Latest news with #SallyHamilton
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
I'm 87 and my mobile phone fell into the toilet but Vodafone won't send a cheque for £120 lost credit
I'm 87 and had an accident with my simple pay-as-you-go mobile phone when it slipped out of my pocket and into the toilet. It was ruined. It had £120.46 credit on it with my provider Vodafone which I'd purchased with cash via a top up card at my Post Office. I have spent ages on the phone with Vodafone trying to obtain a refund, but they keep asking for a bank card number. I paid by cash, so I requested a cheque. It refused. This is most unfair. B.L., Lincoln. Sally Hamilton replies: You told me this incident happened as you had to keep your phone on you all day awaiting a call from social services. You had been in the garden admiring the surroundings when nature of a different kind called. This was when the phone slid out of your pocket and into the toilet bowl. You fished it out and tried to get it working but all efforts failed. Despite getting the credit amount checked and verified by Vodafone, and spending a long time on the phone to them, they would not send you a cheque. You rightly asked me why it wasn't easier for vulnerable, elderly people like you, who pay with cash to top up their phones, to resolve the situation. You felt bereft after having to give up on your 'faithful friend of 20 years' – a phone that was easy to use with just a couple of buttons – and aggravated you couldn't even get back the money you were owed. Cash users often feel like second-class citizens in such circumstances. I asked Vodafone to dial up its efforts to help you, which it has now done. I asked Vodafone to dial up its efforts... its customer care team finally sent a cheque Its customer care team got in touch directly with you – requesting further information and photos of yourself – before finally sending a cheque. Apparently, refunds aren't usually made by cheque to unregistered pay-as-you-go accounts due to strict anti-money laundering policies. This seems a bit heavy handed for such a small sum, but rules are rules, I suppose. You have purchased a new phone which you find more complicated than your trusty old device. You say your daughter, who works for Age UK, is organising a few lessons for you with the charity on how to use it.
Daily Mail
17-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
My new dentist says I need five fillings - can I get my old one to cover £900 bill? SALLY SORTS IT
I attended a private dental practice in Birmingham for two-and-a-half years and signed up for treatment via a Denplan payment plan, paying £35 a month to cover my dental costs. Very little was done to my teeth in that time. At the end of February 2024, before I moved to Somerset, I was presented with a leaving certificate from the dentist that said no work was required on my teeth. But to my horror when I signed up to a new dentist a few weeks later, I was told I needed five fillings at a cost of £902. I cannot afford this. I complained to the old dentist but have got nowhere. J.T., Somerset. Sally Hamilton replies: You came to me about your complaint in August last year and I contacted the Birmingham practice, asking the dentist involved to explain how you suddenly needed extensive treatment only weeks after leaving. I suggested that a suitable resolution would be refunding your Denplan payments (£910) or covering the £902 cost of the treatment that needed to be undertaken. Denplan is a popular scheme for dentists and their customers. The plan not only helps patients spread the cost of treatment but provides a predictable income for dentists signed up to it. A patient pays monthly charges based on the treatment a dentist expects a patient to require over the year. It took a week or two to receive a response from the Birmingham practice, but eventually your old dentist agreed to review your records, including those from your new practice, once they had been forwarded, and get back. In late October he replied, stating in his clinical view, your X rays did not suggest that fillings were required at the time he last saw you. He agreed one tooth looked as if it might have required further attention in due course. His defence was 'different dentists hold different clinical opinions'. But he added he didn't want any patient to be 'disappointed or disadvantaged' and offered you a £500 refund of the Denplan payments as a gesture of goodwill. You were not happy as this would still leave you £400 or so short in meeting the new bills, which you said you could not afford. He raised it to £766. Reluctantly you agreed, and requested the payment by cheque, but it did not materialise. You were becoming increasingly stressed, not helped by the fact you are recovering from breast cancer, and only wanted to begin treatment with your new dentist when you knew the funds were forthcoming. By February, the money had still not arrived. With your complaint unresolved, I contacted Denplan. Considering you had forked out for its payment plan all the time you had been with the Birmingham practice, and apparently received little care in return, I was hopeful it would have a view on the matter. You also called Denplan to explain your concerns. These actions seemed to finally do the trick. Denplan investigated and, in early March, came some good news. It thanked me for bringing your case to its attention and to 'ensure a speedy resolution' insisted you go ahead with the required treatment to make you dentally fit at your new practice, and that it would pay these bills on your behalf. It said it was working with your old dentist to recoup the £766 promised to you