It’s time to vote in our Wooden Spoon Awards

It is time to get your individual again on the businesses whose shoddy customer support has pushed you mad this yr.

Right now, we launch the ninth annual Cash Mail Wood Spoon Awards. That is your probability to vote for the organisation you assume offers Britain's most shambolic service.

Each week, tons of of readers contact us to complain about rotten remedy suffered by the hands of the companies you trusted together with your cash. You inform us how years of loyalty — and the tons of of kilos you've paid — have counted for nothing, as your grievances have been handled with contempt.

Stirring up a storm: It is time to get your individual again on the businesses whose shoddy customer support has pushed you mad

Clueless employees have handed you from pillar to put up at name centres, easy billing bungles have taken months to resolve and companies have wriggled out of reliable claims.

Some companies are serial sinners; others can't maintain themselves out of the headlines for the hapless method they've reacted to their very own failings.

This yr, our inbox has been as full as we are able to bear in mind. There have been catastrophic meltdowns, in addition to niggling issues that simply gained't go away.

Some corporations are discovering increasingly more methods to mess up the fundamentals. You say it's widespread for impolite employees to trot out 'laptop says no' excuses or ship you on-line when all you need is an correct invoice or a easy mistake put proper.

Gripes that cropped up repeatedly in 2016 included:

• House telephone and broadband suppliers that take months to repair your line when it goes down — and invoice you for providers you may't use.

• Banks and constructing societies that blame you if you're the sufferer of a rip-off and gained't assist get your money again.

• Journey companies that use each trick within the guide — together with ignoring you — to duck out of paying compensation for delays and let-downs.

• EnergyY giants that cease sending payments, hike funds for no purpose — after which grasp on to your money if you swap to a brand new provider.

• Tax officers who raid your pay packet for taxes you don't owe, set debt collectors on the aged and pocket cash you've earmarked for charity.

• Insurers that use their very own medical doctors to disclaim terminally-ill sufferers life cowl payouts.

• Cellular networks which invoice their clients for telephone traces they don't have,

• Practice operators whose repeated delays and strikes make it not possible so that you can get to work or go to family.

In some instances the sheer amount of complaints that had been fobbed off made the agency a shoo-in for a Wood Spoon nomination. For others the severity of their rotten service earned them one.

We all know issues can go flawed at large companies. But it surely ought to by no means take multiple telephone name or letter for motion to be taken. Sadly, this yr's nominees completely failed that take a look at.

When you've determined who ought to win, mark your alternative on the coupon printed on the best and put up it to our workplace in London.

You can even solid your vote on-line at Cash Mail's sister web site thisismoney.co.uk/spoon. You might have till December 31.

Right here we record the Horrible Ten companies that made our shortlist for this yr's Wood Spoon:

1. Barclays

The financial institution struggled to maintain out of the headlines this yr. The large difficulty is fraud, with figures exhibiting greater than twice as many complaints about this are taken by its clients to the Monetary Ombudsman than at another financial institution.

Prospects have accused Barclays of doing too little to cease fraudsters — after which failing to assist victims claw again their cash.

The financial institution has additionally been forcing fraud victims to signal gagging orders, as Beverley Lawrence, 65, discovered. The previous financial institution cashier from Keighley, West Yorkshire, claimed again simply £165 after dropping £2,015 and was informed to maintain quiet.

For a lot of the yr, Barclays's fraud division additionally refused to take calls from folks whose cash had ended up with the financial institution as a part of a rip-off. And in October, we revealed how Barclays was one in all a number of banks taking again PPI compensation from clients after discovering errors in its payouts.

The financial institution was additionally shamed in June for permitting its small enterprise neighborhood scheme to be exploited by doubtful salesmen flogging face lotions and fat burners in its branches.

A spokesman says: 'We would like everybody to have an excellent expertise. We're listening to suggestions so we are able to repair what isn't working.'

