My experience with Cover for you insurance and cega claims group

metrobus

Lufthansa changed their flight schedule a few months before i was due to travel with them,this made my already paid for national express coach tickets useless,so i claimed on my waiver free insurance the paltry £20.20,after a week or so i received a phone call from ben dimmick the cega group claims agent saying i was not entitled to claim expenses lost only extra expenses paid,so i said ill claim for the new tickets instead,he had a 180 degree turn on company T&Cs and agreed.He then said i would shortly receive an email with alink to download a form to send back with my bank details so payment could be received.

I then received the the email with the requests below to be sent back in hard copyand not via email.

This letter - Please return all pages of this letter with the supporting documents to the address on the previous page. 

This letter is required to make payment to you. 

 Evidence of travel - The booking invoice for each part of your journey. This needs to confirm the names of the travelers, the date of booking and the outward and return dates of the trip. This is needed to check that your journey is covered under your insurance policy.

  Evidence of the delay - A letter or email from the airline/carrier stating both the length and the reason for the delay (normally showing the expected and actual departure times). If this was not given to you at the time, you will need to obtain this document from the airline/carrier's customer service department. We need this to calculate the amount of your claim according to the terms and condition of your policy.

Evidence of the new National Express tickets.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had already explained twice to them it was an airline schedule change,and not a delay or cancellation,something they kept trying to cloud the issue over.

So I printed the 14 sheets of A4 out and sent it all to them via registered ,signed for post,something they suggested since they could not be held responsible for “lost mail”

Forward 4 weeks and this morning I get this from cega travel claims agent Nathanial Tamlyn

Thank you for contacting us about your recent travel insurance claim. So we can be of further help to you in assessing your claim, please send in the following:

• Cancellation invoice for original National Express, confirming if you were entitled to any refund.

• Booking invoice for the original National Express, confirming original dates of travel.

• The New booking invoices don’t confirm the price paid, please provide evidence of this.

• Please could you confirm the reason as to why the flights were changed.

 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. No cancellation invoice was issued ,since it was a non refundable ticket,something they have already been told

2. No booking invoice was issued,but the dates are obviously for the dates of the flights ,which i have sent them the invoices of

3. I've sent them the screenshot of my bank statement confirming the payment of £20.20 to national express.

4. The reason for the “delay” ? it was not a delay but a schedule change,something ive told them multiple times,was a business decision by Lufthansa made months before the flight and Lufthansa are not prepared to give me reasons for their business decisions.

So after bending over backwards to supply them with all the initial documentation they still want,information they know its near impossible for me to obtain,like the business decisionns by the Lufthansa board.

This is a true account of my experience with them and can all be backed up with the emails they have sent me.

HelenNoreen

I think there has been a breakdown in communication from the outset of you first contacting your insurer. They have perhaps assumed you are trying to make a claim in respect of delayed flights; causing you to unable to use your pre-booked coach tickets; likely an insured peril. 

It actually sounds like due to a flight time change; you were unable to amend your non-refundable/changeable coach tickets. I would be very surprised if this is an insured peril on your policy. Have you actually checked? 

metrobus

No breakdown in communication at all.

They are well aware it only £20.20 for the replacement coach tickets that i am claiming,the cega agent even expressed his surprise how little my claim was for when they first phoned me in regard of my claim,and agreed I was covered.
The mountain of information they are requesting in my opinion is for one purpose and one purpose only,they requested the 1st halve initally and after i supplied them with everything,they requested the other 5 or so documents for the £20 claim.

metrobus

Also there was no "delayed" flight . Lufthansa changed their flight SCHEDULE months before the flights were due to take off but after i had bought the coach tickets,something they are totally entitled to do.

Cega claims agents for COVERFORYOU are now asking me for the  business reason why Lufthansa changed their schedule,something Lufthansa are obviously not willing to discuss with me,and i do not blame them.
I  have already printed off and sent the inital flight itinary, updated flight itinary,both with the same booking reference,screen shots of my bank statement with payments to national express,travel agents invoices,copies of coach tickets,downloaded and printed out my payment details on a special form they requested ,although they already had my bank details for payment,etc,etc,etc all for a paltry £20.

HelenNoreen

metrobus said:

No breakdown in communication at all.

They are well aware it only £20.20 for the replacement coach tickets that i am claiming,the cega agent even expressed his surprise how little my claim was for when they first phoned me in regard of my claim,and agreed I was covered.
The mountain of information they are requesting in my opinion is for one purpose and one purpose only,they requested the 1st halve initally and after i supplied them with everything,they requested the other 5 or so documents for the £20 claim.

The value of the claim makes no difference whatsoever to the claim procedures. If it is not an insured peril; it does not matter whether your claiming £20.20 or £2020

HelenNoreen

metrobus said:

Also there was no "delayed" flight . Lufthansa changed their flight SCHEDULE months before the flights were due to take off but after i had bought the coach tickets,something they are totally entitled to do.

Cega claims agents for COVERFORYOU are now asking me for the  business reason why Lufthansa changed their schedule,something Lufthansa are obviously not willing to discuss with me,and i do not blame them.
I  have already printed off and sent the inital flight itinary, updated flight itinary,both with the same booking reference,screen shots of my bank statement with payments to national express,travel agents invoices,copies of coach tickets,downloaded and printed out my payment details on a special form they requested ,although they already had my bank details for payment,etc,etc,etc all for a paltry £20.

Airlines change their schedules all the time. I have never ever heard of this being an insured peril on travel insurance; which is the point I am trying to make. You could jump through all of these hoops that the insurer is asking you to; and once they have all of the information they are requesting; they will check the insured perils on your policy, and are very likely to say this is not insured. 

metrobus

i knpw full well airlines change their schedule all the time and the policy clearly states extra costs ARISING from a schedule change are covered,just like every travel insurance policy ive ever read,its  very basic,so i dread to think what policies you are taking out if they do not cover such a basic point.

They have already accepted i am covered,and initally after examining the claim ben dimmick the cega agent said all i needed to do was download and fill in a payment form so they could process it,Since then they have rightly or wrongly demanded another 8 documents,including the business reason why lufthansa made the schedule change,again if that is their conditionon on paying out fair enough,but i thought people should be pre warned.

I have never once said the size of the claim is proportional to the information required,I am simply reporting my experience wiith COVER FOR YOU and cega claims group and the mountain of information your needed to supply to make a claim.

Its become now a point of principe and nothing about the paltry £20.

I consider myself very lucky it was not  a medical or hospitalisation claim i needed to make with coverforyou.

metrobus

And for the last week they are now not replying to emails from me and not acknowledging the fact I’ve supplied them the extra information they required.
Disgraceful.

HelenNoreen

Would love to know whether this has been resolved Metrobus?