My garage roof was torn off and my greenhouse was destroyed in a bad storm last November.
I made a claim on my home insurance with Direct Line, who sent a surveyor who confirmed that the garage roof was beyond repair and needed to be replaced.
I arranged quotes, all of which were over £5,000 just for the roof. Replacing the broken greenhouse and broken garage door would cost hundreds of dollars more.
The insurer said its own contractors would do the repairs.
At first I thought this was fantastic. I could miss the stress of handling the claim on my own since I am a single mom and work multiple jobs.
Insult: Direct Line tried to swindle a home insurance customer – whose garage roof was torn off in a storm – with a paltry £2,000 payout
But weeks went by, and after calling Direct Line countless times, I was finally told that the contractors couldn’t get the parts to replace the roof.
In the end, the insurer offered a cash settlement of £2,000 – and let me handle the repairs myself.
But that’s not nearly enough to cover the costs. I am so disappointed with the service I received. Please help.
LM, Dunbar.
Sally Hamilton replies: I receive many letters from concerned readers who feel shortchanged in the amounts their insurers are offering to meet valid claims. But I felt that the amounts Direct Line suggested to you were the deciding factor.
The premiums for home insurance policies have risen sharply, as anyone who has recently renewed a policy knows.
One of the reasons for the rising prices is that the cost of building materials and labor is skyrocketing. Insurers have to pay more to cover the repair bills of successful claims – which is why they raise their premiums to balance their books.
If materials and labor cost more, why did Direct Line think you could repair your damaged property for less than half the price of the quotes you received from various contractors?
I have contacted Direct Line to request that your claim be reviewed and settled once and for all with a more acceptable amount. That was at the end of February.
After about eight weeks, it decided it would pay the full cost of your claim after all.
It has now paid you £8,042 less £250 for the deductible, which is the amount you must pay as your share of the claim, as agreed in your policy.
The final payout is four times what it tried to rip you off when it failed to organize the repair work for you.
You told me that while the process has been exhausting and “like drawing blood from a stone,” you are pleased with the outcome.
A spokesperson for the insurer says: ‘We have investigated LM’s concerns regarding a home insurance claim, following storm damage to her home, which we realize has taken longer than usual to resolve.
‘We have agreed that the total costs for the repair will be covered by Direct Line, subject to the deductible.
We also offered compensation for the inconvenience caused. We understand this has been frustrating and apologize unreservedly.”
The lesson from your story is that homeowners should not simply accept what an insurer initially offers after a claim if the amounts are not correct.
PayPal scammer hacked into my account and stole £2,800
I was shocked to receive a demand from PayPal in January for £2,808.
It appears that someone has accessed my account and spent money. I wrote to customer service to cancel my account and notified my bank.
Although I explained to PayPal that someone had hijacked my account, I received no response.
PayPal then sent me a notice of default on the payments.
I wrote to the collection manager and again I heard nothing from them. I also called to explain the situation. But then I got another notice of default in March.
Can you please help?
CC, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leics.
Sally Hamilton replies: PayPal is a widely used online payment system, which allows customers to buy goods from retailers without entering their bank card details.
PayPal customers can securely store their bank details in the virtual ‘wallet’. Then, when they want to make an online purchase, they can do so through PayPal by entering their email address and password.
Shoppers can choose to pay via PayPal, debit or credit. With the credit system, customers are not immediately written off. Instead, they receive a monthly bill.
You told me that you rarely use PayPal credit and prefer to use the debit system because you usually spend relatively small amounts that you can pay upfront.
So you were shocked to see a bill for £2,808 on your credit statement. The perpetrator who hacked into your account went shopping for three weeks, buying mostly luxury goods online from John Lewis.
Since you were struggling to get PayPal to pay attention to your issue, I intervened on your behalf.
The team looked into it and, I’m pleased to say, refunded the full amount a few days later and added £150 as a gesture of goodwill.
PayPal also told you how to safely regain access to your account. It confirmed that there would be no more attempts to collect money from you and your credit rating would not be affected either.
Can our wedding gift evade inheritance tax?
Can we give our granddaughter a wedding present in money without paying inheritance tax?
My husband and I are in our 80’s.
JE, Solihull.
Sally Hamilton replies: The short answer is yes. You can even give away up to £17,000 using various inheritance tax options.
As grandparents, you can each hand over £2,500 to a grandchild using an exemption called ‘gifts in compensation for marriage’ and it will immediately be exempt from Inheritance Tax (IHT).
The gift must be made shortly before the marriage or civil partnership, not after, and would no longer be exempt if your granddaughter did not allow the marriage to go ahead.
You may also be able to hand over a further £3,000 each as anyone can give away up to this amount each tax year without attracting IHT.
If you did not make any donations last year, you can also use up last year’s allowance. That would amount to another £6,000 between you and your husband.
You can only use up last year’s allowances – you can’t rollback claims any further.
In theory, people can give away any sum of money beyond these exempt amounts. But they count as part of your estate for IHT purposes if you die within seven years of donating. IHT is currently charged at 40 pc.
- 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.
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