proposal document is a simple lie; but they're too ashamed to admit it.

[Tony Bramwell]

I nominate ING as Scrooge of the year. They treated their savers with absolute contempt on interest rates. I moved my money to Sainsbury's.

[Victor Taylor]

United Utilities have just billed me for my water. They say they read the meter but the bill is for a reading 28% higher, resulting in an extra 20% monthly payment. If done with every customer, Christmas will be good for them but not for their customers.

[Mrs. Lesley Dootson]

Yes! We were conned by Ing.Then along came Barclays with their ISA paying 6.3% interest. After making 'a complete hash of an unprecedented deluge of applications' (their words!), within weeks, Barclays reduced the rate to 5.8%.
So Merry Christmas and Goodbye Barclays! Forever!!

[Frank]

Amazon.co.uk

For allowing a US DVD based company (peelplus.com) to sell US region DVD's on Amazon's UK site and for Amazon.co.uk deliberately not willing to accept return item or refund money-offering low level customer service, "we don't care" attitude despite the law stating that products can be returned and refunded or replaced. Talk about breaking the law!

[Delia Ryan]

I agree with 'Realist' (29Nov)about delays in up-dating bank statements by A & L which is definitely deliberate policy, as the statement problem has got worse since all banks were prevented from charging more than £12 on credit cards. My further HUGE gripe with Alliance & Leicester is on the fact it somehow takes 4/5 days before funds INTO your A/c can be drawn against but only A RECORD 18 HOURS to DEBIT against your accoun thereby causing you to go overdrawn and netting them £100.00 in charges! I paid 2 cheques into 2 different Banks on one day - phoned the A&L the next day morning @ 09:25 to move the money to cover the issued cheques from my (well in credit) savings A/c only to be told the cheques had already been presented and I was therefore overdrawn. This 18 hour turnaround resulted in charges for unauthorised o/draft charges @ £25.00 each (one for each cheque)and two lots of 'paid item' charges @ £25.00 each = £100!! Interestingly, had the A&L refused to pay the cheques (as they should have done if the money was not in my account!!) it would have only cost me £78 (a saving of £22 which I should'nt have to paying anyway!!). Funny how the cheques were cleared for payment though - WONDER IF IT WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE PAYABLE TO OTHER (RIVAL) BANKS? Although it's a bit of a hassle - I'm in the process of closing my Acc with A&L now! "Once bitten - A/c closed" Thats my new motto with regard to the scheming, conniving ALLIANCE & LEICESTER (and any other bank which may in future treat me with gross contempt)

[Anonymous]

How about Times Online, for it's oft-poor level of reporting and information?

I note Scroog of the Week has been edited - and not without time; real facts 1 - glib passage - 0!

[Paddy]

Universities UK (fomerly CVCP) which seems to be guiding most universities to reduce staff and make more profit on the back's of those that remain. As Berty in Ulster has found HERA (be thankful HAY is MUCH worse) can be used as a tool to urinate on the proles so they'll leave without redundancy payments!

[Paul Homer]

ABBEY - for offering new current account customers an interest rate for the first 12 months that is over 300% better than that offered to existing customers. I have held an Abbey current account for 24 years but am restricted to their'in-credit' interest rate of 2.5%

A complaint has been made but Abbey have failed to respond so far to my latest communication (approx 1 week ago)

NB O2 for example, offer old AND new mobile customers the same deals for new products and services.

[George McAteer]

I nominate British/Irish/European (European Commission?)legislators who have done nothing since the European Court of Justice decision in November 2006 that:-
"only products acquired and transported personally by private individuals are exempt from excise duty in the member state of importation".
This has meant that people on the periphery of Europe still cannot buy a whole raft of goods (not just booze and cigs) online this year again without paying duty to their respective Treasuries and added profit to the big retailers.
A booze cruise might work to save a few pounds from the treasury for those resident in S.E.England but certainly not in Scotland or Ireland (or for that matter Finland). Why have a single market if it only works for people living near three or four land borders of other member states?

[Alison Myers-Ward]

It has to be HMRC with it's 'Money with your name on it' tax credits - now you see them, now you don't. Giving with one hand, taking with the other, and holding the 'customer' responsible for its own mistakes. Visit http://www.taxcreditoverpayment.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ and see how mean this Scrooge really is!

[Tired John]

Eurotunnel.

Remember anyone the blockage due to electrical failure at the beginning of August? We were caught in that & needed to reach a hotel in Calais before they closed their doors. The hotel was booked through the Eurotunnel site when booking the train.

Eurotunnel refused to pay us the £49 we had to pay for a room that they had made impossible for us to reach.

Eurotunnel made us 3 or 4 hours late & the hotel made us pay.

All Eurotunnel offer is a cash incentive that will leave us further out of pocket provided we book with them again!! I don't think so!

[auntieh]

I nominate Gordon Brown for making a monumental error of judgement in devising the flawed tax credit system and HMRC for vigorously pursuing innocent claimants years after the event for the repayment of supposed overpayments of tax credit caused by HMRC error,of which the claimants concerned could not possibly have had any knowledge. HMRC acts as its own judge and jury and it is impossible for claimants to sue HMRC for damages caused by their errors.
The number of people whose lives have been turned upside down in this way by this grossly incompetent organisation is known to be in the hundreds of thousands and possibly up to one and a half million.
No Merry Christmas for all these people wondering where they will find the thousands of pounds they have been asked to pay out of the blue. Over three years later in my case!

[alan willis]

It just has to be "Flash" Gordon and HMRC who are mean in clawing back overpaid Tax Credits - often overpaid because of their own stupidity - but who are more than generous when it comes to giving away all our personal details to all & sundry!!

Why this man and this Government Department are not facing criminal charges is beyond my understanding.

There will be an election sometime though Gordon, so don't make yourself too comfortable in Number 10.

[Jim Lochhead]

I nominate Setanta Sports.

As an existing customer for the last couple of years I have had to pay their charges to watch live Scottish football as they have a monopoly on the SPL. Last year that cost £180 for an annual subscription, a very hefty increase on the year before. I awaited notification from them on renewal this year, but no notification was forthcoming. They, however, took £180 from one of my credit card accounts, which closed the next month as the card provider changed.

They then advertised that this year it would be £9.99 per month with no contract. When I eventually got through to their call centre they tried to justify their actions by saying I had a contract with them and they had a right to take the money. After a discussion It was agred that their actions were untenable and they agreed that a refund would be made. I only asked for £60.12, which effectively gave them 12 months subsciption up front. Needless to say, despite many attempts over several months to resolve the issue by phone and by e-mail they have not honoured their agreement.

