A FEW years ago I was lucky enough to have a friend who lived in Guernsey. With no weekend commitments I’d head down to Southampton and fly out for a break.

As we approached landing, finished our G&Ts and the last few peanuts (these were the days of reserved seats and complementary refreshments) the words of the captain rang out over the speakers: “We recognise that you have a choice and we’d like to thank you for choosing to fly with us today.”

In a world of consumer competition the customer is truly king.

But as a Talk Talk broadband customer that’s the last thing that I’m feeling. They lost my data. Well, an inadequate security system meant that it was stolen from them. They didn’t tell me they’d lost it until the fraudsters responsible had had 48 hours’ free access to that data, so I had to spend a jolly few hours in the middle of the night changing passwords on all my other accounts in case they’d been compromised.

And I now have to check my bank account daily in case that too has been compromised.

Two days later I received an email from the company reminding me that my annual line rental was due and inviting me to lock myself into their services for another 12 months.

Unfortunate timing, perhaps.

To add insult to injury a further email informed me that my monthly bill was now waiting for me on the website and invited me to view it.

Except that I couldn’t: the website and my account were still down after the cyber attack.

I have no way of knowing whether the modest sum they are proposing to take from my account is correct or not. The straplines at the bottom ‘Always best online,’ ‘All the support you need’ and ‘A brighter home for everyone’ all seemed sadly ironic.

I have no idea whether Talk Talk is more or less culpable than any other company. I only know how crass they appeared, how they made me feel and how annoyed I and many other customers are getting with them.

I do have a choice – so maybe I’ll choose to surf with another internet provider.

But making the change will be frustrating and time consuming and I’m resenting the prospect.

The customer is only king if it’s easy and convenient to take your custom elsewhere, and so often it isn’t. So I find myself irritated not only with Talk Talk, but a system that merely gives the illusion of choice.

And as I reach for a G&T to temper my annoyance, that too has become tinged, not with a twist of lemon, but the realisation that a recent corporate merger means that one company now brews half the world’s beer.

Cheers!