Having experienced similar frustrations to Adrian Chiles with soap dispensers , I have discovered that they are usually just tightened too much when they are manufactured (Pump-action soap dispensers are a disgrace – and I won’t put up with them any longer, 10 June). If you remove the pump and grip the part just inside the bottle with a suitable implement (in my case a nutcracker from the kitchen drawer), that is usually enough to dislodge it when you twist it as instructed. It is a bit of a messy job, but it does work.
Bridget Spencer
Sutton, London
• I would like to add to Adrian Chiles’ heartfelt cry. Even if I do manage to make the mechanism on a soap dispenser work, the tiny hole quickly becomes clogged so that, under desperate pumping pressure, an unpredictable jet of gunk ends up anywhere but on my hands.
Christopher Holker
London
• Why not use the marvellous device invented in France many years ago for use in schools? The rotating wall soap – a rugby-ball-shaped bar attached to a metal peg on the wall by the taps. Keeps the soap from getting soggy. Lasts years.
Gill Heritage
Stockport, Greater Manchester
