John

The Jhoots pharmacy in Sidmouth now appears to have closed for good. In recent weeks I've had multiple wasted journeys to collect my medication, either because they had no stock, no pharmacist or just a handwritten note on the door saying the place was closed for the day. I had to get my GP to reissue my prescriptions so that I could take them elsewhere.
I feel very sorry for the polite and decent staff having to continually apologise for the unacceptable level of service, caused wholly by the ineptitude of their employer.

I opened an NS&I income bond several years ago, when their interest rates were particulary competitive. I was able to manage my account online without much difficulty, but when the interest rate was reduced I withdrew all of my money except £500, this being the minimum amount required to keep the account open.
Several months ago I decided to close my account, via the iPhone app - unfortunately I couldn't do this as the process kept terminating saying that I had pressed the backspace key, when I hadn't.
I then tried the online system via my laptop web browser - this didn't work either, I couldn't get past the verification system which involved a recorded message on my phone asking me to press the # key, I tried this repeatedly, without success.
I researched online and found that lots of frustrated NS&I users were also experiencing exactly the same issues as me, so I decided to wait a while for NS&I to sort out their technical problems.
Yesterday I tried both methods again, without success, so I called their helpline on 08085007007. The automated system asked a few questions, which I answered. It understood that I wished to close my account but its resolution was to suggest that I use the online system. It took me round this exact same loop three times.
I called the helpline again, this time saying that I wished to speak to a human - again it tried to refer me to the NS&I website, but I persisted and on the third iteration it put me through to a different automated system, asking me if I had set up PIN number, to which I said no. I can't remember exactly what happened next but eventually I got through to a lady who was able to help me. That process too was exceedingly tortuous, unfortunately her first language obviously wasn't English; we both had difficulty understanding each other but after 5 minutes or so I finally got through the verification checks and was told that my account would be closed and the money transferred in a few days. Hopefully that will be the end of the matter, but I have resolved never to open another NS&I account in the future,

Pretty good, but a long wait to pay at the end as no one was at the desk, eventually I had to go and find someone.

Hermes left two boxes containing new books around the side of the the house, but failed to leave a calling card. When we found the boxes a couple of days later they were sodden, most of the books survived as they were plastic wrapped, but several of the unwrapped books were damaged. Had a card been left or the parcels placed under the covered porch there wouldn’t have been a problem.

Very happy with the lovely diamond engagement ring we purchased recently. Many thanks to Oliver for his courteous and knowledgable advice. We shall return to purchase a wedding ring in due course.