Questions of Cash: Avis wrongly charged me, then wouldn't pay a refund

Q. I booked a hire car in January with Auto Europe, paying £204.76. On 15 March I noticed my credit card had been charged a further £204.70 with a payment to Avis.

I showed my booking voucher from Auto Europe and copies of my credit card statements at Avis's Brighton office. I was told my credit card account would be refunded within 10 days.

But the next day I received a text message from Avis saying: "The original reservation was made through Auto Europe, for this reason we are unable to process a refund."

How is it that Avis makes the mistake of taking the money from my account and then says it can't refund it? CD, Brighton.

A. The refund has now been made. A spokeswoman says: "Avis would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Q. I have spent eight months complaining to Scottish Power about its poor service and repeated wrong bills. In July we cancelled our direct debit instruction, because it said it had moved us on to a standard tariff and was unable to alter its direct debit mandate. We have now moved to another provider, yet we are still awaiting a final bill from Scottish Power, despite providing both the opening and closing numbers on the meter. VB, by email.

A. Scottish Power says: "We have contacted [VB] and apologised for the problems … We have now finalised the account to final reads. By way of an apology we have applied a goodwill payment of £220 to her account which leaves a balance of £235.19. [VB] is satisfied the matter has finally been resolved."

Q. I ordered five dresses from Apricot online and returned four. But the company states that as they were sale items, refunds can only be made as an online credit. I don't accept that: Citizens Advice says I have a statutory right to a refund. I can cancel an online order and require a trader to make a reimbursement using the same payment means.

A £50 refund should have been in my account within 14 days, but Apricot is digging its heels in. MS, by email.

A. We raised all these points with Apricot, but it did not respond to the detail of your complaint. However, it tells us that it has made a full refund to the account from which payment was made.

Q. You recently reported on a voucher that expired without the customer being properly notified. Last August I bought a T-Mobile pay-as-you-go Sim card, with £10 credit. I didn't try to use it until February, when I couldn't get the phone to display the credit. A salesman at the EE shop where I had bought the card told me that because I had not used it, they had recycled the number and I could not have my £10 back. I pointed out that there was nothing in the information supplied with the Sim to state this. The salesman just said that I could not have my money back. TB, Reading.

A. We would be interested in seeing the legal advice that T-Mobile – now part of EE – has relied on to justify this behaviour. But the company argues its actions are correct: "We notify customers via text during periods of inactivity to remind them to use their account to avoid it being suspended. This is because Ofcom, the industry regulator, requires all mobile network operators to reuse and recycle mobile telephone numbers which are not in use."

We understand there are not enough numbers to go around, but it is unclear why this means that unused credit cannot be refunded.

Ofcom is also unhappy: "Mobile phone providers' terms must make it clear that the customer may lose their number … We'd urge providers to offer a refund for any unused credit if the number is recycled.

"This is an area we'll consider as part of a review of how mobile numbers are managed, taking place this year."

Questions of Cash cannot give individual advice. But we'll do our best to help if you have a financial dilemma. Email us at: questionsofcash@independent.co.uk