Kidney patient’s house swap trauma
TRYING to move home brought nothing but misery for a vulnerable disabled widow who saw a house swap she had been hoping for disintegrate and a removals firm hang on to the £1,200 she had paid after she needed to cancel.
“It’s knockbacks whatever way I turn. I want to hide away,” despairing kidney patient Sandie Bentley told Crusader when she came to us about her payment problem with London company FA Removals.
In the course of delving into her rights about that issue, Sandie’s struggles over the home exchange came to light.
As a home dialysis patient she needs a separate inside room – a second bedroom in effect – to treat herself and store the large amount of fluids she needs.
Her council house in Sutton,
Surrey, has such a room and so did a two-bedroom home in a nearby area that she found that was closer to her children and run by housing association Optivo.
Its tenant was up for the swap and Sandie supplied hospital medical evidence about her condition.
“Then a couple of weeks before the move I was asked to supply a GP’s letter. The queues at my surgery were huge and I explained to Optivo the difficulty,” she added.
The move’s actual date hadn’t been confirmed and Sandie recognises she should have waited for that. But anxious to book a remover and avoid Covid delays, she paid a £300 deposit to FA Removals which she claims it had asked for via bank transfer. The remainder of the fee she paid using her Nationwide bank credit card.
Shortly after, she learned the move was off, understanding that the reason was “under occupancy, as a single person I only qualified for one bedroom”.
When Sandie asked FA Removals for a refund it declined. It told Crusader it would undertake the removal if needed in the future. “We have been patient and compassionate,” explained company director Franck Nitcheu Touko.
“According to regulations she had 14 days to cancel from when the deposit was paid.”
However when we alerted Nationwide it was keen to support its loyal customer as much as possible and has looked at the fairness of the contract.
The bank is now helping Sandie dispute her card payment and, pending the outcome, has returned her £900.
“I’m so grateful to Nationwide and Crusader,” Sandie said last week.
Now Optivo has said it will review its decision once Sandie sends a GP’s letter and help her with any reapplication.
Crusader hopes that happens.