Tragedy forced us to call off our dream wedding. Now it’s turned into a nightmare
Fury as insurers refuse payout
Additional reporting by Jane Barrie Helen Cameron’s dream wedding was cancelled at the last minute when her mother-in-law took ill and later died.
With the family in turmoil, there was no way she and husband- to- be Paul Wallace could go ahead…luckily they’d had the foresight to take out wedding insurance.
But eight months on, the couple have yet to receive a penny of the £9000 they forked out for their aborted big day.
E& L insurance are refusing to cover their costs, saying the couple are to blame for not disclosing the entire wedding party’s medical history.
Helen, 32, said: “They claim I should have detailed the medical histories of Paul and I along with our parents, grandparents and either par tner ’ s chi ldren, siblings or attendants.
“I was unaware I was supposed to find all this out. I disclosed our medical histories. The declaration question asks if you or any person to whom the insurance applies has suffered from any specific listed conditions or had any condition controlled by drugs.
“I was totally up front with them but it seems that’s not enough for E&L.”
The pair took out cover in March 2016 ahead of their big day on February 11.
Nurse Helen said: “Paul’s mum Sadie developed an acute gastro intestinal bleed. On February 9 at 3am, we received a call to say she was going to die and to get ourselves to the hospital.”
Helen and Paul, 39, an engineering manager, got in touch with E&L.
She said: “We couldn’t go ahead with the wedding. Everything was booked and we had to phone round and cancel. It was awful, especially with Sadie so ill.” d deman and g firm heatin cancel led. Point t the Contac ct is have contra d didnot that the granda your Ifthey sign. out that ty to las capaci counci the the involve proper , ty. refuse the they own wrote to Sadie’s GP requesting a copy of her medical records.
“Sadie had previously suffered from heart problems but the special ist at the hospital provided a letter to say the bleed was not pre-existing.
“Her reason for admission was a new diagnosis. So we couldn’t have disclosed it on the initial insurance form in any case.” But, in May, E&L said they would have placed an exclusion on the policy based on Sadie’s medical history.
Helen said: “I cal led their claims department and emailed to say I wanted to take things further.”
The pair booked a week’s holiday to Las Vegas on May 31 and married there. Helen said: “We were so down and my sister said, ‘ You don’t need us there. Why don’t you just go and get married?’ So we did.”
Sadly, Sadie, 74, died on June 22 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Helen appealed the decision with E&L, who still refused to pay, then called me in to warn others.
She said: “Paul has since taken ill with an acute kidney injury. Please help.”
I got on to E& L. They said: “Despite knowledge that her mother-in-law had been ill, Miss Cameron failed to disclose this to us.
“If we had known, we would have placed exclusions on these specific illnesses.
“This is a very sad situation but we feel the claim was dealt with honestly and correctly.”
The couple are now taking their case to the Ombudsman. And I’ll be right behind them. Lesley Ferguson was in a spin when her washing machine broke.
The £170 appliance wouldn’t drain, then stopped spinning.
She called Argos but they wanted £108 to send an engineer.
Lesley, of Parkhouse, Glasgow, said: “The year’s warranty is technically up but I used the machine for n to