ASK TONY: Switching Virgin broadband, TV and mobile cost me my phone number

I asked Virgin Media for a cheaper landline, TV, broadband and mobile phone deal in February.

I’d been paying £80 per month and was told this could be reduced to £64. But when the contract came through it was for £97 per month.

Instead, I used a switching website to move to TalkTalk — but my Virgin wall socket was incompatible, leaving me with no phone or broadband, so I cancelled the contract.

I am 87 and had no phone. A friend organised a temporary landline so I could talk to someone. 

But TalkTalk would not cancel my contract as I had an outstanding bill. I paid the bill online and the following day an email arrived saying: ‘Welcome back to TalkTalk.’

Eventually I managed to cancel, but I seem to have lost the phone number I have had for 50 years.

Virgin then offered me a contract at £64 per month, but again, it came through at £97 and there will be a £65 installation fee.

B. J., Bournemouth.

Tony Hazell replies: I’ve had to take some details out of your letter, but the gist is that you were in a right old muddle.

This is hardly surprising: switching phone and broadband suppliers is fraught with pitfalls, not least losing your phone number even when you specify you want to keep it.

TalkTalk now accepts you could not have had a service if you did not have a connection or a socket. It has refunded everything you paid, waived the contract breakage fee and sent £40 as a goodwill gesture.

Virgin has credited £114 to your account and given you a cheaper contract, at less than £60 per month. But you have had to accept a new landline number. To keep a number, a port request must be sent, and something went wrong here.

Thankfully, everything else was resolved. But, at 87, surely you have the right to a decent deal without these shenanigans?

HMRC pinched £3,384.46 from my pension!

I took my pension tax-free lump sum three years ago and now draw £450 per month from it. 

Two years ago, in July, I took an additional £10,000 lump sum, on which I paid £1,996 tax. On April 27 this year I did the same, but HMRC has taken £3,384.46!

My pension adviser and pension company say they cannot help me.

J. C., Stourbridge.

Tony Hazell replies: I was extremely surprised neither your financial adviser nor pension company seemed aware of the trap you’ve fallen into, as it has been well-publicised in the trade financial Press and Money Mail. Perhaps they don’t read the papers.

Basically, this problem arose because you took the money at the start of the tax year. HMRC has assumed your income for April will be maintained throughout the year and taxed you accordingly.

The good news is that you can request a repayment using the HMRC form P55. This can be submitted online or by post.

I spoke to HMRC and someone agreed to contact you. After this you both decided it would be simplest to reimburse you on your next pension withdrawal.

You should be owed around £1,400, but this may vary depending on how much you withdraw.

You may also want to ask your pension adviser what they are doing to earn their money.

• Write to Tony Hazell at Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email [email protected] — please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell. We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.