Holiday insurance

BNW_4_U

I paid a deposit, (£150 in June 2016), for a holiday in April 2017. I have had to cancel due to family problems. The Organiser initialy told me to check the documents sent to me by the insurance & holiday company. I never did receive or see these paper's. I have been told by the organiser that I will not only lose my deposit, but I must also pay them £135 EXTRA in cancellation fees!
What are my rights and the rules & regs and the law covering me on this?
BNW 4 U :eek:

Ebe_Scrooge

Who do you mean when you refer to "the organiser" ?


But essentially, if you cancel the holiday it's not the travel agent's fault, so they're within their rights to retain the deposit. Cancellation fees - I must admit I'm not totally sure on that one.


But this is why you buy insurance, to cover just this type of eventuality. Did you buy insurance at the time you booked the holiday - either via the travel agent, or via a third party ? If you did, then check that the policy covers cancellation - most will. Contact the insurance company for advice.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Agreed, it matters who the organiser is?

So not getting a copy of the insurance is pretty poor, but I suspect happens often when a "group leader arranges".

They can, for sure, be asked firmly to supply you with them now, as they took money for the insurance right? Or at least give you the full details of the insurer and the holiday company - but if they arranged it - press them!

It is not their call if you can claim or not - the question is whether or not your family "problems" are something that is insured. Cancellation cover is rarely "any reason' and usually only kicks in for specific circumstances which you may have or not.

I'd start getting the policy and go from there.

BNW_4_U

ThinkingOutLoud wrote: »

Agreed, it matters who the organiser is?

So not getting a copy of the insurance is pretty poor, but I suspect happens often when a "group leader arranges".

They can, for sure, be asked firmly to supply you with them now, as they took money for the insurance right? Or at least give you the full details of the insurer and the holiday company - but if they arranged it - press them!

It is not their call if you can claim or not - the question is whether or not your family "problems" are something that is insured. Cancellation cover is rarely "any reason' and usually only kicks in for specific circumstances which you may have or not.

I'd start getting the policy and go from there.

Thanks very much

BNW_4_U

The Organiser wad from a local Community Centre. I wiil contsct the insurance company for a copy of the policy. I thought that I had 14 or so days to except the terms before agreeing to take out the policy
I will also contact the holiday company to ask about my so called late cancellation charge.
Thanks for your inut.
BNW 4 U

ThinkingOutLoud wrote: »

Agreed, it matters who the organiser is?

So not getting a copy of the insurance is pretty poor, but I suspect happens often when a "group leader arranges".

They can, for sure, be asked firmly to supply you with them now, as they took money for the insurance right? Or at least give you the full details of the insurer and the holiday company - but if they arranged it - press them!

It is not their call if you can claim or not - the question is whether or not your family "problems" are something that is insured. Cancellation cover is rarely "any reason' and usually only kicks in for specific circumstances which you may have or not.

I'd start getting the policy and go from there.

BNW_4_U

I was offered the inurance in case I needed to cancel. I also never recieved any cancellation terms from the holiday company. The organiser, after I complained that I had not recieved anything from either the Insurance and/or holiday company, did eventually show me the terms of cancelation & gave me some telephone numbers for them & asked me to call them up myself. That is why I wanted to know of my rights by law etc, so I could quote them.
Thanks very muvh for your input.
BNW 4 U 😎

ThinkingOutLoud_2

BNW_4_U wrote: »

The Organiser wad from a local Community Centre. I wiil contsct the insurance company for a copy of the policy. I thought that I had 14 or so days to except the terms before agreeing to take out the policy
I will also contact the holiday company to ask about my so called late cancellation charge.
Thanks for your inut.
BNW 4 U

Ok so if it is group policy - as it sounds then that makes the 14 day but complicated. But in theory - you are right you can argue 14 days from sight/receipt of documents. The challenge is if the organiser had them, I assume. BUT that is only relevant if you want to try to cancel you policy as if it never existed. Then you can't claim for sure.

I suspect the cancellation terms will be relatively standard too; so would you have rejected the policy on that basis? Probably not.

So this then brings you to:-
A) is the cause of your desire to cancel insured?
If so, you can claim.

Secondly, when did you notify the organiser you were not going and was the extra deposit due then. If before that extra was due, they could have removed you from the trip surely. If after, then it is due in theory.

So if insured, you should be able to claim the original deposit and the extra one.

If not insured, maybe you can get the holiday company to let you off the second one? Worth at try if all else fails.

elsien

You were offered the insurance. Did you accept and pay for it?

ThinkingOutLoud_2

BNW_4_U wrote: »

I was offered the inurance in case I needed to cancel. I also never recieved any cancellation terms from the holiday company. The organiser, after I complained that I had not recieved anything from either the Insurance and/or holiday company, did eventually show me the terms of cancelation & gave me some telephone numbers for them & asked me to call them up myself. That is why I wanted to know of my rights by law etc, so I could quote them.
Thanks very muvh for your input.
BNW 4 U 😎

Ok so pretty much the same thing anyway.

I am assuming the fact they eventually gave you both details means a policy was arranged.

You should as you say call the insurer and holiday company. The first to understand if you can claims and the latter to get clarity of when and what deposit is due.

In a sense while the organiser was not very helpful to you; now you need to claim it going to best for you to deal direct.

Good luck.

BNW_4_U

I only informed the organiser last week that I could not go & to lt the holiday company know, so that someone else could take my holiday slot; (they would sell it easily as theholiday was vastly over subscribed). I asked him about the cancellation insurance & he said that I could claim and to look at the policy that they should have sent. I told him that I never received them, (I am not sure if he recieved anything from them).

He said he would call them & emailed me back to say that as I had only paid the deposit, then I could not calim & I would lose the deposit. I said if I had known that I was not covered by the policy for my deposit , then I would not have taken it out. I would have gone else where or not taken any insurance out! Why would I want to take out insurance that did not cover me?

He then emailed me & said the holiday company also wanted to charge me a cancellation fee as well. I said no way, keeping my deposit was bad enough without penalising me more on top. I told the organiser that they would have no problem sellig my holiday as it was over subscribed.
He then came back & told me about the extra cancellation fee & to stop fighting them& later on showed me a leaflet stating the terms of cncellation. I replied that I had never seen them & should have seen them.
Thanks very much again, I am going to calll them& see what they say, (I will record my conversation for training perposes).

BNW 4 U

ThinkingOutLoud_2

BNW_4_U wrote: »

He said he would call them & emailed me back to say that as I had only paid the deposit, then I could not claim & I would lose the deposit. I said if I had known that I was not covered by the policy for my deposit , then I would not have taken it out.
He then came back & told me about the extra cancellation fee & to stop fighting them & later on showed me a leaflet stating the terms of cancellation. I replied that I had never seen them & should have seen them.

OK

So it would be a very odd travel insurance policy if they did not cover you for loss of deposit if the reason was an insured peril. That might be the issue as the organiser sees it? So no need to explain your family problem - but find out if the reason is insured from the insurer.

Do you have a copy of the tour operators terms? Cancellation does vary - and it is true the nearer you get to a holiday starting the higher the charge is usually. But, as they can fill the place, it seems rough they are trying to profit doubly from you.

Of course if it is insured, then you need/use the cancellation invoice to make your claim for the full amount lost.