Episode 12 Rip Off Britain

We asked you who's left you feeling ripped off when it comes to your

holidays, and you came back with a catalogue of travel disasters.

I thought it was a joke, I really did.

You know, I started laughing.

I said, "You cannot be serious."

They were saying it was not their fault. It was unbelievable.

I can't even explain.

So, whether it's a deliberate rip-off,

a simple mistake or a catch in the small print,

we'll find out why you're out of pocket and what you can do about it.

Your stories, your money.

This is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello and welcome to Rip-Off Britain, which this series is all

about some of the disasters that you've told us you experienced while on holiday.

Now, obviously we all hope our trips away will be hassle-free and full of

sunshine, just like it is here in Tenerife,

but occasionally, things do go wrong.

Sometimes horrendously, as we're going to see.

If, for instance, the situation in which you suddenly find yourself

is especially serious or, worse still,

puts the health of someone with whom you're travelling in jeopardy,

finding someone to help to get things resolved is going to be your

priority. But you're going to be miles from home on holiday,

in a country that may have very different rules and regulations and,

of course, an entirely different language.

So it's not always going to be easy to get someone to resolve the

-situation.

-Actually quite a tricky position to be in and, of course,

it won't help if what's likely to be your first port of call,

in other words, the company you booked your travel with,

doesn't necessarily see what's happened

as anything whatsoever to do with them, which, I'm afraid,

applies to some of the cautionary tales we're about to hear.

And, you know, without someone on board to help or even just listen to

you, the road to recovery can feel

a very long one indeed, and very frustrating.

Coming up, a nine-hour wait for a life-saving operation in Mexico,

all because the insurance company back home couldn't confirm

it would cover the cost.

I thought my daughter might die here.

If they don't pay up, we haven't got the funds to pay for this,

what are we going to do?

And a holiday cut short by a life-changing accident.

But whose responsibility is it to put things right?

If that had have been me, I wouldn't have been as strong. I'd have died.

I mean, I used to look at that and think,

"I'm not going to get out of here."

Now, wherever you are, if you have an accident or fall seriously ill,

you're going to want to get treatment as quickly as possible,

but when you're on holiday,

the often inevitable hold-ups and finding the right hospital

or waiting for a doctor to see you

can be magnified by the complications

of getting in touch with the insurance company back home that you

hope will be covering the cost of the treatment you need.

And when every second counts, as it did for the family we're about to

meet, that kind of delay isn't just stressful,

it could even make the ultimate difference to how things turn out.

These holiday snaps with five-year-old Ellie centre stage

should be a reminder of all the good times

on the Whitfield family's recent trip to Mexico.

But it's another image of Ellie from the holiday

that brings back the most vivid memories -

ones they'd like to forget.

August 2016,

and Ellie had been particularly looking forward to the trip as

she was going to play a key role in her grandmother's wedding.

Ellie was really excited to go on the holiday,

we'd had it planned for a year and she was going to be bridesmaid.

It was the furthest that the family had flown together, and with two

children under five, mum Sophie was keen to get the right insurance.

She searched on comparison websites and eventually plumped for a policy

with the company insurefor.com

paying £22.42 for a single trip economy policy, which included free

-cover for the children.

-It was one of the cheapest,

it seemed good value for money

because it had a high level of cover,

so if anything did go wrong, I know I'd be covered.

With everything booked and travel insurance secured,

all the family had to do was look forward to jetting off.

We were all so excited,

we'd paid for it the year before, so we had a full year of waiting for

the holiday and the lead-up to it with the wedding

and all the family going, we all just couldn't wait to go.

And when they arrived, everything seemed just what they'd hoped for.

Our hotel was lovely,

Ellie loved the pool and the little kids' disco in the night.

But four days into the trip, Ellie started to feel unwell.

Sophie initially thought it was just a reaction to the change in water.

Ellie had stomach cramps, she was in a lot of pain.

I was just hoping it was a tummy bug

and everything was going to be all right.

But it soon became clear that it was something far more serious.

She was throwing up bright green sick, temperature, she wouldn't eat,

so we realised there was something more to it.

As Ellie's condition deteriorated,

the family took her to see the hotel doctor.

He felt around her stomach and he noticed it was the right side,

so he suspected it was appendicitis

and he recommended we get an ambulance.

