I have been interested in your articles about people having trouble obtaining money from Cash Clothes. We gave them more than 20 sacks last September and still haven’t had a penny from them. Despite chasing and sending repeated copies of the receipt, we’ve heard nothing. We’ll keep chasing, as my son wants to use the money for his fundraising efforts for an expedition to Cambodia this summer, but it’s a thankless task and they’re a shambles. DR, Twickenham, Middlesex

I see you’ve dealt with a number of problems with Cash Clothes. In mid-March they collected a huge amount of clothes from my house – the equivalent of half-a-garage full. These were left over from a charitable night we held to sell clothes for my charity, MACS, and were hopeful of raising more than £100, but have so far had nothing. I was asked to email my collection details, which I did, but I’ve had no reply. I have also tried calling but only get an engaged tone or no one answers, then the line goes dead. SH, Wokingham, Berkshire

Since we first published an article featuring Cash Clothes we have had a steady stream of complaints about its alleged failure to pay customers for their clothing within the promised seven to 10 working days. More recently this has turned into a deluge, with many more complaints posted on internet consumer talkboards.

We suspect the company may be extremely busy at this time of year, as people embark on spring clearouts of their wardrobes, but that is no excuse for treating its customers so shoddily. These two complaints attracted our attention as in both cases the proceeds were destined for charity. We tried repeatedly for two weeks to contact the company on the two numbers we have, and as with SH it was either engaged, rang off the hook or went straight to an answerphone where we left messages. No one has phoned us back.

When we last spoke to SH, he told us that he had since managed to speak to a member of Cash Clothes staff who claimed there was a two-week backlog and that the company, under pressure as a result of a staff member departure and overwhelmed with work, was attempting to process delayed payments. In this case, unfortunately, there is little either reader can do as, even if you get through, there is still no guarantee you will get your payment. The company is clearly still trading, so one option might be to report it to your local trading standards department.

We would repeat our warnings to readers that they are unlikely to recoup much in the way of hard cash by using such firms, and it doesn’t help that the sector seems to be a confusing maze of firms all with very similar sounding names. It is probably better to help a charitable cause and ease your conscience at the same time by taking used clothing to a charity shop or collection point.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number