Rip Off Britain Holidays 13/07/2018 (subscribe for latest videos)

August 2016 and Elliott been particularly looking forward to the trip as she was going to play a key role in her grandmother's wedding and he was really excited to go on the holiday we taught it country year and she's going to be bride's bed it was the furthest that the family had flown together and with two children under five mum Sophie was key to get the right insurance she searched on comparison websites and eventually plumped for a policy with the company insurer for calm paying 22 pounds 42 P for a single trip economy policy which included free cover for the children it was one of the cheapest and it seemed good value for money k at a high level of cover himself anything did go wrong I don't 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 paid for it the year before so we had two full year of waiting for the holiday and the lead up to it with the wedding and all the family gone well just couldn't wait to go and when they arrived everything seemed just what they'd hoped for our hotels lovely early look at the pool and the little kids disc ordinary but four days into the trip Ellie started to feel unwell Sophie initially thought it was just a reaction to the change in water and he'd had stomach cramps shouldn't a lot of pain I was just talking it was the tummy bug and everything's gonna be all right but it soon became clear but it was something far more serious she was throwing up quite green thick temperature she wouldn't eat so we realized there was something more to it as Ellie's condition deteriorated the family took her to see the hotel doctor he felt around us to make any noise 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 CLE let alone treat her the family was hit with a demand for cash my partner went into the hospital he came back and said we needed two thousand pound for ellie to be seen and that was just to get into the hospital it was the sense of panic at first felt just i needed to get a scene so i went into the hospital among the in shillings hoping that securing payment from insurer for calm was just a formality sophia was surprised when the company said they'd have to call her back and the insurers couldn't give any idea of 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 a scene so I was winning 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 insurer for calm so Sophie and her partner Christopher decided they couldn't wait any longer and found the money themselves my partner's mom put it on a credit card she said just pay it she needs to be seen so we just did it the credit card authorization gave the green light for initial tests while the hospital waited for the insurer to confirm cover Elly 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 ten thousand pounds and again to Sophie's horror a prompt answer from her insurance forthcoming I was ringing the met for 10 minutes telling them look she's in and out of consciousness this is urging you need to get it down and my partner who's really upset insurance just didn't understand I tried to tell him on the phone and how critical she was and just didn't care 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 I was so scared and the different couldn't be watching her in that state and knowing I couldn't do anything but wait for the insurance to answer at one point I thought my daughter might die here if their don't pay up we haven't got the funds to bear for this what are we going to do that was a long way I'm worried after sitting in that hospital for now I was so she come through make it at the other end well 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 what was like a manic rush once I said she could have the go-ahead for the surgery the surgeons rushed in and they had to lock in the theater straightaway so cheerily the surgery was a success and Elly 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 aftercare following the operation the insurance had confirmed that would pay for her operation but we hadn't confirm that would pay for a care there afterwards Ellie was discharged after two days in hospital at which point Sophie says they were hit with a bill for around four thousand pounds 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 insurer for calm was in any rush to confirm it would cover the cost of her treatment this time either [Music] we're back in square one what we win when we first went to treat her infection the treat without was paid anybody 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 six thousand pounds but Sophia 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 twelve thousand pounds for Elly's treatment which they had 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 u.s. dollars Mexican pesos and British pounds sophie knew this could leave her family seriously out of pocket felt really guilty on the other family members that their dad put their personal money on a credit card just for was to get out of the hospital though relieved that le 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 authorize in Mexico and their worries only got worse when 11 days after they returned home the hospital emailed Sophie to say it was still pursuing the insurer for payment and it suggested she chase up the company too to avoid that twelve thousand pounds 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 fired them when he from that was our only options really well luckily it didn't come to that because shortly afterwards insurer 4.com did payout and settle 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 there didn't make that decision quicker we wouldn't have had to go through Ellie's appendix burst in and then having to fight off an infection and being taken back in the hospital so how quickly should you expect to get a response from your travel insurance provider well personal finance expert Sarah Pennell 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're you find yourself in the circumstances that led errants 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 Ali's case sort of hours matters all you can do really is 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 centers aren't actually allowed to make decisions that to you and I might seem to be common sense well we asked insurer 4.