My most jaw-dropping cases and how I won back £1million for you this year, by the Mail’s consumer champion Sally Sorts It… plus the rogue readers who tried to swindle ME
I am delighted to say that I won back a total of nearly £1.02million this year in another 100-plus cases of unfair treatment by companies and institutions exposed in the Sally Sorts It column.That’s money back in readers’ pockets, where it belongs.The funds reunited in 2025 included repayments sat on endlessly by businesses, compensation for dire service, wrongly-denied insurance payouts, energy bills written off, sums lost in the ether by financial institutions and reimbursements following fraud.Energy firms billing incorrectly featured large – among them a British Gas mix-up that scared the life out of a reader when he was issued a £13,000 bill out of the blue, and who failed to get the energy provider’s chatbots to sort it out.Then there was insurance that didn’t live up to policyholder expectations. Confusion over a policy’s start date meant a stroke victim nearly missed out on a £4,998 insurance payout when she had to cancel her river cruise, until I got involved.In another case – my biggest win of the year – a 30-year-old man was denied a travel insurance payout for vertiginous bills following his terrifying cardiac arrest in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. The incident involved him being resuscitated, flown to hospital and undergoing emergency surgery.The claim was denied as he had attended his GP with earache some 18 months previously and neglected to tell the insurer.This outcome was almost as terrifying as the incident itself, as there was no way he could pay the bill himself. Sally Hamilton exposed 100-plus cases of unfair treatment by companies and institutions in the Sally Sorts It columnAt the time I covered his case, in March, the costs were estimated at $100,000 (£75,000). But recently the reader contacted me to say he had been copied into more bills, suggesting the total cost – excluding the air ambulance bill, which he has not yet seen but can often reach $50,000 or more – was heading north of $602,000 (about £450,000).Fortunately, on my intervention, the insurer reviewed the case and agreed to pay up.Tip: Always declare any medical issues – and double-check when cover commences.Pet insurance also sent several readers barking mad.One struggled to get payouts for behavioural treatment which should have been allowed under the policy, but when I stepped in, it agreed to meet the claim.Another more disturbing case was where an owner was charged three excesses totalling more than £750 after her dog underwent biopsies for lumps under its skin. She thought this wrong, and I agreed.However, the insurer John Lewis, whose policies are underwritten by Intact, would not budge because the lumps had different causes – three different illnesses in its eyes, and therefore three different claims.But it was only one operation and a single set of tests.My pleas to rethink were ignored. But the reader took the case to the Financial Ombudsman, and I am delighted to report it recently concluded this reader and I were right – and ordered the insurer to return her £555 plus interest of £124.She was delighted to be vindicated and is donating a sum from the reimbursement to a local animal sanctuary.Tip: Even if a claim is denied, persevere if you are sure you are in the right. If necessary, take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent view.Car hire is another pet hate for readers. These firms get my wooden spoon for service, as they are as stubborn as mules when it comes to customers who complain.Avis gets the giant porridge spoon this year because it refused to reimburse an elderly couple who arrived at the rental desk, tired after a two-hour immigration queue, who were charged ¤340 (£297) for excess insurance they didn’t need. They already had a £33 stand-alone policy of their own, but Avis said it had a signed contract with them so would not budge.My intervention made no difference, which made me pessimistic when I tried as a customer myself to get back a breakdown cover charge Avis added to my hire bill in Boston, in the US, recently.My husband and I had queued behind 60 people and were rushed when we got to the desk. He simply asked: ‘What do we do if we break down?’ and was told: ‘Don’t worry.’ No mention of the breakdown cover that this staff member then added to our bill.I consider myself savvy when it comes to car hire, so am particularly aggrieved at being caught out this way. And, yes, when I complained, I got the same response – that Avis had in its possession a signed contract from us. Grrrr!Tip: However tired you are, or however rushed the situation, always read through the invoice at the hire desk to check for unwanted extras and charges.Cases of fraud are among the most distressing and the sums lost can be life-changing.I was delighted to be able to help one vulnerable victim who, while suffering from depression, lost £104,000 to a scammer after they conned her into transferring money to cryptocurrency accounts. On my intervention, her bank, Barclays, reimbursed half her losses.One new development this year was how cyber attacks on Britain’s big retailers, including Marks & Spencer, provided new opportunities for scammers.Knowing customers would be chasing orders that had gone astray in the chaos, they stepped in to pose as customer service staff when shoppers made complaints on social media.They went on to defraud victims by telling them they would be compensated for their trouble if they gave their bank details. I helped one customer caught in this trap get back £200 lost to the scammers posing as M&S.Tip: Following a high-profile hack, do not respond to communications from the targeted firm unless you are sure it is genuine.Public sector bodies were not immune from readers’ gripes. I was pleased to help a man wrongly pursued for a year by the Department for Work and Pensions to clear his name over a £763 Universal Credit debt incurred by a fraudster using his details.Tip: Anyone who ends up in such a (hopefully rare) predicament should be prepared to provide evidence. In his case, a flight boarding pass and proof he was elsewhere on days face-to-face claims were made in his name provided vital proof.Finally, if you do only one thing in 2026, familiarise yourself with your rights.The most important law to get to grips with is the Consumer Rights Act 2015. This says goods must be of a satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, free of defects and match the description – as well as last a reasonable length of time. If they are not, you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase.Quoting the Act in correspondence should strengthen arguments with retailers and suppliers who try to bat away customers.Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is also handy. This makes a credit card provider jointly responsible with a retailer if something goes wrong with a purchase costing £100 to £30,000.Similar protection is offered with a process called chargeback, provided on a voluntary basis by card networks. It can be used for debit card and credit card purchases that go awry and there is no minimum or maximum sum for the claim.Unwelcome approachesBeing Money Mail’s consumer champion is a fantastic job. I enjoy helping readers who are often at the end of their tether when they get in touch.I am humbled by the stories many tell me about their situations, whether they or their relatives are suffering serious illness, money problems, job loss, bereavement or other hardship.Then there are those who feel excluded by the rapid progress of technology, and others who are driven to distraction because they feel they are not being listened to by an organisation which has treated them unfairly.Many readers expressed disenchantment at the rise of the robots in customer service departments – hear, hear! Plenty of readers I deal with are just glad to be heard, and taken seriously, by a human who is on their side.I hope more of you will get in touch next year with issues that are proving impossible to resolve alone. I can’t investigate all cases, unfortunately, but I read all your letters and emails.Not all contact has been welcome, however. This year I have been puzzled and alarmed by a couple of approaches from people who were trying to pull the wool over my eyes, and those of the organisations involved.I like to think I can spot these miscreants at ten paces, but even a cynical journalist can (nearly) be caught out by convincing patter – at least enough to start an investigation.First up was a man who was desperate for my help because he had been scammed out of £10,000 from his TSB account and the bank wasn’t reimbursing him.Now, TSB is known as the bank that likes to say ‘yes’ to returning money to fraud victims. It has a record of reimbursing more often than others. So why did it say no to this customer, I wondered?He had a whole backstory of how his mother had been in hospital in a coma when the scam happened, and how he borrowed money from his dad on the promise that TSB was going to reimburse him. To reel me in further, he told me his other bank account had been similarly scammed at the same time and he got his money back.I put all this to TSB, which was adamant it would not reimburse him, though would not elaborate.With my suspicions aroused, I did an internet search on this fellow. Lo and behold, he had not long ago been convicted of making fraudulent insurance claims.I dropped him like a brick. But a few weeks later, I received an email from him stating the following: ‘Just a quick message to say thanks for getting in touch with TSB for me. I have finally had a phone call from them last night and they have confirmed that I will now be refunded by close of business today.’ (Not true – as TSB confirmed to me).And then, the punchline: ‘Could you please notify me of a charity of your choice as I would like to make a donation on your behalf as I would have lost this money without your help.’I would laugh at his brass neck, but, frankly, it isn’t funny.More recently, a man claiming to be a 92-year-old customer of National Savings & Investments (NS&I) said he was being prevented from accessing his account and withdrawing thousands of pounds worth of Premium Bonds.NS&I was tight-lipped on this case. But he had an unusual name and with a quick search I found some information suggesting he (or certainly someone of the same name and vintage) had died seven years ago.Had someone found certificates hidden in a drawer perhaps and thought they would try it on? Or had I had my first request for help from beyond the grave? Sally Hamilton spotted rogue readers trying to swindle her while making £1million back for others£200 perfume got lost in post but Space NK won’t help meI ordered two Victoria Beckham Beauty Portofino ’97 perfumes online from Space NK – one for me and one for my sister. They cost a total of £416.50, including a discount. My package was delivered four days later, but one bottle was missing.After I complained, the company told me the package was correctly packed and there would be no further action. I contacted its chief executive but got the same response. I was horrified as not only am I missing an expensive perfume, but I have effectively been accused of lying. Please help.S.H., Haywards Heath, West Sussex.You were understandably distressed not to be believed, as well as being well out of pocket. The whole case had a whiff of dismissiveness about it.The only evidence you had that something was amiss was that there was so much paper packaging stuffed into the box you couldn’t see how two bottles of the perfume could possibly have fitted in.You sent me photos, and I could well believe that the package had been sent without one of the items – either through oversight or deliberately. There was certainly a lot of black paper spilling out.You were furious to have your complaint batted away, your pleas to the top management ignored. You were then blanked by customer services when you made a further appeal.You even emailed Victoria Beckham Beauty to inform it about how you had been treated, though you knew the situation was nothing to do with this company. You weren’t surprised to get no response, but it helped to vent your frustration.You should have been protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states that it is the retailer’s duty to get orders safely into the customer’s hands. If they don’t arrive, they must replace it or offer a refund.The loss of more than £200 is one thing, but you were seriously aggrieved by the beauty retailer’s reaction, which you said effectively called into question your integrity.Consumer rights expert Martyn James says: ‘In such a situation, if a business refuses to replace or refund, it’s basically saying the customer stole the items or is lying. If it’s going to accuse customers, then it had better have proof.