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I ordered €1,000 from online bureau de change TravelFX for our summer holiday.

The currency was despatched via Royal Mail special delivery, which guarantees next-day delivery, tracks the parcel and requires a signature on receipt.

I did not receive the money and contacted TravelFX to complain but have got nowhere.

P.K., Nottinghamshire.

Sally Hamilton replies: TravelFX uses the Royal Mail special delivery service to send out all of its orders.

When currency does not arrive with a customer, it initiates a claim on the Royal Mail insurance, which is included as part of the service. Should the claim be successful, the customer’s money is refunded.

Missing money: A reader never received their holiday Euros from TravelFX but is having no luck retrieving their funds

Your order didn’t arrive on the day expected and TravelFX told you that ‘it appears that the package remains undelivered within the Royal Mail network’.

Its contract says it will not make a claim for a missing order until five business days have passed since the currency was despatched.

Once the five days elapsed, TravelFX asked Royal Mail where your euros had gone. The currency firm apologised for the inconvenience but warned that the process can take up to 30 days and it won’t make a refund until Royal Mail confirms the delivery didn’t arrive.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 states that when a delivery goes wrong, the retailer should sort everything out by either offering a replacement or a refund promptly, or certainly within 30 days.

I attempted to clarify matters with TravelFX, but its customer service would not talk to me as I was not its customer, even though you gave me permission to speak on your behalf.

You asked TravelFX about seeking a chargeback on the purchase, as you bought the currency with your debit card.

TravelFX discouraged you by pointing to a stern paragraph in its terms and conditions, but I thought you were within your rights to try.

When I asked Money Mail’s consumer lawyer Dean Dunham, he said: ‘Generally, a chargeback claim will be successful on the recognised ground of “goods not received”, if the claim is made within 120 days.

‘However, there are two caveats: currency is often coded as “quasi-cash”, which banks may resist, stating they do not cover cash withdrawals and transfers, and if the special delivery tracking shows the parcel was signed for, the claim likely fails, whereas if it shows it was lost, the claim is strong.

My view is that the chargeback scheme would cover P.K. on the basis that under section 29 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods – including currency – stay at the trader’s risk until they reach the customer, so the bureau bears the loss and must chase Royal Mail.’

Meanwhile, since Royal Mail was at fault for apparently failing to deliver, I also asked for its response to your predicament. It wouldn’t discuss your complaint either. I had to wait until I heard from you about Royal Mail’s decision on TravelFX’s claim for your lost currency.

A week or so later, you informed me Royal Mail insisted your package had been delivered and signed for, and therefore TravelFX’s claim for reimbursement was denied.

TravelFX sent you a picture it received from Royal Mail of what you agree was your house, and a second photo taken some distance from your front door simply showing a hand holding some post.

This included a special delivery package, but the name and address were not visible. It told you the package had been signed for but you said it wasn’t your signature. You forwarded a copy of your driving licence to try to prove the signature wasn’t yours.

At this point, everything went quiet at your end. When I asked you about the outcome of the dispute over the signature, you did not respond. Nor did you reply to several follow-up emails.

What to conclude? If I were being gracious, perhaps something has gone wrong at home to distract you.

Or have you got fed up with pursuing TravelFX – although €1,000 is a big loss to dismiss? Perhaps I have been given the runaround and the delivery had turned up after all? Or did TravelFX finally cough up?

Whatever the facts, TravelFX hasn’t covered itself in glory. I do my utmost to be fair, courteous and helpful. I expect the same in return, but from time to time I am sorely let down.

That aside, anyone who orders currency online and finds that it doesn’t turn up shouldn’t take it lying down. If a travel money firm can’t prove the cash has been received, it should issue a full refund.

If the firm doesn’t agree, customers should tell their bank and say that the firm has not met its obligations under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and request it raise a chargeback.

I think I’ll be buying my currency in person at a conventional bureau de change this summer.

Charged £500 for broken broadband

On January 15, I signed up to a new phone and broadband contract with Gigaclear.

It was supposedly much faster than my existing BT package and ideal for a rural location like ours.

It was installed on March 14 but never worked properly. I cancelled the contract and paid nearly £90 in monthly bills for what was basically a non-existent service.

It now says I also have to pay £500 for cancelling early. Surely the contract is void as the company did not provide what it was supposed to?

S.H., Gloucestershire.

Sally Hamilton replies: You explained how Gigaclear engineers installed the router for the new service in the spare bedroom on your first floor, whereas it had previously been under your stairs and worked well.

None of Gigaclear’s customer service’s suggestions for improving the service worked, which is why you decided to return to BT.

Under regulator Ofcom’s rules, customers have a 14-day cooling off period after installation during which they can cancel a service without penalty. This had passed in your case. Customers can also leave penalty-free if broadband speeds don’t match up to a provider’s promises within 30 days.

Despite your arguments that you had not received the service you paid for, Gigaclear insisted you pay the £500 remainder of the contract in addition to £87.70 of bills already incurred for phone and broadband.

I felt this was unfair. On my intervention, Gigaclear withdrew the demand. A spokesman says: ‘We are very sorry about the issues that S.H. experienced and our support teams tried to help. However, we understand her frustration and have been in touch to let her know that, in this case, we have agreed to cancel all charges.’

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk ¿ include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.