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 worked with several third parties to establish confirmed diagnosis of the condition and an understanding of the treatment required once the written paperwork and key authorizations 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're 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 not in the insurers or customers interest for treatment we unnecessarily delayed 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 policyholder their immediate family and the medical facility overseas to ensure treatment goes ahead as soon as possible of course as we've seen things may not always be that simple so Sarah panels has this advice when choosing the right insurance policy for your next holiday my advice is to look really carefully at the cover you get with your travel insurance and also to do some research into how well and quickly the insurance company pays out most people we've got better things to do than to spend time buying travel insurance and we tend to go for the cheapest option but it may not be the right one for you and if you need to make a claim on your insurance policy you want to know that it will be there and it will pay out when you need in the meantime those 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 ëcause from us getting to the hospital to get an answer from the insurance for the go-ahead for the operation we're at nine hours I paid that money for the insurance thinking everything would be okay [Music] when something goes wrong whilst you're away on holiday it's quite a natural reaction to want to find someone to take responsibility but very often it's quite hard to establish exactly who that might be and that's of course at the root of an awful lot of the stories that you send to us but some of you have come across a very specific reason why it can be a particular problem when you've been on a cruise and it means that if the trip itself wasn't plain sailing I'm afraid getting things resolved may not turn out to be any better [Music] last year twenty four million passengers hopped on board a cruise ship and the industry employs over 900,000 people meaning that on any given day thousands of people are at sea aboard these huge floating cities and to keep up with demand 27 new ships have hit the seas in 2016 alone but one ship that certainly isn't new is the Marco Polo it was built in 1965 and has been through several owners and numerous renovations since it's currently operated by cruise and maritime voyages a uk-based company and as can be seen from this promotional video a trip on the Marco Polo is definitely one to remember so why not experience a cruise and maritime voyage for yourself will make you very welcome and it was a slice of the ship's luxury that appealed to Judy and Graham sextant from Lincolnshire they've a lifelong love of boats but in their retirement fancied handing over the controls to the captain of the Marco Polo on a five-week cruise we were really looking forward to the trip because the venues were fantastic unusual some of them Greenland three places in Greenland the Pharos parts of Canada that we've never been to but the couple didn't find the cruise quite as enjoyable as they'd hoped the Marco Polo now in its 50 second year was doing a bit of TLC and was being painted when Graham and Judy boarded the ship and Graham says one of the products being used began to cause him some problems the films were so strong that I had to hold my breath coming down the gangway because there was about three or four people painting about the food absolutely horrendous they were painting all the rails they were varnishing all the stairs Graham says the fumes were so bad they even began to affect his breathing so he'd paid a visit to the ship's doctor one of the big concerns was Graham has a spa or the fumes were so seriously strong that it makes you feel not well it affects your breathing and I was extremely concerned in fact the couple considered the fumes so bad they even wondered if they could carry on with the trip but the time we got to Montreal it was just about halfway through the holiday we'd come to the decision sadly that we were most probably going to have to leave and fly home however to their relief after making their concerns known to the crew they were moved to a different part of the ship we were moved into another cabin which wasn't quite as large as the one we had but it actually did move us onto another deck which improved the paint fumes weren't as bad on that desk and sitting there but they couldn't escape them completely and gramma Judy say painters continued working in public areas throughout the trip when they got back home Graham decided to put in a complaint to the company operating Marco Polo Cruise and maritime voyages I wrote for the company and initially I thought I was getting a sympathetic ear the company responded to Graham saying it was looking into the matter further but after some more correspondence it ultimately concluded that all the relevant rules had been followed so not content with that Graham decided to see if he could get someone else to take his complaint on board however working out just who that should be wasn't immediately obvious I contacted the Port of London Authority for advice they said you should try the country of registration of the ship because the country of registration of the ship are responsible for what happens almost yet so in this case it didn't really matter that cruise and maritime voyages has its headquarters in the UK the key factor was the country where the ship was registered and it's usually that country's rules which apply onboard and in this case that was 4,000 miles away from Graham in the Bahamas I was allowed to do them pointing out what had happened the problems on board all that sort of thing and I never got a reply whilst writing to the Bahamian authorities about a cruise ship company with its headquarters in Essex might sound a little odd in fact it's not all that uncommon because though you may never have realized it most cruise ships operate under what's known as a flag of convenience which means they're officially registered in a country that perhaps miles away from where you might assume they were based as Mark Watson from tourism concern explains flags of convenience are used by the shipping industry to register their ships in countries other than the country what they they they come from so a UK operated cruise ship for instance can register under Liberia regulations the Bahamas and Marshall Islands even Mongolia which is a landlocked state and then the ship is controlled by the regulations of that country so things like employment rights