Travel insurance theft?

DAVIDIF

I booked travel insurance, as recommended by Barrhead Travel, for over 65s with existing medical condition, for my wife and myself. I informed Rock Insurance that I had been given an appointment for a prostrate operation, they contacted me and cancelled the insurance, saying that I would be given a full refund less £20 for admin charges as I had paid £103odds I expected a refund of around £80, today Rock Insurance offered me a cheque for £13odd I feel I am Being robbed as the only reply I could get from the supervisor, Tracey, at Rock's call centre was that this was just the way the underwriters calculated the cost and that I could do what I liked about it.
Any ideas?

lisyloo

saying that I would be given a full refund less £20 for admin charges

Did they say this in a letter?

Any ideas?

Complain through the formal complaints process.
If you have a letter saying you would get a full refund then send a copy (I would keep the original as it's valuable evidence).
If you had a phone call then try to remeber the date and who you spoke to.
If you don't have any details then in future write down the persons name, time and date where the call might be evidence. Dates and times can help in companies listening to recordings.

weejonnie

If Barrhead travel recommended the Rock Policy then you may have a course of action against them for mis-selling. Presumably they would have asked you about medical conditions before making a recommendation (and given their reasons).

(It is very easy for someone to recommend insurance even when they aren't allowed to do so! Saying something as simple as 'I suggest you contact Rock Insurance' can be construed as a recommendation, which is, of course, a regulated activity)

Rock Insurance may be intermediaries and their 'full refund' could mean that you would get back what the insurer gave back to them - less £20.00. I am assuming that the money you are receiving is from Rock rather than via Barrhead (who may have their own cancellation fees).

Finally, of course, if this was announced during the 14 day cooling off period then you should have received most of the money back.

(As a cynical old bird I find that cancellation costs are increasing more and more - due I suspect to the low profit margins on the sale of policies. After all it is the last chance the insurer/ intermediary has to 'click' some money off the poor punter'. It doesn't cost much to click a few buttons on a computer!)

Once you can trace the money and advice then you can decide whether you have been mis-sold and which (if any) company hasn't treated you fairly. Then you can instigate a complaint.

Be_Happy

Not sure from the posting how soon after taking out the insurance you notified them of the appointment - within 14 days?

If it was some time after, you will have paid an initial payment of holiday deposit and insurance premium when you booked. If you have to cancel, you will get back the deposit, but you will not get back the insurance premium.

dacouch

If you had an annual travel or a single trip policy with them that you arranged some time ago for a booked holiday and the medical condition just arose with no other previous related problems. Then if you inform the Insurer mid term they either have to provide cover for the trip OR allow you to cancel the holiday but they pay any of the cancellation costs less your excess and they don't refund the premium.

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