Insurer not refunding in the case of vouchers being offered

bensmith2000

Hello.
1 week holiday booked to S.Africa to leave May 14th. Travel Insurance including travel disruption cover booked with Cedar Tree (AXA underwriter) at the time of booking and way before the pandemic lockdowns.
KLM has already cancelled my flights UK to S.Africa and offered the travel vouchers. I have a short flight with South African Airways (SAA), this has been cancelled due to the government banning all domestic flights until the end of May. Although I havent received notification of this as their staff are on furlough. And I cant get a response for refund request.
I booked airport hotels with booking.com. They were not refundable but booking.com arranged the refund. I also have the safari booked. This is not refundable although the venue will allow free re-booking at a future date.
The first email that I sent to my travel insurance as lockdown was starting to be imposed was to ask if I could potentially help all parties (insurer included) in the event that I cam get all parties to re-book exactly 1 year in advance. The insurer responded to say they cannot book so far in advance but would offer me a 50% refund (£50) on my travel insurance if I chose this option. As the the FCO advice against travel is indefinite and S.Africa is not permitting UK citizens visas due to COVID19, and SAA is on the verge of collapse I opted against doing this without insurance cover.
Next the insure laid out the path for me to make my claim. Effectively once it is within 28 days I can cancel the flights/accommodation due to my travel disruption cover. This has taken many weeks to try and get responses from all of the companies (still no response from SAA of course). And the two main costs; KLM long haul flights and safari accommodation have offered vouchers/re-booking option.
One of the requirements from the insurer is that I need confirmation of cancelation. So I emailed the insurer to get it in writing that if I now cancel the flights/safari, which is the only way to get around the voucher scenario, that I would be covered. The response this week from the insurer has surprised me:
"Please note, as per the underwriter's advice, we are unable to consider any costs for accommodation / flights / excursions where a voucher, credit or option to rebook has been offered and can be used at a later date."
I am not a legal expert but the underwriters advice does not appear anywhere in the insurance policy document as a part of the contract I agreed to. And a voucher that can only be used if I am physically located in a different continent does not seem like an acceptable alternative to a refund.
So the only reason that we pay for travel insurance is that the insurer accepts the level of financial risk offset against the payments that we make. I can accept that the airlines and accommodation class this as an unusual event, but I cannot accept the insurer doing the same when their cover includes pandemic.
Now if I accept the vouchers and re-book the insurer wouldnt even cover me for further disruption to the pre-arranged booking. If the airline/accommodation collapses I will not be covered. I feel like the Cedar Tree/AXA has taken my money and ran.

Life__Goes__On

"Please note, as per the underwriter's advice, we are unable to consider any costs for accommodation / flights / excursions where a voucher, credit or option to rebook has been offered and can be used at a later date."

Have you asked the for a full breakdown of their decision pointing to each cause they are using for said decision.