previously. On March 15, an unnamed person from reception at your previous dentist emailed me to say, 'We came to a resolution with J.T., hope she has contacted you.' While it took a painfully long time to extract payment, you were relieved that the battle with your old dentist was finally over. I agreed that I would not write up your case until your course of treatment was completed, which I am happy to say happened when the last tooth was filled on June 3. My £120 phone credit went down the toilet I'm 87 and had an accident with my simple pay-as-you-go mobile phone when it slipped out of my pocket and into the toilet. It was ruined. It had £120.46 credit on it with my provider Vodafone which I'd purchased with cash via a top up card at my Post Office. I have spent ages on the phone with Vodafone trying to obtain a refund, but they keep asking for a bank card number. I paid by cash, so I requested a cheque. It refused. This is most unfair. B.L., Lincoln. Scam Watch Households should beware a scam text impersonating the Department for Work and Pensions, consumer website Which? warns. Tricksters claim you are eligible for an 'energy allowance' of up to £300 – but this doesn't exist. The text prompts victims to click on a link to apply, states a deadline and claims your application will be void if it is late. But the link leads to a malicious website which aims to take your personal and financial data. Do not click on the link and instead forward the text to 7726. Sally Hamilton replies: You told me this incident happened as you had to keep your phone on you all day awaiting a call from social services. You had been in the garden admiring the surroundings when nature of a different kind called. This was when the phone slid out of your pocket and into the toilet bowl. You fished it out and tried to get it working but all efforts failed. Despite getting the credit amount checked and verified by Vodafone, and spending a long time on the phone to them, they would not send you a cheque. You rightly asked me why it wasn't easier for vulnerable, elderly people like you, who pay with cash to top up their phones, to resolve the situation. You felt bereft after having to give up on your 'faithful friend of 20 years' – a phone that was easy to use with just a couple of buttons – and aggravated you couldn't even get back the money you were owed. Cash users often feel like second-class citizens in such circumstances. I asked Vodafone to dial up its efforts to help you, which it has now done. Its customer care team got in touch directly with you – requesting further information and photos of yourself – before finally sending a cheque. Apparently, refunds aren't usually made by cheque to unregistered pay-as-you-go accounts due to strict anti-money laundering policies. This seems a bit heavy handed for such a small sum, but rules are rules, I suppose. You have purchased a new phone which you find more complicated than your trusty old device. You say your daughter, who works for Age UK, is organising a few lessons for you with the charity on how to use it. Straight to the point In January I organised an office collection for a colleague who had recently become a father and bought a £120 gift voucher for a department store with the money. When he tried to spend it, the balance was £0. The store says it was spent in February on a laptop and they won't be refunding the balance. A.H., West Midlands. The department store apologises but says each gift card has a unique number and a Pin, which only the customer has access to. It is not refunding you. *** I ordered a kitchen from Wickes in 2023 which cost almost £18,500. But last year the work surface started peeling around the tap and draining grooves. Wickes says the damage may have been caused by excessive heat, standing water or my cleaning regime – and the warranty doesn't cover this. It's clear that the damage is only where holes have been drilled and around the draining grooves. C.Q., Wolverhampton. Wickes apologises and is replacing your worktop for you. *** During the storm in January the roof of a nearby shelter for bicycles was blown off and landed on my car bonnet. My car was repaired but my insurer Direct Line demanded I pay the £400 excess, which I did. Since then the owners of the shelter have admitted liability but I have not had the £400 repaid by their insurers. N.L., Newton Mearns. Direct Line apologises and says as it mistakenly led you to believe your excess may be reimbursed by a third-party insurer, it has refunded you the excess. Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@ — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
The RAC sent us a measly £40 after we waited two days for a rescue that never came: SALLY SORTS IT
We feel unjustly treated by the RAC following a breakdown in a dangerous situation, which involved getting the police to arrange our car to be towed to safety as the RAC could not attend us in time. We spent two days waiting for action from the RAC – which it failed to take. Now it says we have no claim. We paid £409 for cover this year which includes a 'get you home' service. When we complained it sent us a £40 cheque. We haven't cashed it. Please help. P.F., Shrewsbury. Sally Hamilton replies: This was a serious breakdown in your recovery service that landed you with an unexpected £510 bill for recovery, storage and taxis. You felt extra miffed by the rejection of your claim as your husband, aged 92, has been with the RAC since owning his first car in 1972. You have rarely called it out and certainly not in the last five years. The paltry sum offered as an apology riled you further, not helped by the fact it came with no