Debenhams Useless Holiday Insurance

lozzabeth

Hi, I would just like to warn all forum users against Debenham's Holiday Insurance, due to my recent bad experience.

I took out annual cover for worldwide travel back in May 2012 at a cost of £79.00. Silver cover appeared to cover all the usual main risks such as delayed and cancelled flights, baggage loss, personal belongings, medical expenses, repatriation etc etc.

During my second trip while on this Insurance, I found out I was pregnant and suffered a subchronic hemorraghe. In the upset and confusion I also managed to lose my IPOD and assumed I had left it in the cafe. As advised by New Zealand's version of NHS Helpline, I was admitted to hospital for scans and blood tests and told although the baby was still present I had an increased chance of miscarriage and that I would have to wait the bleed out.

i returned to the UK a couple of days later and following subsequent examinations, thankfully our baby made it through :j At this point I set about placing my two claims: -

1) Lost property - IPOD Shuffle (£179.00)
2) Medical Claims - £200.00

I noted that Debehnams back their Insurance off to Insure and Go who ultimately back their insurance off to Travel Claims Services Ltd, of who you have to submit your claim to.

I was shocked when 3-weeks after my claim, I received a letter from Travel Claims Services stating that they were not going to cover my medical claim as they did not deem it it critical :mad: and they required a senior medical practitioner's medical assessment. I had submitted a full report along with the doctor's letter outlining the assessment and his concerns over the sub-hronic haemorrhage and likelihood of miscarriage.

I called Travel Claims Services and asked them how they had arrived at this ludicrous decision, where by they proceeded to run through definitions of all pregnancy conditions that are covered (which by the way is not listed in the T&Cs sent to me in the post). They read out that one condition allowed was when the placenta detaches from the womb wall to which I explained this is exactly what a sub-chronic haemorrhage is. The agent then googled - yes googled!! the condition while I was on the phone to her and agreed to refer it back for reconsideration.

A cheque turned up a week later for the claim amount less the excess.

The second claim for an IPOD classic, sent with a receipt of £179.99 was then refunded with a cheque of £38.43!! The letter stated that the policy does not cover new-for-old and their level of depreciation is 45%!!!!

Basically the whole policy is worthless and I feel terribly misled and ripped off by a third party company who have no intention of ever paying out on their policies, unless backed into a corner.

I am now in the process of complaining to Debenhams Insurance with a view to returning both cheques to a value of £135.00, wiping clean my claim history and being re-imbursed with my £79.00.

I am trying to avoid paying a premium on future policies for having claimed, when in all honestly the claim was worthless.

If I can offer any advice, stay well clear of Debenhams Insurance!

isplumm

lozzabeth wrote: »

I am now in the process of complaining to Debenhams Insurance with a view to returning both cheques to a value of £135.00, wiping clean my claim history and being re-imbursed with my £79.00.

I am trying to avoid paying a premium on future policies for having claimed, when in all honestly the claim was worthless.

If I can offer any advice, stay well clear of Debenhams Insurance!

Ok - so I am now very confused - they have given you cheques totaling £135 - yet you want them to cancel that & give you back £79???

Am I missing something obvious - but doing that means you will be £46 worth off???

Remember that for both of these claims will have individual excesses.

To be honest is it not more important the baby is ok? Is it really worth putting yourself through stress for the sake of a few £??

Mark

lisyloo

I'm not clear on what your eventual complaint is.
You've been paid out for both minus excesses.
Why didn't you get a new for old policy if that's what you wanted.

I udnerstand that you feel badly treated and I agree, but what you have ended up with seems like what you ar entitled to isn't it?

lozzabeth

I understand what you are saying, however I'm thinking that my renewal will be affected by the claim, when in theory I wasn't really compensated for the IPOD.

The T&Cs do not state that the policy is not 'new for old' however in the definitions of personal possessions is does state in small print that depreciation may be added to valuables. I didn't expect this to be 45%.

I just feel as though I've been treated poorly by them with regards to the medical side of things and misled by the level of cover on personal possessions.

Surely it would be best to return the cheques rather than be penalised by having made a claim. In summary I would rather be re-imbursed for my policy and go somewhere else.

