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
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