explanation or apology. A letter was only sent to you later after your son intervened on your behalf. In this, the RAC simply stated that its terms say it cannot guarantee attendance times but agreed it 'fell short' in your case, for which it sent you the £40 cheque. While saying it understood this must have been distressing, it did not uphold your complaint about the police having to intervene. It said this can be necessary in dangerous situations. It certainly was dangerous. You described how your breakdown nightmare began one day in late February, when you were driving to your local Tesco. The car lost power, forcing you to pull on to a narrow grass verge with large volumes of traffic roaring past. With no power, your hazard lights didn't work. It must have been frightening. Fortunately, a highways maintenance vehicle came to your aid and offered protection by parking behind your car. Scam Watch Households should beware a scam email that impersonates high-street bank NatWest, consumer website Which? warns. Fraudsters say that your account needs to be 'reauthenticated' by clicking on the link in the email. While it may look genuine, it is sent from a random email address and has nothing to do with the bank. Do not click on the link in the email as it is an attempt to steal your personal and financial information. Instead, forward it to report@ When you phoned the RAC, it said there would be a two-hour delay and so advised you to call the police. They arrived half-an-hour later, put cones up and allowed you to sit in their vehicle while you waited for the RAC. The officer also called the firm but again was told it would take at least two hours. As he couldn't wait, he called a local recovery service to tow the car to a compound 30 miles from where you live. This cost you £192. The officer kindly drove you home. The next day you had to pay the compound a fee in cash to release the car. Luckily you had enough notes between you. You took a taxi costing £50 to the compound. You sat there all day until the facility closed. The RAC did not appear, so you took another taxi home and arranged recovery to a local garage. I was shocked that the RAC didn't take your situation seriously and as you had hit a roadblock with your complaint, I asked it to take a fresh look at your case. I am pleased to say it didn't take long to see the failure of its service to you that day. It made a U-turn and met your £510 claim in full, to which £75 was added as an apology. A spokesman says: 'We've apologised to Mr and Mrs F and reimbursed all their costs and added a gesture of goodwill in recognition of their valued long-standing membership. 'This doesn't reflect the high level of service we provide to the thousands of members we rescue every day, and steps have been taken to ensure this doesn't happen in the future.' Opened standard account thinking it was an Isa I found online what I thought was an excellent 4.25 per cent one-year fixed rate Individual Savings Account (Isa) from MBNA and opened an account with £20,000. I received a text offering me the possibility of further investment into the account. This set off alarm bells as £20,000 is the maximum allowable in an Isa in a tax year. When I queried this, MBNA said I had opened a standard account and that it doesn't offer Isas. I asked if I could cancel the arrangement. But they said the money could not be withdrawn. I.S., Gloucestershire. Sally Hamilton replies: You were annoyed with yourself for the blunder but after doing some research online, believed that under consumer law you would be permitted a cooling off period of at least 14 days, allowing you to change your mind without penalty. And since you had realised your mistake within days, you believed there was plenty of time to get out of the arrangement. But it was not to be. MBNA said it sympathised with your predicament, but its hands were tied. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, a cooling off period does apply to many products and services bought online, including certain savings accounts. Variable rate accounts typically offer this benefit but providers are not obliged to provide it for fixed rate deals like the one you accidentally picked. Some do so voluntarily, but not MBNA. There are exceptions to the fixed-rate rule. Cash Isas – even fixed-rate ones – can be cancelled within 14 days if a saver has a change of heart. I felt MBNA could have been more flexible, so I asked them to reconsider. A few days later, it came back with the news that it had decided, as a gesture of goodwill, to let you close the account after all with no penalties. A spokesman says: 'This type of account [opened by Mr S] is not covered by the cooling off period as set out by the Consumer Contracts Regulations. As part of the account opening process, we explain withdrawals can't be made during the fixed one-year term. Appreciating that Mr S made a mistake on this occasion, as a gesture of goodwill, we'll help him move the money to an alternate account.' When we caught up last week, you confirmed the money had been released and that you have opened a cash Isa with another bank. Straight to the point I sold four Decleor products on Vinted for £17.50 and posted it to the buyer. But when they received the parcel Vinted messaged me to say the order was suspended as the buyer reported it was empty. Vinted wants a photograph of the package, which I don't have. The buyer is going to get a refund and I am out of pocket. A.H., Coventry. The money has now been sent to your Vinted account. *** I Bought a John Lewis leather bed frame back in 2013 for £699. But it recently started peeling and shedding. It's clear it's not leather at all