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I hope you can help me get a refund from Imagine Cruising after health issues prevented my wife and I from traveling to Australia for a reunion with friends in Perth.
This would be followed by a trip on the Indian Pacific train to Sydney and then a cruise around New Zealand.
When we booked the £21,000 holiday in May 2020, with a £7,562 deposit, we were fit, well and fully covered by an AXA travel policy through my former employer.
Down payment: A couple has €7,500 left over after being forced to cancel a £21,000 cruise holiday
Covid intervened and Imagine offered to postpone the holiday for a year.
Then Covid intervened again and it was agreed to postpone the booking for another year, until November 2022.
Meanwhile, AXA stopped providing travel insurance, so we had to look for another insurer and we did. But unlike our AXA policy, this one does not cover pre-existing medical conditions.
In April of this year, my annual prostate cancer scan and biopsy revealed that an original diagnosis, in 2018, of low-grade and non-aggressive cancer had changed, with the cancer becoming aggressive and beginning to spread. I was given a date in July to have my prostate removed.
Around the same time, my wife needed a complete hip replacement.
As both operations require months of recovery, we decided that it was not possible to travel and decided not to pay the balance. But we were shocked when Imagine refused to refund our deposit.
When we booked the holiday we were fit and fully covered with travel insurance. It wasn’t our fault that AXA cut coverage. We cannot afford that much money.
DM, Scarborough.
Sally Hamilton replies: You and your wife have definitely been in some rough water lately with your health.
You hoped Imagine Cruising would be more understanding of your situation, especially when you explained that you had taken out comprehensive coverage at the start of the booking process and it wasn’t your fault it couldn’t go ahead.
Without Covid, your trip would have gone on as planned, before you and your wife’s health started to deteriorate.
Moving the trip one more time, which Imagine did offer, was clearly not a suitable option.
Your cancer surgery (from which you are now slowly recovering) and your wife’s hip replacement are serious interventions for 70-somethings like you.
I asked Imagine if it would reconsider its decision to decline the refund. The spokesperson explained that the cancellation charges you were faced with reflected the charges the company has imposed by its own suppliers, including the cruise line, airline, train operator and other providers.
“Normally these losses would be covered by the customer’s insurance, but I understand the unique situation these customers are in,” she told me, and set out to investigate your case.
Later that day, she returned with the great news that Imagine had decided to arrange a full refund as a “goodwill gesture.”
She added: ‘The processes we follow can be complex at times, depending on individual routes and suppliers involved.
‘In this case, the processes did not fully allow for (these customers’) specific and exceptional circumstances to be sufficiently taken into account.’
You were both ‘overwhelmed’ at this news and, as a thank you for my involvement, you have donated part of the refund to your local Macmillan Cancer Support. I wish you both a speedy recovery.
Can’t claim my German pension
In the 1980s, I worked as a translator in the legal department of a supermarket group in Germany and paid into that country’s state pension scheme.
When I applied for my UK state pension earlier this year, I filled out a form asking if I had ever worked abroad.
I have given details about my period in Germany. I then received forms from the German pension authorities confirming that I was entitled to a pension from them.
As requested, I have provided details of my UK bank account into which the pension is to be deposited.
The form required a stamp from my bank, HSBC (I have been a customer for 22 years), to confirm that I have this account.
When I asked for it to be stamped – it is in both English and German – the cashier said it cannot stamp a document not generated by HSBC. A manager has confirmed that this company policy is due to fraud.
I have explained this to the German authorities, who have confirmed that they will not accept the form unless it is stamped by the receiving bank, also to prevent fraud. I am at an impasse and cannot receive my pension.
MS, Monmouthshire
Sally Hamilton replies: You’re in a Catch-22 situation. The German pension authorities will not issue your pension without a stamped form due to the risk of fraud, and HSBC will not stamp the form for the same reason.
I’ve asked HSBC to help you solve your riddle. It apologized and suggested that it could send you a letter instead.
A spokesperson said: ‘Scammers are criminals who use techniques to defraud people and steal money, and there is a real risk of a replica stamp being used on documents they have created to suggest that they are ‘true and original’.
“We’ve seen this in the past. As such, this is not a service we have been providing for over ten years. The policy protects consumers and companies that may be the target of fraud, and protects the bank and its employees.’
Unfortunately, the promise of a letter was not enough for the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (equivalent to our Ministry of Labor and Pensions), which still demanded a stamp. In the end, HSBC agreed to stamp your form, despite the strict rules. It said it was pleased to have ‘found a solution’.
However, your efforts to secure your German pension continued. The pensions officers will also need proof of your attendance at the University of Leeds, where you graduated in 1978 with a degree in German. You finally received and mailed these papers last week.
You don’t expect a huge boost to your income, but in the current climate every little bit helps.
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — provide phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take any responsibility for them. The Daily Mail cannot accept any legal responsibility for answers given.
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