Barclays sent me all around the houses in search of debit cards

I have power of attorney for my brother-in-law, approved by Barclays Bank, and asked the branch to set up online banking so I could manage his affairs from home. For this, I had to get an authentication card from the bank. It didn't arrive, although Barclays said it had been sent out and was returned "unknown". The same thing happened a second time. Barclays agreed to send the pack to my local branch for me to pick up but sent it to my brother-in-law's branch instead. I made an 11th visit to the branch, a 16-mile round trip, where staff said the reference number wasn't recognised and found that the online account was dormant. I am back to square one. IS, Aylesbury, Bucks Your problems started when Barclays sent the debit cards and membership pack addressed in your name but to the nursing home. The nursing home staff did not recognise your name so returned the envelope to the bank. Barclays says it has to do this as the nursing home was the statement address and its customer, your brother-in-law, has mental capacity to accept mail. If that is so, it makes far more sense to address the envelope to the customer rather than the relative with power of attorney. I have come across this problem before and, following your experience, senior managers at Barclays have taken an interest too. Hopefully the practice will soon change. The bank at last sent the pack to your branch. But you were still unable to access the account because your brother-in-law's name was wrongly spelled. This has been corrected. To apologise for the inconvenience, Barclays is sending you a luxury hamper. 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.