I have just read that they now have 1 million subscribers (at £9.99 a month and no contract!), but will need 2 million to break even. They may be in financial trouble, but this is of their own making. Treating existing customers like this is no way to build a sustainable business model.

[Norwich Union]

For declining a PPI claim based on pre-existing conditions, when the condition in question had not even been diagnosed prior to taking out the policy. They dig deep and hard into medical records to support their case. No wonder they don't even bother asking about pre-existing conditions when a policy is taken out. If we have been born, we have a pre-existing condition.

[Alison Myers-Ward]

I nominate Gordon 'Clunking Fist' Brown and his Frankenstein's monster HMRC who are clawing back overpaid Tax Credits resulting from their own stupidity, regardless of the fact that Tax Credit Casualties were honest and fully compliant, genuinely thought their payments correct, and proceeded to spend that 'Money with [their] name on it'. Brown seems more than happy to give our personal details out to all and sundry. 'Mr Bean' is unfit for purpose and was never elected. I wish he would truly listen to the electorate.

[Resurgam]

Where do you start, with a Government that only superficially addreses problems - according to the latest scandal? I believe it used to be called "firefighting".

The British people need honesty and integrity. Where are those values - they should be given from the "leader" downwards. Lead by example!

The "Tax Credits Fiasco" is just one example of how this Government (HA!HA!) buries it's head about things that happen to real people - there are over two million people affected by this scandal. Wait until the media REALLY get hold of the story. It will make lost data discs seem like a pleasure cruise!

Time for an election, Gordon!!

You've failed, and the British people are "wising up" - just a mild warning to your successors!. this isn't about politics - it's about honesty, integrity and SERVITUDE.

[Kathy]

I nominate the Government. They're now taxing employees of large companies (like Selfridges) on their whatever-percentage discount on buying goods from their employer's store. A double-taxing in a way. Unreal!

[J S D]

Talk Talk is Scrooge of the Year. They promised so much, yet delivered so little. The Customer service department gives no servivce. The Complaints department do not handle compliants. Their broadband internet access does not give internet access.

They are excellent at advertising - millions spent to win new customers. Although these new customs get no custom. They are also very good at getting their bills out promptly and have never failed to take a monthly payment from my account.

[Cassandra]

I nominate Barclays Bank. My sister is a divorced single parent. They sold the matrimonial home and she got a temporary let until end November. In September she found a house and applied for a mortgage from Barclays, this was agreed in principle and she was told it would take 2-4 weeks for the money to be available. In October she received an e-mail thanking her for her application and confirming her mortgage was progressing. When it got into Nov with no progress she started phoning and visiting the bank daily. Eventually in mid Nov she was told they had actioned the survey. A week later she had the 'thank you for your application' e-mail again. It turned out that despite knowing she and her daughter would be homeless at end of Nov, nothing had been done to progress her application. She is now sleeping on a friends settee with her teenage daughter, and Barclays say her mortgage will probably not now be dealt with until after christmas. Shame on you Barclays for ruining their christmas!

[Dave Blower]

How about the Student Loan company and HMRC? HMRC take my SLC contributions every month, but keep them to earn the interest on them until year end ("to ensure the correct level of payment"), meanwhile SLC keeps adding interest to my Student Loan on a monthly basis - oh, and you can never find out how much you owe as they don't talk to each other. I'm sure they don't but will both be enjoying all of the interest that students are funding.

[john gale]

I nominate Gordon Brown. No money for anything that's important. They just save money for a government that wastes millions of pounds yet our troops fighting a crazy war in Afghanistan cannot even get proper equipment

[E Shickle]

British Gas, for setting up our gas direct debit 5 times in under 12 months and still haven't collected a penny. This month, the first instalment (much higher than if we'd been paying all year) has been collected and now they've stopped collecting the electricity direct debits, so we're behind on that now too. Apparently they have a 'problem with new systems' - we can't be the only ones experiencing it!

[Susan Jenkinson]

Gordon Brown, who else ?

[C.Stanton]

How About Royal Mail or Allan Leighton, for stealing the postman's pension.

[Mark Vickery]

I nominate Gordon Brown.

Not only has he presided over 10 years of ever increasing stealth tax increases, which leaves anyone working for a living scrimping to pay for their bills, but he has now been caught taking secret donations which I assume have not been declared to HMRC.

How stingy is that!?

[Tony McGarry]

I nominate the past and present Chancellor of the Exchequer who pretend to be concerned for the pensioners and the public at large but happily grab more stealth fuel taxes from motorists and heating bills. They say humbug to all of us whilst they fill their coffers with piles of tax cash and deal out a measly £200 per household (regardless of the $100 barrel prices) to 'help' the aged with their heating bills.
Merry Christmas? Bah Humbug!

[Rachel Lankester]

I nominate Carphone Warehouse. They are charging me an average of £300 per month for a phone service that should cost £40 per month. They say I have been downloading data for the rest of the bill but I haven't and while I have been asking for help since May to sort the problem they have not resolved it so far and keep disconnecting my phone. They have over-charged me by about £900 and have only offered me £30 in compensation for service issues. Despite at least 12 promises of call backs from customer services, they have never once called me back. I have spoken to at least 25 people there. Guess they are just too busy with the iPhone.

[Andy]

I nominate Phoenix. Phoenix is the company that purchased Sun Alliances endowment insurance business and then hacked bonuses to insignificant amounts - 2.5% last year. But try cashing in the policy and the penalty is so high that you may as well hold out for maturity day. Hung, drawn and quartered on a product that was originally sold a a sound long term investment

[Julie Garner]

Duncan Bannatyne's Gym, Chester le Street. I paid around £450 for gym membership and a further £100 for personal training sessions in March. I moved house in July and contacted them about a refund or a transfer of the membership to be told that not only was I not entitled to a refund but I owe them £25.00! They just want your money. My personal circumstances changed, but they were not even prepared to freeze the membership so I could use it if I was ever in an area where they had a club. So, in the words of Duncan Bannatyne, I am out of pocket and he is in, with a 100 per cent share of my money for 25 per cent use of the facility. No wonder he is a millionaire

[Andy]

Alastair Darling (aka Gordon Brown) for increasing inheritance tax relief to a level that any sensible person could have got anyway - well done !

[Sue]

Gordon Brown for increasing the tax bill of the lowest paid to subsidise the better off. Removing the 10% tax band with such sleight of hand in order to announce a political coup.

[w.d.roberts]

TESCO wine club. If no one is at home when they deliver... they will not redeliver. You cancel the order and the refund is less the delivery charge!!! High handed and 'take it or leave it! (except they don't leave it!)

