SALLY SORTS IT has recovered £1,064,994 for readers in 2024… here are her top six tips for complaining to companies

Sally Sorts is pleased to reveal that the column has recovered over £1m for readers by 2024.

While I’m thrilled with the total raised, I’m proud of every penny I helped return to readers’ pockets.

The aim of the column is to help set the record straight for readers who are struggling to sort things out for themselves and hopefully achieve an outcome that is fair, whether the financial outcome is a few pounds, or six figures that be refunded or wiped away.

One of the smallest victories was the cancellation of a £100 parking charge for a woman who had struggled to download and use a parking app and left the car park 15 minutes later without having parked her car.

My inbox is full of motorists frustrated by unfair fines handed out by parking companies.

The total included cash handed over in compensation, reimbursement of fraud losses, previously denied insurance benefits, money released from accounts hitherto held captive or lost by banks and investment firms, legitimate refunds on which, sometimes a year of waiting, and incorrect refunds. bills waived.

One of the biggest wins last year was when a reader got in touch after asset manager St James’s Place made a mistake after cashing out their investments to pay a £213,197 inheritance tax bill, only to have it go missing from HM Revenue and Customs.

Following my intervention, the company made a second payment for the same amount to the tax authorities so that the reader would not be penalized for late payment (and handed the reader £500 for the inconvenience), while it sued the tax authorities for a refund from the misaddressed original payment. .

Adding up the major and minor cases, the total amount recovered was £1,064,994. My mission is to ensure that readers are treated fairly by financial services and consumer companies.

All too often, organizations are shown to show reckless disregard for their customers. Whether it’s an over-reliance on robotic customer service systems or poor staff training, there are many situations where customers become irate because they can’t resolve a simple complaint.

It shocks me that some companies are pushing away customers with valid issues too quickly. For example, I have dealt with two cases where policyholders made a claim on critical illness policies but were rejected when they said they had suffered a cardiac arrest.

But after my intervention they had their medical conditions fully investigated and ultimately the insurers involved, LV= and Aviva, in both cases found ways to pay £50,000 each to their policyholders.

I hope that the organizations that made a mistake in 2024 decide not to repeat the same mistakes.

But I confidently predict that consumer champions won’t be out of a job by 2025.

As with any long-running drama, some actors regularly appear in this column. Transport for London (incorrect charges), British Airways (no compensation) and Tesco Bank (miscellaneous, including a doubling of driver premiums after a case of mistaken identity) have appeared more than once in the past year.

Anonymous scammers have featured on several occasions, from those posing as caring banks and tricking victims over the phone into moving their balances to ‘safe’ accounts, to the nasty taxi scam in Paris where a brazen driver duped a reader ¤ 500 for a five minute taxi ride.

Some financial organizations offered refunds after my intervention (John Lewis for the taxi scam), but others (Revolut and Chase Bank) stubbornly refused despite my efforts, forcing customers to seek help from the ombudsman.

There have been cases where money was not the most concerning aspect of a complaint.

One episode involved a woman whose deceased husband’s ashes had been mislabeled by a funeral director’s assistant, leaving her tormented as to whether they were his.

At my request, Co-op Uitvaartzorg conducted further investigation. It was concluded that the ashes were his, but the widow remained upset.

It was small compensation, but she was awarded £750 and the company confirmed it had retrained staff.

The sheer number of cases investigated last year has produced a host of practical tips that all readers can use if something similar goes wrong. And if this doesn’t work, please contact me at the email address below.

1. FORMULATION OF THE STUDY POLICY

A Curry customer was denied full cover for repairs to a computer damaged when she fell into a canal, despite paying £800 in insurance premiums over the years for the retailer’s policy that promised the computer for free to repair.

The wording proved that she was entitled to a free repair. One item read: ‘If you need support and advice or your product is not working for any reason. . . we will repair or replace the Product.’

2. KNOW WHERE PURCHASES COME FROM

A reader bought a wig from what she thought was a British company: wigsell.co.uk.

But when she went to return the ugly hairpiece in the wrong color, it turned out that the goods had been shipped directly from China and it would cost £50 to return the £66 wig.

At my suggestion, she filed a successful chargeback claim through her credit card company.

This is a voluntary system by banks whereby card transactions can be reversed if goods are found to be of incorrect quality, not as described or do not arrive at all.

Remember to check the return policy and where you are purchasing before making a purchase. If all else fails, consider a chargeback claim.

Chargeback allows a bank to take the money sent to a merchant and return it to your account.

Customers must normally do this within 120 days of the disputed transaction.

3. USE SECTION 75 OF THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT

This heroic piece of legislation helped several readers out of trouble last year. Similar to chargeback, but legislated, it protects customers who make purchases of more than $100 and less than $30,000.

It means that a credit card provider is equally responsible for a breach of contract or misrepresentation by a retailer.

In one case I solved, a woman was able to be fully reimbursed after purchasing £12,000 worth of clothes from online fashion brand Matches shortly before it went bankrupt.

4. SEEK HELP FOR SMALL CLAIMS

It is often the last resort, but it can be an asset. A reader who felt misled into staying at Alton Towers when its most famous attractions were closed won his case for a full refund.

5. REMEMBER THAT INSURANCE DIES WITH YOU

THE case of a man whose brother died, leaving him with an uninsured car to care for, raised the question of what generally happens when someone dies.n

In another case, a widow was turned down for a £1,500 pet insurance claim because she left the policy in the name of her husband, who had died two years earlier.

She had assumed that the relevant name on the policy was that of the pet, not the owner. Through my intervention, the insurer arranged the policy and the damage was paid out.

6. FORGET MY THREE Ps

PATIENCE, perseverance and courtesy are essential when filing a complaint. Treat the person dealing with you with respect and chances are he or she will try to help.

My perseverance paid off for a reader whose Revolut prepaid card was swiped by a fraudster while she was on holiday in Africa.

I got the answer I thought was right: a full refund. I’m sure it helped that I stayed calm and kept my manners in check.

Sally@dailymail.co.uk