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H
THIS MONTH’S
STAR LETTER
Once you’ve
agreed on a
price, stick to it
P
lease can Moneywise campaign
to have a similar procedure
as other countries whereby
once you agree a price to pay for
a property, you put down a nonrefundable deposit that is binding for
both sides?
My son had almost sold his flat
in London, agreed a price
for buying another home and
arranged surveys and incurred
other expenses.
The owner of the house he was
buying then got greedy and pulled the
rug from under him, forcing him to
up his offer with still no guarantee
that the house will be taken off
the market.
The method we have in the UK for
buying and selling property is just too
stressful and unreliable.
DILYS CUFF/VIA EMAIL
Not a word after
20 years of
loyal banking
In response to Moneywise.co.uk’s
article,‘‘Would you switch banks?’,
Mark Ellam wrote:
I moved from the Co-op to the
Nationwide and it went like a dream
with no problems at all. I’m still
waiting for a thank you from the
Co-op, though, for my 20 years’
loyalty. I don’t suppose it can afford
the stamp for the envelope?
BLOG OF THE MONTH: Why I’ve given up on Now TV
› BY MARK KING
I
was an advocate of Sky’s
Now TV service from day
one. As a Sky customer
paying £21.50 a month for its
basic ‘Original’ TV package
(formerly known as the
‘Entertainment pack’), upgrading to movies or
sport would cost me an extra £16 or £22 a
month respectively.
But using Now TV for Sky Movies only costs
£8.99 a month or £108 a year instead of £192.
Similarly, with two children and a football-sceptic
partner, it wouldn’t make much sense paying
£264 a year to upgrade to a full Sky Sports
subscription, but buying the odd Sky Sports day
pass on Now TV to watch my team – Crystal
Palace – play the occasional game costs £9.99.
In both cases, Now TV allows me to save
money yet still access the full range of
16 MONEYWISE.CO.UK | JUNE 2014
Sky Movies and the odd Premiership game
or two.
For six months or so, all of this worked like a
dream. But then Now TV began having problems.
On 27 April, there were two big Premier
League games on the same day: Liverpool vs.
Chelsea and Crystal Palace vs. Manchester
City. I paid £9.99 for a day pass to Sky Sports
and settled in to watch both games, one a
potential league decider, the other my
own team.
Halfway through the first game Now
TV simply crashed, never to come back.
I checked my internet and all was fine.
By the time the second game was about
to begin, my mood had turned from one
of frustration to anger – I’d paid the best
part of £10 and was about to miss my
team’s match.
Logging-on to the Now TV forums,
I found hundreds of people in a similar
boat, all lambasting Now TV’s creaky service. In
the end I had to go to the pub to watch the Palace
game, spending more money in the process.
Of course, I got a refund from Now TV but
that’s not the point. When I pay my money, I
want a reliable service. In disgust, I immediately
cancelled my £8.99 monthly subscription to
the movies and vowed to think twice about relying
READER WITH THE BEST LETTER WINS £50 in M&S VOUCHERS
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Points on holiday
property bonds
T
here were inaccuracies in your
holiday property bonds feature
(May issue). £1 = 1 point, so
on a £5,000 initial payment you get
5,000 points, which are reissued every
year on an inflation protected basis.
There are initial charges of
25.136%, so with a £5,000 initial
payment, approximately £3,750 goes
to purchasing units in the Fund. The
annual management charge is 2.8%
of net asset value at cost, funded by
a Quarterly Policy Administration
Charge with the balance paid from
the total return generated by the
securities portfolio. Bondholders can
go on as many short-notice holidays
without using any points that they can
fit in during one calendar year.
At any time after two years of
holding the Bond, Bondholders can
encash their units at the then unit
value. The unit price reflects the value
of the underlying properties and
securities elements of the portfolio.
I think the pullquote ‘A £7,000 bill for
a week in a one-bed Spanish apartment
seems steep’ is misleading as the
comparison you used in the article did
not make reference to the fact that the
Bond has a redemption value and that
BOOK GIVEAWAY:
Secrets of a Divorce Lawyer
CreateSpace, £12.99
Richard Crallan has written this essential stepby-step guide to divorce for the thousands of
people who cannot afford to pay for a solicitor.
Secrets of a Divorce Lawyer offers practical
advice on how to fight for your rights and lifts the
lid on what your spouse’s solicitor might be up to.
Written in layman’s terms, it explains
everything you need to know about the divorce
on Now TV for another day of Premier
League action.
So the news that its service crashed
again – on the final day of the Premier
League season – did not surprise me.
More and more households are getting
fibre-optic broadband installed in their
homes and more and more people are
relying on ‘streaming’ services to enjoy
entertainment in their homes. But while
broadband services may well be improving
all the time, we are being let down by
entertainment providers who simply
cannot deliver a faultless service.
I have heard many anecdotal reports
of Netflix’s service not always being up to
scratch, while the problems at Now TV are
becoming increasingly obvious.
These firms must do better if they want
to retain customers. If you don’t experience
a good service, do what I’ve done and
cancel. They’ll soon get the message.
Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/
moneywiseonline
the points are re-issued each year on an
inflation-protected basis into perpetuity.
BARNEY BABER, NATIONAL SALES
CO-ORDINATOR, HPB MANAGEMENT
Travel insurance
I
refer to the May article on
insurance for older travellers.
Retired civil servants can take out
travel insurance before the age of 85
through the Civil Service Pensioners
Alliance at very
competitive terms
– for more details,
visit cspa.co.uk.
DR A P DAMOGLOU/
VIA EMAIL
process, from who’s who in the legal profession to
an explanation of legal jargon.
The book also details what courts take into
consideration such as income, earning capacity,
property and other financial resources.
The book aims to help people who are
getting divorced who either don’t have a
soliicitor at all or are just asking their
soliciitor for advice from time to time.
To win one of 10 copies, log on to
moneywise.co.uk/competitions with your
name and address by 30 June 2014.
WEB POLL:
IS IT EVER OK TO ACCEPT A HIGHER OFFER
ONCE YOU HAVE ALREADY AGREED
A PROPERTY SALE?
34% No, it’s morally wrong
28%
Yes, nothing is fixed
until you’ve exchanged
31% No, a deal is a deal
7% Yes, you should get the
best price whatever it takes
Total votes: 2,136 online from 29 April to 13 May 2014
JUNE 2014 | MONEYWISE.CO.UK 17