Travel cover ran out when planes ran late

My holiday insurance with Endsleigh ran until 18 May, the day I was due to return home. The first flight from a small American airport was delayed by bad weather so I missed the connection at Philadelphia. The same thing happened the next day and I eventually left on 20 May. While changing flights at Philadelphia, I lost my reading glasses. I claimed on the policy but Endsleigh said it had run out.
EM, Leeds

Endsleigh is surprised it rejected your claim, saying it is a common occurrence and that it frequently pays claims when policyholders are delayed returning home through unforeseen circumstances. But it does admit that it has already decided to change the wording of the policy to make this clearer and hopefully will make sure staff know as well.

It is now paying for your specs, although there is no compensation for the delay on return flights.

Going Solo was just too much


I have both Solo and Switch debit cards with my NatWest cheque account, and keep them in different places. Last month my Switch card was stolen. I reported it to the bank but discovered, when trying to pay at the supermarket, that NatWest had cancelled not only the Switch card but the Solo card as well. If they had to do this, why could they not have told me?
AT, Waltham Abbey

Cancelling both cards was a mistake, says Natwest - a member of staff was trying to be too efficient. It is crediting your account with £100 as a gesture of goodwill.

I've paid for the wrong claim


My insurer, Norwich Union Direct, has made a blunder but will not answer my letters. Last November, I damaged another vehicle and told NU I would pay the costs to save my no-claims bonus. In January, it gave me the name of the claimant and I wrote a cheque for £667.

Now I have received a court summons from solicitors acting for the real claimant - for £525 plus costs. Thanks to NU I have paid the wrong person (and more than I needed to).
MF, London


NU admits giving you the wrong person's name and blames an administrative error. It is sending you £142 (the difference between the amount you paid and the correct figure) and will pay the full amount to the right person.

Will offset upset my benefits?


If I have an offset mortgage, where savings reduce the cost of the mortgage, and I am made redundant, will those savings affect my eligibility for benefit? Obviously they are savings that have to be drawn down to the permitted level before claiming jobseekers' allowance. But the money is clearly being used to reduce the cost of the mortgage and earns no interest.

If I used the savings to repay some of the mortgage, would that be considered depriving myself of capital in order to claim benefit?
PR, Manchester


Any capital, whatever interest it earns, is taken into account when assessing entitlement to means-tested benefits. There is no way of forecasting whether the benefits office would say you had deliberately deprived yourself of capital by using the money to pay a chunk off the mortgage because each case is assessed individually. Reducing debt could be seen as a sensible use of your money.

Discord in Venice


I bought two tickets for a performance at La Fenice opera house in Venice, from online ticketing agency thecatseyes.com. On arrival we found the performance was at another venue on the edge of the city, a 40-minute water-taxi ride away. We could not have got there in time.

I booked only because the performance was advertised as taking place at the rebuilt theatre. The agency said there could be no refund because the performance had not been cancelled.
DH, Abingdon


The agency first says you should have seen there was a new venue because the confirmation form showed La Fenice with a different address. You would have needed a detailed knowledge of Venetian streets to realise this, as it was not highlighted as a change.

Next, while the agency remembered you, it could not find your booking and said your reference number was invalid. But then, when you checked your credit card statement, you found you had not in fact been charged for these tickets, so it appears you had no booking in the first place.

The agency agrees that this was annoying and says it has changed the firm that handles payments, as there have been other instances of people not receiving promised refunds, and appearing to have been charged when they have not.

· Email Margaret Dibben at money.writes@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, Money Writes, The Observer, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.