Next, online Christmas present shopping – thanks Amazon – I got the best deals on everything there having compared play.com, apple store, argos and tesco. An iPod (£15 cheaper than elsewhere), Sony Vaio, Nintendo Wii and Wii fit (great bundle), along with a bunch of other Christmas goodies were ordered. Then the pain. My card was refused six times. I called the HSBC fraud prevention department, it was a total ‘Computer says no’ experience. They said my transactions had been picked up as unusual and therefore refused. I went back to Amazon and tried my card again when they told me it would work, but it didn’t, so I said they should stay on the phone while I put the transaction through.