2. British Airways

Individuals pay extra to fly with British Airways to make sure a fantastic expertise — the airline has lengthy had a repute for wonderful customer support.

Nonetheless, this yr the agency has been beset by niggling failings.

It has upset loyal clients by ditching free snacks on short-haul flights, and it has come below hearth for refusing to refund passengers who've paid extra for seats collectively or additional legroom however by no means bought them.

When Cash Mail has contacted British Airways in your behalf, the airline has repeatedly refused to say whether or not it has sorted out your criticism.

This terribly unhelpful perspective is totally different to each different agency with which we deal — and it makes it very troublesome for us to resolve disputes for our readers.

A spokesman for Brisith Airways says: 'We take nice delight in flying greater than 100,000 clients each day. We take all buyer complaints very significantly.

'We all know that generally issues go flawed and when this occurs we at all times do our greatest to resolve these points as rapidly as potential.'

three. BT

Wood Spoon defending 'champion', after storming to victory within the 2015 awards for its muddled customer support, BT is but to beat final yr's issues.

You retain telling us about lengthy delays in getting seemingly fundamental billing errors mounted. And your letters recommend lots of the issues lie with BT's Openreach arm, which owns the fibre and copper wires that connects properties and companies throughout the nation.

One household in Romsey, Hampshire, waited four-and-a-half months for BT to repair its defective telephone line. BT's failings additionally have an effect on properties utilizing Virgin Media, Discuss Discuss and Sky, which depend on Openreach to handle the cables. It's needed to make use of extra employees and retrain others.

BT additionally angered clients by mountain climbing its telephone and broadband costs in the summertime — the third enhance in 18 months. Shortly after, we revealed the way it had hidden an additional 33 per cent value hike, scheduled for subsequent yr, within the small print.

A BT spokesman says: 'We care concerning the service we give our clients and apologise to any we let down this yr.

'We're investing closely in enhancements, together with hiring 1,000 new customer support employees and greater than 1,000 engineers.'

four. Further Power

For a comparatively small energy provider, it's stunning how steadily Further Power clients have written to us to complain.

Our letters editor Tony Hazell has taken the agency to process a number of instances in his column this yr — and there have been many different instances we haven't had house to function.

Prospects say they've not acquired payments for months on finish, had direct debit funds hiked for no purpose and skilled lengthy delays in getting their a reimbursement after switching suppliers.

Official figures present that Further Power is probably the most complained-about provider. Between July and September, the agency acquired 1,506 complaints for each 100,000 clients, in keeping with Residents Recommendation. By comparability, SSE acquired simply 27.

In July, the vitality watchdog introduced it's investigating if the agency has damaged guidelines referring to billing, customer support and complaints dealing with.

Ben Jones, of Further Power, says: 'I'm disillusioned by this nomination and apologise to any buyer who has not acquired the excessive stage of service we anticipate of ourselves.'

5. HMRC

One other yr, one other Wood Spoon nomination for the taxman.

Within the spring, we revealed how tons of of hundreds of savers had been dragged into tax chaos. HMRC was failing to deal with adjustments to the way in which you pay tax in your financial savings, leaving baffled pensioners deeply out of pocket.

In some instances, the taxman was taking cash from savers' pensions or salaries to pay tax owed on financial savings curiosity . . .earlier than they'd even acquired it.

Hit laborious: We've acquired a gradual circulation of complaints from individuals who have been given incorrect tax codes

In a separate tax raid, we revealed in March how HMRC was snatching chunks of charity donations. The place donors mentioned the money was from multiple particular person — for instance, by writing 'from mum and pa' on kinds — over-zealous HMRC officers had been refusing to pay a top-up known as Reward Assist (the place charities declare from the taxman the 20 per cent earnings tax a donor has already paid).

We've additionally acquired a gradual circulation of complaints from individuals who have been given incorrect tax codes, hit by giant payments years after tax was due and compelled to struggle for months for refunds.

