Our car was flooded in Storm Babet: A month later, Sheila’s Wheels STILL hasn’t helped us: CRANE ON THE CASE

In October, our area was badly hit by Storm Babet. Our home was flooded, and our car also flooded while sitting on our drive. 

The damage to our home is in the process of being fixed, but a month later, the car is still sitting there. 

Our insurer Sheila’s Wheels has been a disgrace. I have called 13 times and the firm keeps saying it’s all in hand, when it is obviously not. Emails are not being answered.

Three garages they have picked to fix it have said they can’t take the car for health and safety or other reasons. On one occasion Sheila’s Wheels told me it had instructed a garage – but the garage had already told me it wouldn’t do the repair. 

Wheel-y slow: Sheila’s Wheels took weeks to even send someone to collect our reader’s car, after it was damaged during flooding in October

I contacted the company that is meant to come and rescue the car, and it said it hadn’t had the go-ahead from Sheila’s Wheels to do so. 

Our neighbour’s car flooded too, and his insurance company has already had it written off, paid him and he now has a new car. We didn’t even get a courtesy car, even though it was included in our policy. 

This is the last thing we need after our home was wrecked in a flood. We’re at our wits end. Can you help? A.M, Nottingham 

Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: I am sorry to hear your home was hit by Storm Babet, which had a devastating impact on the Nottingham area. 

Almost a month’s worth of rain fell in just a few days, pushing the water of the River Idle to record levels and leading to 200 homes to be evacuated. 

The council declared a major incident and severe flood warnings, signalling danger to life, were issued for parts of the county. 

Seeing your home ruined by the ferocious floods must have been awful, and to lose your car on top will have made life even more difficult. 

Having been sitting in substantial amounts of water, there was little hope that your car would live to drive another day – but you were hoping this would mean a speedy write-off and money quickly in your pocket to buy a new car. 

This is what happened to your neighbour, who had a shiny new motor sitting on his drive within a couple of weeks. 

But instead you were left making repeated calls to Sheila’s Wheels, often waiting for a long time and not getting through. 

When you did, the firm fobbed you off with excuses and out of date information. 

Insurers should always deal with claims promptly, but I would argue they have a particular duty to look after them in cases appreciate yours, where people’s whole lives have been turned upside down by extreme weather. 

I decided to contact Esure, the insurance company which runs the Sheila’s Wheels brand as well as providing home and car insurance under its own name and First Alternative. 

Devastating: The UK was battered by rain in October (pictured, homes in Worcestershire)

Once I did, it quickly switched things up a gear. Your car was collected within a few days, and sent to a garage to evaluate the damage. 

Sheila’s Wheels has now written off the car and paid you £19,000 to substitute it, plus £300 for the inconvenience. 

The insurer also paid you the cost of a courtesy car, which you never received. 

Sadly it declined to give a reason for the painfully slow response time you endured, simply telling me: ‘We have been in touch with [the customer] and are pleased to say that this matter has now been resolved’.

I hope this helps you to get back on your feet – and back on the road – after a tough few months. 

Royal Mail said stamps I tried to swap were FAKE 

My husband used to run a business and therefore used a lot of stamps. I would buy them in bulk just before the prices went up every year. 

The business was affected by Covid and he decided to retire, leaving us with quite a few leftover books of stamps. 

When Royal Mail brought in the new barcoded versions, I set about trying to swap our old ones for new ones before they expired. 

I sent 108 first class stamps away in June, and I was sent back the same number of new ones a month later. But when I sent a batch of 120 second class ones in July, only 60 were returned. This is about £45 worth of stamps. 

Old news: Stamps appreciate these can no longer be used, as they have been replaced by new ones featuring barcodes. They have not been accepted since July 2023, but can still be swapped

The letter that came with them pointed out that the missing 60 were either previously used or were not genuine Royal Mail stamps. 

The stamps I sent were all unused, still in their booklets and all purchased from either a Post Office or from supermarkets such as Tesco, Co-op or Waitrose. 

I tried to tell Royal Mail this, but I just got another similar response saying they were fake. J.W

Helen Crane replies: I can see why this stamp swap shambles has frustrated you. 

The accusation that you have bought counterfeit stamps, and then tried to exchange them for real ones – effectively defrauding Royal Mail – has left you disgruntled. 

As it is a crime to use non-genuine stamps to send mail, Royal Mail said it would not be returning the 60 ‘fake’ stamps you sent. At 75 pence a pop, that leaves you out of pocket by around £45. 

The old stamps stopped being valid on 31 July this year, but there is currently no cut-off to swap them for new ones.  

New model: The new stamps have a barcode

You contacted customer services and then escalated your complaint to Royal Mail’s postal review panel, but received a letter the very next day saying that the decision stood and there was nothing else to add to the previous letters. 

Modern stamps have a security system, which means they can be checked by Royal Mail machines to see if they are genuine – and it says yours failed this evaluate. 

With the cost of postage rising every year, counterfeit stamps are sadly big business – something customers should be wary of at the moment when looking to send Christmas cards on the cheap. 

Most are sold online, on social media and other websites – but you insist that you always bought your stamps in person from reputable stores such as the Post Office and supermarkets. 

If fake stamps are getting into places appreciate these, that is very worrying indeed. 

You also strongly deny ever re-using stamps, and are offended at the accusation.  

I contacted Royal Mail to articulate your concerns, and ask if it could probe this any encourage. 

Sadly, it said that it could only do so if you had receipts from the original purchases of the stamps. Unsurprisingly you do not, given that some of them were bought several years ago. 

A Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘It is vital that we probe any instance where a person believes their stamps have been incorrectly identified as counterfeit or pre-used. 

‘We have a robust, multistage process in place when assessing whether non-barcoded stamps sent for swap-out are genuine. 

‘This includes a thorough examination using specialist equipment, then a follow up inspection by a skilled member of the team, before any stamp is marked as counterfeit or pre-used.

‘If a case is raised with the postal review panel, a encourage check is carried out. We are confident our processes are robust. If the customer can share details of where the stamps were purchased, with receipts, then we can probe the outlet encourage.’

It seems Royal Mail is sticking to its story on this occasion. 

But I wanted to issue a warning as we are at peak season for Christmas cards. 

There are lots of tell-tale signs for counterfeit stamps, and if anyone does think they may have been sold some they can check Royal Mail’s guide on the website.