Post office insurance staff trying to frustrate claim

elaneh

Hi all,

I need to know if anybody else has had this issue— Asked for ridiculous things repeatedly first on the phone, then I must provide them in an email and then they’ll send me a claim form and then I have to fill it in to make a claim. I’m being asked for frankly ridiculous things Such as an invoice for my easyJet holiday flights showing a breakdown of all easyJet charges—including I guess baggage fees— When I’m claiming for a broken tooth and emergency surgery on it

I’m on holiday in Crete unfortunately I had to have the most dreadful emergency weekend appointment two hour tooth extraction which ended up with surgery The guy couldn’t get the tooth out as it had been fractured.

I’m disabled and I have cancer so my medical issues make getting holiday insurance very expensive. I clearly made a terrible mistake using the post office because although  I paid a good premium and took out a higher level of insurance, which is supposed to provide you with doctors should you need such a thing, It turned out there were no appointments available for a dentist anywhere  in the part of Crete  where I am Until Monday and I’ve broken my teeth on Friday night and by Saturday later morning was in extreme pain.

I had read my insurance cover documents but I hadn’t read The 35 page small print which had a limit for dental expenses so that was the first nasty surprise. The treatment which would have been paid in full had the post office had a dentist available on an emergency basis is now going to cost me hundreds of pounds even if they pay up the limit.

being vulnerable, neurodivergent and  ill with brain fog et cetera following cancer treatment, I used the phone line to claim. It literally says on the message that you can only stay on the phone and claim if you’re vulnerable which I know at my age and with my medical conditions I am.  

The guy tried to stop me from doing it with all sorts of excuses —his computer being down and how he couldn’t transfer me to anyone else but eventually I insisted that I really wasn’t up to doing everything online and he agreed to call me back when his system was working and take the claim. It took forever and I had to repeatedly give him my easyJet booking number the dates of the holiday, et cetera. I was shocked when he said about the limit for dental claim, but then he said he’d waive the excess as I had paid so much more than the limit paid more than that, but I needed to send my bank statement and a medical report detailing how I got the injury. Bank statement was a shock and he couldn’t say why he wanted that.

I asked several times what exactly he meant by a medical report and told him what the dentist had provided. He would not clarify what a medical report was or whether it had to actually cover what he said which was how I got the injury. I got it in an freak  event eating a Cretan salad with capers— I’ve got no idea how anybody is supposed to verify couple of days after the tooth has been removed that it was a caper on Friday night other than the people who were in the restaurant at the meal when it happened. Not even the dentist who took out the tooth could tell by examining me what it was that broke it—I had to tell him! 

The agent wouldn’t answer, but he sent me the email address to send things to so I sent an email asking again if he  could clarify before I leave Crete tomorrow morning what exactly he means by a report— Is it more info from the dentist or something else?

he didn’t reply. 

I had spent time giving all the information which he was writing down, spelling out things aloha numerically and making sure he had got my easyJet booking reference(asked several times) times and dates of flights my purpose for being in Crete,  the date of the accident. I then sent him papers from the dentist to the email address he gave plus bank details for payment

 I have received a response to my query about why  I should send him a bank statement and what exactly he means by a medical report which I explained I need clarity on because being Neurodivergent it’s difficult for me to understand  vague demands

An email has come from this guy which demands— IN ORDER TO BE SENT A CLAIM FORM TO FILL IN—the following to be sent to him: Invoice and report from dentist  (acknowledgedto have already been sent) And then says “ a medical report (if applicable)”  (so less clarity) An invoice for my easyJet flights showing a breakdown of all charges!! A report from my GP in England (About a broken tooth??? Gp just don’t do that) My name and date of birth and then a separate line with the passengers covered on the policy and their name next to their date of birth; A copy of the insurance certificate (it’s only available online) All of the information about the holiday purpose, et cetera again

and only when I send him this will he send me a claim form to fill in to make the claim….

Surely this is not reasonable?

I feel it’s definitely Disability harassments because he was taking the claim by phone knowing that I was disabled vulnerable and able to make a claim by phone so therefore asking me to send all the information in an email in order to receive a form to fill-in online isn’t reasonable and quite cruel — The refusal to tell me what he means by medical report which means it’s impossible for me to go and get such a thing from Crete by tomorrow morning as I don’t know if I have to go to a doctor or a dentist or what The dentist says he’s already clearly written a report of why treatment was needed and what it was….

Is this common? For the post office to demand things that you cannot possibly provide  or Am I being singled out for particular nasty behaviour?

The dental treatment was so expensive because it was on a Saturday—but unlike the UK I couldn’t get the tooth out in a dental hospital. 

thanks 

TadleyBaggie

Are you actually dealing with the Post Office? Insurance products would normally be handled by 3rd party insurance companies.

elaneh

I bought the policy from the post office. It is their product. Weirdly, the guy dealing with gave me an EasyJet email first and now something different…. But it is post office insurance so it’s their product

swingaloo

Just because you have insurance with the Post Office does not mean that they should have a dentist on stand by everywhere in the world. Post Office Insurance is under written by Collinson Insurance.