The family was rushed to the nearest hospital, but as is common in this

kind of situation in foreign hospitals,

before the doctor would even see Ellie, let alone treat her,

the family was hit with a demand for cash.

My partner went into the hospital and he came back and said we needed

£2,000 for Ellie to be seen,

and that was just to get into the hospital.

It was a sense of panic at first,

I felt just I needed to get her seen,

so I went into the hospital and rang the insurance.

Hoping that securing payment from insurefor.com was just a formality,

Sophie was surprised when the company said

they'd have to call her back,

and the insurers couldn't give any idea when that might be.

At this point, Ellie was screaming in the waiting room in agony and her

dad had broke down crying, he just wanted to get her seen,

so I was ringing the insurance all the time, just trying to get them to

see how critical she was.

Every moment was critical,

but the minutes turned into hours

and there was still no positive response from insurefor.com.

So Sophie and her partner, Christopher, decided they couldn't

wait any longer and found the money themselves.

My partner's mum put it on a credit card, she said, "Just pay it,

"she needs to be seen," so we just did it.

The credit card authorisation gave the green light for initial tests

while the hospital waited for the insurer to confirm cover.

Ellie had an ultrasound scan and an X-ray, which confirmed that she had

appendicitis and needed emergency surgery.

But the hospital said the only way the operation could be carried out

was if it received confirmation that someone would pay the cost,

which amounted to over £10,000.

And again, to Sophie's horror,

a prompt answer from her insurer wasn't forthcoming.

I was ringing them every ten minutes, telling them, "Look,

"she's in and out of consciousness,

"this is urgent, you need to get her down."

Now, the insurer would argue that behind the scenes it was working hard to get the family

the answer it needed, but it's easy to see that miles from home,

with her daughter's health on the line,

it didn't look that way to Sophie,

especially when Ellie took a turn for the worse

and her appendix actually burst.

At one point, I thought my daughter might die here.

If they don't pay up, we haven't got the funds to pay for this,

what are we going to do?

That was my main worry after sitting in that hospital for nine hours -

will she come through and make it at the other end?

Will I lose her?

Sophie says it was only after the Mexican surgeon himself got on the

phone to the insurers, stressing the urgency of the situation,

that the company was able to finally confirm it would come up with the

-cash.

-It was like a manic rush

once they said she could have the go-ahead for the surgery.

The surgeons rushed in and they had her up in the theatre straightaway.

It was such a relief.

The surgery was a success and Ellie was admitted to intensive care.

But to the family's dismay,

the insurer then said it still wasn't able to confirm whether it

would cover the hospital's after-care following the operation.

The insurance had confirmed that they'd pay for her operation,

but they hadn't confirmed they would pay for her care there afterwards.

Ellie was discharged after two days in hospital,

at which point Sophie says they were hit with a bill for around £4,000,

which appeared to be for her care after the operation.

But I'm afraid even THAT wasn't the end of it.

Just two days later,

Ellie was rushed back into hospital after contracting an infection, and

to Sophie it didn't seem that insurefor.com was in any rush

to confirm it would cover the cost of her treatment this time, either.

And we were back in square one, what were in when we first went.

They treated her for an infection,

they treated her without us paying

any money, but once we got discharged,

we had to pay again on a credit card.

Now, the insurer did guarantee that it would pick up that cost,

which came to around a further £6,000,

but Sophie and her family had to guarantee the full sum

on their own credit card just in case.

So by now, Sophie says they had undertaken to pay out

around £12,000 for Ellie's treatment,

which they'd only been able to do thanks to the help

of generous friends and family.

And although there was some confusion over the total costs,

with prices quoted in US dollars,

Mexican pesos and British pounds,

Sophie knew this could leave her family seriously out of pocket.

I felt really guilty, and the other family members, that they'd had to

put their personal money on a credit card

just for us to get out of the hospital.

Though relieved that Ellie was free to return to the UK,

the couple were distraught at the thousands of pounds of credit card

payments they'd been forced to authorise in Mexico.

And their worries only got worse when,

11 days after they returned home,

the hospital e-mailed Sophie to say it was still pursuing the insurer

for payment. And it suggested she chase up the company, too, to avoid

that £12,000 coming off her and her family's own cards.

