In March, I received a letter from National Savings & Investments saying that a Premium Bond registered in my name had won a prize of £25. This was paid directly into my bank account. However, the bond number wasn’t mine and strangely it was described as a ‘move up prize’. I wrote to NS&I to query this, but I didn’t understand the response. I was promised a phone call for further explanation but haven’t had one. Can you help?C.H., Middlesbrough. Mystery win: A reader is worried whether they should accept a £25 Premium Bond prize that was originally intended for a different bond holderSally Hamilton replies: It appears that you have received a prize that had been ‘reallocated’. This is when a prize is initially won by another Premium Bonds customer who, for reasons which NS&I would not disclose in your case, was not eligible to receive the winnings.NS&I keeps a record of Premium Bonds holdings for seven years or more so that it can reallocate prizes that have been issued but later found to be invalid. For example, this can happen when a bondholder dies and NS&I hasn’t been informed.Another reason for ineligibility is if it emerges that the winner holds more than the maximum £50,000 permitted in their account.This can happen when two separate accounts are merged, such as when bonds are bought for children by friends and relatives and then more are purchased by the same person in a separate account as an adult.Whatever the reason, the original prize is then cancelled.NS&I says that when this happens, it is likely the original prize has gone unclaimed and has not been cashed in. If a prize has been cashed in, NS&I would implement a payment recall to recover the funds. This would involve NS&I asking the bank of the prize recipient to contact the customer and ask permission for the funds to be returned. Meanwhile, a new bond number is selected to receive the prize. At the time of each prize draw, a number of reserve winners are also picked precisely for this situation. The prize goes to whichever number was next in line at the time of the original draw. Your bond was seemingly on this reserve list.You told me none of your current bonds shared this reallocated winning number, however, so you still thought some mistake had been made. When I asked NS&I about this, it said current bond holders who previously had bonds that were on the reserve list would still be eligible for a ‘move up’ prize. Therefore, I suspect that the winnings were linked to a bond that you had cashed in within the past few years.You told me you have always had Premium Bonds and have sold them from time to time, so this seems the most likely explanation. The winning draw may have been several years ago, with the ineligibility of the previous winner having only recently been discovered.You remain unconvinced, but NS&I is adamant it is your prize – so maybe it’s best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.Storage fees rocketed 50% in two yearsI moved to New York for work in November 2022 and needed to put belongings in storage. I was happy with my choice of Shurgard originally as I was paying £103 per month. However, this has crept up over time and in the last two years alone, the storage price has ballooned by about 50 per cent from £130 to £195 a month. When I tried to renegotiate, it offered me a reduction to £107 a month – but only if I moved my stuff to a different unit. This is not possible as I live on the other side of the Atlantic and am seven months pregnant. Please help.Anon, New York City.Sally Hamilton replies: You picked Shurgard because of its attractive £103-a-month price.Busy with your new life, you didn’t pay too much attention to how much your direct debit payment changed year on year. But recently, when Shurgard announced it would go up by about 20 per cent for the coming year, you looked back and found this followed a rise of 25 per cent last year.In fact, when you sent me a list of all the annual prices, it showed the bill at renewal was set to be 90 per cent higher than when you started your contract.Your tolerance for inflation-busting rises had reached breaking point, especially when you found that new customers were being offered the same size unit for £91 a month. When you complained, Shurgard dropped your charge to £107 a month, a saving of £88, but with the sting in the tail – you had to move your items to a larger unit. A win for Sally Sally has scooped a top prize from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association for one of her Sally Sorts It cases. She picked up the Best Consumer or Business Award after helping a reader potentially save a six-figure sum after they had a travel insurance claim for cardiac arrest turned down for failing to declare an earache 18 months earlier. You didn’t need more space and physically couldn’t move it. I was happy to help as you are clearly the victim of the ‘loyalty penalty’, a practice in many sectors where long-standing customers can end up paying much more than new customers.Action has been taken in some industries to end the practice. The self-storage market is no exception to the shopping-around rule. With plenty of firms to choose from it makes sense to scrutinise offers and check closely in the contract what might happen when initial incentives or discounts disappear. I asked Shurgard to re-examine its offer. At first, it agreed to freeze the price at your current rate of £163 a month. I found this stingy given the £107 a month offered if you moved unit. But when I put this to the company, it said it wouldn’t discuss your case with me further. After some discussion with you, it agreed to waive the first month of the frozen annual rate of £163 a month it offered, effectively reducing your monthly charge on renewal to about £150.Overall, this reduction on the original renewal rate you were facing will save you £540 a year, with which you were satisfied.Shurgard’s explanation for the hefty increases was that you had received a discounted introductory price at the ‘start of your storage journey’ and it was standard practice to review prices periodically to reflect market conditions and operating costs.A spokesman says: ‘This resolution is specific to this customer’s circumstances and does not change our general approach to periodic rate reviews.’That’s a warning worth storing away for this time next year.Readers with plans to seek storage units for whatever reason should also take heed if they expect to use them for some time. Straight to the point In October last year I was knocked off my motorbike. I have insurance through the broker Bikesure with Ageas, though I first tried to claim from the other party’s Direct Line insurance via the motorcycle claims manager, 4th Dimension. Seven months have passed and I still haven’t received a penny. I’ve missed out on work because I can’t get home late at night without my bike. I anticipate the claim will be worth about £10,000.M.C., Mid-Sussex.Your claim has now been paid in full, after Ageas stepped in to handle the claim instead of 4th Dimension.*** I am 73 years old and need to renew my driving licence. I applied online but was told I needed to apply by post, as some of my details had changed. So I sent my licence with the application as required. After four weeks I hadn’t heard anything and my licence had expired. I wrote to the DVLA for an update, but it’s been another three weeks and I’ve not heard anything.C.B., via email.The DVLA apologises for the delay and says it is experiencing high demand. It has sent you another form to fill in.*** In January our TalkTalk broadband stopped working, which it said was due to an outage in the area. After many hours on the telephone nothing was resolved. We went abroad for a few months and when we came back it still wasn’t working. An engineer came and said we had a faulty router, which was replaced. By my calculations I think we are entitled to between £1,500 and £1,750 of statutory compensation. However, TalkTalk has offered us only £150.G.S., via email.TalkTalk apologises and it has given you £200 in compensation. It says it cannot give compensation for the period you were away, but is happy to compensate you for the period you were at home. 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. 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