Did you ring the Emergency Medical Assistance number before getting treatment? Whichever insurance company you use expect you to get treatment then provide proof of your costs, they are not acting against your disability by asking for this proof. The point in having insurance is so that you can claim back cost incurred which are covered under the insurance subject to the terms and conditions. 
Obviously they will ask questions for making a claim which may seem irrelevant to you but  lot of those are generic questions. They are also quite intrusive in order to deter fraudulent claims. 

elaneh

Thanks you missed the point! 

1. They literally do have dentists on stand on standby in Crete. My point anyway was that there is a discrepancy in  what they would pay for if I had been able to get an appointment from one of their dentists and having to find my own 

2. Please don’t patronise me. I am disabled but not stupid! I know I had to pay and claim. But I wanted to use the claim by phone option for disabled people. I’m fully aware that evidence is of course correctly asked for and has nothing to do with Disability. The point is that the  the agent broke the policy of taking the claim on the phone only when  I refuse to give him my bank statements, which of course he has no right to!  and then has sent escalating demand for things to be sent by email without clarifying as requested what exactly is he is asking for. As it happens, I’m an expert and discrimination law and I can tell you that he has broken it . He also didn’t need to add in a demand for my easyJet invoice with breakdown of costs (eg for suitcase)  and that’s impossible to provide as when you book on line with easyJet you get the confirmation of total price and not breakdown to baggage costs and flight costs. He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

DullGreyGuy

TadleyBaggie said:

Are you actually dealing with the Post Office? Insurance products would normally be handled by 3rd party insurance companies.

Post Office sells the product but the insurer behind it is Astrenska Insurance Limited; no idea if the insurer or PO actually deal with the claims as delegated authority for modest claims isn't uncommon for significant clients. 

Claims teams are often made up of multiple layers/levels... First Notification of Loss (FNoL) is the entry level who do the initial claims registration generally speak to the customers the most, they are the least trained and only have a basic understanding of the process downstream of them. Their system or flow charts will say what they need the customer to do but won't explain to them why. There is then at least one layer behind that deals with the actual claim and potentially secondary layers dealing with complex/high value claims, counter fraud or other parties 

It sounds like the company has a fairly basic flow process and so doesn't differentiate between a dental claim and another form of medical emergency which probably isn't overly unreasonable. The "medical report" presumably will be to confirm that, in the dentists opinion, this was recent damage and it isn't the case that you had this a few weeks/months ago, it got painful and so being unable to get an NHS dentist you took a trip overseas, fabricated an incident and in the hope the insurer picks up the private bill for treatment. 

swingaloo

elaneh said:

Thanks you missed the point! 

1. They literally do have dentists on stand on standby in Crete. My point anyway was that there is a discrepancy in  what they would pay for if I had been able to get an appointment from one of their dentists and having to find my own 

2. Please don’t patronise me. I am disabled but not stupid! I know I had to pay and claim. But I wanted to use the claim by phone option for disabled people. I’m fully aware that evidence is of course correctly asked for and has nothing to do with Disability. The point is that the  the agent broke the policy of taking the claim on the phone only when  I refuse to give him my bank statements, which of course he has no right to!  and then has sent escalating demand for things to be sent by email without clarifying as requested what exactly is he is asking for. As it happens, I’m an expert and discrimination law and I can tell you that he has broken it . He also didn’t need to add in a demand for my easyJet invoice with breakdown of costs (eg for suitcase)  and that’s impossible to provide as when you book on line with easyJet you get the confirmation of total price and not breakdown to baggage costs and flight costs. He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

I was not patronising you. As someone who has a disabled husband I am well aware of disabled rights, I'm not sure exactly which 'law' you refer to as being broken is though.
Either way, you have a choice. Co-operate with the insurance company or  continue to be indignant and possibly run the risk of having your claim denied.

XRS200

elaneh said:

  He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

Quite possible he works for a claims company who also act for easyjet

DullGreyGuy

XRS200 said:

elaneh said:

  He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

Quite possible he works for a claims company who also act for easyjet

Both brands are written by the same insurer

elaneh

swingaloo said:

elaneh said:

Thanks you missed the point! 