My partner was querying, should we sell our car,

should we sell our house, where else would we find the money from?

That was our only options, really.

Well, luckily it didn't come to that because, shortly afterwards,

insurefor.com did pay out and settled the bill

for all of Ellie's hospital treatment.

But Sophie remains upset at why,

throughout all of this, they'd had what she considered

such a slow response from the insurance company.

As far as she's concerned,

the insurer made a traumatic situation many times worse and she

still can't understand why, in an emergency like this,

an answer can't be given right away.

If they'd made that decision quicker, we wouldn't have had to

go through Ellie's appendix bursting and then having to fight off an

infection and being taken back into hospital.

So, how quickly should you expect to get a response from your travel

insurance provider?

Well, personal finance expert Sarah Pennells says

that while every second counts in an emergency,

perhaps surprisingly, there's no set timeframe within which

insurers have to agree to send payment.

I think you're in a very difficult situation if you find yourself in

the circumstances that Ellie's parents were.

There aren't actually any hard and fast rules that say a time limit by

which an insurer should deal with a claim.

And of course, in Ellie's case,

sort of, hours mattered.

All you can do, really, is to make

your voice heard as loudly as possible

and to make sure that the people at the top of the company

know this issue, because sometimes

people who are in the call centres aren't actually

allowed to make decisions that to you and I

might seem to be common sense.

Well, we asked insurefor.com to explain why it took so long to make a decision on

Ellie's care, especially given the critical nature of the situation.

It told us that while it was sorry to hear of the situation and

delighted that Ellie's made a full recovery, it...

Once the written paperwork and key authorisations were received, it did

give the go-ahead for surgery.

And subsequently, after a full

and thorough review of the family's policy,

covered the cost of the rest of the treatment.

The company went on to stress that

it always aims to deal with customers

in the shortest time possible, and though it works with third parties

to administer and underwrite its policies,

it takes full responsibility for the regulation and administration of

those policies to ensure that they are fit for purpose

and meet the needs of customers.

We also contacted the Association of British Insurers,

which told us its members understand the need to respond quickly when

someone needs urgent treatment, and it's...

It says in an emergency situation, insurers will generally give the

go-ahead on a presumption there is cover in place,

keeping in regular contact with the policy holder,

their immediate family and the medical facility overseas to ensure

treatment goes ahead as soon as possible.

In the meantime, though Sophie's trying to concentrate on the good

memories of the holiday, she can't forget the enormous stress

that trying to contact her insurer caused.

From us getting to the hospital to getting an answer from the

insurance for the go-ahead for the operation, we waited nine hours.

I paid that money for the insurance thinking everything would be OK.

Now, as you know, every year we have our pop-up shop.

It's a drop-in advice clinic where you can share your experiences

with us, and most important of all, our experts.

It's all done face-to-face.

Last time around, I heard one story that really did stick in my mind,

and not just because of the dramatic results involved,

but what struck me about it the most

was the way it underlines how important it can be

when things go wrong to have somebody acknowledge the extent

of what you have been through, and really, just to properly listen

to exactly what has happened.

Well, the rest of our team found this particular case

especially memorable, so all of us wanted to find out more.

This year as ever,

our Rip-Off Britain pop-up shop helped dozens of viewers

get an instant resolution to their problem.

-Thank you very much.

-It's an absolute pleasure to meet you.

-Thank you.

-We are very grateful for the help we've had.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, thank you.

Isn't he a nice man?

Lovely.

But when nurses Kate, Linda, Lavinia and Diane

came to get some advice from Simon Calder,

it was clear that theirs was a problem

we were unlikely to be able to resolve there and then.

Tell me what happened.

Their story started back in March 2014

when the ladies had taken a dream holiday to Cuba.

During the holiday, they decided to visit a market nearby,

one of the local attractions,

and the transport they chose to get there

was a traditional horse and trap, which at the welcome meeting,

the reps had pointed out could be taken from within the hotel grounds.

We just went outside, we were directed to the horse and trap...

This is right outside your hotel?

It's within the hotel grounds.

So we climbed aboard and off we went and within ten minutes,

the nightmare began.

After a sudden, loud crashing noise,

part of the steel harness became detached from the horse.

