My friend died of a stroke but Silverstone won't refund £538 tickets bought for his 50th: SALLY SORTS IT

My best friend of 33 years died suddenly in June. Tragically, he had a stroke just 13 days after his 50th birthday.

His children had clubbed together at Christmas to buy him two general admission weekend tickets for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July. They had planned for it to be a treat as part of his 50th birthday celebrations. He was excited beyond words, and I was fortunate enough to be his plus one.

His family and I are absolutely devastated by his death. Their distress was compounded when his children contacted Silverstone to explain the situation and ask for a refund.

They were shocked to be told that no refund would be given, and the tickets could not be transferred or sold on. It is shameful that they could be so cruel. The owner of the Airbnb I had booked for the weekend refunded the full cost, so why can’t Silverstone? G.S., Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Sally Hamilton replies: I was saddened to read about your friend’s death at such an early age and like you, was shocked that his children were refused a refund for the special treat they had planned for his milestone birthday.

One of his daughters attempted to get the not insubstantial £538 back, but was confused to be told the main ticket holder had to retain one ticket, while the other could be given away perhaps to a family member.

She felt this was inappropriate as no-one in the family was in a fit state to attend the event, and neither were you.

Upset by the response, she decided to just let the matter lie as she was in no mood to fight.

But you were so fired up when you heard what happened that you went into overdrive and got in touch with me.

I contacted Silverstone to express my concern at the situation.

I am pleased to say it saw immediately that something had gone wrong and its resolution was speedy.

It contacted your friend’s daughter the same day to apologise and arrange for the money to be returned.

It said that his daughter had been given a standard response regarding refunds by an inexperienced team member who failed to escalate the matter to a more senior decision maker.

A spokesman says: ‘As soon as we were made aware of the situation, we called (the customer) to express our heartfelt condolences and to apologise for our oversight.

‘We would never wish to add to their upset at this difficult time. Of course, we agreed to immediately refund the tickets.’

Can Sally Sorts It help you?

Do you have a consumer problem you need help with? Email Sally Hamilton at sally@dailymail.co.uk include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton.

Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them.

No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail or This Is Money for answers given.

British Gas wants £5,858 from my son…

My son has had a dreadful two years dealing with British Gas.

He had billing issues which, after much back and forth he thought were successfully resolved. British Gas confirmed his bills were up to date, returned £590 of his money and paid him compensation of £30.

He then switched to Octopus, and thought his troubles were over. But then he received another bill from British Gas for nearly £4,000 – which he disputed yet again. They then reissued it – for £5,858. Please help him. S.H., Stourbridge, W. Mids.

Sally Hamilton replies: You told me how the stress in trying to resolve his billing nightmare for over two years has taken its toll on your son and his wife.

While he was battling to prove he didn’t owe the high sums British Gas demanded, the couple were trying for a baby. Nothing was happening so they made an appointment for IVF treatment.

As luck would have it, they finally managed to conceive naturally. Your son thinks it is no coincidence that this was soon after they thought the frightening gas bill had finally gone away.

With this financial worry seemingly behind them, everything was looking bright again – until the bombshell £5,858 gas bill recently landed in their account. Your son was reduced to tears when he saw it.

You came to me in the hope I could get British Gas to see sense over this crazy bill and end your son’s torture.

The energy supplier agreed to investigate. Some days later it came back to me with an explanation.

Your son had been thrown in to this purgatory, it emerged, because his previous energy provider was Bristol Energy, part of Together Energy, which went bust in January 2022. British Gas was appointed ‘supplier of last resort’ by the industry regulator Ofgem and took over Together’s customers.

SCAM WATCH

Mobile phone users should beware fake text messages claiming to be from delivery company Evri, consumer website Which? warns.

In these texts, fraudsters claim that ‘the item’ has been put on hold due to incorrect address information and cannot be delivered.

The messages ask you to update your address by clicking on the link provided and this must be done within 24 hours.

But the link should not be clicked on as it can lead you to malicious websites that steal your information. Instead forward the message to 7726 and then delete it.

Customers are meant to experience a smooth transition in such circumstances, but I’m afraid it didn’t work out that way for your son.

After I got involved, British Gas finally applied fuel to its investigations and found that Together had given it the wrong meter details for your son’s supply, which triggered the catalogue of errors over his billing. It has now established the correct meter credentials and put the account on hold while working out what your son genuinely owes.

It has also taken into account official back billing rules, which state that you cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if you have not had an accurate bill for it before, even though you asked for one.

It’s shameful that British Gas did not discover this meter error during your son’s many interactions with customer service.

This could have spared him more than two years of torment. Instead, he was constantly told the bill reflected his consumption, with British Gas adding to his financial woes by increasing his quarterly direct debit threefold to £424 while the account was ‘under review’ from February to May this year.

Your son and I waited and waited for British Gas to resolve matters, but it turned out it had hit problems in resolving your case because your son is now with Octopus Energy.

I wasn’t totally convinced by this explanation, but the good news is that British Gas finally took the pragmatic approach and extinguished the erroneous £5,858 bill and by way of apology for what your son has been through, also wiped the true bill, which turned out to be £2,291 for both gas and electricity. Quite right.

A British Gas spokesman says: ‘The customer came over to us through the supplier of last resort process after his previous energy provider went into administration.

‘They gave us the wrong meter details when we took over his supply which caused the issue with his bill. We’ve spoken with him to say sorry for not resolving this when he first contacted us.’

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

I was due to fly to Biarritz on May 13 with my wife but in March was told I have an incurable blood cancer. I informed Ryanair and was given a voucher to use on a future flight, which I obviously cannot use. I have asked for a cash refund or to cancel the voucher so I can claim on my travel insurance but have been told it cannot do this. B.C., Gateshead.

Ryanair says after you originally requested a cash refund of £183.46, it was sent to the card you used for the booking. You have now found the money.

***

My husband wanted to renew our Virgin Media phone and broadband package for £33 a month – but we’ve accidentally renewed for a £99 package. We’ve been told we must pay £800 to cancel the contract or opt for a £50 a month package. B.W., West Yorkshire.

Virgin Media says you renewed the package for £64 a month with TV services. The £99 bill included a one-off activation fee. It has removed the TV services to bring your bill to £36 and refunded you the activation fee as a goodwill gesture.

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My smart meter has gone dumb and my wife and I can’t read the old meter as we are disabled. Our energy supplier is supposed to do a reading every three months. They charged us £400 after it was read in November – but then we received a letter in December claiming we’d underpaid by £500, followed by a £1,000 gas bill in March. A.W., Halifax.

You have since had a meter reading, which has cut your bill to £622 and your provider says its customer service has fallen below its standards. It has paid you an extra £250.

***

Last year I was approached in the supermarket by an energy supplier’s salespeople and agreed to switch but when I got home I realise my bills were cheaper with my existing provider. I cancelled the switch but was still charged £165 by the new provider. I’ve been promised refund via a cheque but this has not happened. S.R., via email.

The energy provider apologises and says as your account was closed it was unable to refund part of your direct debit payment. You will now be refunded along with a £100 goodwill gesture.

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