Was updating my Asda order (on a budget, as usual) and then went to check-out. OMG, I’d won £75 worth of shopping with a Dettol competition and there was an e-voucher waiting for me! I was so pleased, and ordered myself a few treats (Febreze and a Dip Dab) and ordered some alcohol for the rest of my family. Couldn’t believe it, but it went through fine and I only had to pay delivery and a little extra.

This morning, however, Asda just rang (right before my order was due to be delivered) and said they weren’t honouring the vouchers. I could have my shopping IF I paid for it - well, yes, that is usually how it works BUT not if you’ve ordered things you wouldn’t generally buy because you had a VOUCHER! I felt sick and was furious. Then, I remembered my consumer law and checked my card site: they had already taken payment and, therefore, accepted my order. I am now trying to get them to honour it. May not work (as these big comapnies think they can walk all over the consumer) but it’s worth a try. So disappointed, and can’t imagine Dettol will be happy as it will reflect badly on them, too.

Ooh, I’m simmering with anger and am also quite upset. @RoyalMail (twitter name) should be ashamed of themselves.

I foolishly thought the intervention of @RoyalMail Twitter Team would mean this farce would get sorted out. However, after email tennis with them, I ended up feeling worse. Each reply I sent was responded to by a different person (some ore helpful than others). They said that, without the sender’s address (which I don’t have) they won’t consider my claim (although I did have the proof of postage, detailing where and when the item was posted). They emailed the sender, who didn’t respond - not my fault and why would she care, to be honest, as she got her payment. People have better things to do than help others, I guess. Why won’t they compensate me? Well, one person implied that we could both be requesting compensation - I pointed out that the sender didn’t need compensated: I upheld my part of the contract (unlike @RoyalMail). I also pointed out that they had all the details from the proof of posting, so would have had it on record, had the sender tried to claim. They didn’t want to hear logic.

They asked me to call them (despite me pointing out many times that I can’t do telephone calls when my ME/CFS’s bad) so they said they’d call me that day (last Friday) when hubby was home. They didn’t. Hubby tried to call them. Went through lots of menus (on his lunch hour) to hear the dreaded “we’re busy, call again later” message. Lunch hour wasted. They finally left a message on the answerphone saying someone would discuss ‘payment’ with us. WooHoo! At last, we thought, so hubby rang them last night. Person dealing with it wasn’t in, but hubby got same old story from person he spoke to. Back to square one, but he was told someone would ring him today.

Today? Still wasn’t the person who was supposed to be dealing with our claim, and was not interested in paying us. What really, really upset me was that they implied AGAIN that I was trying to scam them! This is despite me providing emails, receipts, etc. So, if you ever send anything through the post via @RoyalMail, you must be able to quantify it and, apparently, receipts just aren’t good enough. Talk about adding insult to injury. Don’t worry, I won’t let this rest, as it’s so wrong that they can behave like this. Hubby asked if they contacted Police when things repeatedly go missing - their response? They deal with it internally. Yes, by trying to blame the customers! Rant done, for now.

First, the plug. An author I know (and actually met through ‘Karma’) has her debut book in shops/online this week. She’s a lovely person and is trying hard to promote her book and get it in the best-seller lists. Her name is Ruth Saberton and her book is called ‘Katy Carter Wants A Hero’. It’s already had some brilliant reviews, so well worth a read. I can’t give you my opinion yet, as I’m waiting for my copy to arrive! I’ve also bought my mammy a copy for her birthday.

Now, I have a dilemma. Hubby is now dealing with DA, as I no longer have the energy - I’m finding that I’m getting angry with the whole situation and negative emotions and M.E. really don’t mix. I feel it’s becoming personal - I feel as though they’re implying that I’m somehow fudging the figures. However, I’m in a position to prove my own figures, etc, are correct, but to do so may have a negative effect on the company and, as a knock on effect, on other authors. Would you look after yourself, or would you consider other people? It’s in my nature to do the latter, but I really feel that I’m being pushed down roads I wouldn’t usually travel, IYKWIM. For goodness sake, it’s such a small sum: pay me already!

I feel tense again, and I sometimes wish I wasn’t so principled. Life would be much easier that way!

Fobbed off again by Discovered Authors, I feel. Still no response to any of my emails. Hubby kindly called them for me last week and was unable to speak to the Main Man. Apparently, over a month later, he’s still ‘looking into’ my issues. How long does it take to read a speadsheet and look at a royalties statement? I get so frustrated with this kind of situation and it makes me even more determined to get a positive result. Honestly, if they knew me personally, they’d realise that not many companies get away with treating me badly: I know my rights!

I know there are other people in similar circumstances who are watching with interest to see how this pans out, and I know you wonder why I haven’t gone to the Press. Believe it or not, I like to look for the best in people and hope they’ll come through in the end. As time drags on, it’s harder and harder to understand why I feel any misguided sense of loyalty to these people. Maybe it’s because I felt they had given me a chance, when I was feeling pretty useless…but on the flipside, they are now stressing me out!

The sad thing is that, these days, companies rely on a positive web presence and good word of mouth advertising, between authors/writers. Could anyone be so short-sighted to not realise that even one negative comment would get people thinking…five would make you distinctly uneasy (as I felt when I trawled the ‘net and did some not-so-light reading)?

Should I, like Karma’s Paige, have doormat written across my forehead for letting this go on so long?