My husband died on visit to my mum's but insurer won't pay to bring his body home: SALLY SORTS IT

My husband died unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest on Christmas Eve 2025 when we were visiting my mother in Worcestershire for the festive season. Because we were away from home, I had to arrange for his body to be stored by local undertakers initially and then transported to one near home. A short time later, I found the paperwork for our £105 Post Office annual travel insurance policy, which suggested that if someone dies more than 100 miles from home in the UK, the cost of repatriation is covered. This was the case for us, so I made a claim, but it was denied.

Please can you help as it is the principle of the thing more than the money. J.H., Lancashire. Sally Hamilton replies: I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your husband in such circumstances. When you made the claim on your policy on January 2, you said the staff at Collinson Insurance, which provides the Post Office cover, seemed confused by your situation.

You felt they were trying to wriggle out of paying. On one occasion, you were told the claim was invalid as you weren’t on a booked trip, and later it was suggested you should have called the insurer’s medical assistance team when the incident happened. Since your husband had suffered a fatal cardiac arrest, and the NHS was the main medical party involved, this did not cross your mind. The facts you presented were that you and your husband were on a trip to your mother’s home in Worcestershire when the worst happened.

Admittedly it wasn’t a booked holiday, but it still fitted the strict terms of the policy in that you were on a trip that was more than 100 miles from home. You had travelled 111 miles from where you live in Lancashire, with plans to stay with your mother for several nights. Your claim was for a total of £640. After the initial rejection, you put matters aside for a few weeks, but when the final invoice came from the second funeral director, you were prompted to have another go, resubmitting the claim online on March 28.

It was denied again on the basis that your expenses were incurred in your home area. This was annoying enough but you were also upset that the rejection letter was addressed to your late husband, the second time the insurer had made this blunder. When you clarified with the insurer that your costs were incurred in Worcestershire and not in your home area, the insurer asked for more information.

But silence ensued, and after two months you came to me. I asked the Post Office to look again at your claim, and I am pleased to say that within a few days it was finally given the stamp of approval. A Post Office spokesman says: ‘We want to offer our sincere apologies for the way that we have handled J.H.’s claim. 'She was provided with incorrect advice.

Her claim has been settled and escalated, and we will be in contact to provide a fuller explanation of the error.’ It is also paying you £250 compensation for your poor experience, plus the insurance payout. Builder won't return £2,000 sent by mistake Can you help me retrieve £2,000 I sent in error as a faster payment bank transfer to a firm of builders a year ago? My health is being affected by their refusal to engage and return our money. D.B., Loughborough.

Sally Hamilton replies: When I asked you to explain what happened last April, you said you had intended to pay a particular contractor for repairs to your driveway. Instead, you accidentally clicked on another firm’s name on your NatWest account payee list. You hoped that the recipient would return the money that ended up in his account. The firm that received the money had previously done some work for you, which is why they appeared in your list of payees.

However, you told me you had paid for this in full and didn’t owe them anything. It took you a couple of weeks to discover the mix-up, then you contacted the builder who had received the £2,000 directly.

According to you, he said the account you sent the money to, which was with the online bank Monzo, had been closed. After that, you say he refused to acknowledge phone calls, emails and more recently a registered special delivery letter asking him to hand back your money, returned by Royal Mail. If the account was closed, you couldn’t understand why NatWest was unable to retrieve your funds. I asked the bank if it could throw some light on the mystery.

It said it could not get your money back because Monzo had been unable to retrieve the payment from its customer. A NatWest spokesman says: ‘When a customer makes a faster payment, it is sent instantly and cannot be cancelled. We are sorry that there is nothing more that NatWest can do to help D.B. ‘We provide prompts online to help customers check they are making payments to the desired payee, and we recommend double-checking the account details before sending payments, as it isn’t always possible to recoup funds that are sent in error.’ NatWest had been told that because your payment went to an existing payee, and the account was active at the time, it was deemed ‘genuine and authorised’, making the refund request unsuccessful. In an attempt to get a clearer picture, I phoned the number you gave me for the accidental recipient.

It was dead. Another number I found went to answerphone. I also emailed asking for comment, but hit a brick wall. I asked Monzo for input, which threw up an intriguing piece of information.

It told me: ‘During our investigations, we established that the name of the intended and actual beneficiaries matched, and therefore we made a decision that the funds had reached the right person or company. We rejected the case on this basis.’ I was left scratching my head. Were the two builders involved one and the same company? You stuck to your position that you had intended to pay a different firm but chose the wrong payee.

When I asked you by email whether you had also had to pay the correct firm £2,000, you did not reply. I have not heard from you since. As you have gone quiet, it makes me question how solid your case was in the first place. Have you really been left out of pocket and did you make a genuine mistake by inputting the incorrect payee, or is there something else going on?

However, anyone who is convinced a bank transfer has gone to the wrong person and the recipient won’t return it can consider a court claim. Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email 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 for answers given.