In July, we uncovered HMRC for setting debt collectors on unsuspecting taxpayers to gather decades-old money owed.

An HMRC spokesman says: 'We apologise to anybody who has not acquired the usual of service to which we're dedicated. HMRC is now providing the most effective customer support ranges in years, with calls usually answered in below 5 minutes.'

6. Authorized & Common

We've acquired fewer complaints about L&G than many companies on this yr's record, however the injury and misery triggered has been among the many worst.

It has repeatedly tried to wriggle out of paying life insurance coverage claims to desperately sick clients.

In 2016, we uncovered not one, however two harrowing instances the place L&G used its personal medical consultants to over-rule a terminal sickness analysis by the shopper's personal physician. Meaning there have been three instances in lower than 24 months the place the agency had wrongly denied important cash to the households of dying sufferers.

We've discovered no proof of different insurers rejecting reliable claims on this method. A spokesman says: 'We're very pleased with our claims service and need to pay as many claims as potential. In 2015, we paid out £94 million to terminally in poor health clients.'

7. Scottish Energy

the vitality big has suffered a nasty hangover after a customer support meltdown in 2014. Hundreds of consumers stopped receiving payments, and after they known as to complain, they couldn't get via.

After an investigation by Ofgem, ScottishPower was fined £18 million for failings that resulted in additional than one million complaints between June 2013 and December 2015.

One reader informed us the agency hiked his funds from £47.50 to £278 a month. It had overestimated how a lot electrical energy he used and didn't take meter readings. Others have been threatened with debt collectors following billing errors.

Colin McNeill, of ScottishPower, says: 'This yr we've continued to make strong progress in our service. We're working laborious to maintain making enhancements.'

eight. Southern Rail

IT has been a horrible yr for passengers who use Govia rail providers, which embrace Southern Rail, Thameslink, the Nice Northern and the Gatwick Categorical.

Round 83,000 trains have been cancelled by Govia over the previous yr, in keeping with official figures. Now employees plan to strike at Christmas and New Yr, which may see as many as 4 in ten traces closed and others struggling main disruption.

Commuters on the few trains which have run have typically been packed into the carriages like sardines.

A spokesman for Southern Rail says: 'Passengers have had a tough deal this yr and for that we're actually sorry. Our goal subsequent yr is to maneuver ahead with our plans to ship a contemporary, environment friendly railway and provides our passengers the service they anticipate and deserve.'

9. Thomson

Barely per week has handed and not using a criticism about Thomson.

Virtually all of your letters have centred on the journey agency's makes an attempt to wriggle out of paying compensation to passengers who had suffered flight delays so long as 24 hours.

In June, we submitted a file of reader complaints to the aviation watchdog for investigation. The letters confirmed how Thomson was refusing to pay out for delays brought on by damaged bathrooms, employees shortages and different faults inside its management, taking as much as six months to answer to clients and dropping paperwork.

In lots of instances reliable claims had been fobbed off. Thomson was even discovered to be ignoring the regulator when it was ordered to pay up.

A spokesman says: 'We take all complaints significantly, and though the amount of flight-delay claims we obtain is extraordinarily variable, we function a good, immediate and thorough course of to take care of them.'

10. Vodafone

Pricey, oh expensive! What on earth is occurring at Vodafone? Repeatedly you've informed us how the telecoms big has turned the only process into a serious ordeal.

In April, we revealed how clients had been repeatedly being billed for telephone traces they didn't have, ignored of pocket for expensive calls they by no means made, pressured to spend as much as 50 hours on the telephone to repair fundamental issues and given conflicting info by name centre employees.

In October, the agency was fined a report £four.6 million after hundreds of consumers paid for credit score that was by no means added to their telephones.

Earlier within the yr, Vodafone informed us it had suffered a pc glitch that triggered many of those issues. However complaints maintain pouring in.

A spokesman for Vodafone says: 'We provide our profound apologies to clients affected by the IT system improve. We're dedicated to placing this proper in 2017. 

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