[Andy]

Alliance & Leicester for charging £10 for a copy of a tax certificate on a savings account, then taking the £10 from the savings account , not the current account, therefore establishing a withdrawal in the month resulting in no interest being paid for the whole month

[Jimmy]

I nominate Which?.

The so-called consumer champions are the worst offenders when it comes to offering a free online trial, but not reminding you that the trial is coming to an end. You forget to cancel, but (surprise, surprise) they set up the direct debit at the start of the trial so you start paying for a service which you don't want.

Surely a truly fair organisation would encourage consumers to 'opt in', rather than have to remember to 'opt out'.

And just try cancelling a subscription with them. The banks and telecoms companies would kill to have the kind of hard sellers that Which? unleash on the public.

Finally, Which? seem to ignore any complaints to them about them. A case of 'do as I say, not as I do' if ever there was one!

[Kevin]

My list is almost endless and some of my nominations have already been put forward by other disgruntled consumers.

First the mortgage lenders who are using excessive arrangement fees to offset so called special fixed rates. Why not be honest with your customers and charge a fair interest rate. Second, Virgin Media who charge an excessive minute rate when you call them to complain about how slow their broadband connection is. Also when they agree a credit because of loss of service you as the customer have to ring back when the service is restored to activate the refund. Plus they no longer offer a cancellation slot for a engineer to come out you have to book in advance i.e. 4 days to restate my tv service. Does Richard Branson know about this poor unprofessional service?

Third, British Gas when ringing for a call out on their heating cover. cannot come out in the morning becasue this is reserved for breakdowns and a leaking radiator problem will take at least five days for an engineer to call even though you pay in advance for their annual cover. Pay separately for your gas fire but when booking the service they tell me I am not covered even though they have debited me for the cover. In credit on my gas account but owe on my electricity but they are not prepared to transfer the balances and instead want me to increase my monthly electric direct debit.

Finally the BBC and the TV licence. My brother started university in October and has a room in a block with three other students but all have to have their own TV licence. He goes without as he cannot afford the fee. However, if you are over 55 years of age and live in a sheltered accommadation you pay nothing as the landlord pays one licence fee for all tenants and charges back via rent or service charges.

[robert marshall]

I nominate the FSA for showing a total lack of understanding on insurance issues and foisting upon brokers and intermediaries 8500 pages of rules and regulations where the European directive amounted to 14 pages in total. Also the FSA should be considered for trying to generate the red herring of its 'new' policy of treating customers fairly, when any self respecting business would already be doing just that! The FSA should be the winner for having a complaints procedure that limits what anyone wants to compalin about to a few areas where the FSA is prepared to investgate further. Finally lets not forget its handling of the Northern Rock fiasco, Payment Protection Insurance and Critical Illness Insurance investigations as well the abject failure to help those who lost out on investment trusts. Here is a Regulator that has chosen to adopt the policy of only closing the gate after the horse has bolted and not understood there really is another way.

[Andrea Vickers]

British Gas win hands down for their swingeing treatment of me over a bill they sent for someone else's meter. After months of phone calls, letter writing and wrangling to try and get them to stop threatening me with legal action etc etc, the Energy Ombudsman took the case up on my behalf and it's finally resolved.

[Una Kirwan]

I nominate someone who is not MY Darling. He pretended to raise the IHT threshold to £600K. All he really did was make things more convenient for married couples while not making any REAL increase for them. At the same time he ignored completely those who are not married. How did he get away with this sleight of hand? I think he should also be nominated for Conjurer of the Year

[Robert Parker]

I nominate TESCO no lets be personal and make it Sir Terry himself- world class at driving up profits at the expense of everyopne else - farmers, suppliers and most of all their poorly paid staff. On the back of record profits they have just embarked on a round of eliminating allowances for staff that work through the night. So now staff get no more for working at 3am than at 3pm. Well done Sir Terry - our very own 21st century Scrooge

[Food for Thought]

Stuart Gates former director of Fortnum and Mason / Daylesford Organic / resigned to stay at home!
For failing to pay anything towards his sons school fees one month before he was due to start at his new school!

[Geoff Nield]

It has to be Gordon Brown and the Treasury, who jump on every "green" and "healthy" bandwagon going to push up already high UK taxes.

[Andrew Elsden]

Powergen - for hitting people with low incomes with high rates of electricity charges on prepayment card meters. This only came to light to me when in April Powergen changed my tariff in error to a prepayment one effectively increasing my annual electric bill by over £150. I am still waiting for them to correct this mistake.

[Freddie George]

Gordon Skinflint Brown and his Labour cohorts for failing to reinstate the rolling year RFL dispensation for old cars: he says it's "to protect our heritage" but he means destroy it. Most old cars venture out little, and mainly to support events at weekends for charity giving pleasure to many and money to good causes.
Many such vehicles are run by older people who can't afford his ever increasing RFLs. Never mind, he can bleed us dry while he has the chance: the Conservatives promise to reinstate the concession. Just another example of Labour's stealth tax and erosion and the 'nanny state' looking only for sheep to tick their box. Some hope - never ever again.

[Ken Greatbatch]

I would nominate HM Revenue & Customs for it's attempt to capture the Christmas top spot with it's special 2 CD Free Offer to anyone who can find them. Included is a limited offer to any Identity Fraudsters. Available at any skip or Landfill Site and coming to a Flytip near you.

[Dr Murray Steele]

Without a doubt, Gordon Brown's decision to scrap the 10% income tax band, hitting especially the low paid who only just emerge into the area of tax liability (part-time workers and students)and now have to pay the basic rate. Mean spirited and unjustified. And this from a Labour Govt too.

And not far behind this, the Scrooge-like reduction of gift aid returns to charities from 28 to 26 pence in the pound from next April.

[Derek Green]

Without doubt - our ghastly yellow streaked Gordon Brown - this year and every year for stealing so much money from pension schemes !

[David Gent]

The FSA. It is totally incompetent, has no foresight, but never makes a mistake. Bit like the government then

[James Able]

I nominate

Dr. James Gordon Brown

The biggest waster and waste of space in Britain today.

[Khaled Shivji]

My nomination is MBNA Europe Bank Ltd. I called from home them to tell them that I'd left my credit card at work, could they put a bar on it until the morning when I could retrieve it. No sympathy from them at all - I was put on hold without warning - the operator cancelled my card straight away without telling me, apparantly it's now company policy that if the operators have any inclintation that one of their cards has been misplaced, they cancel the card straight away without warning. Yet, it takes nearly a month to get a replacement card. Total scrooges, customer service just doesn't feature in their employee handbook.