1. They literally do have dentists on stand on standby in Crete. My point anyway was that there is a discrepancy in  what they would pay for if I had been able to get an appointment from one of their dentists and having to find my own 

2. Please don’t patronise me. I am disabled but not stupid! I know I had to pay and claim. But I wanted to use the claim by phone option for disabled people. I’m fully aware that evidence is of course correctly asked for and has nothing to do with Disability. The point is that the  the agent broke the policy of taking the claim on the phone only when  I refuse to give him my bank statements, which of course he has no right to!  and then has sent escalating demand for things to be sent by email without clarifying as requested what exactly is he is asking for. As it happens, I’m an expert and discrimination law and I can tell you that he has broken it . He also didn’t need to add in a demand for my easyJet invoice with breakdown of costs (eg for suitcase)  and that’s impossible to provide as when you book on line with easyJet you get the confirmation of total price and not breakdown to baggage costs and flight costs. He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

I was not patronising you. As someone who has a disabled husband I am well aware of disabled rights, I'm not sure exactly which 'law' you refer to as being broken is though.
Either way, you have a choice. Co-operate with the insurance company or  continue to be indignant and possibly run the risk of having your claim denied.

swingaloo said:

elaneh said:

Thanks you missed the point! 

1. They literally do have dentists on stand on standby in Crete. My point anyway was that there is a discrepancy in  what they would pay for if I had been able to get an appointment from one of their dentists and having to find my own 

2. Please don’t patronise me. I am disabled but not stupid! I know I had to pay and claim. But I wanted to use the claim by phone option for disabled people. I’m fully aware that evidence is of course correctly asked for and has nothing to do with Disability. The point is that the  the agent broke the policy of taking the claim on the phone only when  I refuse to give him my bank statements, which of course he has no right to!  and then has sent escalating demand for things to be sent by email without clarifying as requested what exactly is he is asking for. As it happens, I’m an expert and discrimination law and I can tell you that he has broken it . He also didn’t need to add in a demand for my easyJet invoice with breakdown of costs (eg for suitcase)  and that’s impossible to provide as when you book on line with easyJet you get the confirmation of total price and not breakdown to baggage costs and flight costs. He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

I was not patronising you. As someone who has a disabled husband I am well aware of disabled rights, I'm not sure exactly which 'law' you refer to as being broken is though.
Either way, you have a choice. Co-operate with the insurance company or  continue to be indignant and possibly run the risk of having your claim denied.

swingaloo said:

elaneh said:

Thanks you missed the point! 

1. They literally do have dentists on stand on standby in Crete. My point anyway was that there is a discrepancy in  what they would pay for if I had been able to get an appointment from one of their dentists and having to find my own 

2. Please don’t patronise me. I am disabled but not stupid! I know I had to pay and claim. But I wanted to use the claim by phone option for disabled people. I’m fully aware that evidence is of course correctly asked for and has nothing to do with Disability. The point is that the  the agent broke the policy of taking the claim on the phone only when  I refuse to give him my bank statements, which of course he has no right to!  and then has sent escalating demand for things to be sent by email without clarifying as requested what exactly is he is asking for. As it happens, I’m an expert and discrimination law and I can tell you that he has broken it . He also didn’t need to add in a demand for my easyJet invoice with breakdown of costs (eg for suitcase)  and that’s impossible to provide as when you book on line with easyJet you get the confirmation of total price and not breakdown to baggage costs and flight costs. He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

I was not patronising you. As someone who has a disabled husband I am well aware of disabled rights, I'm not sure exactly which 'law' you refer to as being broken is though.
Either way, you have a choice. Co-operate with the insurance company or  continue to be indignant and possibly run the risk of having your claim denied.

swingaloo said:

elaneh said:

Thanks you missed the point! 

1. They literally do have dentists on stand on standby in Crete. My point anyway was that there is a discrepancy in  what they would pay for if I had been able to get an appointment from one of their dentists and having to find my own 

2. Please don’t patronise me. I am disabled but not stupid! I know I had to pay and claim. But I wanted to use the claim by phone option for disabled people. I’m fully aware that evidence is of course correctly asked for and has nothing to do with Disability. The point is that the  the agent broke the policy of taking the claim on the phone only when  I refuse to give him my bank statements, which of course he has no right to!  and then has sent escalating demand for things to be sent by email without clarifying as requested what exactly is he is asking for. As it happens, I’m an expert and discrimination law and I can tell you that he has broken it . He also didn’t need to add in a demand for my easyJet invoice with breakdown of costs (eg for suitcase)  and that’s impossible to provide as when you book on line with easyJet you get the confirmation of total price and not breakdown to baggage costs and flight costs. He knows that as it turns out he works for easyJet 

I was not patronising you. As someone who has a disabled husband I am well aware of disabled rights, I'm not sure exactly which 'law' you refer to as being broken is though.
Either way, you have a choice. Co-operate with the insurance company or  continue to be indignant and possibly run the risk of having your claim denied.

You still missed the point. I have cooperated. But some things are impossible—a GP report in a dental issue has been flatly refused by the GP. 

Sorry you don’t know about  reasonable adjustment rights—the man withdrew mine because I asked for clarification re what kind of medical report he wanted on top of the dentist. He still says I must get a “medical report if applicable” (as well as an GP report) and won’t tell me if it is applicable in this case. That’s just mean. And it’s certainly a breach of the EQA2010 as I explained my disability communication needs when asking the question for the forth time 

swingaloo

Oh dear. Good luck with your claim.