I have two greyhounds that my late husband and I rescued five years ago. One of them, Tintilla, has fallen desperately ill with cancer.
I paid £1,500 for a scan at the vet and when I called my Animal Friends insurer to claim the cost, they told me it wasn’t covered because the policy was in the name of my husband, who died two years ago.
Surely it is the dog that is covered and not the insured. Please help.
LS, Denbigh, North Wales.
What do you do when your insurance policy is in the name of a deceased person? Our expert Sally Hamilton explains
Sally Hamilton responds: When someone dies, those left are left in emotional turmoil and the practical issues of organizing paperwork can seem insurmountable.
You told me that, two years later, you still find it difficult to function sometimes. Her husband’s death from a heart attack was sudden and she found him on the bathroom floor.
To make matters worse, her husband had always done all the paperwork for both of them.
You had never filed a pet insurance claim in five years, and it hadn’t occurred to you that it would be a problem to continue paying for coverage as before.
This misunderstanding entangled you when seven-year-old Tintilla, whom you had rescued from Spain, fell ill and you wanted to file a claim.
All insurance policies, whether automobile, home or pet, are voided in the event of death. As overwhelming as it may be, those left behind need to contact providers.
When she contacted Animal Friends to file her claim, she was upset that the insurer would not accept her word that her husband had died. She found this so distressing that she simply canceled the direct debit on the two policies covering each of her two dogs.
He felt aggrieved and wrote to me so I could warn others about the dangers of what can happen if you don’t change policy details when someone dies.
When we spoke, you were still upset and willing to forget about the £1,500 vet bill claim. But I suggested that this was too large a sum to leave aside, especially as you and your husband had paid estimated premiums of £7,000 or more over the years.
I asked Animal Friends what I could do to sensitively guide you through the steps to get your claim back on track.
An Animal Friends spokesperson says: ‘We are very sorry to hear that Tintilla has been unwell and that LS feels we have let her down in our support service. At Animal Friends, we pride ourselves on not only providing excellent customer service, but also genuine understanding and support when it matters most.’
She explained that it was necessary to add her name to the policies instead of her late husband’s for security and data protection reasons.
The spokesperson adds: “We also understand that grief is incredibly difficult and complex, so we offered to support her through the process to make this as easy as possible.”
Animal Friends said they would follow up and speak to you again on the phone to reinstate the policies and complete the “transfer of interest” so that they are in your name, both dogs remain covered and your £1,500 claim can be submitted.
It added that, following his comments, it will review its policy on requiring a death certificate to see what additional improvements can be made.
Have you had problems with an insurance policy after the death of a loved one? Email sally@dailymail.co.uk
Barclays wrote to me in November last year to say they were closing my euro account because it was inactive. I didn’t care because I thought the service on this account was terrible. I transferred the balance a long time ago.
Then in March I received a text message telling me that since my ‘currency account’ was inactive it would be closed. I was later surprised to see online that the euro account was still there, but my US dollar account, which had $10,000 (£7,829), was gone. Barclays had closed the wrong account. I can’t solve this. Please help.
ZS, London
Sally Hamilton responds: Steam was practically coming out of your ears, you said, when you realized your mistake. He found guidance on the Barclays website which suggested he should attend a branch to recover the account which Barclays had deemed inactive.
The staff member you dealt with said they couldn’t start the recovery process because you didn’t have a dollar account to transfer the money to and they asked you to open a new one.
The agent then recommended he file a complaint, which he did. Five days later, when she received no response, she went to the customer service chat to try to resolve the matter. Nothing practical was achieved.
You contacted me and I asked Barclays to find out what had gone wrong and reunite you with the $10,000 you were missing.
His investigation concluded that he had sent him two letters, one warning of the closure of the euro account and another for the dollar account. He believes it is possible that he could not have opened the one referring to the dollar account because he assumed it was the same as the first letter, which refers to his euro account.
As far as you were concerned, the dollar account was active and you were happy for the euro account to be closed. Following my intervention, Barclays has arranged to transfer your dollars to a new US dollar account.
Barclays spokesperson said: ‘We take the protection of our clients’ funds and data very seriously. As a result of a period of inactivity in our clients’ foreign currency accounts and no response to our correspondence, the accounts were closed.’
The bank denies any error on its part in closing the account, but has paid him compensation of £100.
Although he was happy to have access to his $10,000 again, he was upset that a single letter was the only contact regarding the closing of the dollar account.
You say that a message in the banking app or a text message notifying you of the closure would have helped you avoid the worry and hassle later.
SCAM WATCH
money-ccox">Be on the lookout for any emails claiming to be from British Gas offering you a quote or a free visit from an engineer to check your boiler.
Do not click on the links in these emails as they will take you to a portal where you will be asked to enter your details, such as your phone number.
Once you have done this, scammers will try to contact you by phone and try to trick you into revealing your banking details.
If you receive this email, please forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk.
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