Although NatWest are generally awful I would say their charge card is brilliant. Never had problems when abroad. also their fraud detection system is stunning. They have detected frauds immediately on a couple of occasions. They were overzealous once but with good reason. I bought a suit about 4pm in Luton and flew to Geneva where for some reason the hotel wanted the full week charged upfront for a couple of rooms, so a couple of thousand. They 'phoned home first thing Monday am to check things were OK and Mrs D got a message to me who told them all was OK. They did not stop the card though. I think their card service is great (although expensive).

Mrs D had the ideal opportunity there to have your hotel bill payment stopped, and the return flight cancelled.

I bet she's been kicking herself ever since.

It was obviously the "buying a suit in Luton" that alerted them, unless it was a shell suit you bought.

In 2006 I bought a new car I asked the salesman how to pay - he said transfer the cash into your current account and pay with your debit card. We transferred the money. I went to Leeds to change the insurance and left an hour's cover in order to drive to the dealers in order to change cars. I gave the salesman my debit card and he came back ten minutes later and said "it's been declined" I rang the Yorkshire Bank and was told the money was there in cash if I wanted to come and get it. Problem, I was in Cleckheaton and the money was in Leeds, and of course since the insurance on my former car was now invalid I had no way of getting to it. I solved the problem but I was pretty p!ssed at the time with Yorkshire Bank.

Got it in Debenhams. Only one I've ever had from there. Was a nice suit, got it cheap in the sale but as I was in a hurry (wanted it for the trip and had run out of time) it was always rather tight! Nice suit, good price the fact it didn't really fit didn't seem to matter.

Oh come on, plenty of people wear suits in Luton, just have a wander round the magistrates court on a Monday morning.

A tory (predominantly at least) government doing what tory governments do best, selling off family silver for peanuts. What's new about that. Owd Maggies legacy is still alive and kicking.

Just what is this irrelevant little outburst supposed to mean?
Does it translate as "It's all left wing, call it what you want, I just don't like it"?
Because if it does, then you might as well start referring to the conservative party as Nazis.

I do

Just got a Halifax credit card for holidays as it is the cheapest way to get cash out of an ATM despite the interest believe it or not.

Anyway phoned to activate the card. Gave all the information accurately and then the call says "There was a problem and we need to transfer you to an operator" or something like that. Anyway it then says there is a 10 minute wait on a number that is going to charge me money. So I hang up.

Try again later - same result but this time get through to an operator in India. "What can I do for you sir" - Well says I, I just got told there was a problem activating the card. "No sir the card has been activated OK". So why did it say what it did? "No idea sir".

Then I try and register for Internet Banking.

Fill the form in on-line get to the last screen and it says now you must ring the call centre. So I ring and this time it is a UK based one. "What can I do for you sir?". So I explain I am trying to set up Internet access. "Is this the first time you have tried to do this"? Strange question thinks I but I answer. "A user id will be automatically sent out to you then you have use that". But that is not what the instructions on the screen say I reply. The screen says I must ring so YOU can complete my registration. "No sir, you will get a user id in the post".

I hang up but not convinced ring again. This time I get someone who knows what they are doing. Takes me through various questions and yes I will be sent a user id but only because I went through the process outlined on the screen with an operator completing my application/registration for me.

I have been lucky with my banking so far. Very little has gone wrong but this farce was a reminder that out there it is quite possible to find utterly rubbish service!