Health and Safety and all legal rights for consumers are governed by the rules of the flag country rather than the home country so that means any problems you might have relating to a ship's upkeep structure or as with Graham its maintenance will be subject to the laws of the flag state in this case the Bahamas and not those of the country where its parent company is based and whilst there's nothing to suggest that any of this would have an effect on how the Marco Polo was being maintained mark says it does mean that establishing which country's rules a ship is legally bound by may prove more difficult than you'd expect flags of convenience first came around in the 50s where many American companies registered in Panama to avoid US regulations and that still applies now the cruise ship companies register in countries with very poor regulations so it cuts down the costs for them and the red tape and they only have to operate by the regulations of that country which quite often has very poor Labor Standards very poor health and safety standards and very for legal regulations around operating a cruise ship now there's no suggestion that cruise and maritime voyages or any of the best-known cruise companies for that matter are cutting corners or ducking their responsibilities by registering their ships in this way in fact there are plenty of reasons why a ship might be registered in another country not least for example so that it can hold a wedding at sea which is illegal under British rules but not those of some other countries however chances are a lot of cruise passengers simply hadn't realized that some of the biggest names in the industry register their vessels in places they perhaps did not expect take for instance Southampton based P&O Cruises most of its ships are registered in Bermuda including their oldest liner the Orianna the brand-new Carnival Vista jewel in the crown of carnival cruises along with the rest of carnivals fleet is registered in Panama cruise legend Cunard considered by many a British institution now also registers all of its ships in Bermuda and Scandinavian sounding Norwegian Cruise Line registers most of its ships more than 4,000 miles away from Norway in the Bahamas just like the Marco Polo even so if you do have a complaint about a cruise you'd hope that whatever laws its owners appear to be bound by they'd still want to put it right if something goes wrong on a cruise ship then the first point of call would be the cruise ship company themselves and that would be the best chance of getting anything resolved the difficulty is if you need to escalate it further there is where do you go it's a cruise ship don't address the issue there are very few other places to go particularly to do that but I'm pleased to say that when flying the rip off Britain flag we contacted cruise and maritime voyages about Graham's case we got a response from its UK office right away so there was no need to go all around the world looking for answers the company reiterated that it has fully investigated Graham's concerns but says it only uses approved indoor and outdoor paints and that it goes to great lengths to ensure any maintenance operations do not interfere with passengers enjoyment it says of the 100 50,000 passengers it's carried on the Marco Polo Grayland judy's is the only complaint it has received regarding paint use on board what's more it robustly dismissed any concerns over flags of convenience saying a ship's flag in no way allows it to avoid very stringent international health and safety standards or consumer protection regulations pointing out that all cruise ships are subject to international safety regulation coordinated by a dedicated UN agency the International Maritime Organization and those operating in the EU must follow extensive safety sanitation and consumer protection regulation set by the European Union and while the company has nevertheless apologised for any inconvenience Grahame still feels the situation should never have arisen it was a good cruise in many ways but the paint fumes ruined it it shouldn't happen we pay good money for it we didn't get value for money still to come on ripoff Britain a holiday cut short by a life-changing accident but whose responsibility is it to put things right if fatter than me and think our travel expert Simon Coulter has all the secrets to save you money on your travels he's also full of tips and everything from how to avoid the crowds to the best way to steer clear of those tourist traps and scams this time Simon is looking at the ever-popular balearic islands for half a century the Spanish isles of Majorca Minorca and Ibiza have been among our very favorite holiday destinations yet what began as cheap and cheerful Islands can sometimes these days being ferociously expensive so let me help you enjoy the Bali Erik's on a budget and the best time to start saving is as soon as you arrive every time I touch down at one of the islands airports there's a great long line of people queuing up for rental cars and I walk straight past the public transport is widespread efficient and extremely good value on my offer for example for just 5 euros a bus will get you from Palma Airport into the city centre where you can join the excellent train network to the rest of the island from Mahon Airport on neighboring menorca the fair on the number-10 bus into time is 2 euros 65 and the bus from a beach therefore there's also a number 10 but the fare is a tiny bit higher at 3 years 50 cents but if you do decide to forego public transport and rent a card picking up the vehicle in the city centre is likely to be cheaper without the airport surcharge if there's one thing that might make you sleep a little less soundly in the barracks it could be the controversial bed tanks introduced in the summer of 2016 the taxes on a sliding scale from 50 cents per person per night if you're camping or staying in a hostel to 2 euros for luxury hotels and upmarket apartments from nine nights onwards the tax is harmed and the children under 16 go free support example a couple spending a fortnight at a four-star apartment will now pay an extra 40 pounds or so at today's exchange rate but you can reduce the tax by choosing a lower grade of accommodation visiting the Bali erics between November and March when tax rates are halved or going somewhere else and timing your sightseeing correctly it can also save you some cash New Yorkers mirror Museum on the outskirts of Parma it's best seen