Virgin travel insurance claim query

Jeetus

Hi folks,

Situation –

Holiday to Thailand booked in April using Tesco credit card.Due to fly out – 25th May 2013. We discover wife is pregnant on 19thMay but is in good health with no signs of sickness or difficulties. Check virgin travel insurance and we are covered but the wording is as follows–

Pregnancy and childbirth

We provide cover underthis policy if something unexpected happens. In particular, we provide cover underSection A for injuries to the body or illness that was not expected. We do notconsider pregnancy or childbirth an illness or injury. To be clear, we onlyprovide cover under sections A and D of this policy, for claims that come fromcomplications of pregnancy and childbirth. “Complications of pregnancy andchildbirth” in the Definitions section.

Saturday 25th May, the day of travel and wife issuffering from abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. As a result shewas unfit to travel and therefore we had to cancel the holiday. Doctor confirmsthat wife is unfit to travel the next working day (Tuesday as it was May bankholiday).

Doctor completes the medical certification form provided byVirgin Insurance and one of the initial questions on the form is –

Medical condition/illness/injurycause of death, that gives rise to the claim. To this the doctor has put Complications of Pregnancy.

Further down another question requests the exact reason forcancellation for which the doctor has put Abdominalpain, nausea, vomit, diarrhoea.

I have checked the covered complications listed under the pregnancyand childbirth clause within the insurance documentation. Unfortunately abdominalpain, nausea, vomit and diarrhoea are not listed. As a result the insurancecompany have advised that we are not covered since the doctors answer to thefirst question was Complications ofpregnancy and the complications my wife suffered are not listed in theirlist of definitions.

I suspect there is not much that we can do in this regard especiallysince they are clear in their definitions as to what they will cover. Howeverare we able to claim under illness that was not expected?

Additionally I thought we might be covered under theconsumer credit act 1974 since I paid with my credit card. However having rangthe tesco bank helpline they advised that they will be unable to raise this asa case since it is not something they cover. What they cover includes - holidaycompany going bust, flight being cancelled or the package we paid for notbeing available anymore.

Is anyone able to confirm if I am afforded anyother form of protection under the consumer credit act or will it only coverthe aforementioned?

Many thanks in advance.

Quentin

The cca won't help here.

Your insurer has explained the reasons why they are refusing the claim and you can now raise a complaint if you believe they are acting incorrectly.

Their complaints procedure will be set out in the policy document. If you are unhappy with the response you will be able to escalate this to the FOS for their adjudication.

There is no cost to you for following this procedure and using the fos even if they ultimately reject your complaint, so you have nothing to lose by trying.

Jeetus

Quentin, many thanks pal. Will discuss with the wife and see whether or not we want to pursue it.