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Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. 

Shopping spree: Points were spent at a Sainsbury's store in Pimlico, London, when Nectar card owner was abroad

P.L. writes: I have reached an impasse with Nectar, Sainsbury's and Action Fraud over the loss of Nectar points worth more than £500. 

I found that points worth £525 were missing from my account, having been spent at three Sainsbury's branches over three days while my wife and I were out of the country. My local Sainsbury's tried to help, and said the purchases were not typical of our shopping. 

But letters to Sainsbury's bosses go unanswered and Nectar has offered no explanation, apology or refund. 

Tony Hetherington replies: Over the past several months, I have received dozens of complaints from Sainsbury's customers who say their Nectar points have been stolen. After publishing some of these and warning that Sainsbury's – which owns the Nectar card scheme – was far from helpful, I had not intended to investigate any more. However, if someone were mugged in the street and robbed of more than £500 I would expect the theft to be taken seriously, so I decided to look closely into what happened to you. 

When you made a complaint about the theft, Sainsbury's rejected it, saying there were no suspicious circumstances. So, since you say you were abroad when your Nectar points were spent, I asked the supermarket what it would take to make it regard the spending as suspicious.

You were also told that the goods bought with your £525 were not out of keeping with your normal shopping. 

However, helpful staff at your local Sainsbury's at Balham, in South-West London, flatly contradicted this, so I asked Sainsbury's to say exactly what was bought. 

I also asked where your Nectar points were spent. You were told that all the spending was at the Balham store, yet further enquiries show that this was not true and your points were also cashed at two Sainsbury's branches in central London, at Rochester Row and Pimlico. 

On top of all this, the real shock came when I realised you had been robbed not once, but twice. 

Since you were abroad when your £525 was stolen, and your Nectar cards were with you, this indicated there was a fake Nectar card in existence showing your account details. 

You might have expected Sainsbury's to realise this, replace your cards, and flag up the fake card at its tills. Instead, someone clearly holding a party used your recently earned Nectar points to purchase 20 steaks and a large quantity of beer. Again, I asked Sainsbury's whether this was your typical shopping. 

Sainsbury's has now reconsidered and has told me the purchases made with your points do not match your usual shopping. It admits your claim was turned down because nobody took into account that you were out of the country and not going from branch to branch using up your Nectar points. 

However, it dug itself deeper into difficulty by telling me you had failed to report the second theft. In fact, you were able to produce email after email between you and Sainsbury's proving the exact opposite. 

Sainsbury's has now cancelled your existing cards and opened a new account for you, with a complete refund of all your stolen points. Ungraciously though, it describes this as 'a gesture of goodwill', rather than treating a theft victim fairly. 

I did ask Sainsbury's to say whether a fake card was used by the thief, and how long in-store CCTV recordings were kept. 

Since the company claims to have its own Nectar fraud team, I also asked how many people it had prosecuted for stealing points, as the only such record I can find is of the prosecution of a Sainsbury's employee. 

Sainsbury's told me it deletes recordings after 31 days, but it refused to say whether your thief used a fake Nectar card, or to reveal how many prosecutions it had brought, if any.

Vodafone will only talk with my late husband

Mrs L.W. writes: My husband took out a 24-month contract with Vodafone for our grandson. This ended in November last year, but Vodafone collected two further payments of £46. 

I complained and was first told it would continue collecting payments unless told to stop. Vodafone then refused to say more as the contract was with my husband. I explained that he had died in 2019, and that I would continue the payments. 

But my grandson's phone suddenly stopped working and Vodafone told me his phone number does not exist.

Lack of connection: Vodafone refused to talk to Mrs L.W. as the contract was with her late husband

Tony Hetherington replies: You have told me you kept being assured by Vodafone that someone would sort this out but no one did. At one point, Vodafone collected an unexpected £24 from your bank account, but told you that you owed £1.49, which you also paid. 

I asked officials at Vodafone's head office to look into what had happened, and two days later you were offered a refund of charges plus a further £50 as a goodwill gesture. Vodafone told me it was normal to continue an expired contract unless the customer instructed otherwise.

It added: 'Unfortunately, we were not aware that the account holder, Mr W, had passed away.'

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.