As a result, the cart started to wobble violently

and the panicked horse ran off the road, up a steep embankment,

dragging the cart and all its passengers along after it.

Diane managed to jump out of the trap, shortly before it overturned,

with the other ladies, I'm afraid, trapped inside.

What state were you all in then?

You must have been petrified?

I must've lost consciousness because I don't really remember very much.

My arm was fractured in four places

and the cart had actually landed on my pelvis and it was fractured,

it was dreadful.

Really dreadful, because the ladies all sustained injuries.

With a fractured pelvis and left arm,

Linda spent 11 days in a Cuban hospital,

where the enormity of having such a serious accident

in a foreign country soon hit home.

Just get me home now.

Lavinia, Diane's 72-year-old mum, was left with a neck injury

and both she and her friend Kate suffered from concussion.

Diane had damage to her right shoulder, elbow and hand.

All of them were treated for their injuries in hospital.

But thousands of miles from home,

the whole experience was a really traumatic one.

You just want to get home, don't you, Lind?

I do.

With their holiday totally ruined, as soon as they were well enough,

the ladies flew back to the UK,

Linda by air ambulance.

But their journey to recovery was only just beginning.

As nurses with such busy and physically demanding jobs,

the impact of their injuries on their lives was even more dramatic.

Diane needed five months off work and 18 months of physiotherapy.

Lavinia, Diane's mother, suffered headaches

and the accident has left her severely shaken.

Kate, who received a blow to the head, has been similarly affected.

And for Linda, the injuries she sustained

have had such a lasting impact that she was forced to take

early retirement from the nursing career she just loved,

and she still experiences severe pain from her broken pelvis.

I mean, that is just all so terrifying, isn't it?

And in fact you've brought some photographs, have a look at these.

-Oh, crikey.

-This is obviously Linda.

Yes.

In hospital.

So, I mean, it's just horrendous.

It's not just the injuries that have had an effect on the ladies,

they all feel that the ways in which the incident has been handled

by both their tour operator and their various insurers,

only added to their distress.

What an awful experience for you all and I understand

it's still causing you a lot of problems today.

Let me try to extract the key things here.

There you were on the holiday of a lifetime to a beautiful,

fascinating, but very poor country, Cuba.

You suffer an appalling accident as a result of somebody's negligence.

That seems to be fairly clear,

but it's also clear that the negligence was committed

by somebody who...there's no point suing

because even if you can track him down,

you're going to find he's very poor and therefore,

you are stuck with possibly talking to your tour operator,

who is going to say, at the welcome meeting we certainly mentioned

that these things existed, we did not recommend it

and crucially, we did not sell you that tour,

you decided to enter into a contract with the provider of that

horse and trap journey and therefore your issue is with them.

-They've already said that.

-I'm not surprised.

So having no luck with their travel company,

and with any legal action against the horse and cart owner

unlikely to succeed, the ladies turned to their insurance companies

to see what compensation they might be able to offer

for the life-changing injuries they've suffered.

Did you have travel insurance?

-Yes.

-All of you?

-Yes.

I fear the travel insurance will just say,

"Look, all we are doing is providing backup when things go wrong,

"and if people are going to go off and be adventurous

"in wonderful countries, sadly, things will happen.

"All we are doing is picking up the pieces afterwards

"to the extent that we are able to,

"and unfortunately we are not going to have any kind of long-term

"responsibility for you, for your condition."

Well, only two of the ladies received any money

from their various insurance companies.

Lavinia and Kate received £1,200 each,

but Diane and Linda haven't received one penny.

And in Diane's case, she says that's because her insurers told her

they would only pay out if they thought legal action

would end in a successful outcome.

And with the horse and cart driver based in Cuba,

it didn't seem there was much chance of that one.

But although the ladies all feel they should be able

to blame someone or take their case further,

Simon can't see that there's anything more they can do,

and that news is a bitter blow.

What is making you upset?

The fact that there seems to be little redress?

Is that what's making you upset?

No, it's just the photographs bring it back.

I think to myself, a lovely holiday, my whole life's changed.

A career that I loved has gone.

So sad and it's clear to see how raw this whole experience has been.

So Simon asked Martin James from the Financial Ombudsman Service

what he made of how this tricky case had been handled.

One of the things that's really, really important

is knowing that you've actually done as much as you can

and at least your voice has been heard.