[Jane]

British Gas Services gets my vote. The promise is to provide a high-quality service. The yearly Safety and Maintenance Inspection is always overdue - this year by 3 months. In response to a complaint a promise was made to phone back within 48 hours - I am still waiting after a week. An email complaint has received no response. Claire Monaghan, British Gas, said to The Times Money Nov. 24th 2007 that they have recruited 1,000 new engineers each year - where are they?

[Keith Crocker]

First Direct.
Reduced interest on Current Accounts to Zero claiming that customers did not mind losing interest on their current account. They Do.
Bank using large amounts of cash passing through accounts to make even greater profits.

[Pankaj Shah]

Nominate Standard Life for Scrooge - they offerred to donate the princely sum of £1 to Age Concern to people who told them why they had transferred out of Standard Life EPP/AVC etc.

[John Robson]

It has got to be GORDON BROWN - in his term as Chancellor of the Exchequer he has `stolen` 120,000 people's pension, `screwed` the motorist, indirectly responsible for Councils increasing their tax by more than 50% in a 10 year period,and made it difficult for couples to get on the property ladder!!!! And he now leads a corrupt Labour government.

[Dianne Dixon]

I have to nominate Barclaycard Visa and Mastercard for increasing their rate to 24.99% per annum. And these increases come to a client who has held the Visa since 1983 and Mastercard since 1994. Payments, though not in full, have always been made!

[Lorimer Watson]

Gordon Brown without doubt. For all the sneaky stealth taxes he has introduced for years, and which continue to bleed us dry, he must earn the title of Scrooge of the Century let alone the Year.

[David Gent]

Next time can you consider nominating organisations (especially government bodies) which we are happy with.

[Angela Coles]

BMI for declining to change the surname on a air ticket to Las Vegas. They insisted that I cancel the ticket, refunding only the taxes and re-purchasing a new one at the increased price that day.!

[Paul Southon]

Can only be one winner, Gordon Brown, yet again, as for the past ten years as Chancellor, he is instrumental in relieving not only every working Brit but every person who buys anything in UK, of more and more of their hard earnt (or not) money.

[Mark Bishop]

Visa for charging for foreign currency transactions. I say Visa because that's who Alliance Leicester blamed when I queried their charge. I think enough money is made by the greedy banks on foreign currency exchanges for tourists.

[Sheena]

Hmmm, so many to choose from...
My Number One this year has to be the Royal Mail. So incompetent. Many "lost" and "delayed" items together with constant cock-ups with my mail redirections. I had to drive 40 miles to fetch my incorrectly redirected mail and they refused to compensate me! Add to that the costs (and chaos) that we all incurred by their strike action.

[Linda]

I nominate a lifetime title of scrooge to Gordon Brown, being Prime Minister does not wipe out the effect of his underhand raid of the private sector pensions to bolster the coffers of the inflation linked pensions of his public sector buddies.

[Government run National Savings]

Reducing interest rates twice in last month (0.6 and 0.6) immediately after gaining many of Northern Rock's customers.

[Ray. Isle of Wight]

I nominate Gordon Brown for still sticking the extra duty on fuel despite the price rise of crude per barrel reaching an all time high.

[Peta-G]

I nominate Gordon Brown for allowing our forces to go to war in a 40 year old plane.

[Nick]

It is without a doubt the Labour government, constant U turns, stealth taxes which have risen non-stop since this bunch of incompetent waste of space governed. They have stolen from the ordinary working man and woman, but wasted vast amounts of money on useless and immoral causes, lining their own pockets but leaving the rest of us struggling and making it almost senseless to work any harder just to give more to their incompetent employees at HMRC.

[From the man near the Ryanair airports in France.......]

Ryanair is everyone's nomination in France, for its pinchpenny operations, exhorbitant extras, for charging to check in a bag, and getting on the plane (really) plus sheer rudeness and unreliability. Ask the French town halls, who are asked to pay for a Ryanair route, then have the route taken away once they have invested in uprating the airport facilities; or the expats who have to fly home at short notice- not much low cost flying there, it seems....
Mixed with the unceasingly insulting attitude of its senior management towards its customers, Scrooge lives - but this time in Ireland.

God bless them, every one.........

[tin tin]

I nominate Notts County Council who have reduced by 20% salaries and mileage rate paid to employees on legitimate council business. The Council cabinet have suggested that this is an advantage to its staff as it reduces their tax liability. To add insult to injury they have suggested employees should consider replacing their present cars with new "greener" cars all to be financed from their drastically reduced pay. I suppose they think the reduced salaries are also an advantage to employees as there will be less tax; in fact why bother paying employees more than the personal alowance?!

[Phil Willan]

It grieves me to nominate Nationwide Building Society for scrapping their excellent (and pretty much unique) fee free facility with their debit card. It used to be be free of any charges for withdrawing cash when overseas. It seems that the independents aren't any better after all.

[Gail]

There are so many, but my most current has to be Nationwide who, again, prove they are no different, they are just as money grabbing, large fees for a genuine mistake that resulted in a bounced cheque (the money was in the wrong account) and yet now fee to me for the many mistakes they have made over the years, including sending me someone elses bonus cheque.

[SUSAN]

There are 7 nominations for British Gas on display - here's no 8! They wrote repeatedly to my mum charging her £167 (in error)and in the end she paid it, asking for the money back when they had sorted out their mistake. When they realized they were in the wrong the money has been put 'into her account'.She is 94 and lives alone.How many other vulnerable people are being treated like this?

[JKMSH]

Gordon Brown. I won't bore you with the reasons; many have done that already.

Nominate British Gas for threatening to cut off gas supply to elderly person unless she pay for a new boiler or have quote "expensive and very messy up to date new air vent installed".
The new air vent actually took 15 minutes to install, made no mess but they still charged 60 pounds for it.
It caused a lot of distress.

[Pat Mitchell]

Gordon Brown and the labour government for not raising the winter fuel allowance for pensioners to follow the increase in prices of oil, electricity and gas.

[Jill Makinson-Sanders]

I would like to nominate David Abrahams. What a scrooge not giving the Labour Party money and then pretending he had done through other people. What a low, miserly trick that is... he should be made to pay up immediately or forfeit his plum pudding indefinitely. What has happened to the pleasure of giving in these early days of the naughties?

[Robin Crockett]

I nominate Gordon Brown as the is Scrooge par excellence for the damage he has done to pensions.

