A friend booked our group’s holiday, but my insurer won’t pay

IN OCTOBER 2019, eight of us (four couples) booked a holiday cottage in Somerset costing £1,200 for a short break from March 24, 2020. One of our group booked for all of us and we each gave him our £300 share.

We are all retired so, with a lack of guidance over Covid, we cancelled on March 22. A group of eight from different parts of the country is not a good mix for the infection.

As we cancelled within 14 days of the date, the terms said there would be no refund. Our nominated person attempted to reclaim the full cost first from his credit card company and then from his insurance company.

His insurer would only pay his £300 share minus £100 excess.

Two other group members each got £300 from their insurers.

Our insurance was with AXA via our Lloyds Bank account. It has refused my claim and declined my complaint. It argues the money is recoverable from the holiday company as per a statement from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding refunds.

I have approached the holiday company three times quoting this advice and my friend has also sent his support.

It has responded once saying it had no contract with me and therefore would not be entering into correspondence.

M. H., Devon. BOOK your holiday now, cries the travel industry. You’ll have no problems. Yet people such as you are still trying to get refunds from last year.

Technically, the holiday firm is correct. You don’t have a contract with it. But, in your shoes, I wouldn’t use the company again.

But what about your insurance? The CMA guidance covers cancellations caused by government lockdowns and restrictions. You cancelled the day before the spring 2020 lockdown was announced so I do not understand why AXA keeps harping back to it.

I took your case to Lloyds, which went to AXA. It said its policy applies to unused accommodation costs that are ‘irrecoverable’ and again referred to the CMA guidance. Yawn!

The good news is that, as recognition of your status as a long-term loyal customer and a gesture of goodwill, Lloyds Bank has decided to cover the £300 you are out of pocket, although it has agreed with AXA’s interpretation of the guidance. Yawn again!

A Lloyds Bank spokesperson says: ‘We appreciate that [the insurance decision] is a disappointing outcome for Mrs M.H., so will pay for this portion of her cancelled trip.’

I CONTACTED Barclaycard about fraudulent payments on October 20. My statement of November 10 showed disputed transactions of £3,064.95 but there was a note saying interest would not be charged.

I received a refund of £2,015.31 but then a further £37.57 disputed transaction appeared and interest is being charged. I feel I am being fobbed off.

G. D., Coventry.

BARCLAYCARD started well with its handling of your complaint but then got rather lost.

A letter on November 21 said you had been refunded £3,064.95 but this was not reflected in your statements.

You wrote on January 11 but, by January 26, had not received a response. When I pushed, Barclaycard agreed that it still owed you £1,049.64 plus a return of interest. The other £37.57 has been removed.

Barclaycard has added £150 compensation.

However, when you checked the final calculations, you were still £6.25 short so Barclaycard added a further £10 to be sure everything was right.

A spokesman says: ‘While Mr d alerted us to the fraud as soon as possible, if a payment has already been approved we cannot always stop the funds from leaving the account.

‘In this instance, we would look to refund the fraudulent transactions. We appreciate that, although the initial £2,015.31 was refunded swiftly, due to human error the remaining amount was not initially refunded and we apologise for the delay on this.’

Your letter reminds us all how important it is to check credit card transactions regularly, preferably online or via a phone app — and certainly on a monthly statement.

I CLOSED my Interactive Investor account in April 2019.

I assumed the dividend on my RBS shares, worth £243.23, would follow later. It never has.

I am 83 and don’t use computers. I was told the payment was in my bank account but it isn’t.

L. W., Newark. INTERACTIVE Investor (II) tells me that this has been a protracted process.

You sold your holding in April 2019 for £5,287 and withdrew the money later that month.

You had sold after the dividend had been declared, so were due £243.23 when it was paid.

It contacted you to say the money was waiting to be withdrawn on May 1, 2019, but you did not request to withdraw the funds — possibly because you don’t use computers.

So, basically, you were waiting for it to send the money and it was waiting for you to take it. Meanwhile, 18 months passed.

In december 2020, your son-in-law made contact to ask how to withdraw the funds. This has now been done.

II says it could have done more to assist you with your withdrawal in 2019 and that it should have followed up when the money was still there.

It has decided to refund a £15 fee it applied for a faster transaction when the withdrawal was made and has added £100 compensation.

Gary Shaw, director of operations, says: ‘I would like to apologise for any distress that may have been caused.’