I get the impression you've really not been listened to very much.

Only today.

Certainly, there are lots of restrictions on insurance policies,

but the question is what's the right thing to do here?

Sometimes insurance companies can be very, very literal,

and actually it's just a case of finding somebody in charge

to have a look at the whole situation.

I'll ask one of our experts if we can look at the cases together

and see if we can get the insurance company just to kind of respond to you,

-and, at the very least, we'll make sure your voice is heard.

-Thank you.

Back at home, away from the bustle of the pop-up shop,

it's very clear to see the women were still coming to terms

with what had happened to them.

Just get me home.

If that had been me,

I wouldn't have been as strong, I'd have died.

I used to look at that and think, "I'm not going to get out of here."

I've started already!

I know, don't worry, Lind.

My life's completely changed.

Even sitting here now,

I'm in pain down this side

because this is the side where the actual,

the fractures at the back, it buckled.

It's going to be there always, every time it starts up,

I need to do physio.

Now, dreadful as this case is,

it's a very useful reminder of the limitations of what any

travel insurance policy you might have is likely to cover.

Because once the overseas medical bills have been paid

and the cost of getting home has been covered,

the insurer's responsibility actually ends there.

And even though the horse and cart may have been suggested

by the holiday rep as a means of getting around,

the journey the ladies took was certainly taken

very much at their very own risk,

a fact they have found out a very hard way.

It all has an impact, I think, because when I came back

I was chatting to people about it and there was a degree

of post-traumatic stress there.

And I don't think that's gone, because I don't talk about it.

The difficulty though, Linda, is, that when we talk about it,

we relive the whole event.

Yeah.

Well, after we filmed with the women,

in one of his last acts before leaving the Financial Ombudsman Service,

Martin James reported back to us with the news

that although the insurance companies in Lavinia, Kate and Linda's case

had not acted improperly, his team's investigation had decided

that in the case of Diane, the insurance company

and its underwriters could have done better in communicating

their reasons for not paying out,

and as a result, they promised £150 by way of apology.

But far more important than the money for all of the women

is having had someone to listen to their complaint

and take it seriously, and that's something I'm very glad to say

we were able to provide at the pop-up shop that day.

And although that isn't to say the ending is a happy one,

they'd all agree that it's gone a little way towards speeding up their recovery.

I was absolutely thrilled

and we were really excited that actually we'd have the chance

to go and tell our story.

That's all I contacted Rip-Off Britain for,

was to generate a little bit of public awareness

of when you're involved in something bad like we were,

nobody really is there to help you.

If you have a story you'd like us to investigate,

then we now have even more ways to get in touch.

You can join in the conversation on our Facebook page,

just look for BBC Rip-Off Britain.

As well as the most up-to-date news, you'll also find exclusive,

behind-the-scenes clips and pictures from the show.

Or you can log onto our website,

bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain,

where there's plenty of advice and fact sheets

full of tips on how you can avoid getting ripped off.

Or, if you'd like to send us an e-mail,

then our address is...

Or indeed, if you want to send us a letter,

then our new address is...

Well, we've heard some deeply upsetting stories

on the programme today, and I have to say

I feel real sympathy for those women who had that awful accident in Cuba.

Not only was the trauma itself difficult to bear,

but what's equally harsh is the fact that it seems

there isn't really anyone who can take responsibility.

They just have to try and move on and put it all behind them.

And so, I think you can totally understand and see

why they just wanted someone, at the very least,

to listen to what they've been through.

And you know, I do think that, quite often,

just being heard can mean as much as compensation to some people,

and it's pretty obvious that, sometimes,

big companies just forget that, don't they?

Yes, they do. And I think what we've all learned from today

is the fact that, no matter what the situation is,

we want people at least to listen to us and maybe give a degree

of understanding or sympathy, whatever goes with the territory,

but generally, it's how an incident is dealt with

that can make all the difference, and I think, on that note,

that's where we've got to leave it for today.

But do please keep sending in your stories and your experiences.

Not just about holidays, of course,

but on any topic whatsoever that you'd like us to investigate.

We've got lots more programmes coming up this year.

But for now, thank you very much for your company,

hope you've enjoyed the programme, and from all of us, bye-bye.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.