I'd be the first to admit it: I'm far from well organised when it comes to paperwork, but I usually manage to juggle three bank accounts (Bear's, Whale's and mine) without going into the red (very often).

But ever since GDF (gas de France) promised a rebate it's been virtually impossible to track it down. Bank statements arrive when they think they will and the last one was dated July 11th so I rang or went into the bank to check on several occasions.

Each time the answer was negative.

Last week, still no statement and it was well beyond the expected date for payment. It looked as though it was time to contact GDF - but I needed to be sure.

There was a long queue but I was determined to wait. The machine only gives one week's transactions if you ask for account details so I had to speak to someone.

Eventually a young man greeted me and I explained the problem and asked if he could give me a printout of my statement since July 11th.

He looked taken aback and asked his colleague what to do. Basically her response was a snotty "NO, we can't do that."

I tried some polite insistance and he rang the chap at the reception desk.

"If you go and see my colleague he will do it for you, Madame."

There were two people ahead of me so after another wait I went over the problem yet again.

However, he couldn't or wouldn't print off a statement bcause he saw that one was in the post.

"But I have to contact GDF if the payment isn't in and so I do need it in black and white. I've been asking since July and each time they tell me it has not been paid in."

He still insisted that he couldn't give me a printout but he looked it all up on the computer again.

"How much did you say it was?"

"About 400 euros."

"Ah yes, it was paid in on July 19th."

"So why did everyone tell me it hadn't been paid?"

"It's because they are holiday trainees", he said without batting an eyelid.

Charming. My expected windfall had arrived and been spent (it was already accounted for) but my hopes had been raised that it was still to come.

When I got home the statement had arrived - giving details from July 27th. So still haven't seen that transaction with my own eyes.