Travel insurance not paying for curtailment

nigelgg

I have been working through a travel insurance claim since March. Our trip to Ethiopia was cut short when COVID started and the FCO issued the warning against non-essential travel, so I claimed for curtailment of the holiday, half the cost, about 3700 GBP, since we were there for 12 days instead of 24. The insurance company have eventually agreed that I have supplied all the documents required, but now are raising a query about paying because they say that the travel agent in Ethiopia should make the refund, not them. I am now in discussion with a legal company as to whether they should pay.

Has anyone else experienced this?

What was the outcome?

If they continue to refuse, what other actions can I take? For example, trade association, ombudsman, small claims court.

TIA for any assistance.

silvercar

If you booked through an Ethiopian travel agent, you are going to struggle to get a small claims court ruling.
I would be putting a complaint into the travel agent, as that is the easiest option, let them claim off the travel agent.
I'm not sure on your calculation - you had the return flight plus half the time, so I would have thought that your refund wouldn't be half the total cost.

nigelgg

Thanks for the reply.
It was not a package holiday. The flights were paid for separately, so the claim is for half the cost of the tour in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian travel agent has stated that no refund will be made, since payments were already made to local suppliers. As you say, it would be difficult if not impossible to make any legal claim in Ethiopia.
I was looking for advice on how to proceed against the insurance company if the claim is refused.

Voyager2002

Make a formal written complaint to the insurance company: this should make it clear that you have requested a refund from the tour provider in Ethiopia and that your request was declined. Unless the insurance company 'plays ball' you can escalate the complaint to the Ombudsman service: when you make a complaint the insurer MUST send you details of the ombudsman scheme.

Sandtree

What do your T&Cs of your tour state about curtailment?
How did you pay the travel agent? Credit card? Obviously looking to see if there is a possible Section 75 route.

Travel insurance has always been the backstop for costs you cannot reasonably get back by other means. Precovid they were probably a bit lax and paid out on claims that they technically could at least have initially pushed back on to some degree but with the industry being hammered stricter interpretations of clauses and less goodwill are to be expected. 

If you are not happy with them you need to log a complaint, they then have to give you a formal final response to your complaint and if you are either unhappy with the response or the response is not received by the end of the 8th week then you are entitled to escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman for adjudication.