My wife, Kelly O’Brien, headlines a Dolly Parton tribute act. On August 4, she and her band were flying from Heathrow to Dublin to perform at the All Together Now festival near Waterford.
The barcodes on the boarding passes of two members of the gang worked, but the barcodes of the other four members did not. BA reprinted the passes five times, but the barcodes still didn’t work.
As a result, BA did not allow these four to board the flight and they were unable to find seats on other flights that arrived on time. So the stranded members booked an Aer Lingus flight to Cork and from there an expensive taxi to Waterford.
BA refuses to refund any of the costs, even though the band had to wait six hours for the flight to Cork and were offered nothing in terms of food and drink. They arrived on time and the concert was a success, but we would appreciate your help in bringing BA to their senses.
BV, Hertfordshire.
Sally Hamilton responds: “It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it,” as Dolly Parton’s hit song Nine-To-Five laments.
His wife seems as feisty as the real Dolly Parton. Replacement tickets and other costs amounted to £1,380 and he was not going to let BA ignore his claim.
He tried customer service and was told that his team had been denied boarding due to lack of documentation and that nothing more could be done. She told the airline that this did not seem true, since all of her travel documents and boarding passes had been printed numerous times; the barcodes simply did not work when presented.
She was later told the flight was overbooked, but she didn’t believe it and took a photo of four empty seats on the flight.
Kelly raised his complaint to BA’s executive level, but still failed to resolve the matter.
More than a month later, I joined the fight. Customer services then offered him a £300 voucher as compensation for a late check-out. She rejected this.
Days after I intervened, BA finally agreed to pay £1,380 for replacement flights and taxi fare from Cork to Waterford.
He also added statutory compensation of £880 – £220 for each band member who was denied boarding. Under regulation UK261 (previously EU261), this must be paid if someone is kicked off a flight through no fault of their own and a subsequent flight takes them to their destination more than three hours late. Longer flights generate more compensation.
At the end of July I received my new television license, in my husband’s name. He died last December and while I was changing accounts from his name to mine, I didn’t think about the TV licence, especially as payments were still being made from our joint bank account, which changed to my sole name in January.
When I informed TV Licensing at the time of renewal, I was told that the license would be canceled and a new one would be issued with a new payment mandate. My interpretation of the confusing new agreement is that they are charging me for six months that I have already paid for. I asked about this but was told I couldn’t claim a refund for six months after my husband died because I hadn’t informed them. Please help.
CF, Ormskirk, Lancashire.
Sally Hamilton responds: When you described your new payment arrangement to me, I was so taken aback that I felt I needed the same analytical skills as BBC TV’s latest detective, Ludwig.
He was told that from October 1 this year he would have to pay £42.39 for the first month, £42.37 for each of the following three months and then, from February 2025, £14, 18 a month for six months. From August 25, it would be set at £14.12 a month.
I contacted TV Licensing, part of the BBC, for a plain English explanation of their calculations so that you and I could be sure that the sums claimed were correct.
TV Licensing explained that unlike most utility bills, which tend to be paid in arrears, the license fee is a fixed sum collected annually in advance. If a viewer chooses to pay upfront, the charge is £169.50 for a color licence, which allows them to watch live TV programmes, access services such as ITVX or use iPlayer for a full year.
But those who obtain a license for the first time and want to pay by monthly direct debit find their payments start higher and then reduce. This happens because the rules say that the cost of the first license must be covered in six months or less. After six months, license holders have paid for a full year’s license and begin paying for the following year’s license in 12 monthly installments of £14.12.
It seemed like they were asking him to catch up on a fee he believed had already been paid. However, it turns out that her late husband, who died aged 83, had a free license for over-75s until 2020, when it was withdrawn from anyone without pension credit.
It had a special payment schedule for those who previously had a free license, allowing you to pay monthly as you go rather than up front, and the plan died with it, or when that year’s license expired in July.
Their schedule was to pay for the new license from scratch in four months, which is why the initial sums were so high.
They were not asking her to pay more for the six months since her husband’s death, but rather they were asking her to pay as a first-time licensee who wanted to pay monthly.
TV licensees admit customer service made a mistake by saying she couldn’t get a refund for not telling them of her husband’s death; It wasn’t relevant.
If a license holder dies and the license needs to be transferred, please call the bereavement line on 0300 131 1261. Find out more at tv licensing.co.uk. Your confusion is understandable; It could be said that it is more complex than necessary.
But, like the cases investigated by TV host Ludwig, in the end there is usually an answer to the riddle.
Straight to the point
Wizz Air overbooked my flight to London in August and I had to fly to Liverpool the next day; a lot of extra time and money was spent. The airline promised me compensation of 400 euros but I have not received anything.
MH, via email.
Wizz Air apologizes and says the claim has been processed. Due to a technical error, there was a delay in receiving the refund.
More than two years ago Thames Water installed a water meter. A few months ago I still thought my charges were too high so I called Thames Water and they said I didn’t have a meter. I want compensation for the overpayments I have made.
ME, London.
Thames Water apologizes. Although he installed a meter in his house, it was not activated. An engineer has activated it and has been paid £387.31 as a gesture of goodwill.
Last November I traveled to Rotterdam, but I left a jewelry box in the ferry cabin. The DPD collected the case from the ferry company, but it has now disappeared. We thought our package was insured for £15,000 but then we found out they don’t insure jewelery but no one told us.
JN, via email.
DPD says it believes the package was misdelivered, but a “potentially relevant recipient” denies having it. He apologizes, but there is no room for compensation since the contents are on his banned list.
In April I had a stroke, but I remembered I took out a critical illness policy almost 25 years ago and was still paying the premiums, so I made a claim. But six months later I still don’t have the money. My husband and I support two children on one income. The policy payout is £65,000.
ZC, Bedfordshire.
The insurance company apologizes and has already paid the full amount
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY or email sally@dailymail.co.uk; Include the phone number, address, and a note addressed to the offending organization giving you permission to speak with Sally. Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot be responsible for them. The Daily Mail cannot accept any legal responsibility for the answers given.
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