Travel Ins Warning

dacouch

No problems

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

No problems

Been on to BA and have to contact their refunds dept tomorrow,however although agreeing with the t&c's to a point, they did point out that son's ticket was a non refundable one unlike the more expensive "flexible tickets" as indicated on their on line web page. Son however booked over the phone with BA themselves and they just gave him the price and booked ticket, did'nt mention/ask if he would like a flexible ticket or not.

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

He has discovered one of the problems of using a website, the website is not intelligent enough to think the trip is not possible. The other problem is the Insurers can say you put the information in so its your fault. If you ring them and they advise him incorrectly then you can take it up with them.

It is definately worth speaking to the airline as most of the big airlines will try and sort another flight out especially if he has medical proof. (They probably sold his seat to someone else when he did not turn up anyway). Give them a ring

Been thinking about this, surely the comparison sites/Ins web pages,bearing in mind that as they say "single trip must start and end in UK" if one puts in dates that mean you could not possibly go/return in that time frame would flag up ,not possible within these dates. maybe put a minimum timescale on "trips" that far, ie oz/nz , 6-7 days min required for this trip.
This way when you ask why ( when you just want oneway cover) it will tell you that trip must start/end in UK then you can look elsewhere for a oneway only policy.
Just a thought.

dacouch

All Travel Insurers have definitions of what words mean in their policy wordings, the standard definition of a "Trip" would roughly be the moment you leave the UK until the moment you return.

The wesbite he went on would have prompted him to read the policy and if he did not read the policy wording then it will be classed as his fault. There is not a lot he can do about the travel insurance as Swift can rightly say they would not have covered him if he had declared the trip was one way and had read the policy.

If it had been with someone who offers one way trips (Not many companies offer it) then you could have tried to argue over it and pay the difference and they MIGHT have dealt with it.

You can try and complain to Swift but a) They will take a really long time to look into it and b) They will almost certainly say no

Sorry if this is not the answer you wanted.

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

All Travel Insurers have definitions of what words mean in their policy wordings, the standard definition of a "Trip" would roughly be the moment you leave the UK until the moment you return.

The wesbite he went on would have prompted him to read the policy and if he did not read the policy wording then it will be classed as his fault. There is not a lot he can do about the travel insurance as Swift can rightly say they would not have covered him if he had declared the trip was one way and had read the policy.

If it had been with someone who offers one way trips (Not many companies offer it) then you could have tried to argue over it and pay the difference and they MIGHT have dealt with it.

You can try and complain to Swift but a) They will take a really long time to look into it and b) They will almost certainly say no

Sorry if this is not the answer you wanted.

I agree with all you say, my beef is with "their" definition of SINGLE when applying.To all intents and purposes single means one, to all people I've spoken to anyway.If I am coming back then it's a return as I intend coming back surely. Also as everyone knows you can't get to Aus/NZ and back in 3 days, should someone imput, in, less than say a min of 6 days(to get there and back) surely they could put that min 6 day requirement into the application process, so that in future if someone did put in less than that min days reqd, it would decline the application on said grounds.
Again would it not be easier all round if the ins co's had it as single/one way trip/journey or return trip/journey , easier to understand all round,but then again maybe they don't want us to understand/make things easier.
Thanks.

dacouch

Your son is the first person I have ever heard of in 20 years making this mistake although I can understand why / how he has done it.

I have heard of other people occassionaly assuming that if they take out a few days or a weeks cover it will cover them for their flight. They also had not read the terms and conditions, assumptions and policy documents which a lot of people don't do.

Like I said if a customer rings me with this scenario (Its very rare) I would put them straight and sell them a suitable policy. A website is not inteligent like a human is, its one of the drawbacks of using a website and / or not reading the t&cs, assumptions and policy documents. To be fair to the sites they do advise people to read these.

You could write to the Financial Services Authority and they MIGHT tell Insurers to amend things to explain what a Single Trip is although I doubt they will as they are likely to feel its a very very rare mistake and / or that there is a duty for people to read the t&cs, assumptions and policy documents. They have made these documents much much easier for the consumer to read and understand in the last few years

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

Your son is the first person I have ever heard of in 20 years making this mistake although I can understand why / how he has done it.

I have heard of other people occassionaly assuming that if they take out a few days or a weeks cover it will cover them for their flight. They also had not read the terms and conditions, assumptions and policy documents which a lot of people don't do.

Like I said if a customer rings me with this scenario (Its very rare) I would put them straight and sell them a suitable policy. A website is not inteligent like a human is, its one of the drawbacks of using a website and / or not reading the t&cs, assumptions and policy documents. To be fair to the sites they do advise people to read these.

You could write to the Financial Services Authority and they MIGHT tell Insurers to amend things to explain what a Single Trip is although I doubt they will as they are likely to feel its a very very rare mistake and / or that there is a duty for people to read the t&cs, assumptions and policy documents. They have made these documents much much easier for the consumer to read and understand in the last few years

Thanks,
I refer again to "their" definition of SINGLE. When booking he asked for a single ticket to NZ and that's what he got, no return leg/flight. With regards to TRIP this also can be interperated as either sinle or return, they are just playing on words/terminology. To most ordinary people single = one, return =two.
Also agree that website is not intelligent like a human, however it can perform tasks if the data/information is imputed into it by a human, so they could do it if they wanted to and the website would respond accordingly. So why don't they.

dacouch

With regard to the website it is probably not something that has ever come up as I have never known anyone mistake the single as being the same as a train journey. They would probably argue it asks for a finish date of the trip.

You could write to them and suggest they change it allow knowing Axa they will probably not get round to it.

As his policy was null and void you are entitled to your money back as it could never have paid out. It may take some hard work to get it out of Swift though as they have a bit of a reputation with regard to efficiency

Quentin

stickman wrote: »

my beef is with "their" definition of SINGLE when applying.To all intents and purposes single means one, to all people I've spoken to anyway.If I am coming back then it's a return ......

Everyone would agree that single means "one".

But you are now saying it means (to you) "one way".

It doesn't. It just means one!

Quentin

stickman wrote: »

they did point out that son's ticket was a non refundable one unlike the more expensive "flexible tickets" as indicated on their on line web page.

The condition that you are wanting them to issue the credit for specifically states that it is for non refundable tickets, so don't let them cloud the issue by raising this red herring of "flexible tickets".