Problem with Lloyds (FREE) Travel Insurance

MarillionFan_2

Man am I hacked off!

I have used Lloyds travel insurance as part of my bank account for about 5 years. Never needed to claim. Its one of those policies that banks include with a monthly £15 charge.

At Xmas we took a trip to Centreparks in Wiltshire for three consecutive nights(which is covered in the insurance for UK) paying about £1k On the 2nd day my 5 month daughter was involved in a very bad accident, almost died, and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance and stayed there for a month. We immediately left and went to stay at the hospital.

After she recovered I decided to claim for curtailment of the trip. The policy covers the UK and AXA who sponsor the Lloyds insurance and AXA said we could claim for curtailment under the policy that the UK was covered as it was a booked holiday for 3 consecutive nights.

5 months later including us paying for extra hospital documentation etc, AXA reject the claim stating that in the small print

Curtailment means abandoning the trip by direct return to your Home Area. Where Home Area is the United Kingdom, and hence as we were already in the Home Area then obviously we could not return to it as we were already there.

It is the most ambigious line I have ever seen and personally as it is so ambigious I do not believe it to be inforcible.

Does anyone have any advice here?

Thanks

MF

jonesMUFCforever

Look at the back of the book you have you will find a page of what to do if you are not happy with them (in other words complaints dept).

State your case - and if you are still not happy with the decision go to the Insurance Ombudsman.

RibAd

IMO you should be covered for curtailment in your situation.....

Appeal the claim, point it out to them that it was prebked and for at least 3 nights, the minimum required under the policy. If you get no further there, put a formal complaint in writing to the claims department.

Good Luck.

MarillionFan_2

Thanks

I plan to complain first. It was the insurance company(call staff) who told me to claim saying I was covered!!!

IMO I am covered, the line 'return to your Home Area' means that effectively it nullifies insurance for the UK which is absurd!

millie

I am trying to find out if Lloyds travel insurance that comes free with the gold card has any upper age limit. I can't find any reference to age on the policy. I have phoned them on behalf of my sister in law who is 70 and they said she is covered, but they say anything on the phone so I was looking for confirmation.

tiff

I downgraded my gold account with the free travel insurance. They couldnt give full cover for DH, better off getting an annual policy with Fortis insurance with no restrictions.

jonesMUFCforever

millie wrote: »

I am trying to find out if Lloyds travel insurance that comes free with the gold card has any upper age limit. I can't find any reference to age on the policy. I have phoned them on behalf of my sister in law who is 70 and they said she is covered, but they say anything on the phone so I was looking for confirmation.

It covers people up to 80 years of age.

dacouch

Typical Axa....

Try the complaint route as outlined above if that gives you no joy try writing to the problem page in either the Telegraph Travel or Motoring Supplements on a saturday. They often deal with travel claim problems funnily enough mainly Axa and they normally get the claim sorted out even if its not technically covered

If that does not get you any joy you could try the ombudsman

I have read the Axa annual policy it actuall refers under the curtailment to returning home which the policy defines as your normal place of residence. It does not refer to "Home Area" under the curtailment section. I recommend that you ask them to confirm in writing that they are declining the claim, for what reasons and to send you copies of the relevant parts of the policy. Hopefully when they compose the letter and look for the relevant parts of the policy they will realise that on the current Lloyds Axa travel policy it should be covered.

dacouch

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

It covers people up to 80 years of age.

Are you sure about this as when you ask for an online quote from Lloyds it states an upper age of 75. It would be wise to confirm the upper age with Lloyds, they should be able to do this over the phone (Take the persons full name, date and time you speak to)

Eligibility requirements

Please answer all questions, disclose all relevant facts and make sure your answers are factually correct throughout this site. If not, you may not be covered in the event of a claim.
I can confirm that all persons to be insured:

1. Are permanently resident in the United Kingdom and registered with a medical practitioner in the United Kingdom
2. are living at the same address (this does not apply to your children if they normally reside with their other parent/guardian)
3. Are aged under 75 years old at the start date of the policy for Annual Multi Trip Policies

payless

For the cover included in the "gold account" it says 80

http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/added_value_accounts/world_travel_insurance2.asp

may be different for standalone policies

dacouch

Their website says 75 so like I said it would be sensible to just check with Lloyds so there are no problems