AXXA refusing to pay following death of mother

mda99das

I am writing this on behalf of my father.
His mother, (my grandmother) was diagnosed with terminal cancer in Sept 2012.
My father booked a holiday in March 2012 with my mum and some family friends for £2500 to go away in the 3rd week of Sept 2012
My gran was admitted to hospital at the end of Aug where she was kept in until they did their tests. It took 3 consultants and a professor to work out that this was a very rare type of Leukemia. Unfortunately the cancer was very advanced and they could only offer her palative care.
A decision was made for my parents to cancel their holiday as the consultant gave her about 2 weeks left to live.
My father then rang Natwest black card which covers him for travel insurance and explained the situation. He was told not to worry and they would send a claim form out. He also informed the travel agent that he would be cancelling as well, however the agent said that as it was so late it would be very unlikely he would get a refund and some of the hotels may as a gesture of good will give something back.

My grandmother died in October, and there was many things to sort out like funeral, probate and will.
The insurance company said that once the claim has been logged there was no time limit.

In Feb 2013 we finally got round to filling in the insurance form.

I received a rejection letter.
The policy is underwritten by AXXA ASSISTANCE on behalf of natwest.

The reason for rejection is as follows.

I have considered the supporting details you have provided in accordance with the Policy Terms and conditions and regret that I am not in a position to settle your claim favourably. I would like to draw your attention to section "TRAVEL CANCELLATION/CURTAILMENT of the policy wording, which states the following:


Cancellation of the booked Trip (In country or abroad) before the Date of Departure in case of: Illness, Accident or death of the Cardholder, his Spouse, Children or any 2nd Degree family member / close relative.
From the information you have provided I note your circumstances do not fall within the Policy conditions outlined above,


The definitions of "serious illness and accident" in the case of cancellation, only relates to the insured person The definitions are provided below for your reference.
"SERIOUS ILLNESS: Damage to the health of the Insured Person, that was not caused by an Accident and which show objective and undeniable symptoms established by a Certified Medical Doctor.

ACCIDENT: Sudden event during the duration of the contract, the cause or one of the causes of which, is beyond the control of the Insured Person and causes Physical Injury to the Insured Person
Insured Person
The following persons shall be eligible as Insured Persons:
The Cardholders and all persons travelling with Cardholder by prior arrangement, but only if and while travelling together with the principal Cardholder.
the Cardholder's Spouse and Children are covered even when travelling without the Cardholder."
Although I appreciate this is likely to come as a disappointment to you, I hope my explanation is helpful. If you have any additional information, which may affect the assessment of your claim, please send this to me for consideration.

Please could someone assist me as I think this is wrong!

huckster

Think you should take your complaint up with NatWest, as I am not sure what was said when they were phoned. Really they should have told your father to contact the AXA claims line to run through the claims information. He needed proper advice about what to do at the time he realised that he might have to cancel the trip. If NatWest have given advice about this, then it was NOT their position to do this. This needed to be discussed with AXA.

NatWest will need to look at what has happened and work with your Father and AXA to resolve this.