When times are tough many firms mistakenly cut back on looking after their customers. My wife went to M & S recently and tried to use a credit voucher against a purchase. After 20 minutes of faffing around she was curtly advised that as the bar code had degenerated so that it was not readable they would not honour it. So we complained in writing and received a “bedbug letter” stating that the terms and conditions are quite clear, so tough luck Mrs Younger! They totally failed to apologise for the 20 minute wait in store and we wonder if they print these credits on thermal people in order that they will become illegible. Mr Younger has written back to Mark and Spencer asking why they chose to ignore part of the complaint. You would have thought that they would bend over backwards to avoid PR fiascos like this. It is petty tactics like this that make a bad situation worse. At least the flow of correspndence will divert the attention of the staff from the miserable financial news emanating from Baker Street.