Holiday Insurance....gotcha all ways

DianeWales

I have holiday insurance via my bank's packaged account.  We recently went to Jersey but the day before our trip home, Condor Ferries cancelled the sailing due to bad weather.  We had to spend a further 2 days in Jersey (which although was lovely) lead to extra accommodation and food costs.  Condor have stated that they do not recompense in the case of cancellation due to bad weather and it would seem that my insurance will not either.  They have told me that they would expect the tour operator or provider to do that and will only compensate, in the event of a delayed return, for Car Parking and Pet Kennel or sitting fees!  To say I am astonished is an understatement.  Has anyone had any experience of this themselves or can suggest any recourse or am I stuck with this situation.

Thank you 

eskbanker

What do the policy terms say about this sort of situation?  Which bank and underlying insurance provider is it?

DianeWales

Nationwide Building Society, Insurance by UK Insurance.  The policy booklet does state "Delayed Return We will pay up to £500 for any extra car parking, kennel, cattery, or professional pet sitter costs if for reasons outside your control, you can’t return to the UK on your planned return date" . Which to me is madness. they say that in 99% of cases they would expect the tour operator or provider to cover the extra expenses.  But we booked everything independently.  I realise we are probably up the creek without a paddle but I would never have thought that what they would have covered would have been quite so specific.  No accommodation, food etc

lisyloo

Did you have a package or independent arrangements.
if you’d purchased a package holiday then the tour operator should have looked after you.
im guessing you booked elements separately?
what does your insurance say about it?

DianeWales

lisyloo said:

Did you have a package or independent arrangements.
if you’d purchased a package holiday then the tour operator should have looked after you.
im guessing you booked elements separately?
what does your insurance say about it?

Yes we booked the ferry and accommodation independently.  Our insurance says "The policy booklet does state "Delayed Return We will pay up to £500 for any extra car parking, kennel, cattery, or professional pet sitter costs if for reasons outside your control, you can’t return to the UK on your planned return date" . Which to me is madness. they say that in 99% of cases they would expect the tour operator or provider to cover the extra expenses.  But we booked everything independently.  I realise we are probably up the creek without a paddle but I would never have thought that what they would have covered would have been quite so specific.  No accommodation, food etc

lisyloo

Ask them for an explanation as to why you aren’t covered - request references to their clauses. Point them to that clause you quoted - give them page and paragraph numbers.

let us know what they say.

you can raise a formal complaint and have recourse to the ombudsman, but first I’d ask for a specific explanation. If it’s not covered then they should be able to point you to the paragraphs where it says so.
i agree with you that you should be covered but I don’t have the entire policy.

DullGreyGuy

DianeWales said:

lisyloo said:

Did you have a package or independent arrangements.
if you’d purchased a package holiday then the tour operator should have looked after you.
im guessing you booked elements separately?
what does your insurance say about it?

Yes we booked the ferry and accommodation independently.  Our insurance says "The policy booklet does state "Delayed Return We will pay up to £500 for any extra car parking, kennel, cattery, or professional pet sitter costs if for reasons outside your control, you can’t return to the UK on your planned return date" . Which to me is madness. they say that in 99% of cases they would expect the tour operator or provider to cover the extra expenses.  But we booked everything independently.  I realise we are probably up the creek without a paddle but I would never have thought that what they would have covered would have been quite so specific.  No accommodation, food etc

You've found a gap in your policy unfortunately, their delayed departure cover is only on the outbound travel, delayed return is only for limited items and there is no Enforced Stay cover. Unfortunately even with Enforced Stay cover it tends only to cover where airports/ports/airspace is closed rather than just bad weather. 

Unfortunately ABTA also state ferry companies have no obligation on accommodation if cancellation is due to adverse weather that would threaten safety.

callum9999

lisyloo said:

Ask them for an explanation as to why you aren’t covered - request references to their clauses. Point them to that clause you quoted - give them page and paragraph numbers.

let us know what they say.

you can raise a formal complaint and have recourse to the ombudsman, but first I’d ask for a specific explanation. If it’s not covered then they should be able to point you to the paragraphs where it says so.
i agree with you that you should be covered but I don’t have the entire policy.

I don't see what use quoting that clause would have given it says exactly what the insurance company said it does?

I agree that a good policy should cover it, but this doesn't (unless there's a different clause not quoted that does). Unfortunately it looks like the insurance company is completely correct.

lisyloo

Ah I see. It excludes accomodation. My bad.

Stargunner

That is the problem with travel insurance given away by the majority of banks, it is normally a stripped down version of cover compared to what you would get if you bought it yourself 

DullGreyGuy

lisyloo said:

Ah I see. It excludes accomodation. My bad.

Insurance covers what it says it does, unless it meets an exception. In this case it states it only covers things like kennels, airport parking etc in the case of a delayed return. The only exceptions are the likes of the excess.

It doesnt mention it covers accommodation and therefore doesnt need to state it doesnt cover it. Technically its simply not covered rather than an exclusion.