[h.miller]

gordon brown ....for everything and poverty in old age

[polly]

HSBC. Hey, just what you need when you've run into a little financial difficulty. They hand your debt over to HFC (which they own) and add over 800 pounds (admin costs and solicitors fees!?! - they own this company, how does that cost 800 pounds?)to your debt. Then, even though you're paying religiously the instalments you can afford they take you to court, get awarded 50p more a month, and then add another 400 pounds court costs to your debt. Hurrah! In Shakespeare's day extending credit was regarded as a 'vile and odious trade' and was illegal. Today, they want their pound of flesh and then some!

[Ged Robinson]

The Labour Government has given employees of local authorities a pay rise of 2% when inflation is 4.2%. Thus a pay cut in real terms.

[rebecca, blackpool]

Virgin for charging 25p a minute premium rate to fathom problems with the internet, then referring you to your wireless service provider who then refer you back to Virgin.

[Dek Crossingham]

Yes, Gorgon Brown as chancellor.
He refused to spend monies already allocated for prisons and the armed forces when Labour came to power, yet changed the law to allow more money to be put into MP's pensions, while destroying the private pensions industry, against the advice of real experts.
He knew better of course.
UK state pensions are also now among the worst in Europe.

[Jenny Byram]

I nominate Gordon Brown for his 10 year "war" against Pensioners culminating in the removal of the 10p tax band which will affect a great many of us oldies.

[JULIA SWANN]

The SNP who were elected in the university towns, mainly on the promise of scrapping outstanding student loans. They now say they can't afford it, but surely should have done the sums before making the promise.

And a second vote -the treasury for allowing tax relief on buy to let mortgages, making first time buyer properties too expensive for the average buyer, who doesn't get tax relief!

[Robert J Fox]

Caroline Flint is my scrooge along with her mate hewitt the blewitt for leaving us out in the cold due to their smoking bans. We smokers look forward to leaving them out in the cold! come the next election. Ms Flint's worries about the health of pub staff was the reason. Well they are now on state benefits due to pub closures.

[Tom]

Gordon Brown in his last budget. Said he was abolishing the lower rate of taxation (10%) when in fact it effectively doubled (20%) for people earning up to around £16-17k per annum

[J Jenkins]

The Foreign Office - £150.00 for a issuing a birth certificate at an embassy or consular office if your child is born outside UK. Blatant profiteering by the Government, outrageous. Email complaint to the FO went unanswered.

[Pamela Woods]

Gordon Brown for removing tax credit from pensions.

[J. Woods]

Gordon Brown for his lack of honesty with voters over the past 10 years.

[Peter Wells]

To the SNP for having an unconditional vote winning manifesto commitment to convert student loans to grants and then renegading on it within a few months of coming to office

[Dave Woods]

Gordon Brown for stealth taxes over the years

[CM]

I nominate Gordon Brown because all the Government incompetence can be traced back to his 'highly successful' ten years as Chancellor.

[Purplehelen]

Without a doubt: HSBC for its shameful dealing with student accounts.

[Brown and all the goverment]

How can dishonest Mps call themselves My Honourable Friend, they vote themselves every type of freeby, get rid of anyone who looks too closely into their murky affairs.steal money paid into pensions, set up inquires then disregard the findings, pay unrealistic money to friends and family for secretarial work, and
free holiday for themselves and family for fact finding "Quangos" that nobody listens to...

[Michael]

Ryanair for their disasterous customer relations and notorious penny-pinching. A mistake on their website meant they had misprinted the name on one of our tickets, but they still had the gall to charge us more than £100 to change the name.

[R.Fryett]

I agree with JS:

"Talk Talk is Scrooge of the Year. They promised so much, yet delivered so little. The Customer service department gives no servivce. The Complaints department do not handle compliants. Their broadband internet access does not give internet access.

They are excellent at advertising - millions spent to win new customers. Although these new customs get no custom. They are also very good at getting their bills out promptly and have never failed to take a monthly payment from my account."

I would also add that their cancellations department are argumentative, lying ("we never claimed it was free broadband"!!) and downright obnoxious in there attempts to brow-beat people who are trying to leave the TalkTalk scam.

[Malcolm Forsythe]

The Post Office for exploiting ruthlessly ways of ripping off stamp collectors particularly and the public generally

[Justin Case]

Virgin Media for enticing new customers with sexy give-away offers (3 for £20)and screwing the old loyal idiots like me (1 for £18)

[Alistair Toomey]

I have to nominate British Telecom (BT). Their Broadband packages are overpriced and offer poor slow broadband speeds. This I believe is costing the British economy millions, possibly running into billions in lost productivity. Countries with fast cheap broadband services have a competitive advantage over the UK. Broadband in this country is a national disaster.

[M.T.Liddiard]

Gordon Brown for being the worst Chancellor since Stafford Cripps!

[L Pullen]

1. HSBC - charge after charge
2. Temp Agencies - Charge for boots, coat etc but not told of this charge until first day of work
3. my local mechanic - charging 80 for nothing
4. of course G.Brown for taking almost all the wages left from the agency off me
5.my dad - too much rent when i stop away 5 from 7
6. ME because all this has made me bitter and now i'm tight

[Disgruntled Security Guard]

I have to nominate my employer Group 4 Securicor for Scrooge of the year. This year we had our first pay rise in two years and they only gave us a measly 2.5%
Most of us work 60+ hours a week, twelve hour days, no weekend, night or shift allowances and still earn far below what most people would consider to be a living wage. SHAME on them and the companies that employ their services. A Merry Christmas to the G4S Board of Directors.

[Peter]

Gordon Brown, the master craftsman at stealth tax policies that provide the minimum or no benefit to those in greatest need.

[Paschal]

I nominate Leicester City Council for implementing a job evaluation system which has lost me £1,000 per year. Yes I am expected to do the same job for a 36% wage cut

[Jon Weston]

Leicester City Council for their complete mismanagement of the job evaluation process. This is putting post holders, who's posts were already dificult to fill due to the uncompetitive salary being offered, into finacially crippling situations. Wage cuts between £3000 and £10000 are being experienced. Bear in mind that Leicester City Councillors have just given themselves a 37% pay rise and a lot of senior managers have also benefited from the job evaluation scheme.

[De-moralised employee of Leicester City Council]

LCc should be crowned "scrooge of 2007". Under their job evaluation scheme, I will lose £7,000 of my annual salary. My husband is also set to loose £3,000 to his annual salary, meaning that our joint income will be £10,000 down -equating to 23% of our total joint income. We will still have to put in the long hours, overtime and appalling deadlines, as well as support our young family on alot less money. Shame on you Leicester City Council. Bah Humbug!

