Alliance and Leicester

I opened an Alliance and Leicester account last year, with a view to switching from First Direct, and I've been reasonably satisfied, but not satisfied enough to cancel my First Direct account!

The most unsatisfactory thing about A&L is the amount of time they take to deal with complaints. The complaint I made last summer still hasn't been resolved! Part of the complaint relates to something that would be funny if it wan't so inconvenient.

On 13 April last year I phoned A&L to make a payment to my A&L credit card account. But when my next bill came the payment hadn't gone through. Within a few weeks my credit card account was suspended (and I've never been able to get the suspension lifted!) The penny (or I should say the £524) finally dropped last month, when I got a credit card bill stating I was £524 in credit. The guy I spoke to last year had put the transaction through for 13 April 2008!

Latif's

Among Brum's discount warehouses, Latif's is king. A great place for a browse. Ah, but. The car park's too small, and when it's full, your options are limited. Park on a single yellow line on a Sunday afternoon and you'll discover that that's not allowed in Brum, and parking enforcement officers are poised ready to strike. Park in one of the neighbouring carparks and you'll discover they're run by cowboys looking to cash in on their location.

This afternoon I took our daughter for a bit of shopping and decided to park in one of said carparks. We left the store just over the hour and just in time to see my car being towed away. £20-worth of shopping ended up costing £370.

So, Latif's, until you increase your carparking you're too dangerous to recommend.