I had sepsis and had to cancel my dream holiday to Barbados, but Allianz won’t pay me £7,500: SALLY FIXES IT

In May last year my husband and I made a travel insurance claim worth over £7,500 but it has not been resolved. Despite numerous emails we have exchanged with our insurer Allianz Partners we continue to receive stonewalling. Please help.

SG, Hampshire

Sally Hamilton responds: Your travel claims saga began when, on May 25, 2023, your husband left for a trip to Barbados and you were due to join him on May 31 for a week-long vacation together.

But her plans were thrown into disarray when she suffered severe stomach pains on May 28 and had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance. As soon as he heard about this, her husband took the first British Airways flight home from Barbados.

The next day you had surgery for a burst appendix and remained in the hospital for three weeks, as you unfortunately faced complications, suffering from sepsis, as well as contracting pneumonia and the bacterial infection C. difficile. It took you nine months to regain your health, which must have seemed like an eternity.

His insurance claim seemed to take even longer to resolve.

You provided signed hospital records to Allianz to prove your whereabouts and condition, but the insurer later told you that was not enough and insisted you pay for a note from your GP.

She found this strange, as she had not even seen her GP during her health crisis. However, she complied and was given a note saying that she was indeed in hospital with a burst appendix.

You claim that Allianz continued to ask for more information over the following months, even demanding a letter from BA to confirm that you had failed to show up for your flights. You would have thought that being seriously ill in hospital would have been sufficient proof, but apparently that was not the case.

In August, another medical certificate was requested (this time for her husband’s claim) as the claims handlers wanted to know why she had returned home early. Shame on her! Clearly there was a breakdown in communication at this point. She made a claim and received £150 as an apology.

You eventually obtained your no-show flight information from BA and passed it on to Allianz in early March 2024, but the claim was still not paid.

In May, desperate, you contacted me. I was shocked to read how far you had been forced to go, but still got nowhere after so many months.

When someone takes out travel insurance, the goal is not only to provide peace of mind should the worst happen, but also to come to the rescue when the insured needs to use it. A claim should be processed smoothly and with as few obstacles as possible. I felt that he had been seriously defrauded.

Following my intervention, I am pleased to say that your turbulent claim has finally taken the right path.

Within days, Allianz Partners apologised and agreed to cover all the costs of your cancelled trip and the extra flight your husband took, plus £1,500 in compensation. In total, you received £9,189.

Allianz Partners admits mistakes were made with its claim but insists cases like its own are rare and that it handles more than 100,000 travel claims a year, most of which are resolved within 15 days.

A spokesman said: “We have written to Mr and Mrs G to apologise as our service in this case fell far short of the standard they and we expect. We have now paid their claim in full and a further payment by way of apology.”

I applied to transfer £20,000 from my Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA to a Cash ISA with Halifax. I handed in the forms at my local Halifax branch, but after hearing nothing for 30 days, I persisted.

When I finally got through on the phone, Halifax confirmed my request, but nothing has happened since. I have lost around £300 in interest in three months and have called and sent messages with no response. Please help.

SM, Belper, Derbyshire

Sally Hamilton responds: The government clearly sets out the rules for switching tax-advantaged ISAs. If savers are switching from cash ISAs, they must be completed within 15 working days. But as it is recognised that switches involving stocks and shares ISAs are more complicated, providers have 30 calendar days to do so.

To activate the switch, customers must contact the provider they are switching to and complete an ISA transfer form, as you did. It is important to complete a transfer form, not just cash out an ISA to transfer the funds elsewhere, as savers cannot roll over that part of their tax-free allowance again.

Once the new provider receives the transfer form, it is their responsibility to contact the provider you are leaving to set up the transfer. Clearly something went seriously wrong with your transfer as it had been almost three months by the time you contacted me and there was no word on the fate of your new ISA. I asked Halifax to get their act together and set up your transfer.

Halifax quickly investigated and confirmed that it had received your request to transfer your stocks and shares in your Fidelity ISA into one of its cash ISAs. It claims that it then sent instructions by email and post to Fidelity, although not as quickly as it should have done, in my opinion. It was also very slow in informing Fidelity of the whereabouts of the funds.

Fortunately, a few days after my intervention, I finally received her £20,000 electronically into her new cash ISA. I asked Fidelity to explain its role in the transfer mishap. It believes the initial transfer request from Halifax was sent via an encrypted email, which could not be opened.

He says he asked for an unencrypted version or for it to be sent by post, but received nothing. Halifax says it sent a version by post and by email. Obviously, there was a communication problem all this time, but when the two sides finally started working closely on their transfer, the problem was quickly resolved.

A Halifax spokesperson said: “We regret the delay Ms M experienced in switching her ISA to us. While we were waiting for the funds from the other provider, we recognise we could have done more to sort things out sooner.

‘The funds are already at Isa’s house, Mrs M, and we have made a payment to ensure that she does not lose money.’

Halifax paid you £436, which included backdated interest and £125 as an apology for your bad experience. You have given the compensation to SSAFA, an armed forces charity you support.

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