Holiday Insurance Company Asking Us to Use Section 75

DougW87

My wife and I booked a diving holiday to Egypt through PADI at the beginning of February.
We could not travel due to COVID-19. This was covered on the insurance policy we had with WHO / FCO advice.
The insurance company are refusing to pay up and want us to claim through section 75 with our credit card provider. Is there some sort of template I can send to the insurance company stating that I payed for the insurance, the terms and conditions covered the COVID-19 scenario and it is their responsibility to pay us a full refund?

Searcher2

Wouldn't it be better to go through section 75 anyway or did you book the Egypt part separately and the Egypt part actually took place?  Surely there is an excess on your insurance policy?  If the PADI holiday was a proper package holiday and covered by ABTA then they should give you a full refund if the holiday didn't run.

eskbanker

Insurers will usually require travellers to mitigate their losses before making any claim, so if there is the option to obtain a refund from travel or card companies then you'll be expected to pursue this before seeking redress from the insurance company.

DougW87

Searcher2 said:

Wouldn't it be better to go through section 75 anyway or did you book the Egypt part separately and the Egypt part actually took place?  Surely there is an excess on your insurance policy?  If the PADI holiday was a proper package holiday and covered by ABTA then they should give you a full refund if the holiday didn't run.

It wasn't a package. It was a live-aboard dive holiday so we booked the accommodation and diving through PADI. We hadn't yet booked flights as we always book 7-8 weeks before travel. By this time the world climate had escalated to the point where it was pretty obvious we wouldn't be travelling.

macman

The travel is separate, so whether you could travel is not relevant to your claim for the accom and dive.
Did the dive holiday operate, was the accommodation available? If so, you probably have no claim. If no, then you must request a refund from PADI. Have you done so? Only once they refuse can you do an insurance or card claim.
You need to exhaust all other avenues before your insurance will consider a claim, so they are correct. Their only error is suggesting an S75 claim. Always commence with a chargeback, then an S75.