Lowcostholidays collapses – your rights as 140,000 hit by travel chaos

Richard_TR

Just back from visiting a friend in hospital and i check my PayPal and my refund is there a few days earlier than i thought ,minus my flights which is what i expected/wanted so i agree with Natalie Credit card is King ,PayPal is Queen ,then its Debit card is Jack ,the lesson learned here is a good one for all of us waiting for refunds and had refunds thanks to all at MSE for the help etc,Richard.

Alan_Bowen

To harrispb, I believe you do have a very valid claim on the insurance, 95% of accommodation is booked through third parties, such as Low Cost and not direct with hotels. Any reasonable person reading your policy would interpret it exactly as you and I have done, the chances of a hotel ceasing to trade is virtually zero and the insurers wanted you to believe that you were covered.

You should respond indicating that you do not accept their decision and ask for a review before you begin an Ombudsman claim, it costs the insurers a lot of money to defend a claim, whether they are right or wrong. Secondly you should contact your bank who 'sold' you the policy as an additional charge each month and say you are very unhappy and expect them to either get the insurer to pay or you want a full refund of all premiums and an undertaking that they will review whether or not the policy has any value at all. From what you say, it seems it doesn't.

Mapfre is normally a perfectly decent insurer, is it them or a claims handler who has suggested you are not covered?

harrispb

Hello Alan, thank you very much for taking the trouble to respond to my issue it is very much appreciated. Reactive Claims have been appointed as my claim handler and they have said my claim is not valid.

With regards to contacting my bank, I purchased the annual insurance policy online and paid with my credit card so I am not sure if the second part of your response will apply about the additional charge each month.

Thank you so much Peter

IA-UK-2016

Barclays not being able very helpful. They are saying that you'll just have to wait, no timeframes, no promises....

bexy_v

we got ours back, plus interest and plus difference via Halifax, thank god! xx

Alan_Bowen

hassispb: apologies I thought this was part of a packaged bank account. Who did you buy the insurance from, Mapfre I assume are one of the underwriters but is the insolvency protection from another company, such as IPP, by any chance?

N4t4lie

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

hassispb: apologies I thought this was part of a packaged bank account. Who did you buy the insurance from, Mapfre I assume are one of the underwriters but is the insolvency protection from another company, such as IPP, by any chance?

If it's any help, that isn't IPP's standard wording, mine is IPP (via Nationwide) and they specify 'End' supplier failure, not 'Third Party'.

harrispb

I purchased the policy online after using a comparison site and specifying that I wanted Third Party Supplier Insolvency cover which was an additional premium. The price comparison site directed me to annualtravelinsurance dot com where I purchased the insurance which included insolvency cover. THANK YOU

N4t4lie

IA-UK-2016 wrote: »

Barclays not being able very helpful. They are saying that you'll just have to wait, no timeframes, no promises....

It's interesting to see each different banks response, I take it you saw the post from the person with First Direct above? How can it be different for each bank?

Try messaging the news @ MSE address and see if they can get a statement from Barclays, Faye posted one from PayPal at the beginning of this week and it would appear they have processed the majority of refunds now. Maybe they need some press encouragement as twer?

N4t4lie

harrispb wrote: »

I purchased the policy online after using a comparison site and specifying that I wanted Third Party Supplier Insolvency cover which was an additional premium. The price comparison site directed me to annualtravelinsurance dot com where I purchased the insurance which included insolvency cover. THANK YOU

Just read the policy document on their website and frankly I am amazed they can try and get out of paying it. All that is mentioned is the quote you posted and nothing in general exclusions or small print. Have you been able to talk to them again? If you do, just keep mentioning the Ombudsmen. I really dislike insurance companies by the way, they promise things and then weedle out of paying so often.