I travel abroad a lot and would be worried that if something serious happened, my family would be in for a trying time with this company.

lisyloo

I just feel as though I've been treated poorly by them with regards to the medical side of things and misled by the level of cover on personal possessions.

I would agree with the first part.
I can't really comment on the second as we haven't got the policy, but you can formally complain and if you're not happy you can then go to the independent FOS (Ombudsman).

rather than be penalised by having made a claim

I don't think you will be penalised.
Do you have reason to think you will be or is this just assumption?

I travel abroad a lot and would be worried that if something serious happened, my family would be in for a trying time with this company.

Ah right, I understand, it's an annual policy and you have no faith.
I would write a formal complaint and specifically ask for a full refund.

If you really have lost faith then buy another policy as well but I would suggest spending some time looking at the cover (I know you can't check everything).
I am covered by ACE Europe under my employers business travel insurance. I believe it's superior to normal holiday polcies (I'm not saying that to boast but so that you can take my recommendation in context), but I've had a couiple of claims from ACE and had good service.

The first was when a flight was cancelled and I took an alternative.
It was not the cheapest alternative but the most convenient in view of the fact that I was attending my borthers wedding and it wasn't convenient to be late, but I had no quibbles.
My second claim was for delay. My flight took off 4 hrs and 5 mins late. We landed inside 4 hours late (made up some time) but the policy defintin was based on take-off time so my claim was paid.
So twice I got no quibbling from ACE Europe when there were obvious things they could have quibbled about.

I have a few queries with them about motorcycling (not excluded), scuba diving (not excluded) and schedules airline failure (excluded) and so I think they coverage is not bad either.

Valli

re the i pod - you didn't lose a new i pod; you lost a second-hand one. However £38.43 isn't 45% of £179.99; did they also deduct an excess?

BertTheRaccoon

Trouble is, even if you cancel the claim, odds are a record will still be kept of the "incident", thus requiring you to still disclose the losses when getting quoted again.

I don't know the specifics of what is asked about travel insurance though.

My view, for what it's worth, is that buying white labeled insurance products from general retailers and online bandits always exposes the customer to risks they realise they are then not properly covered for at the time of need. Different, I would say, to if you used an independent broker who actually considers what your requirements are, rather then people just being served up with "cheap" generic policies that often are lacking when it comes to what you are entitled to.

lisyloo

Trouble is, even if you cancel the claim, odds are a record will still be kept of the "incident", thus requiring you to still disclose the losses when getting quoted again.

You sure?
I suggest that lozzabeth checks that out rather than guessing or making assumptions.
I've just tried confused.com and they didn't ask.
Ok that isn't extensive research but jsut to prove a point that this all appears to be guesswork.

isplumm

lozzabeth wrote: »

I understand what you are saying, however I'm thinking that my renewal will be affected by the claim, when in theory I wasn't really compensated for the IPOD.

Surely it would be best to return the cheques rather than be penalised by having made a claim. In summary I would rather be re-imbursed for my policy and go somewhere else.

I travel abroad a lot and would be worried that if something serious happened, my family would be in for a trying time with this company.

Hi,

But would your premium go up in the future - I would check that out?

I have claimed for a few things on travel insurance - never had it go up the following year.

As to the IPOD - how old was it? Maybe you would have been better to have claimed on your house insurance?

Mark

lisyloo

Maybe you would have been better to have claimed on your house insurance?

Arghh.....no probably not.
Whilst I don't believe travel insrurance has NCD and doens't penalise you for claims, house insurance definitely does for BOTH.

You probably do not want to claim off your home insurance for this if it's just for an ipod.
In fact you're probably better off not having this cover on your home insurance and jsut ahving it on travel insurance for exactly this reason.

Insurance companies sometime split claims (pay half) so this can affect your home insurance.

isplumm

lisyloo wrote: »

Arghh.....no probably not.
Whilst I don't believe travel insrurance has NCD and doens't penalise you for claims, house insurance definitely does for BOTH.

You probably do not want to claim off your home insurance for this if it's just for an ipod.
In fact you're probably better off not having this cover on your home insurance and jsut ahving it on travel insurance for exactly this reason.

Insurance companies sometime split claims (pay half) so this can affect your home insurance.

Indeed - should have really thought of that ...

Mark