Travel insurer agrees reader’s friends were due a full refund

My elderly neighbours are having terrible difficulties claiming money back from Insure and Go after they had to cancel a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the US to visit family. They have had some money back, but it seems the airline they were due to use is withholding a large chunk of the £2,487 they paid. They have been caused much distress and ill health due to the worry. EW, Braintree, Essex

This case has taken some considerable time to unpick, but here goes. Your neighbours paid £2,487 for four return flights to San Francisco through travel agents Chelmsford Star Coop and then, sensibly, took out their own travel insurance with Insure and Go, paying £180 for a single trip policy.

Due to ill health, the trip had to be cancelled and a claim was submitted to Insure and Go. After deducting the airline administration fee and being reimbursed the numerous US taxes and UK air passenger duty, there was still a shortfall of around £800 which couldn’t be explained, and which your neighbours wrongly blamed on the airline. After investigation, I discovered that the flight broker used by Chelmsford Star had wrongly included the £197 fuel surcharge per ticket in the category of “tax” on the invoice, for which the insurer would not ordinarily be liable. After I pointed this out, Insure and Go agreed that the problem stemmed from the documentation it was sent and a further no-quibble refund of £788 is now on the way.

Your neighbours were overjoyed and I know that this money, which they thought was lost, will make a big difference to their lives. If ever there was a case of job satisfaction as the Capital Letters columnist, this was it.

Answering your letters this week is Steve Playle, Trading Standards officer and Team Leader at Surrey Trading Standards Service.

We welcome letters but regret we cannot answer individually. Email: capital.letters@guardian.co.uk. Please include a daytime phone number.

Sat Link Services sold my elderly mother insurance for satellite TV she didn’t even have

In May, my 89-year-old mother was persuaded by a cold-calling telephone adviser from Sat Link Services Limited of Bognor Regis to take out an annual £60 insurance policy for satellite TV equipment that she doesn’t even have. I have tried complaining and cancelled my mother’s debit card but she has still paid £60. JE, Sheffield

You tell me your mother suffers from memory lapses and general confusion, and this is a nasty case of the ruthless exploitation of a vulnerable person.

My colleagues at West Sussex Trading Standards tell me Sat Link Services Limited (there is a proposal to strike it off from Companies House) sold insurance on behalf of Satellite Direct UK Limited, now in liquidation.

Enforcement action is being taken but this will not get your mother’s £60 back.

The lesson is to remind the elderly about scams like this and consider setting up transaction limits on sole signatory bank accounts. It may seem like a modest sum but it could be a lot worse for others if precautions are not taken.

Answering your letters this week is Steve Playle, Trading Standards officer and team leader at Surrey Trading Standards Service.

We welcome letters but regret we cannot answer individually. Email: capital.letters@guardian.co.uk. Please include a daytime phone number.