'My £5k shares got stuck in South Africa'

I hold shares in a leading South African mobile firm.

Some time ago now I received a dividend cheque in rand, which I paid into the local branch of my bank. The sum appeared in the account and then was removed from it two months later without my knowing it had been. It transpired that the South African bank refused to honour the cheque.

I wrote to the company, only to be referred to Computershare Services, the registrar, which in turn referred me to the bank. The bank refused to discuss the matter at all.

Could you help me, please? As you can see from the writing, I am elderly.

MA, Scotland

The sum in question converted to £5,328. When I first approached Computershare, I discovered that it had sent you a form to complete in order to authorise the dividend being converted into sterling and paid directly to your bank.

A small fee was payable. However, the form was returned incomplete. It resent it, but Computershare said it did not get a response.

Unknown to the registrar and to me, your health was declining and you were moving into a nursing home.

Your husband now has power of attorney and is frail himself. When I spoke to him, he hardly had the impetus to proceed and is now moving into the nursing home himself.

Computershare said this could have been resolved in the first instance by you calling its office in South Africa and explaining the problem.

I am not convinced, though, that it would have been as easy for you as it sounds.

Everything was done via post, and the forms and information were never complete on receipt.

Computershare now undertook the necessary verification and sent an electronic payment in sterling the following day.

As your husband says, this matter ended up spanning almost two years, but it is such a relief that it is sorted out now.

• Jessica Gorst-Williams tackles consumer problems for Telegraph readers every week. To contact her, click here. If you want to ask a general money question, email moneyexpert@telegraph.co.uk. The best of the answers are included in our weekly newsletter