Travel Insurance

Forget_It

Hi everyone. Please tell me if I’ve not been patient enough after waiting 18 months for my travel claim to be settled? December 2021 I went to stay with my eldest son in the USA & unfortunately, on my last night, I contracted food poisoning from a seafood restaurant & was unable to fly home the next day.  I sent all documents requested by the insurer ranging from medication prescriptions/receipts/doctors confirmation/flight tickets/no monies refunded proof/unused taxi fare proof from airport etc.  I’m exhausted fighting this case only to receive an automated email response from insurers saying they are experiencing high volume of claims at the moment, but will respond ASAP.  This never happens! 

eskbanker

Sounds worth naming and shaming the company concerned - if you haven't already, then log a formal complaint with them, and if unresolved within eight weeks, escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service....

Forget_It

Thank you for your response.  I have actually done both of the above.  It’s like talking to a brick wall.  Also the Financial Ombudsman said they can’t get involved until I have received a final response from the Travel insurers, who incidentally are called ‘Switched-On’ Travel Insurance (joke), aka Great Lakes/Claims Settlement Agencies Ltd, a Gallagher Bassett company. Ridiculous all these names coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden!  I really don’t know who else to turn to 🤷‍♀️

eskbanker

Forget_It said:

Also the Financial Ombudsman said they can’t get involved until I have received a final response from the Travel insurers

That's not how it's meant to be:

Once you’ve had a final response, or if the business has had the time it needs and you have not had a reply, and you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint – you can ask us to investigate. 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/how-to-complain/complain-financial-business

When did you register your complaint with the insurer and when did you escalate to FOS?

Forget_It

Thank you for that link.  I will use it if/when required. I put my claim in on 4th January 2022, a couple of days after returning home. I contacted the FOS in March of this year, really just to let them know I’d been waiting all this time with no movement.  That’s when they told me they can’t get involved until I’ve had a final response from the travel insurer. 😏 How long do I need to wait for it to become an unacceptable period of time? 

eskbanker

Forget_It said:

Thank you for that link.  I will use it if/when required. I put my claim in on 4th January 2022, a couple of days after returning home. I contacted the FOS in March of this year, really just to let them know I’d been waiting all this time with no movement.  That’s when they told me they can’t get involved until I’ve had a final response from the travel insurer. 😏 How long do I need to wait for it to become an unacceptable period of time? 

But when did you actually log a formal complaint with the insurer, as opposed to simply making a claim?  Once you've started the business's complaints process, you have the option of escalating your complaint to FOS if they fail to respond adequately within eight weeks, so that's what's considered to be an unacceptable period of time within which to deal with a complaint.

Forget_It

Really? I’ve sent several emails to the insurer complaining that I’ve still not heard anything.  Are they not counted as complaints then? Do I need to say all the above in a letter format for it to be taken seriously? 

eskbanker

Forget_It said:

Really? I’ve sent several emails to the insurer complaining that I’ve still not heard anything.  Are they not counted as complaints then? Do I need to say all the above in a letter format for it to be taken seriously? 

There can be a bit of a grey area regarding exactly what constitutes a complaint, but in general it's best to be 100% clear with a company that you're registering a formal complaint rather than having a bit of a moan - it doesn't literally need to be in letter format as such and can be verbal, but it's typically better to put it in writing in some form, in order to have a clear audit trail.

Any FCA-regulated company must have a formal complaints procedure, and this has to be followed prior to escalation to FOS, hence their reference to needing the company's final response.

I'd suggest that you send another email to the company, headed 'formal complaint' and making it clear that you're activating their complaints procedure, following which you'll take it to FOS if they don't respond adequately.

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/how-complain is another explanation similar to the FOS one linked earlier....

Voyager2002

Did you buy your travel insurance from a business registered or operating in the UK? The names that you give sound American, but what counts is whether or not your purchase was from a British business. If you bought from a US insurer then there is little to be done other than contacting the Better Business Bureau in the town where that insurer is based.

sheramber

try complaining on Trust Pilot. They are replying to reviews on there.

DullGreyGuy

Voyager2002 said:

Did you buy your travel insurance from a business registered or operating in the UK? The names that you give sound American, but what counts is whether or not your purchase was from a British business. If you bought from a US insurer then there is little to be done other than contacting the Better Business Bureau in the town where that insurer is based.

Great Lakes is part of Munich Re and so ultimate a German company but they have branches in multiple countries

Gallagher Bassett is the claims outsourcing division of the brokers Arthur J. Gallagher & co who are a multi-national broker firm head officed in US but operating in the UK and many other countries.

Switched-On Insurance is a trading name for Taurus Insurance Services part of the Taurus Group based in Gibraltar and act as a coverholder 

So no, not a US insurer but a Gibraltarian coverholder of a German reinsurer. They therefore do fall under the remit of the FOS

Forget_It said:

Really? I’ve sent several emails to the insurer complaining that I’ve still not heard anything.  Are they not counted as complaints then? Do I need to say all the above in a letter format for it to be taken seriously? 

In the old world a complaint was defined as any expression of dissatisfaction but that meant every call where someone said the it was bad how long the wait time was or the call steering was too complex all should have been registered and dealt with as a complaint. 

To remove the moaners from the complainers the definition was then changed to only cases which also state it has caused financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience. Clearly these terms are much more open to interpretation as to what "material" is. So if your emails simply said "I'm disappointed its been 3 weeks without a reply" then its unlikely to be deemed a complaint by many companies as you've not stated what negative impact this has had nor shown it meets a material level.