TONY HETHERINGTON: We were taken for a ride by Vueling

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s chief investigator. He battles the reader’s corner, reveals the truth that lies behind closed doors, and wins victories for those left out of pocket. Below you can read how to contact him.

Ms. LC writes: Our Vueling flight from Manchester to Barcelona was delayed and then cancelled. There was no support or information for more than three hours and Vueling was not answering any calls. Then it transported us by bus from Manchester to Gatwick.

We arrived after midnight and with the replacement flight leaving early the next morning, we were sleep deprived. Due to the long delays, each passenger should have received compensation and food stamps, but we received neither.

We lost a day of our vacation, including the hotel we paid for, but Vueling simply refuses to acknowledge my claim.

Tony Hetherington replies: Your original flight from Manchester should have departed at 2pm and you should have arrived at your hotel in Spain in time for an early evening drink. Instead, you and your friend were on a bus heading for the M6 ​​and the M1 on the 225-mile journey to Gatwick.

Vueling is owned by the Spanish company IAG, which also owns British Airways. It is the largest user of Barcelona airport and arguably the largest airline in Spain, even though it is less than 20 years old. It’s quite openly a budget airline, but that shouldn’t mean it turns its back on passengers when things go wrong.

I have contacted Vueling headquarters in Barcelona and asked to look into your claim. The staff there told me they would “review this matter.” Days later they emailed you with a link to a compensation claim form which of course they could have sent once your flight was cancelled. And shortly after you returned the claim form, £219 came into your Vueling bank account, with no explanation of how it was calculated.

I reminded Vueling that I had invited him to comment on your bad experience, but all I got back was a statement saying, “Customer Service confirms that the fee has already been paid to Ms. C.” I could almost see the contemptuous shrug in Barcelona, ​​as if wondering why I was bothering Vueling now that it had finally been paid.

So I made it clear that we would publish your letter, and this is the statement Vueling then gave me: ‘Due to operational reasons, the flight was canceled and passengers were offered hotel accommodation and food vouchers, along with relocation for the flight from London Gatwick . Transport from Manchester Airport to London Gatwick was also arranged. Vueling has already paid the applicable fee to the Customer and regrets any inconvenience caused.’ It almost seems like you should be thankful for a nice highway drive, whether you actually got food stamps or not.

Tellingly, Vueling didn’t even bother to deny that it ignored all your attempts to make a claim after it failed to provide a flight and instead took you for a ride.

Losing my keys ended up with a £155 fine

JT writes: My wife and I went shopping at Borehamwood Shopping Center in Hertfordshire. When we returned to our van, we found that my keys had been lost or stolen from my pocket.

The center’s security office recorded this and said the van was able to stay until midnight with no problem.

I called a locksmith to open the van, in case my keys were in it, but they weren’t there. Then I took the bus ten miles home, got my spare keys and removed the van well before midnight.

However, I received a letter from lawyers acting on behalf of Highview Parking Limited demanding £155.

Tony Hetherington replies: The mall staff went out of their way to help you. The security officer recorded that your keys were lost so your van could not drive, and when you received the demand from the parking company’s lawyers, the mall manager asked for cancellation, but got nothing.

By the time I intervened, the original penalty had been increased from £60 to £155, which you would have preferred to pay rather than risk further costs.

Highview Parking is part of a larger company called Group Nexus. I contacted and was told that a fine had been properly issued before Highview was aware of the circumstances.

It added: ‘Unfortunately there was a delay in handling the correspondence – and in the meantime the collection agency had accepted a settlement from the motorist.’

If you are reading this, your payment has been refunded.

It’s good to see a parking garage company showing flexibility and common sense for once.

Confusion about British gas meter

JO writes: I changed energy supplier and switched to British Gas but it told me my existing smart meter was not compatible with its system.

It asked me for monthly readings, but the meter is in a box underground, with the digital panel on the side.

Reading the gauge involved lying flat on the floor, rather difficult at age 82.

Tony Hetherington replies: You told me that British Gas sent a technician who installed a new meter with at least the reading panel on top.

Unfortunately, British Gas didn’t seem to know its own engineer had done this, so it rejected all your meter readings and based bills on its own estimates. It even tried to increase your monthly payments from £102 to £199, saying it had no idea how much gas you actually used. You complained but were simply told to contact the Ombudsman. I asked British Gas staff to look into this. Within five days, it had updated its data to accept your new meter readings. Your direct debits have been confirmed at £102 per month, not £199. Your account has been corrected to reflect correct gas usage. And British Gas agreed to pay you £100 as an apology.

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Scam: One of the works of art marketed by S&P

More than 60 investors who collectively poured millions of pounds into scam art investment company Smith & Partner Limited have now filed a complaint with Action Fraud and called on the police to launch an investigation.

The company used “Wolf Of Wall Street” phone sales teams to market prints at exorbitant prices with false claims of profit to be made.

An estimated 2,000 investors believed their money was safe because Smith & Partner claimed to belong to the respected Fine Art Trade Guild when in fact it had been suspended for unethical conduct.

Last month I reported that the owner of Smith & Partner, Michael Conway, had decided to liquidate the company. However, it still appears to be trading and running a follow-up ‘recovery room’ scam where existing victims have been called and informed that a buyer has been found for all of their prints, provided that the victim first buys more prints before maximum up to £50,000.

But a big investor smelled a rat. He refused to give his credit card details and said he would only pay by bank transfer to make sure who received his money. The caller from Smith & Partner turned nasty and told the investor, “Go fuck yourself. Good luck getting your hundred grand back, mate.’

Liquidators Carter Clark were made aware of this as they had already warned the London-based art firm about taking on new commitments, but they declined to comment. The insolvency service — which I revealed two weeks ago investigated Smith & Partner — also declined to comment, as did company boss Michael Conway.

If you believe you have been the victim of financial misconduct, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, no personal answers can be given. Only send copies of original documents, which unfortunately cannot be returned.