SALLY SORTS IT: My battle to get insurer to pay £150k U.S. hospital bill

While skiing with my family in Utah, USA, on Christmas Eve 2021, I had a serious fall.

I was later diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and spent six days in intensive care.

I had comprehensive travel coverage with a company called Puffin, whose policies are underwritten by Axa.

My daughter-in-law paid over $3,000 (£2,600) to the hospital, with an additional $81.05 (£70) for medication.

To date she has not been refunded and the insurer has still not settled the claim – despite my calling many times.

It has now decided it needs even more medical information from my GP. In addition, a letter has yet to be sent to the US hospital confirming and guaranteeing payment of other bills.

My primary care physician has already submitted my medical history and has stated that Axa has no reason to claim non-payment due to any pre-existing condition that could have caused the health incident.

Can you please help?

HM, Baldock, Herts.

Sally Hamilton replies: You should take it easy after such a health scare. Instead, you’ve had to deal with an avalanche of obstacles to get your ski accident bills paid.

When I contacted you in September, the situation had gone downhill. Your daughter-in-law, who lives in Las Vegas with your son, was pursued by collection agencies on behalf of the hospital you treated for $180,000 (£150,000) in unpaid medical bills.

This was distressing and confusing as she had expected Axa to refund the over $3,000 she was kind enough to prepay on your behalf at the time of the accident.

Over many months of trying to resolve the claim, you say you were cut off more than once while on the phone with Axa customer service.

You later found out that the company dialed the wrong number for you when you tried to call back. It had your email address, but for some reason chose not to contact you this way.

For months, the insurer was still checking your medical history. You mentioned that the family doctor confirmed long ago that your emergency in the US was the result of your slope fall and was not related to a deep vein thrombosis you developed on your knee following surgery five years earlier.

Your frustrations were already at a peak, but a collection agency’s question about the unpaid hospital bills pushed you over the line.

I contacted Axa to ask her to explain her side of events and speed up the claim process. A few days later, it confirmed that it would settle the claim in full.

Defense of the lengthy delays has been the need to hound your GP several times for vital medical documents, said to have been received as late as August.

You dispute this version of events, but Axa insists it was central to the claim’s delay.

Nevertheless, it admitted that the service you received was not up to par and mistakes were made. This also applies to the company calling the wrong phone number and not trying to contact you in any other way.

And the reason why your son’s wife was hounded for those high hospital bills? Axa’s agents in the US had put the wrong dates on the paperwork sent to the hospital to confirm that the insurer would cover the cost of your stay.

It seems the hospital feared it might not get paid, so it turned to the next point of contact – your daughter-in-law.

She should no longer receive e-mails demanding terrifying amounts of money. But if she does, she’ll have to send them straight to Axa.

A spokesperson said: ‘We are deeply sorry for the delay HM has experienced in claiming her travel insurance and for the inconvenience this has caused.

“We carried out a detailed investigation, which revealed that there were a number of external factors that contributed to the delay, such as late medical reports from the GP. We have been in contact with the customer and have fully resolved the claim.’

The insurer paid you an additional £200 as an apology.

Snared by the card payment company’s auto-renewal policy

My partner took on catering for a golf club last November. He signed a 12-month contract with Take Payments to allow customers to pay by debit or credit card.

Unfortunately, the appointment with the golf club did not work out.

When he first met the Take Payments merchant, he was told he would be notified when the contract was up for renewal so he could choose whether or not to go through with it.

But it turns out that the company has an “auto-renewal” policy, which my partner didn’t know.

As soon as he found out, he confirmed that he no longer wanted to continue the contract.

Unfortunately, his call was two weeks late for the apparently required notice period and the company is pushing for his contract to be extended for another year at over £30 a month.

It’s an unnecessary expense at a time when his business is already suffering the effects of the cost-of-living crisis.

UK, London.

Sally Hamilton replies: It seems Take Payments has a very apt name – willing to accept payments from its customers, but less eager to stop them when asked.

Your partner admits that his cancellation was late, but he believes the company could have used his discretion after explaining the situation, including telling him what the salesperson told him about a renewal reminder.

I also thought it could have been more flexible, so I intervened on behalf of your partner.

An executive immediately stepped on the case and I am pleased to say that within about a day your partner received a text informing him that his contract would not be renewed after all, saving him over £360.

I have not received any explanation from Take Payments. But your partner is immensely relieved.

Auto-renewal of any service can be useful, especially for providers, but it’s good practice for customers to be reminded in advance when a contract is about to start again.

• Write to Sally Hamilton of Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send any original documents, we cannot take any responsibility for that. The Daily Mail assumes no legal liability for answers provided.