Had to pay travel back from India. Travel insurance rejxt

mrbg07546

I travel to India in March and I had to change flights and pay as they was cancelled. When I got back I claimed and got this rejection letter from puffin.

 

We write following our review of your claim submitted.

We must advise to you that insurance provides cover for unexpected events that happen after the policy was purchased; the risk of the FCO advising against travel to India has been well publicised for some time.

According to our records you did not purchase your insurance policy when you booked your trip , and didn’t so until 04/03/2020. At that time the media headlines included reference to an epidemic in the UK that could not be stopped and the cancellation of hundreds of flights. The FCO restriction was not unexpected, and we would not be able to refund your trip costs.

In our hope to assist you, our advice at this stage would be to make contact with the trip organiser, as some companies are issuing full refunds, even if you have already cancelled this is because the advice regarding travel by the FCO may have changed since and your trip wouldn’t have been able to go ahead, regardless of when you made your decision to cancel. Likewise, if you paid for your booking with a credit card, your bank or credit supplier may also be able to assist with recovering your money.

Should you come into difficulty with the above or have any questions please do contact us and we will do our best to help you where we can. 

 

 

Any advice . 

 

Life__Goes__On

I found this link dated on the 3rd Mar
https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/11087686/safe-travel-india-advice-coronavirus/
"Can I cancel my holiday to India?

"All flights are still operating from major airports, so any Brits due to travel to India are unlikely to get their money back."

So I would go back to with this info  as it directly contradicts their statement.

Alan_Bowen

I think the insurer's response will be that you only bought cover once your realised things were going pear-shaped and that few people would have continued with flights at that point. You would also have to show that you tried to make alternative arrangements through the airline or agent you booked the flights, the FCO has made numerous arrangements for passengers to return home and I doubt a comment in The Sun is really going to have much sway. Best of luck nevertheless.

Birseh_

Hi mrbg07546. Puffin insurance is part of the tifgroup platform. I refer you to my post below or above regarding "Update to my travel insurance changes covid cover?" What policy did you have exactly, please? i.e.gold, bronze, multi, single etc

Browntoa

By the time you got travel insurance covid 19 was a " known event" 

You will find it hard to fight this with any travel insurance company

Birseh_

Very good point Browntoa....I was waiting for his response and assumed he would not have travelled when he sort of knew the lay of the land

Life__Goes__On

If it was a truly a "known event" on how it would spread so quickly most Governments would have started locking down then  Even Italy only had a local lockdown on the 4th March, wasn't till the 8th it covered Northern Italy (do you think they would have waited if they had known?)
So if Governments didn't know then how would a average person know.

Birseh_

mrbg07546 When did you buy your policy? Was it last year, Jan or March and does it refer to COVI-19 on your ORIGINAL policy. Don't just download the new one and get told it's not covered. What was on your ORIGINAL policy?

Life__Goes__On

Birseh_ said:

mrbg07546 When did you buy your policy? Was it last year, Jan or March and does it refer to COVI-19 on your ORIGINAL policy. Don't just download the new one and get told it's not covered. What was on your ORIGINAL policy?

I read it as 4th March,  but could be wrong.

Birseh_

Thank you Life__Goes__On. We will just have to wait for them to reply. Could well be another tifgroup ploy again

Thrugelmir

Life__Goes__On said:

Birseh_ said:

mrbg07546 When did you buy your policy? Was it last year, Jan or March and does it refer to COVI-19 on your ORIGINAL policy. Don't just download the new one and get told it's not covered. What was on your ORIGINAL policy?

I read it as 4th March,  but could be wrong.

After the trip was booked. Retrospective cover.