Help with Thompsons and terminally ill mom

skysky69

I wonder if anyone has any advice, my mom is supposed to be going on holiday a week tomorrow to Crete. Has been booked for a while and is paid in full. My nan (her mom) who has had myeloma (leukaemia) cancer for a few years has recently deteriorated and has found herself in hospital for the last month. The doctors have now said that there is nothing more they can do for her and they are sending her home to be comfortable. It is now only a matter of weeks. My mom has called Thompsons and explained and they have basically said that if she does not go on the holiday she loses it and all the money. I asked her if she could not postpone the holiday for maybe a couple of months when all this is over, but they were apparently most unhelpful, not sympathetic in the slightest and basically said tough.

Does anyone have any ideas? My mom isn't in the right mind frame to make decisions and obviously doesn't want to go but it will be £1500 down the toilet if she can't put the holiday back or get a refund.

Sorry for the life story!

dmg24

This should be covered by insurance, however your nan's condition would need to have been declared when the policy was taken out.

Itsadogslife_2

Does the travel agents insurance go into that much detail when you take it out though?

McKneff

Itsadogslife wrote: »

Does the travel agents insurance go into that much detail when you take it out though?

Yes, they do. Its one of the main questions,
Do you have any pre existing conditions etc. etc.

malkie76

Mine didn't. They just wanted to know my medical history, and the policy covers family members to grandparents.

To the OP - it's not Thomsons fault, so they don't need to refund or delay. Sadly bad people would make up a story like yours to get a refund if they decided against a holiday.

Your travel insurance (or your Mums) will pay out. Remember that many premium bank accounts and creditcards come with free travel insurance.

Itsadogslife_2

McKneff wrote: »

Yes, they do. Its one of the main questions,
Do you have any pre existing conditions etc. etc.

But it is not the OPs pre-existing medical condition, it is the grandmothers

Sagz_2

If the insurance doesn't cover it maybe your Mum can recover some of the money by selling the holiday on to someone.

dmg24

Itsadogslife wrote: »

But it is not the OPs pre-existing medical condition, it is the grandmothers

This is one of the reasons why insurance has a cooling off period - to give you chance to read the documents and query/ amend anything that arises as a result.

It is all a moot point anyway - the OP needs to check what cover they have first.

Pollycat

Sorry to hear about your grandma, skysky.

Thomsons may sound inflexible in the circumstances but your Mum's travel insurance is her best bet, although depending on the T&Cs she may find she's not covered for this situation.

How about you ringing Thomsons yourself and asking again there is any possibility that they will allow your Mum to postpone the holiday?
I know you said your Mum has already done this but she may have not explained things as well as you might, given her distress.

Do remember though that you are asking them as a goodwill gesture, they don't actually have to offer anything.

Good luck.

littlereddevil

I would think it must be covered by insurance if the condition was declared

malkie76

littlereddevil wrote: »

I would think it must be covered by insurance if the condition was declared

I don't think this is correct. I have never been asked the medical history of my relatives when getting travel insurance.

They only seem to care about your medical history in the event they have to pay for medical treatment abroad or the extremely high costs of getting you home with a medical emergency.

I've checked the wording of my policy, and it's very clear that I need to declare my medical history, and anyone in my party. My policy covers me for cancellation due to illness of an immediate relative (which does include grandparents).

ie - you should be covered even though it was not declared.

However, I have a pretty comprehensive travel insurance policy, so please check the wording of yours. Mine even pays out (no excess) for golfing holes-in-one.