Weird compensation offers revealed

A year's supply of fruit cake, a book of stamps and a free meerkat adoption are some of the forms of compensation offered by UK companies, a survey has found.

A book of vouchers only redeemable in the US, £2.48 in return for loss of the internet for a month and a free meal at a restaurant where the diner caught food poisoning are some of the other "goodwill" gestures suffered by consumers, the poll for the online complaints service resolver.co.uk revealed.

Repentant companies have also offered a bottle of orange juice that was out of date and fermenting, 60p in return for not switching mobile providers, and a box of condoms after a customer submitted a bad review when one broke.

Psychic 'inspired compensation bid'

Asked to name what they considered to be the most bizarre or strange compensation offered by a company after making a complaint, others surveyed reported receiving a voucher for a new tyre from a scrapyard and a Cadbury creme egg.

Resolver founder James Walker said: "What this shows is that companies are not taking the consumer seriously.

"Complaining should be more prevalent and I urge consumers to seek redress if they experience poor customer service.

"We want companies to take compensation more seriously and hope that our service will highlight the good and the bad practices that are out there.

"Our plan is to work with these companies to show them the value of complaints - hopefully illustrating to them how they are valuable sources of feedback and essential information for helping them to provide a better service to the customer."

A few more quirky finance stories for you

Psychic 'inspired compensation bid'

Bizarre requests from travellers

Strange home insurance claims