A TalkTalk bill that rang the alarm bells for my mum

My mum has had an account with TalkTalk for a long time and pays her bills online by debit card. Recently, she noticed that she owed £187 with a note that she was in arrears. Her usual monthly bill is around £70. Under "miscellaneous", we found "debit adjustments" of £79.49. Apparently, this was for a bill that had not been sent in April 2009. Mum hates being in debt but she now realises that she has not paid TalkTalk for that month. My brother had paid in some money for her birthday shortly after, which is probably why she didn't notice. Finding an extra £80, without warning, is difficult for her. JM, Nottingham Talktalk says it had a technical problem that affected only your mother's account. She received the online bill in April 2009 and paid it the next day but, for an inexplicable reason, Talktalk failed to take the money. It has agreed to cancel the entire bill, including legitimate charges, to apologise. You can email Margaret Dibben at [email protected] or write to Margaret Dibben, Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.