AXA improperly rejecting travel insurance claim - draft complaint letter

dacouch

I would guess they are relying on "from or to the United Kingdom"

You may be able to overturn it if it gets to the Ombudsman.

Tirian

If that is what they are relying on, then it is far from clear-cut especially as it would be a very simple matter to state clearly in the "What is not covered" section, 'journeys entirely within the United Kingdom'.

Given that they do not make any such exclusion anywhere in the policy, and that they do specifically give conditions for qualifying UK travel I don't think they can rely on this wording as necessarily conveying the meaning that they want.

In fact, I think that the general "Policy Information" section at the start of the policy in fact makes it quite clear that my journey is covered (my emphasis):

"8 .You are covered for any holiday or journey for pleasure with each individual trip limited to 45 consecutive days, beginning and ending in the United Kingdom."

9 Any trip solely within the United Kingdom is only covered where you have pre-booked at least two nights’ accommodation in a hotel, motel, holiday camp, bed and breakfast, holiday cottage or similar accommodation rented for a fee.

This quite clearly sets the parameters for interpretation of "from or to" the United Kingdom, which is that the holiday or journey begins and ends in the United Kingdom.

There are then specific conditions for holidays or journeys within the United Kingdom. God, I almost hope they do make me take this to FOS because they haven't a gnat's chance in hell of winning it.

The terminology in the travel delay section is clearly drafted so as to exclude journeys in the middle of a holiday, that would not delay either your commencement of or return from the holiday. Fairly reasonable, if they actually applied it to only those circumstances, but not when they try to abuse it to reject claims that the policy clearly DOES cover.

rs65

Have you looked at Section R para 5 ?

(i don't like the 'in the terminal' wording in it though)

Tirian

rs65 wrote: »

Have you looked at Section R para 5 ?

(i don't like the 'in the terminal' wording in it though)

There's three para 5s in Section R! I presume you refer to the first one ...

I don't this is relevant as it is the cost of overnight accommodation we are claiming for, which would come under para 4. Thus the "in terminal" bit wouldn't apply.

On the other hand, you are correct that section R seems to be a more appropriate section of the policy to treat this case under, and the language here is also much clearer on travel in the UK:

What IS covered

... if you have to make alternative arrangements to return to your home ... as a result of the public transport on which you were booked to travel to your home area being cancelled or delayed for at least 12 hours ... due to a covered event.

Nice one - I will keep that in store any further discussions we have ...

Tirian

Well, what do you know - after all of a day's consideration, AXA's 'complaints' division have agreed to pay out our claim 'as a courtesy', although they continue to maintain that travel within the UK is not covered by the policy.

To be honest, I'm still fuming over this. It's lucky they talked to my wife rather than to me, because I might well have told them where to stick their "courtesy" payment. What I want is for them to concede that their policy, as written, specifically DOES cover UK travel.

Anyway, they are making payment of the claim by BACS transfer. In the meantime, I will consider whether I leave the matter there or whether to bundle up the whole correspondence and pass it on to some relevant contacts who could stir up an entertaining amount of trouble for AXA on the basis of their treatment of this claim.

However, for anyone else reading this who encounters similar obfuscation from AXA regarding claims for UK travel, the moral of this story is - don't take "no" for an answer.

vaio

I suppose if you want to push it then (once you have the money) you could resurrect your complaint with the objective of getting them to "......concede that their policy, as written, specifically DOES cover UK travel....." with the option of FOS involvement if they don't change their minds.

opinions4u

Take the cash and get on with your life.

And well done!

dacouch

vaio wrote: »

I suppose if you want to push it then (once you have the money) you could resurrect your complaint with the objective of getting them to "......concede that their policy, as written, specifically DOES cover UK travel....." with the option of FOS involvement if they don't change their minds.

Runs the risk of them withdrawing the offer and going to the Ombudsman.

Most travel policies I reviewed a couple of years ago did not include travel delay within the UK for connecting internal flights etc.

I had a customer who lived on Jersey and had been burned before when trying to claim for a delayed flight to get back from Heathrow after a trip abroad. The only one I found who specifically covered it was Aegis through their broker policy. This was a few years ago so they may have changed their wording as may other Insurers.

It's the sort of thing people tend not to check unless they've had a problem before or a family member has

Quentin

Tirian wrote: »

.... It's lucky they talked to my wife rather than to me, because I might well have told them where to stick their "courtesy" payment. What I want is for them to concede that their policy, as written, specifically DOES cover UK travel.

Anyway, they are making payment of the claim by BACS transfer. In the meantime, I will consider whether I leave the matter there or whether to bundle up the whole correspondence and pass it on to some relevant contacts who could stir up an entertaining amount of trouble for AXA on the basis of their treatment of this claim......

Take care over this.

They have answered your complaint by paying your claim in full. As already posted if you don't accept it then the offer may be withdrawn, and the ombudsman could take the view you unreasonably rejected it.

As far as continuing your crusade separately, if you read up on how axa normally deal with claims, you'll see this would be water of a duck's back!!

vaio

I was thinking take the "as a courtesy" money and then seek clarification on the policy wording ether via the existing complaint or via a new one.

The policy wording as discussed above certainly tends to supports the OP's stance or is at least ambiguous which is always a bad thing in insurance wording.