‘In the absence of evidence, it’s the accuser who needs to prove the allegations, not the accused. I’d want to know what had been done to investigate the missing items during their journey to the recipient, whether it is checking weight or inspecting the wrapping for potential tampering.’You had requested Space NK check CCTV footage to prove irrevocably that no error or theft had taken place in its packing department. As far as you know, nothing happened.As well as the photos you sent me, you explained that the parcel received weighed 765g (a 520g single bottle of the scent plus a free sample of another product of 245g) but the label stated the package weight was 1,240g.The mystery of what happened may never be solved, but I am pleased to say that on my intervention Space NK leapt into action to apologise, with the rather odd explanation that it hadn’t completed its investigations on your case. This smelled a bit off considering the radio silence you faced when escalating your complaint.But it came up smelling of roses in the end. Space NK not only refunded you for the missing bottle, but sent you a replacement as well. I wish you and your sister a Happy Christmas.My mother is 96 and lives in a care home. I have a registered Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for her financial and property affairs, as well as health and welfare. I need access to my mother’s National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds account so I can top up her current account to pay for her £6,500-a-month care bill. But I am having trouble getting NS&I to accept the LPA. Please help.A.S., Hampshire.Individuals can use an LPA, a legal document, to appoint people they trust to manage their affairs if they lose capacity.Your mother was sensible to have organised this, and you were wise to set things up so that financial firms can see your mother’s LPA online rather than having to send the paper version of the document to all involved. This requires a special access code that enables financial firms to log on and see the details.You rang NS&I to let it know you wanted to be able to transfer funds from your mother’s premium bonds into her current account, and gave it the code.Unfortunately, NS&I said this wasn’t enough and instead wrote to you explaining it needed a letter from your mother’s GP or other medical specialist confirming that she did not have the capacity to manage her own affairs.You were baffled and frustrated, firstly by NS&I’s insistence on communicating by post, but more importantly by its request you source a doctor’s report, something which other firms had not asked for and which can be time-consuming and costly.You asked for my help as your mother’s current account is dwindling fast and you need urgent access to her premium bonds to pay her care home fees.I asked NS&I why you were being forced to jump through this extra hoop by providing a medical report.It turns out the savings organisation is only doing what your mother herself requested when the LPA was set up. NS&I did access her LPA online, following your contact, but found the document’s wording specifies that her attorneys can act on her behalf only if they have obtained a written medical opinion.NS&I quoted the LPA, which stated: ‘My attorneys and replacement attorney shall only act under this power if they have obtained a written medical opinion that I am no longer mentally capable of managing and administering my property and financial affairs.’A spokesman for the firm said: ‘As a legal document we are required to follow her instructions.’I passed this information to you, and you have accepted it, though now must face a month-long wait to get the necessary medical report completed by her busy GP – and pay up to £100 for the privilege.The GP also needs to see your mother’s health and welfare LPA, which requires a separate code to access it online.More red tape, but hopefully you will finally be able to get access to her NS&I funds early in the new year.An NS&I spokesman said as your mother had made the stipulation in the LPA of getting a written medical opinion first, ‘as a legal document we are required to follow her instructions’.Straight to the point In June 2020 I booked a trip with 23 friends to Tenerife with Alpha Holidays and paid a £5,000 deposit, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. I tried to get my deposit back from Alpha Holidays and its parent company Truly Holdings, but it collapsed in late 2021. I was told to contact the Travel Trust Association (TTA) to get the deposit back, but it has not done so despite many promises.S.K., Liverpool.We recently moved into our new home but I have been given two Southern Water accounts for the property. There seems to be a ghost account with no direct debit or payment plan, unlike the other account for which I pay £69.41 a month. However, Southern Water has demanded I pay two outstanding bills – £54.43 and £46.49 – on this ghost account.J.M., Horsham, West Sussex.Southern Water apologises and says it has closed the other account and cleared the balance on it.In May, BT said we must switch to Digital Voice. But since then our internet connection has become very poor, despite visits from nine engineers. BT told us to switch provider, but I don’t want to lose my BT email address. We’re in our 80s and rely on the internet for food shopping and banking.C.B., Buckinghamshire.BT says that it has carried out tests and found no issues with the broadband speeds being delivered to your home. The problem may be with the devices you are using. If you do switch, it will allow you to keep your email address.Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — 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.
已发布: 2025-12-23 17:18:00