but a vinyl surface coating with woven mesh underneath, which an upholsterer has confirmed. John Lewis are taking the side of the supplier which claims it is leather. I know the warranty is up but it seems so morally wrong. C.L., via email. John Lewis says the bed frame is out of warranty and it has limited product information available, but it has given you a gesture of goodwill. *** Last May I bought and moved into a new flat. I have since been receiving letters from a bank addressed to women I don't recognise, which I have been returning. I accidentally opened one as I hold a credit card with the same bank. It said this person held an offset mortgage at my address. The bank won't tell me anything, citing data protection. D.G., West Midlands. The bank says it does not hold a mortgage on your property and the letters have now stopped. They were sent to you due to an administrative mistake by another customer. Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@ — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
JD Williams sent me the wrong jeans three times - then I got £70 bill for phoning them: SALLY SORTS IT
I recently decided to treat myself to a new pair of jeans from JD Williams. They cost £26 and arrived the next day. I ordered a size 12 but they delivered a size 18. I called the customer service number on the delivery note to arrange a return and reordered the size 12. The next day a second pair arrived but, again, in size 18. I called the number once more and went through the same process. The following day a third pair arrived. Another size 18! When I called again, I was advised not to reorder so they could check their stock. Then I received my mobile phone bill – it was unusually high due to out-of-plan call charges on my contract, so I checked with my network provider. They were billing me £70.72 for the calls I made to JD Williams. This is so unfair. N.S., Cheltenham. Readers' champion Sally Hamilton replies: Wallace & Gromit sprang to mind on reading your letter. 'It's the wrong trousers, Gromit! And they've gone wrong.' The fact they went wrong three times seemed, well, crackers. Perhaps JD Williams needs a Wallace-style inventor to sort out its stock management system. But more absurd still was the fact you were facing a phone bill nearly three times the price of your elusive pair of size 12 jeans for calling JD Williams to remedy the mix-up. Scam Watch Drivers should beware fake parking tickets impersonating a legitimate parking company or the council, CEL Solicitors warns. Fraudsters leave a ticket on the windscreen and victims are asked either to scan a QR code or visit a website to make a payment of around £60 to £70. But it is a fake portal, set up to get your personal and financial details. Check if the website on the ticket matches the official parking operator's address and look for spelling or format errors. If in doubt, look up the official website of the company or council and contact them. You told me the three calls totalled one hour and 40 seconds, which you described as 'ridiculous' for organising a simple return. I agree. Not surprisingly, you were stressed at the thought of a £70.72 bill – and still no jeans to show for it. I was happy to give the company a kick in the pants for you. I am pleased to say this did the trick and JD Williams' customer service swiftly contacted you to apologise for your poor experience, the hassle you faced and the costs you incurred. There had been a stock control systems issue, it admitted, which is now resolved. A spokesman said: 'We are replacing the item and dispatching this free of charge, and we have also reimbursed the cost of the calls.' When we caught up last week, you reported your size 12s had finally arrived – and fitted. All's well that ends well, that's what I say. However, your shock phone bill highlights the potential pitfalls when using a mobile to contact a retailer. This didn't cross your mind when you dialled the number printed in bold at the top of your delivery note. It began with '087', a prefix used by many companies to provide a single national phone number for customers, often for a sales or enquiry line. The service charge (the charge made by the company with the phone number) typically costs from zero to 13p a minute – 13p in JD Williams' case. But the actual amount billed depends on the access charge made by a customer's phone provider. Calls to 087 numbers often fall outside the free calls part of a package, as in your case, and are charged per minute or per call at anything from 3p to 93p a minute, depending on the provider. EE's access charge was one of the highest at 89p a minute when you made your calls (it is now 93p a minute). Your situation wasn't helped by JD Williams including two numbers on its delivery note. The 087 number you used is for orders and payments. There was also a '0345' number for enquiries. The first attracts a 13p-a-minute service charge. But 0345 numbers are charged like local calls and are included in many customers' mobile call plans – including yours. You told me the 087 number caught your eye immediately and that you didn't think to look for another. Companies using such prefixes often receive a portion of the revenue made from an access charge. You may not have flinched too much at your phone bill had your calls been dealt with speedily by JD Williams' customer service. But with more than an hour on the line in total, the price rocketed to a level that couldn't be ignored. JD Williams is keen to point out there are other options for contacting its customer service that should avoid nasty bills. In addition to its 0345 number, it offers an online chat service, email or