Mrs Down's Diary January 19

To make the payment I needed to contact my bank. Is anyone else infuriated with banks that refuse to answer calls directly, but instead route you via India so that even the most casual requests for information turn into complex discussions that do not resolve your issue?

I spent an age trying to phone my bank both sort out a payment for the trolley and, on another issue, to make a personal appointment. Eventually I persuaded the adviser in Mumbai, that to get what I wanted I needed to speak to someone in my local branch and was promised that the message would be passed on immediately.

Thirty hours later the call was returned from the branch. Twenty-four hours after I decided to go in without an appointment and a little too late to be of any use. Perhaps I need to buy a fridge on Ebay to cool my wrath.

Mrs Down's Diary appears every week in the WSG. To read the full version of this column see January 19 issue