[DR]

I too nominate Leicester City Council for Jon Evaluation that should have introduced an equal pay system. The system proposed does not support equal pay and is not fair either. I am to loose over £5,000 for perfoming the same duties.

[Phil B]

Ikea online delivery
After 2 1/2 months I am still waiting delivery for furniture that i ordered online from them. only way to complain via post which they have cunningly made even more difficult by burying their address.

compared to John Lewis who took 2 days to deliver a bed ordered at the same time.

[Lisa]

The Halifax, for their excessive charges and extreme arrogance. We asked for £70 of charges to be removed from a credit card, instead they piled on £400 more in charges and set the debt collectors on to us. We've had a year of misery thanks to this tight fisted bank. Shame on them.

[w.d.roberts]

SMILE - THE INTERNET BANK...aka The Coop Bank- an ETHICAL bank??? Used them to pay for an item in Euros to a bank in Holland. They promised exchange rates would be 'market rates'.... than used a conversion rate WAY higher...costing me an extar £200!!!
Response when I complained ??? 'We offered to make transaction ...wait for it...."BASED" on market rates...whicn means???..... NOTHING AT ALL.....they can charge double if the want to....it is still "BASED" on the market rates.

THIS IS THE BANK THAT SAYS THAT THEY ARE NOT LIKE THE HIGH STREET BANKS....... THEY ARE SHARP AND MISLEADING.

[Malcolm Walker]

It has to be Moben Kitchens. Firstly they fit a lousy kitchen at great expense with great inconvenience to me. Then, when I sue them they go into Administration and my court case gets stopped. Then they get bought out by a new owner who refuses to tell me how they're going to improve on the previous lousy service, because presumably they're not. My website's mailbox shows they're continuing to make promises they don't keep. It shouldn't be allowed.

[William]

Gordon Brown. When he was Chan of Exch,he decided to take 5 BILLION a year out of pension funds. Doubled MP's salary, dole out huge increases in tax free expences to them as a disguised salary increase,and then gave gave 25p a week to the pensioners.But then what do you expect from a Labour government.

[Wally Rhodes]

I nominate Alliance and Leicester. They must top the league of regular "offenders" in letters to the money pages. Their bank charges policy was devised by Dick Turpin.

[Heather Bishop]

LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL should definitely win, for ruining so many people's Christmas with the threat of pay cuts from £400 to £10,000 per annum, for continuing to do the same job! And they call this equality? This is nothing short of highway robbery, and the perpetrators deserve to be put in chains like Jacob Marley!!

[LCD]

The Home sec for not paying the Police their back pay. Seems binding arbitration is only binding on the employee, not the employer. How's that for a fair society that values its servants!

[Peter]

Without doubt, Barclays Premier Banking Service deserve this 'accolade'. By their ineptitude, when I was at my most vulnerable (a Widower, trying to cope with Life and Redundancy and a failed Engagement which cost me £70,000), the Bank FAILED to carry out its promises to 'look after my account'. At age 60, I have been forced to re-mortgage my Home (interest only) in order to pay off debts whilst my Premier Account Manager neglected to invest my Redundancy as promised and then left 'overnight' - and the local Barclays Area Director is on record as having said that "Barclays are under no obligation to honour commitments made by previous Employees".

Meantime, Barclays have extracted some thousands of pounds from me, with NO OFFER of support. Why do I pay for this 'Service' ?

Next week, my new "Barclays Premier Personal Relationship Manager" will visit me, and unless he manages to recover £000's money "taken" from me by Barclays, my account (after 42 years of loyalty) will be transferred to another bank. Or perhaps I should be sensible and keep my money under the mattress ?

[Julie Carpenter]

I nominate Gordon Brown who, for the first time in my life, makes me consider voting Tory ( I am in my 50s ), and Bracknell Forest Council who think it is OK not to pay employees, who have left their employ, the backpay that is rightfully their money, that wasn't paid due to pay negotiations unresolved until November, unless the owner of the money "applies in writing".

[Peter]

All 'professionals': lawyers, barristers, accountants, doctors, dentists etc. 20 years ago they had ethics; today, most simply have their noses in the trough.

[geoff]

Sainsburys Credit card for charging £12 due to recieving payment a day late during postal strike.
Their card has since been binned.

[B Haworth]

How about non - scrooge!

Northern Rock for giving me increased interest on a bond for NOT panicking and withdrawing cash from an account during their recent troubles

[frank khan]

I nominate amazon.co.uk for allowing a third party peel.com to sell North American DVD region DVD'd on their UK web site & for not allowing to refund customers money in line with their 30 day policy. Despit numerous e-mails they do not reply and when they do they give you the same answers as before.

[G Rawson]

I am 73 years old and the very worst firm I have dealt with in my entire life, and there have been quite a few, has to be TalkTalk broadband. They are the pits and I would recommend them to no one. No back up, in fact their way of doing business is to say "hang on a moment whilst I transfer your call to someone who can help you" and then just leave you. This happens all the time Keep well away from them

[Sam]

It has to be Alliance & Leicester. For some years Dad held two accounts with them a current a/c and a savings account both had good respectable ongoing credit balances but sadly Dad passed away last April age 92. The accounts where a part of his estate and so we asked them to transfer them both into an Executors a/c - it took weeks for them to get back to us with a refusal. We were told we'd have to close the accounts and the balance would be paid out only by a cheque. We were appalled and still to this day cannot credit their attitude - the Cooperative Bank happily stepped in to assist and set us up with an Executors account very quickly. Sam

[Julie]

I nominate Leicester City Council for the Job Evaluation farce. Who should have introduced an equal pay system? The system proposed takes money from the people who can least afford it, in order to stop a back last from the professional people at the top, who in the past would have gone on strike. The Union has buried its head in the sand over this issue so I would also nominate Unison, the has been union.

[john stein]

It would have to be either Gordon Brown whose tax increases over the past year now mean we work for a third of a year to pay our tax burden, my second nomination would have to be the banks - with charges, and by being tactical when it comes to increasing/ reducing savings/ mortgage SVC rates when the bank of england changes its rates it's clear that they see us all as cash cows to be milked - where is the customer service and the bank that is the customers champion? Nowhere...

[Roger]

HSBC refused a short term increase to overdraft facility which allowed them apply £30 and £25 charges for minor infringements to overdraft agreement. Cost in charges and interest totalling £2000 to date.

[Roger]

EGG Bank refused to accept short term payment plan. Went staight to debt collection agency Direct Legal Collections (DLC)who used threats and intimidation. Applied to court which added costs and increased the problem. Avoid EGG products you may find yourself in the same situation.

[Naomi]

British Gas - for reasons too infuriating to discuss as their most recent customer service debacle makes my blood boil. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!