direct messaging via X and Facebook. It is a pity that customers risk falling into an expensive trap simply because they want to speak to a human about their problem. I'm keen to hear from other readers who unwittingly have been caught out this way, so do drop me a line. Overpaid my gas bill and can't get a refund Just before the Easter weekend, I elected to pay off an outstanding £150 debt on my British Gas bill – but accidentally paid £1,500. I immediately rang to rectify the error, which had cleared out my current account. I was told it would be three to five days before I was paid back. After Easter, I still had not received the money, so rang again. Once more I was told it would be three to five days. This carried on weekly until a phone call on April 29, where I was told that the person I was speaking to could not authorise a repayment. Help! D.M., Oldham. Sally replies: British Gas had held on to your overpayment for more than a month by the time you contacted me and you were struggling financially. I asked the firm to put more energy into returning your money. It told me you had been given the wrong information about the timescale at the start. You should have been told ten working days for such repayments but also that the large sum involved required special approval. On my intervention your request was accelerated and a few days later £1,350 was repaid to your credit card – your £1,500 minus the £150 you had intended to pay. BG apologised and sent you a goodwill gesture of £75. Straight to the point I run my own business and in December my accountant told me I was due an £821.53 tax refund. In January I checked my HM Revenue and Customs account which said the refund had been made – but I haven't received it. HMRC told me it went to an account in my name but I don't have an account with the bank they claim the refund was made to. R.N., via email. Sally replies: HMRC apologises and has refunded you, along with £43.65 in late payment interest. It was previously refunded to an incorrect bank account. I own a flat which I let out until October last year and have now put up for sale. However, Octopus Energy has continued to send bills totalling £233.76 for an empty property. I paid the first three bills up to January as I know there's a standing charge. I have contacted Octopus many times and they haven't sorted it. But now a letter from a debt collection agency has been posted through the door. B.C., Kent. Sally replies: Octopus Energy apologises and has fixed your billing, and you are now £400 in credit. You were billed using estimate readings from previous usage, which was based on when the flat was let. In March I sold a vintage synthesiser for £500 on an online marketplace and paid a postal firm £39.70 for the delivery and insurance. It was damaged beyond repair when it arrived – the online marketplace has taken back the money from me to refund the buyer – but the delivery company won't pay out as I sent it in a re-used box. B.B., Nottingham. Sally replies: The delivery company remains firm. It says as there was a lack of internal packaging and the box was old, the damaged parcel did not meet its criteria for a payout. Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY or email sally@ — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
Daily Mail
29-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
My father was sold a trust to beat care fees that's useless and will cost £3,000 to cancel: SALLY SORTS IT
My 85-year-old father and I decided to make new wills with Jones Whyte in 2022. The woman handling our case insisted we should have a family protection trust fund for his home, suggesting that it was a must in case he went into a nursing home – which has never been the intention. We agreed under stress and paid £2,566, not understanding the full implications and the fact the house which my dad wants me to inherit was signed over to the trustees – Jones Whyte – irrevocably. When we asked for the trust to be dissolved, Jones Whyte came back to say this would cost at least £3,000 plus VAT. We don't think this is fair. Please help. R.M., Glasgow. Sally Hamilton replies: You and your father were clearly convinced that the family house could be protected from being sold to meet care bills. This landed him with a £2,566 bill and a product you didn't need or want. A trust is a legal structure where trustees – in your case, solicitors – are appointed to control the contents for the benefit of the person it is set up for. This means a property cannot be sold without the trustees' consent, for example. There is a chance that the authorities will overlook a property held in a family protection trust when assessing liability for care bills. But it should have been made clearer to you that there is also a high risk that they will not. Many local authorities do not take kindly to trusts if they believe they were arranged to hide assets – known in legal parlance as the 'deliberate deprivation of assets'. Such trusts are tempting because the law says people must pay all their own care home costs if they have assets of £23,250 or more in England and Northern Ireland, £35,000 in Scotland or £50,000 in Wales. Emily Deane, technical counsel at the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, told me: 'Using a trust to prevent paying care home fees is not a risk worth taking. If a local authority decides that you have deliberately reduced your assets to avoid paying for care home fees, they may still include the value of the property you no longer have when they do the financial assessment.' Such trusts are often used to potentially reduce inheritance tax (IHT) bills if the value of someone's estate