Latest news with #labrador
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Pet insurer charged £250 excess THREE times after our black labrador's single operation: SALLY SORTS IT
We took our black labrador retriever Vicki to the vet because she had some lumps on her skin. Four of the lumps were of concern and needed removing. This was done in January this year. Analysis revealed that they were all non-cancerous tumours. We made a claim on our insurance with John Lewis (underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance). As Vicki was over nine years old, we had to pay 20 per cent of the remaining claim bill after the excess of £250, which we understood. The bill was £1,550 and we expected £1,040 to be reimbursed. But we only got £640 as the insurer took three excesses of £250 each. Please help. J.L., Essex. Sally Hamilton replies: The operation was a success and thankfully Vicki is fine. But you were shocked at being billed for three excesses totalling £750. Your policy certainly states that an excess must be paid for 'each accident or illness'. But I felt, like you, these excesses were excessive, as your beloved pet had undergone only one operation to remove the various tumours from her skin. In its initial letter of explanation, John Lewis emphasised that as there were three different types of lump, this meant there were three conditions and that an excess must be applied to each one. You argued that although benign, they were all skin tumours and surely amounted to one condition. I asked John Lewis to check your claim had been handled fairly. Its conclusion, I'm afraid, was that it remained confident in its original assessment. It added that applying an excess for each diagnosed condition in this way is a 'common approach for many' insurers in the industry. I asked around about this claim. One broker I spoke to said it is not always dealt with this way. Sometimes tumours, even different types, that appear all at the same time can potentially be treated as one condition. But this was not the case with John Lewis and Royal & Sun Alliance, and you have been left licking your wounds over its triple excess grab. A spokesman says: 'While we fully sympathise with J.L.'s situation, we're confident that we provided the right costs to cover Vicki's veterinary bills, given she experienced three different types of tumours.' Ulez fine misery On July 18 last year, I drove to London to renew my daughter's passport. I am not used to driving in the capital and did not realise that I had crossed into the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) area, which required me to pay a charge. I only became aware of an issue nine months later when I received a letter from debt collection agency CDER Group warning me bailiffs may be called if I didn't pay a penalty charge that had risen to £355. I called CDER immediately and was told that Transport for London had sent all previous correspondence regarding this charge to the house next door – number 55 not 57. These letters were not passed to me. I feel hard done by, as I did not have the opportunity to pay the penalty early. A.P., Southampton. Sally Hamilton replies: It seemed odd that all previous correspondence had gone to an incorrect address, while the scary debt collection letter managed to reach you. This was because CDER does routine checks with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and other sources, and discovered the anomaly. Meanwhile, I was astonished your neighbours hadn't been neighbourly enough to pass on the letters to you, which could have avoided the hassle. But you said the property is used for short-term rentals and you didn't know the people who lived there at the time. Scam Watch Drivers should beware a scam text that says you must pay a fine for leaving your engine on, consumer website Which? warns. Tricksters claim you must pay a 'parking infringement fine' by a certain date – and if you fail to pay, you could be forced to stump up 'further penalties' and even face 'prosecution'. The text directs you to a link and asks you to enter your registration number to pay your fine. But the link will lead to a malicious website designed to steal your personal and financial details. Do not click on the link – instead, forward the text to 7726. You naturally wanted to avoid the nasty £355 penalty you didn't deserve. Though it was a long time since the initial penalty charge was issued, there is an option to make an 'out of time' appeal against the charge for those who have good reasons. But you felt overwhelmed by the process, which requires you to complete a special form that must be sworn before an official such as a solicitor, Justice of the Peace or County Court officer. Instead, you came to me. I asked TfL if it could be more lenient considering you had never seen the earlier correspondence. TfL investigated your case and I am pleased to tell you it decided to let you off. A TfL spokesman says: 'We are sorry for the distress that A.P. has experienced. Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued to a vehicle's registered keeper, based on information from the DVLA. 'In this case, the PCN was issued to the address on the DVLA records, which led to the PCNs being progressed to enforcement action. The incorrect address in the DVLA records has since been updated. We have used our discretion to cancel any outstanding charges.' Any motorist unfairly slapped with a PCN should submit a representation with evidence that they are not liable, ideally within the timescales, typically 28 days. TfL does also consider mitigating circumstances and uses its discretion in deciding whether to cancel a charge, as it did in your case. PCNs are posted to the registered keeper of a car based on details held with the DVLA, so drivers should check with the agency that these are accurate to avoid mishaps. Importantly, drivers can avoid trouble by ensuring they familiarise themselves with the charges they are likely to face when driving into London, including Ulez and the congestion charge. The Ulez charge in London is £12.50 a day for cars that do not meet the required emission standards and are not exempt. The congestion charge costs £15 a day for those driving into the congestion zone between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday, and between noon and 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as bank holidays. Straight to the point I bought several dresses from John Lewis to try on for a wedding this month and sent back two. But it won't refund me for one of them, worth £95, as it says it has 'deodorant marks and sweat' on it. The clear inference is that I purchased the dress, wore it for an event and then tried to send it back. Please help. R.W., via email. John Lewis says it refunded one of the dresses but as the other had deodorant marks it cannot give you a refund. It says it would be unfair to sell this to another customer. *** In May I visited Crete on a Loveholidays package holiday but the hotel was such a let-down, with mould around the ceiling, leaking taps and more. I tried to get in touch with Loveholidays via my son's phone, as mine wasn't working, but received no reply. The owner had another room available but it still had issues and cost an extra €200 – so we had to find our own accommodation. It has now said it will refund us just £27.45. S.H., Felixstowe. Loveholidays apologises and says it did try to make contact with you, which you didn't receive until after you left the hotel. It has refunded you for the full cost of the accommodation. *** My sister has learning difficulties and several health issues so my wife and I have started to help manage her money. We submitted her meter readings to her energy supplier in February and then received a bill which said she was £10,824 in credit. We asked for this to be refunded and the supplier said they'd need to get it signed off by a manager. But it's now been so long the supplier won't speak to me unless I get permission, again, from my sister, who is now in hospital. B.D., Kent. The energy provider apologises and says a refund of almost £12,000 has been made. 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.
Times
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Meet the real Downton hounds: the Countess of Carnarvon's dogs behaving badly
Fiona, the 8th Countess of Carnarvon, 61, who lives at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the setting for the hit ITV drama series Downton Abbey, could teach the fictional Lord Grantham a thing or two about dog ownership. He has just one labrador to bring to heel — she has six, plus two spaniels — and they often cause chaos when the film crew's catering trucks roll in. We have six labradors and two working cocker spaniels. It all started with Percy, a yellow labrador I bought from a friend when my son, Eddie, was two years old. He was a lovely dog for Eddie to grow up with and we nicknamed him the Yellow Lion because he had this wonderful old-fashioned big head.
