Travel insurance = useless

casiocasio

Hi, my partner and I travelled abroad on holiday and unfortunately I got sick and was admitted to hospital. My partner informed my travel insurance company and we were told we would be repatriated soon. I used a travel insurance company that I had seen on Moneysavingexpert. Unfortunately, due to errors that the travel insurance company made- we were left out there for just over 6 weeks!

The only reason we are both home is because we used social media to contact the CEO and PR Manager. We have raised this as a complaint and rejected the informal offer. We were then offered £1000 for a formal complaint as well as costs reimbursed for things they don't normally cover. We both think this is ridiculous as they engaged in unreasonable delay by putting their financial interests ahead of the policyholder. For medical reasons, the quickest option for us to get home was by being repatriated through the travel insurance company. The travel insurance company have admitted they made mistakes on the case and will learn from their errors but the fact is they were willing to leave me in a hospital abroad until they decided what to do with me.

My next stage is to go to the Financial Ombudsman but I was wondering if people agreed that £1000 is ridiculous considering I am only home because I contacted the CEO and the PR Manager to say I am going to the newspaper.

Quentin

Name and shame!! Make sure others avoid them

casiocasio

It is Coverwise underwritten by AXA Insurance. Definitely do not use them.

ValiantSon

You have my sympathies over the situation. It was clearly stressful and their service was poor. However, they have admitted to making mistakes and have offered to reimburse you for all costs, including those you were never actually insured for, and to pay you £1000 in compensation. This seems fair to me.

They have remedied the breach, admitted fault and compensated you. What more do you want?

marlot

My experiences of Axa have always been good.

I don't know if £1000 is reasonable or not? Did they have tp pay the foregin hopital bill too? If so they'll be very out of pocket.

casiocasio

ValiantSon wrote: »

You have my sympathies over the situation. It was clearly stressful and their service was poor. However, they have admitted to making mistakes and have offered to reimburse you for all costs, including those you were never actually insured for, and to pay you £1000 in compensation. This seems fair to me.

They have remedied the breach, admitted fault and compensated you. What more do you want?

Thanks for your reply. They have only offered to cover some costs which only equate to a tenth of the full costs of what we had to spend to stay out there. To clarify, we have taken a huge financial hit due to their poor handling of the case.

ValiantSon

casiocasio wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. They have only offered to cover some costs which only equate to a tenth of the full costs of what we had to spend to stay out there. To clarify, we have taken a huge financial hit due to their poor handling of the case.

Have they agreed to pay all the costs for which you were insured? If they have, and they have offered to pay some additional costs, and to give you £1,000, then I'm not convinced that you can expect any more.

I appreciate that you may have incurred other costs, but if they were uninsured items, then that isn't the insurer's fault.

AstroTurtle

What were the errors?


Doesn't seem like a very full story to be honest.

casiocasio

marlot wrote: »

My experiences of Axa have always been good.

I don't know if £1000 is reasonable or not? Did they have tp pay the foregin hopital bill too? If so they'll be very out of pocket.

Yes, they will be paying that.

ValiantSon wrote: »

Have they agreed to pay all the costs for which you were insured? If they have, and they have offered to pay some additional costs, and to give you £1,000, then I'm not convinced that you can expect any more.

I appreciate that you may have incurred other costs, but if they were uninsured items, then that isn't the insurer's fault.

Okay. I guess I am not happy as they were willing to leave us out there.

AstroTurtle wrote: »

What were the errors?


Doesn't seem like a very full story to be honest.

One of the errors was the delay in approving the case whilst we were abroad which is stressful in itself as we didn't even know if we were covered because every single detail on my medical history was scrutinised even though I had no known health issues.

ValiantSon

casiocasio wrote: »

Yes, they will be paying that.



Okay. I guess I am not happy as they were willing to leave us out there.



One of the errors was the delay in approving the case whilst we were abroad which is stressful in itself as we didn't even know if we were covered because every single detail on my medical history was scrutinised even though I had no known health issues.

Had they delayed in starting to process the claim, or was it that they requested more information as part of that process, which left you uncertain as to whether or not they would pay out? In the former instance then you are entitled to expect some recompense for that delayed period, but in the latter you may not be.

You partner may have incurred some costs, that were uninsured, in remaining abroad while they helped you with dealing with the claim. For a short period you might reasonably expect them to reimburse you for these if they had caused an unnecessary delay, but not necessarily at the same level as your hotel would charge for each subsequent night. For example, if you were staying in a 4* hotel the insurer could reasonably say that this was an excessive price and only cover the cost of a 2* to provide basic accommodation for your partner for a short period of time, with a small amount also allowed for subsistence.

Compensation is meant to cover reasonable out of pocket expenses due to the company's errors and delays. This does not mean that they should cover all expenses.

I do understand your anger and frustration, but I'm just trying to establish whether you could reasonably expect more from them.

casiocasio

At present, I don't know what caused the delay and I am still waiting for something in writing. I have only had phonecalls so far.

Yes, they explained the like for like cover for accommodation which we are fine with.

I am not happy that the apology I received was for the 'inconvenience' caused when in reality I suffered emotionally and physically as I was in isolation the entire time.