Travel insurance claim cover policy contradiction by tifgroup esure

Phil_Yohan

Hi, 
On the 13th of March 2020 I booked a trip to Ethiopia for March 25th 2020 and took out travel insurance cover from esure as I always did with them for my last three trips in the last couple of years. When I took out the cover from esure the FCO travel advice was it remained safe to travel to Ethiopia and neither the esure website or the subsequent policy issued contained any covic 19 advice or warnings. 
A week later on 17th of March FCO issued travel warning against all international travel so I rung esure to ask them if I'm still covered if traveled against FCO's advice they said no I am not. Was devastated but had no other choice but to cancel my trip. 
Decided to make a claim but TIF declined my claim following the cancellation of my trip stating "my policy doesn't cover cancellation of as a result of FCO advice". First of all, there was nothing on my policy that states "my policy doesn't cover cancellation of as a result of FCO advice". Secondly, why did TIF told when me that I'm not covered if I traveled against FCO advice when I asked them that if I'm covered to go on with my tripe against FCO advice? The contradiction is I'm not covered if I traveled against the advice of FCO and at the same time I'm also not covered if I followed FCO advice as well as TIF declaration of no cover if do travel against FCO advice. So either way if travel or not I'm not covered; so what is the point of the cover policy I purchased? 
The spirit of travel insurance cover is to put cover in place incase of situations that are outside the control of the traveler arise such as in the the event of flight/travel cancellations. My situation is outside of my control.  
Any help/advice is appreciated.
Attached cover policy screenshots below
Thanks.

paddyandstumpy

Seems quite clear cut. None of the 6 scenarios (bullet points in the second screenshot) happened, so there is no cover. 

csgohan4

there's a longstanding TIF group thread on here, says it all really. 
I don't pay attention to summary of cover, but read the T+Cs from front to back. That way you only have yourself to blame if you can't get money back

Thrugelmir

What is not insured - You were aware of the global threat of Covid at the time of booking your trip. The wording clearly says "could mean that you can't travel".  

Phil_Yohan

csgohan4 said:

there's a longstanding TIF group thread on here, says it all really. 
I don't pay attention to summary of cover, but read the T+Cs from front to back. That way you only have yourself to blame if you can't get money back

 TIF group thread (in the Insurance section) has been deleted apparently. 
When they do the quoting they only show you the insurance summary but ones take the offer they email you the details. Yes it's always a mistake not to read the full cover detail booklet...
My main complaint is though why did TIF told my cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice and at the sametime they state that my policy doesn't cover any cancelling due to FCO advice? It's like they are using FCO advice only when it suit them. If they nullified my cover because of FCO advice then they should also cover for the cancellation legally speaking. 

Phil_Yohan

paddyandstumpy said:

Seems quite clear cut. None of the 6 scenarios (bullet points in the second screenshot) happened, so there is no cover.

Okay in the same token there is also nothing that said "your cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice". 
Why then did they told me my cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice when there was nothing mentioned in the cover in respect with FCO advice? 

davidmcn

Phil_Yohan said:

paddyandstumpy said:

Seems quite clear cut. None of the 6 scenarios (bullet points in the second screenshot) happened, so there is no cover.

Okay in the same token there is also nothing that said "your cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice". 
Why then did they told me my cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice when there was nothing mentioned in the cover in respect with FCO advice?

But that's not how it works. You're covered for specific risks (apart from any exceptions). Your claim needs to be within the covered risks in the first place, before any exceptions become relevant, and it doesn't look like it is.

Phil_Yohan

Thrugelmir said:

What is not insured - You were aware of the global threat of Covid at the time of booking your trip. The wording clearly says "could mean that you can't travel".  

Yes I was aware about Covid since January and so was FCO. Did you ready my first post regarding the case?

Phil_Yohan

davidmcn said:

Phil_Yohan said:

paddyandstumpy said:

Seems quite clear cut. None of the 6 scenarios (bullet points in the second screenshot) happened, so there is no cover.

Okay in the same token there is also nothing that said "your cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice". 
Why then did they told me my cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice when there was nothing mentioned in the cover in respect with FCO advice?

But that's not how it works. You're covered for specific risks (apart from any exceptions). Your claim needs to be within the covered risks in the first place, before any exceptions become relevant, and it doesn't look like it is.

So do you mean they can say "I'm not covered for cancellation based on FCO advice" at the same time invoke FCO advice to nullify and void my cover as a result of FCO advice? Either FCO advice does not have any effect on my cover or I'm covered for FCO based cancellations. You can not both at the sametimes or can you?  Invoking FCO advice when it suits you (In my case to nullify my cover) and then stating FCO based cancelation not in policy. Which one is it? 

davidmcn

Phil_Yohan said:

davidmcn said:

Phil_Yohan said:

paddyandstumpy said:

Seems quite clear cut. None of the 6 scenarios (bullet points in the second screenshot) happened, so there is no cover.

Okay in the same token there is also nothing that said "your cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice". 
Why then did they told me my cover is null and void if I travel against the FCO advice when there was nothing mentioned in the cover in respect with FCO advice?

But that's not how it works. You're covered for specific risks (apart from any exceptions). Your claim needs to be within the covered risks in the first place, before any exceptions become relevant, and it doesn't look like it is.

So do you mean they can say "I'm not covered for cancellation based on FCO advice" at the same time invoke FCO advice to nullify and void my cover as a result of FCO advice? Either FCO advice does not have any effect on my cover or I'm covered for FCO based cancellations. You can not both at the sametimes or can you?  Invoking FCO advice when it suits you (In my case to nullify my cover) and then stating FCO based cancelation not in policy. Which one is it? 

If it doesn't cover your reason for cancellation then it doesn't cover it. Whether or not it would have covered a different hypothetical situation isn't relevant. There's no principle that a policy must provide you with some sort of cover in all circumstances. 

sheramber

 Follow the complaint procedure in your policy document if you are not happy with the decision. 
You have been given the opinion of the people on this thread but you don't like it. We can't change anything so make your arguments to the insurers.