Questions Of Cash: Diamond's insurance doesn't shine
Saturday, 26 November 2005
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Q. I have been insured, fully comprehensive, with Diamond for several years without making a claim. In August, a car crashed into the back of my VW Polo, writing it off. I received a pay-out of £450.
Cars like mine - K registered, with less than 30,000 miles on the clock - cannot be bought through AutoTrader for less than £900. Diamond rejected my plea for a higher settlement, saying that the cars I had compared were different. Why does my insurance company not seem to be acting in my interests in pursuing the third party's insurers for an adequate sum?
MM, London.
A. Diamond Insurance, part of the Admiral group, apologises for the low offer and the delays in settling your claim. It says that it routinely uses Glasses used-car valuation, but in this instance it failed to take into account the higher prices on your model in London. It has increased its offer to £850, and £100 for personal effects damaged.
Q. I paid off the balance on my Mint credit card of £125 on 10 August and cancelled the card. Since then I have received letters from Mint demanding payment and have incurred late payment charges.
I have printed out bank statements and posted them to Mint, yet I am still being sent letters demanding payment. I phoned Mint, which said it would trace the payment, but this hasn't stopped the letters. Will this have an effect on my credit status?
SH, Hertfordshire.
A. Mint, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland, apologises for an administrative error, which showed a debit entry which should have been a credit. Mint has sent you a cheque to clear a credit balance on your account and will send you a further £50 as a goodwill gesture. It says no adverse comments will be made on your credit record.
Q. I am having problems with BT. In August my phone line stopped working for voice calls. I reported the fault online. An engineer attended and said the cause was a temperamental ADSL microsplitter. He told me I would be invoiced a call-out charge and a fixing fee - but I had not been told I would be charged for the visit and never requested an engineer. The engineer suggested I pay him £20 to sort it out, to avoid an invoice, which I refused to do. Instead I have been charged £135.13, which has been taken from my bank through my direct debit.
MD, Croydon.
A. BT has agreed to write off the charge on the basis that you were not advised of a call-out charge in advance.
Q. My 92-year-old mother lost her July BT phone bill. Her payment reached BT three days after their deadline. They put a £5 fine on her next bill. She had never missed a payment since 1936. On querying the charge I was told that it could not be waived. I'm not going to let her set up a direct debit as BT cannot be trusted to stop taking her money if she goes into care.
CS, by email.
A. BT has credited your mother's account with the £5 charge. However, it insists that it is reasonable to levy a late payment charge. It suggests that your mother should switch to direct debit, to reduce her annual bills by £12.
Q. My Onetel phoneline went dead on 23 August. I phoned the company repeatedly and, despite promises, no one contacted me to resolve the problem and an email was not answered. Eventually I went back to BT.
I then received a final demand from Onetel, although I had not received a bill. I paid the money, but told them they should be paying me £54 for my loss of sales on eBay.
GB, Leamington.
A. Onetel says it is sorry that you had problems and should have responded within 48 hours of you reporting the problem. But Onetel says that its records show that it did speak you on 25 August to advise that the problem was with BT. Onetel has cleared what its accounts show as your outstanding balance and is sending you £54 as a gesture of good will.
Q. My mother is 75 and owns a shop with a flat, which has 18 months remaining on the lease. She receives £8,000 in rent, about half of the current market rate.
The property is worth £200,000. In 18 months she could legally double the rent. The current leaseholder has found someone to take over the lease, but wants my mother to confirm her intention to renew.
My mother has decided to obtain a current market valuation of the property, but also a figure for rent before taking a decision. A financial advisor told my mother that her estate will be liable to about £80,000 inheritance tax and to avoid this she should sell the shop and flat, putting the £80,000 in a trust fund to pay interest to her, exempt from inheritance tax, while investing the remainder elsewhere. I think that if she puts up the rent on her property to the market amount, the income would support her, with her pension, without having the sell the property. What is the IFA suggesting? SM, by email.
A. Tim Cripps, a partner at accountants and consultants Moore Stephens, says it is not obvious what the IFA was suggesting, but this advice should be treated with great caution. Any trust in which your mother retains an interest will be caught by the gift with reservation of benefit provisions for inheritance tax purposes. The assets would remain part of her estate.
Questions of Cash cannot give individual advice. Please do not send original documents. Write to: Questions of Cash, The Independent, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS; cash@independent.co.uk.