[Clare]

Egg - they have repeatedly increased my credit card interest rate, most recently to 26.9% because of 3 late payments in the last 2 years - they are very harsh, and not open to any negotiation. Avoid them.

[Tess Diaz]

I'd like to nominate HSBC as a goodie. It may the biggest, and therefore the baddest, but this demanding consumer has always been placated in dealings with the bank. When a fraudster withdrew £200 from my account in Lyon, they let me know about it 2 hours later, as I sat on the Eurostar back to London. No further damage was done and my money was recouped in due course. Other glitches (lost bank card abroad etc) have also been dealt with efficiently.

[Geoff Wearmouth]

Haringey Council must win the prize.
Two months after moving there is no sign of my Council Tax refund and yet German company Thames Water refunded my Water Bill within ten days.

[Andrew Milner]

Take UK based investment management houses such as Insight or Invesco Perpetual in Henley on Thames. You call from Japan and the only way to get through is on a premium line at three times the normal rate. Presumably following customer hostility to the Indian call centre method. With IP, they refuse to remit funds to a UK bank account, but insist on sending a cheque for literally thousands of pounds by insecure regular mail. Then you post the cheque to the UK bank, who in all likelihood will refuse to accept it on a technicality, and return by insecure mail to Japan. Takes over two months to pay in a cheque by which time the exchange rate could have gone anywhere. Another reason not to do business with UK. If you don’t recognise the needs of your clients, you don’t deserve to have any.

[Richard]

CSA has to be the one, they have crippled the nation. The CSA took money from my wifes account with 14 days notice. 50% of her monthly wages for 5 months and then realised that she did not need to make the payments by which time we were deeply in debt. Finally to save her financial situation I missed many payments myself, leaving me bankrupt, having to pay £48,000 to the receivers for £8000 of debt. We have remortgaged and now have to pay £1300 a month on a mortgage, which we probably will not be able to pay. Leaving us on the street. Thanks CSA!!!

[Robert]

I went to Boots the Chemist for an eye test with the aim of ordering inexpensive spectacles online.

During the test I asked the optician to measure the distance beween my pupils, which she did and it took 30 seconds.

However, when I got home I found this hadn't been put on the prescription and, on contacting Boots, I was told I would have to pay a further £10 if I wanted this figure, on top of the £18 eye test fee.

[Mr Tim]

George W Bush President of the United States, for creating Heaven and Earth and all you Humans....Merry Christ-Mas

[Karen L Taylor]

Mine has to be the HSBC who offered to bring down the cost of my overdraft in June. I wrote my bank manager to take up his offer and asked him to respond in writing as I live abroad. Now, over 6 months later with over 60 emails and several letters from the General Manager of UK Operations I still haven't received the offer. Please view my video: HSBC creative reply on YouTube

[Vincent Hale]

I nominate the Financial Services Ombudsman and the Halifax Building Society who admitted that the Building Society was wrong to refuse to release an elderly couple's deeds (one of whom died soon afterwards) to their family solicitor on payment of £250 the only amount owing, for insurance. The argument went on for seven months at a cost of £1,500 (not challenged)through ten people at the Halifax before the senior solicitor finally admitted they had been wrong from the start and offered £100 compensation rising to £500 leaving the elderly couple to pay the balance of £1,000. The Ombudsman's adjudication was that the family solicitor was a decent man who would not charge his clients a penny so they had suffered no loss! Full file available together with follow-up letters asking the Haliax to deny that the real reason was that like the Northern Rock they simply haven't enough money to pay their just debts. They give no reason except that of the Ombudsman who also admitted that he is paid by the Halifax and not by or on behalf of consumers.

[Heather]

British Gas for taking my service contract money every month until I actually needed it, then saying the fault was something for which I wasn't covered and I would have to pay extra; then persistently fobbing me off with promises to make an appointment that never materialised; then, after a month, offering an appointment in mid December (i.e. 2 months with no heating in winter is OK?) by which time I'd already had to have the work done elsewhere, as an urgent job, by someone I didn't know at a cost of close to £2000. They take the money but don't seem to have the staff to do the work - daylight robbery!

[Ruth Charles]

Scottish Power. On changing suppliers they 'estimated' my final bill at £500 more than I owed them, despite having my final meter readings. Months of arguments, threats to obtain CCJs and send in bailiffs ensued. They were incapable of issuing a correct bill and couldn't see why I wouldn't just give them money they were not owed. It took months of wrangling and finally a complaint to energywatch sorted this out. Scottish Power are an utter disgrace - this was a blatant attempt to obtain money by threats and intimidation.

[Jay]

The Pension Regulator in Brighton. What a useless shower they are. Inept, unhelpful, slow - their management team have neither the experience or the skill to run a fish and chip shop.

[Frank Upton]

The Great British Public

For expecting something for nothing.

[Iain]

BRITISH TELECOM.
Without doubt the worst company i have ever had the misfortune to have dealings with. Changed to BT as phone provider. They changed my telephone number without telling me and won't revert it back. In addition i was not happy with the service they provided me with and the customer service lines were not working for weeks on end. Finally gave up and changed provider whereupon they charged me £70 for cancelling. Really good service there BT keep it up and you'll have no customers left.

[Daniel Carter]

I would like to add any local authorities that have implemented national Job evaluation this year. I work for Nottinghamshire County Council and have had a massive pay cut putting me back on to a rate of pay i earnt when i was 18 at Mcdonalds ..Cheers NJE
Dan.

[That one over there.]

Harrow council: Easily one of the worst offenders. Large sums have been wasted on projects that haven't even been completed - an example is near where I live. The idiots dug up the road, started to modify it, gave up and undid all the work so that the road was back the way it was. Hopeless!

Furthermore, they have the nerve to charge for sunday parking. Given the state of harrow bus station, i'd rather stay at home than do any form of shopping

[Pete Taylor]

Here goes - Nottinghamshire County Council with its plans for implementing Job Evaluation from January - over 3,500 staff facing cuts of up to £8,000 or 30% of their salary. The Authority claims to have a mandate to push it through when only 2,100 of the 17,000 staff evaluated have voted to accept the proposals - some winners, some losers and some staying the same. And we should include the union UNISON who have deserted the losers in Nottinghamshire failing to represent the members that have lost - they are taking the union subscriptions but doing nothing in return. JE is not just in Nottinghamshire but nationwide (possibly 200,000 people will lose money through JE). So which Scrooge is benefiting from all this money and why isn't someone (UNISON?) fighting this for us? WE are fighting locally so join up with us and let'smake it a national "Anti-Scrooge" campaign.