on death is otherwise likely to exceed the threshold. Currently, it is possible to bequeath up to £325,000 without incurring IHT – and if passing a house down to a child or grandchild on death, there is an extra allowance of £175,000. Scam Watch Shoppers should beware a scam Facebook post impersonating retailer Boots, consumer website Which? warns. Fraudsters write that Boots is offering mystery boxes with 'leftover cosmetics' for £3 – in return for answering a three-question survey. The tricksters direct you to a link to complete the questionnaire but this will aim to steal your personal and financial details, Which? says. The posts could come from a hacked account. Do not click on the link. Instead, press the three dots in the right corner of the post and click 'report'. This means your dad's estate would have to exceed £500,000 before any tax was due. At the time his trust was implemented, he was 82 and his home was worth £230,000. You believe it has barely changed in value in the three years since. Your dad could simply leave the house in his will with no IHT due. You asked Jones Whyte to unwind the trust. But you were shocked to be told this would cost £3,000 plus VAT and a fee for reviewing the trust. I felt you had a good case so asked Jones Whyte to put you back in the position you were in before setting up the trust without stumping up any more cash. You wanted me to negotiate with them on your behalf, but Jones Whyte declined. As you were nervous, a friend accompanied you to a meeting and took notes. Discussions went well and the firm agreed to wind up the trust – at no charge. Your father's house is now back in his own name and you are planning to make some modifications to the property to make his life easier. You were grateful for my intervention. A spokesman for Jones Whyte says: 'While we cannot comment on the specific details of any particular client matter, we are pleased to have been able to resolve [this client's] concerns to their satisfaction, both constructively and respectfully at all times.' BA won't help with our insurance claim We booked British Airways flights to Washington DC last June costing £4,574. At the beginning of that month my husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He notified the insurance company, Staysure – but more than nine months later we are still waiting to be paid. The sticking point is BA, which needs to provide a document proving we didn't fly on the date booked or at a later date. My husband has filled in form after form but gets nowhere. Please help. K.G., Sandhurst. Sally Hamilton replies: I was sad to read that your holiday plans to visit your three grandchildren had been thrown up in the air due to your husband's shock diagnosis. I was sadder still to learn of the extreme headwinds he's faced getting his money back. Travel insurers need to receive official cancellation documents to process a claim – for audit, record-keeping and fraud prevention. The only money sent so far was £463 in refunded air passenger duty. Airlines by law must reimburse this cost if passengers don't fly. Your husband contacted BA on its chat service and by phone almost weekly once he had recovered from his cancer operation, but to no avail. He even drove to Heathrow to try to find a BA employee who could help. I was horrified by the lengths he had been forced to go to in his condition, so I stepped in on your behalf, first asking BA to get its act together. I am pleased to say BA issued the missing document the same day and apologised for your experience. Staysure escalated the case to its underwriters who agreed to settle immediately due to the exceptional circumstances. Within two days you had received £3,931 in your account – your booking cost minus the refunded airport taxes and the insurance excess of £180. Your husband told me there were no words to express his relief and thanked me for my intervention. I wish you both the very best. Straight to the point I switched my energy supplier from in October and sent the utility firm a final payment of £125.10. But it later sent me a bill for £235 for October, despite having switched provider by then. It offered me a £156 discount for the bill but I don't think I should owe anything. B.M., Suffolk. apologises and says your new energy supplier took an incorrect meter reading. You have been offered £150 as a goodwill gesture. *** Late last year the recliner mechanism in my SCS sofa broke. I paid an SCS technician £75 to repair it but it broke again two days later. The technician has visited again but could not fix it. The supplier of the recliner parts is now no longer in business so SCS offered me a 50 per cent refund of what I paid for the sofa. That was in March – I've heard nothing since. E.B., via email. SCS apologises and has now refunded you. It says it sent you a response but this never reached you. *** In November I ordered an iPhone 16 on a 24-month contract, paying £29 upfront and £37.99 each month. When it arrived the box looked like it had been tampered with and was empty except for the charging cable. My provider won't cancel the contract and says the parcel had the phone inside when it left the warehouse. C.F., Fife. Your provider has now sent you a replacement phone and refunded the money you have already paid towards the bill. *** My son bought me a £75 voucher as a Christmas present. When I came to spend it I was told the card had already been validated. Its customer service has reloaded the card – but only with £26. E.A., Hampshire. The remaining £49 has now been credited to the voucher. Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@ — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
