HolidaySafe Travel Insurance - Your Feedback

pendomer1

I have never had to make a claim on travel insurance before, but earlier this year I had to cancel a trip because I was diagnosed with a partly detached retina on the day of travel and was told I should not fly.
I sent all supporting information required (receipts, doctors letters, evidence of what was non-refundable, credit card statements, etc) and my claim was referred to a claims company: TCF.
They have consistently blocked my claim insisting that I need to provide a 'Cancellation Invoice' for each element of the claim. No doubt easy if you book a tour through one UK company. Not so easy if you booked online directly with small Asian airlines.
Maybe I have just been unlucky, but when my policy comes up for renewal with HS I shall be looking carefully for an insurer that has a better reputation for claims handling - even if I have to pay out a little more for it.

Holidaysafe_Representative

Hi pendomer1,

Thank you for your review, my name is Amber and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe.

I am so sorry to hear about your injury, and that you've had problems dealing with our appointed claims handler.

If you could email your details to Holidaysafe@infinityinsurance.co.uk, I will personally speak to the claims team on your behalf to discuss how we can move this forward for you.

Kind regards,

Amber

neoless

I do not know. I always do an international health insurance in the firm that deals with this. She assures me the help because is cooperating with medical centres of those countries that I visit.
Once I got splinters in the nail at the beach in Thailand. I had wonderful help at the hospital in Bangkok. Otherwise I would have wrung space price, and may even refuse to treat if the disease is not fatal.

melanie95

Apologies, this is a long post. In summary, a frustrating episode over nearly 3 months. I didn’t have any problem contacting HolidaySafe after the accident, but I will certainly not be taking out insurance with them again.

I submitted my claim immediately on returning from holiday, 18th January, following up with 2 emails showing the exchange rates which had been applied.

Apart from confirmation of receipt I heard nothing. I called TCF Jan 31st and was informed that my claim had gone to the ‘cost assessor’ as the costs seemed rather high and even an insinuation that I had submitted costs not associated with my injury. Additionally my claim would take a further 10 days to process.

This would have meant paying the interest rate charges on over £5000. So I insisted, was transferred to the assessor who confirmed there was no reason why the claim could not be paid and it would be dealt with immediately.

No payment arrived so I called again on Friday Feb 3rd to be informed that the payment needed to be authorised, and that this could not be done until Monday and then a cheque would be issued. After much discussion it was agreed that on Monday the money would be transferred as a ‘Faster Payment’.

Thankfully it was, so I was spared the interest charges. However I found that:

• The exchange rates had been ignored
• There was supposedly no exchange rate for each bill. I pointed out that a group of the bills had been paid in a single credit card transaction and helpfully added the amounts together to show TCF that this was the case
  
  The above was rectified by TCF but really unnecessary errors
  
• The foreign exchange charges were not refunded - explained by this from the policy document: 'cover is only available for circumstances specified in the policy'. Very large blanket statement, that one

I read my policy document again - and found this 'customary and reasonable fees or charges for necessary and emergency treatment to be paid outside your home country'.
As my credit card statement clearly states, the non-sterling transaction cost is a fee, it is customary for many cards to charge for foreign exchange transactions, and I am pretty sure the fees on a Marks and Spencer credit card are reasonable.

Apparently this was for fees set by the hospital or clinic. I still do not think this is clear, and leaves me currently £165.30 out of pocket

Whilst reading my policy document, I realised my excess was £75. I had been charged £150. Having sent my policy document in, I expect to receive a refund. Result!!!
UPDATE No refund. The excess shown in the full policy document is £75. In my policy schedule it has been changed to £150. Absolutely ridiculous

Holidaysafe_Representative

Hi melanie95,

Thank you for your post, my name is Amber and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe.

I am so sorry to hear that you had to seek medical treatment during your trip, and that you have subsequently had issues making a claim.

If you would like to make an official complaint (now or depending on the outcome of your excess issue) please feel free to email complaints@tif-plc.co.uk and they will take a look at your outstanding fees.

Once again I am very sorry for any and all inconvenience caused, and I will raise your feedback with the Travel Claims Facilities manager.

Kind regards,

Amber

dacouch

"The foreign exchange charges were not refunded - explained by this from the policy document: 'cover is only available for circumstances specified in the policy'. Very large blanket statement, that one"

Assuming you have a valid claim then the foreign exchange costs will form part of your claim.

You are covered for the costs of Medical treatment, the costs of the treatment need to be paid in the local currency. Very few people would have a spare £5000 in local currency so the only reasonable way of settling the bill is via a debit or credit card. Obviously there is no way around the exchange rate the card provider charges so it must form part of your claim.

Make an "Official Complaint" if Holiday Safe are stupid enough to not see sense then take it to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will rule in your favour and charge Holiday Safe a fee of about £500 for handling the complaint so for the cost of your exchange rate claim of I assume £60 Holiday Safe would be silly to let it get that far

evds

Hi
Following a recommendation by MSE I bought my daughter annual world travel insurance from Holiodaysafe last September which is still active. My daughter booked a trip to Germany a few months ago and is leaving for Germany on Thursday, however a few weeks ago she had soft tissue injury to her back due to yoga class and I phoned to see if I needed to make them aware of this as the policy says about notifying if any new conditions arise during the policy. THey told me that this condition will not be covered now and I have also been told that if she is advised not to travel she cannot claim for the lost trip even though she booked it before she had a problem.. I am very disappointed with this company and don't understand the point of getting annual travel insurance if you are unable to claim for not being able to go on a trip due to a medical condition that happens after you book.

Holidaysafe_Representative

Hi evds,

I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's injury. I completely understand your frustration and want to investigate this for you.

Unfortunately, as I do not know the details of your daughter's policy or situation I cannot comment much further. I would be happy to look into this in detail for you if you email me directly at responses@infinityinsurance.co.uk. Could you please include details such as your daughter's policy number, her date of birth and postcode?

I would like to sincerely apologise for any confusion caused and hope to resolve everything for you as soon as possible.

Kind regards,
Sarah

Quentin

evds wrote: »

....I am very disappointed with this company and don't understand the point of getting annual travel insurance if you are unable to claim for not being able to go on a trip due to a medical condition that happens after you book.

They are trying it on.


Now that she has a new condition they are not prepared to cover then she should have been be able to cancel the trip (if she didn't want to travel uninsured for anything associated with the new condition) and make a successful claim under the policy's cancellation section for the costs involved in cancelling (irrespective of whether or not she is advised not to travel)


If you read through this thread you will see they do "try on" all sorts of excuses not to pay out, which wouldn't hold good were the FOS to get involved following a complaint!

stephen160

A question for the Holidaysafe representative .
If i book a flight from Dublin to the USA on one ticket , and then book a flight from Cardiff to dublin to catch the transatlantic flight, whats happens if i need to cancel the holiday? Will you pay out for both flights
and what happens if i miss my connection , ie due to bad weather , technical issues oer what ever.
thanks in advance
steve