[Dave]

I nominate Nottscc for the fiasco called Fair Pay (HA!).

It has taken 5 years to complete and ended with completely the opposite outcome. Over 4000 staff facing salary cuts of anything from £2000-£8000 pa.

[D.O'Neill]

Jupiter Unit trusts: My original investment of £5000 on March 1st 2000 in Jupiter Global Technology Fund, was worth only £1167.02 on realisation on 03.12.07. The Fund lost its value in the dot-com crash six/seven years ago and one has the impression that it has not been actively managed since. I will not be investing with Jupiter again!

[Bobby D]

Amazon, as they are rubbish at providing a good service level for the DVD rental service

Avoid it!!

[Barry]

Gordon 'Ebenezer' Brown - For the most insultingly low below inflation civil service pay offer yet.

[David McNeill]

Has to be Gordon really doesn't it? His breathtakingly incompetent reorganisation of HMRC is unbeatable.

[TONI]

Similar to the nomination of Leicester City Council, I nominate Nottinghamshire County Council for duping its low paid employees into accepting the National Job Evaluation process as a 'fair pay for all' method of evaluating jobs. Me thinks there will be several such nominees of other councils around the country !

[Alexandre Giulietti]

I'd like to nominate Ryanair, the "low-cost" airline company for introducing luggage fees and check-in fees. And, most importantly, for introducing web check-in which is not for all passengers, only for those with an EU passport or a "National ID Card" from an EU country.

I've got a Spanish foreign ID card which was accepted by Ryanair on-line web check-in. Nevertheless I was not allowed to board the aircraft on the grounds that I didn't have a valid document. There is NO CLEAR definition of what valid and non-valid documents are in their web site. And how come the system allows you to get through with the web check-in ? I still had my passport which I had used to book the flight but it was not taken into consideration.

I missed the weekend with my family, had to pay the long-term parking in Stansted (£ 16), had to travel 260 miles two-way from Swindon for nothing, and finally had to buy another ticket for £ 140 in another company, Easyjet, that imposes no such restrictions on web check-ins.

A company that treats their customers like that (I've flown with them more than 20 times) shall see problems in the long term.

[JZW]

Thames Water. We have lived at our address for 4 years and when we moved in, called them to inform them we were there and to start an account. For 4 years we have received bills addressed to 'the occupier' despite constantly telling them we are there and trying to give our details. We have explained to TW that we live in the flat, and although we've been paying the bills addressed to 'the occupier', have been told that if we want to 'change' the account (ie have it in our name) it needs to be backdated to when we moved in and we have to pay the whole amount again! Can't they see from the bank details who has been paying the bills? Plus, it's not for want of trying to put the bills in the correct name. Who on earth do they think has been paying the bills and why would we if we didn't live there?! Aargh.

[S Wright]

Royal Bank of Scotland. It has taken nearly 4-5 months to get my Graduate account open and functioning and I am still waiting on PIN numbers and a debit card. I attempted to open the damned account in September in a bid to be ready for when I started my MA and no such luck was had. No one ever calls me back, no one ever bothers to tell me what's going on and no one (seemingly) is accountable. I cannot pay anything in and I can't get any money out, I'm having to use a credit card as a temporary measure to still be able to buy food at the moment and even their credit card is a joke.

A little tip for them- employ people who don't have phone-phobia. Also do not say you will call people back if you aren't going to bother doing so.

[Dave]

I vote NCC to win the scrooge award by rewarding most employees with pay cuts at this time of year, only then to give some of the money saved to fund senior members of the council with huge rises.. BAH HUMBUG to Nottinghamshire County Council.

[Alex Fisher]

British Telecom - Told us an engineer would come out to us and charged £125 to reinstate a telephone line in our new house. No engineer came out and it turns out that all they had to do was push a button. All we wanted the line for was for Sky talk and broadband and luckily for us (and our bank balance) sky have offered to credit our account with £125. Yay!

[Dorothy]

Abbey, beyond a shadow of a doubt. We reported a missing cheque book, so they put a stop on ALL cheques, regardless, thus damaging my company's credit rating with some very important customers and incurring us in endless costs to set it right, not to mention hours spent on the telephone trying to reach the right person!!!! Incompetence is not the right word for these people who should NOT be in banking! and yes, we are changing banks in the New Year ...

[Hannah]

Direct Line Car Insurance - great at taking the cash off you, not so great at coughing up when your car gets nicked. Not to mention the great swathes of time you spend on hold listening to inane music and waiting to speak to a call centre operative who clearly has no interest whatsoever in your problem, or in finding a solution to it... Don't go there!

[SES]

ORANGE

A company that suspends an e-mail freeserve account with no notice. At 50p per minute per telephone enquiry, staff inform customers DAILY that the account will be reactivated at midnight - and it NEVER is. This fraudalent practice must stop.

[Barbara Sharpe]

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL just HAS to be nominated.
5 years to complete National Job Evaluation to introduce 'Fair Pay For All'. It isn't Fair Pay for ALL - over 4000 qualified and quality staff are losing between £2k-£8k p.a. Fair? Where are you Robin Hood - come and sort this lot out please!

[Anon]

I would like to nominate La Poste, the French Potal Group. RThey kindly employed me to undertake overseas development for them, but when their domestic busness went south due to astonishing ineptitiude by theit French management, they ridthemselves of my services. They did this 1 day before my probation ended and because of this paid me not one penny in compensation.

Vive la differance' my backside.

[Michelle]

First Great Western - for their consistant poor service and train management.

[jacqui]

I would like to nomiate Notts County Council for the award- the job evaluation is a joke! Their treatment of staff many of whom are long service, abysmal!

[Emily]

Entirely agree with the nomination for SLC and HMRC. I went to university in 1998 - the first year without grants and with automatic eligibility for loans. I'm now in the position where I have paid the SLC over £8000 and am close to having paid off my loan. The SLC did not provide me with a balance for two years and I am still waiting for them to give me an accurate balance after nearly six months which is apparently my responsibility to calculate rather than theirs. This would be utterly unacceptable from a private financial institution. I have written to my MP and I encourage others to do the same otherwise the system will never change.

I nominate Notts County Council for proposing to cut my salary by £5000 a year as a result of a National Job Evaluation process.
It was and is a totally unreliable way of evaluating jobs eg there were two major factors in this job evaluation process that we were not even allowed to score on.
These outrageous salary cuts are short term savings for long term misery not only for employees affected but for the Council Tax payers of Nottinghamshire. They will ultimately be the losers as services wither and die.
I have colleagues who are losing nearly £2000 a year