on a Saturday when it's absolutely free and on menorca just on the way in from the airport the amazing cornea new which is an ancient 3000 year old watchtower is another absolutely free attraction but do check the opening times as they vary during the week best of all in generous Ibiza makes the fabulous Museum of Contemporary Art is free every single day of the week except Mondays when it's closed finally why stick to just one island when it's so easy to go Spanish island hopping each of the biggest islands has a very different vibe so do check the sailing times and don't limit yourself to just one of the Balearic you can squeeze in too you never know maybe all three now as you know every year we have our pop-up shop it's a I drop-in advice clinic where you can share your experiences with us and most important of all our experiments all done face to face well last time around I heard one story that really did sick 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've been through and really just to properly listen to exactly what has happened when the rest of our team find this particular case especially memorable so all of us wanted to find out more as ever I rip up hidden pop-up shop help dozens of viewers get an instant resolution to the problem thank you very much it's an absolute pleasure speaker we're very grateful for the help live up but when nurses Kate Linda Lavinia and Diane came to get some advice from Simon colder it was cleared that there's was a problem we were unlikely to be able to resolve there and then 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 marker near by 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 lets me house is Romeo so durable Joe it's within the hotel ground so we climbed aboard enough we went I'm within 10 minutes the nightmare began after a sudden loud crushing 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 his passengers along after it Dan managed to jump out of the trap shortly before it overturned with the other ladies I'm afraid trapped inside and what staked me all in there and they must be in fair better birth must have lost consciousness because I don't really remember very much my arms fractured in and the card had actually landed on my pelvis and it was all fractured and dreadful really dreadful because the ladies all sustained injuries with the fractured pelvis and left arm Linda spent 11 days in the Cuban hospital where the enormity of having such a serious accident in a foreign country soon hit home Lavinia Diane 72 year old mum was left with a neck injury and both she and her friend Kate suffered from concussion Diane had damaged her right shoulder elbow and hand all of them were treated for their injuries in the hospital but thousands of miles from home the whole experience was a really traumatic one with the 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 was such busy and physically demanding jobs the impact of their injuries on their lives was even more dramatic dan needed five months of work and 18 months of physiotherapy indeed she was just recovering from a further operation to remove some bone from her damaged shoulder when she came to see us at the pop-up shop Lavinia downs mother suffered headaches and the accident has left her severely shaken Katie 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 also terrified and you brought some photographs have a look at these so this is obviously Linda in hospital so I mean it's just horrendous but 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 experience before you all and I understand that it's still causing you a lot of problems today so let me try to extract the key things here they were on 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 gonna find that he's very poor and therefore you are stuck with possibly talking to your tour operator who is gonna say ah at the welcome meeting we certainly mentioned that these things existed we did not recommend it and crucially we did not sell you back to you decided to enter into a contract with the provider of that foursome trap journey and therefore your issue is with I'm not surprised [Music] 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 I fear the travel insurance will just say look all we're doing is providing backup when things go wrong and if people are gonna 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're not gonna have any kind of long-term responsibility for you for your condition we'll only two of the ladies received any money from their various insurance companies Lavinia and Kate received 1200 pounds 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'd 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 that 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 up I will be holiday lights challenge so sad and is cleared to see how raw this whole experience is being so Simon last Martin James from the Financial Ombudsman Service what he made of hi 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 and I get the impression that you've you really not being listened to you very much well certainly there are lots of restrictions and 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 just have a look at plummer situation now that's one more experts if we can look at the cases together and see if we can get the insurance company to stick right and respond to you and at the very least we'll make sure your voices a little bit of hope but what struck me about the ladies experience was hi a fleeting moment on their holiday had so impacted their day-to-day lives and back at home away from the bustle of the pop-up shop stay here to see that the women were still coming to terms with what had happened to them my life completely changed even sitting here now and I'm in pain down this side because I think this aside where the the actual fractures at the back one of it buckled and it's it's going to be there always every time it starts off I need to do physio now dreadful as this case is it's a very useful reminder of the limitations of what

Channel: uk tv

Views: 33,663

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Keywords: rip off britain holidays, rip off britain, britain, doucmentry, documentrys, uk tv shows, tv shows, bitcoin, holidays, bali, davao city, cebu, manila, heathrow airport, fake stuff, fake goods, fake holidays, fake holiday travel agents, fake britain, 2018, 2019, 2020#

Id: eOTRaHJ25jI

Length: 35min 54sec (2154 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 13 2018