Preparing small claims court case against Axa travel insurance

stoem

I'm posting here for the benefit of others, firstly to warn them about LoveitCoverit travel insurance (by Axa) and secondly to post about my case and progress. 

Long story short (won't bore you with all the details), our daughter fell ill the night before our scheduled flight and was unable to travel. She and some of our party needed to stay at home, we had planned a 6 day holiday in Spain. The rest of the party went ahead.
We obtained a medical certificate from a GP that same day and I submitted everything for what looked like a simple claim, the type of thing you expect to be the basic cover for a travel insurance policy (cancellation or in this case partial cancellation due to illness).

The claim was for the flights (2 of us), the car hire (too late to cancel), and 2/3 of the accommodation plus the airport parking (again too late to cancel). The total claim is for around £1400.

Axa turned down the claim because I was unable to provide 'cancellation invoices' for the flights and other items despite these not being required in their terms and conditions nor something that the airline, car hire company or other providers routinely issue. None of the services are cancellable anyway with such short notice (same day travel) and this is uncontested. 

I filed a complaint which Axa failed to respond to or even acknowledge within the required timeframe.

I'm issuing Axa with a letter before action tomorrow and will proceed straight to the small claims court from there. I do have legal insurance but don't feel I need it in this case, although I might ring them for advice if any issues arise.

I've previously taken on JET2 and Empark (separately) in travel related disputes and won comprehensively. In my experience, companies hiding behind bureaucratic shenanigans do not fare well in such cases.

I will keep posting updates here in the hope that it will help and encourage others.

XRS200

Have you tried the ombudsman?

DullGreyGuy

stoem said:

I'm posting here for the benefit of others, firstly to warn them about LoveitCoverit travel insurance (by Axa) and secondly to post about my case and progress. 

Long story short (won't bore you with all the details), our daughter fell ill the night before our scheduled flight and was unable to travel. She and some of our party needed to stay at home, we had planned a 6 day holiday in Spain. The rest of the party went ahead.
We obtained a medical certificate from a GP that same day and I submitted everything for what looked like a simple claim, the type of thing you expect to be the basic cover for a travel insurance policy (cancellation or in this case partial cancellation due to illness).

The claim was for the flights (2 of us), the car hire (too late to cancel), and 2/3 of the accommodation plus the airport parking (again too late to cancel). The total claim is for around £1400.

Axa turned down the claim because I was unable to provide 'cancellation invoices' for the flights and other items despite these not being required in their terms and conditions nor something that the airline, car hire company or other providers routinely issue. None of the services are cancellable anyway with such short notice (same day travel) and this is uncontested. 

I filed a complaint which Axa failed to respond to or even acknowledge within the required timeframe.

I'm issuing Axa with a letter before action tomorrow and will proceed straight to the small claims court from there. I do have legal insurance but don't feel I need it in this case, although I might ring them for advice if any issues arise.

I've previously taken on JET2 and Empark (separately) in travel related disputes and won comprehensively. In my experience, companies hiding behind bureaucratic shenanigans do not fare well in such cases.

I will keep posting updates here in the hope that it will help and encourage others.

You would normally follow the instructions at the bottom of the letter in response to your complaint and go to the Ombudsman given its cost free to you (costs them £650 irrespective of the outcome). If the ombudsman fails to find in your favour you are technically free to then go to court though yet to see a case which the ombudsman has not upheld that the person has then won in court. 

saajan_12

stoem said:

Long story short (won't bore you with all the details), our daughter fell ill the night before our scheduled flight and was unable to travel. She and some of our party needed to stay at home, we had planned a 6 day holiday in Spain. The rest of the party went ahead.
We obtained a medical certificate from a GP that same day and I submitted everything for what looked like a simple claim, the type of thing you expect to be the basic cover for a travel insurance policy (cancellation or in this case partial cancellation due to illness).

The claim was for the flights (2 of us), the car hire (too late to cancel), and 2/3 of the accommodation plus the airport parking (again too late to cancel). The total claim is for around £1400.

Out of interest, how many people were in the group? Sounds daughter and 1 other person stayed home? 
Why would the airport parking and car hire need cancelling, if the others were still travelling? 

stoem

DullGreyGuy said:

You would normally follow the instructions at the bottom of the letter in response to your complaint and go to the Ombudsman given its cost free to you (costs them £650 irrespective of the outcome). If the ombudsman fails to find in your favour you are technically free to then go to court though yet to see a case which the ombudsman has not upheld that the person has then won in court. 

They didn't respond to the complaint. 
The Ombudsman is a route I may well take but small claims route tends to be quicker.

stoem

saajan_12 said:

Out of interest, how many people were in the group? Sounds daughter and 1 other person stayed home? 

Why would the airport parking and car hire need cancelling, if the others were still travelling? 

Total of 5 in the party - my wife, daughter and I stayed home and I paid for a name change so my daughter's boyfriend could travel (minimised losses at the same time which I thought insurance would appreciate - I was wrong).

The rest of the party were all under 21 so couldn't use the car we booked (Thrifty don't hire out to youngsters).
I found another provider that did and paid for that myself so only the lost hire was claimed for.

To be fair, the car hire was dead cheap anyway. Our biggest loss were the flights.  

NoodleDoodleMan

stoem said:

DullGreyGuy said:

You would normally follow the instructions at the bottom of the letter in response to your complaint and go to the Ombudsman given its cost free to you (costs them £650 irrespective of the outcome). If the ombudsman fails to find in your favour you are technically free to then go to court though yet to see a case which the ombudsman has not upheld that the person has then won in court. 

They didn't respond to the complaint. 
The Ombudsman is a route I may well take but small claims route tends to be quicker.

Regardless of the timescale involved, is the Ombudsman process not the prescribed procedure before going to litigation ?

stoem

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Regardless of the timescale involved, is the Ombudsman process not the prescribed procedure before going to litigation ?

No, you can choose to take your complaint to court instead of the ombudsman at any time. There's no legal requirement to use the ombudsman. I feel it drags things out unnecessarily but I guess it's less intimidating (and less costly) than the court option.

Ombudsman is fine if you want a free, no-risk option and don’t mind waiting.
A court judgment carries more force for my personal outcome and is more easily referenced publicly.

I guess I feel a bit more in control using the court process. If Axa aren't completely moronic they'll just apologise and pay now, however given they didn't even acknowledge a formal complaint or followed their own complaints procedure they may need to be forced to the table. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Good luck anyway.

Westin

stoem said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Regardless of the timescale involved, is the Ombudsman process not the prescribed procedure before going to litigation ?

No, you can choose to take your complaint to court instead of the ombudsman at any time. There's no legal requirement to use the ombudsman. I feel it drags things out unnecessarily but I guess it's less intimidating (and less costly) than the court option.

Ombudsman is fine if you want a free, no-risk option and don’t mind waiting.
A court judgment carries more force for my personal outcome and is more easily referenced publicly.

I guess I feel a bit more in control using the court process. If Axa aren't completely moronic they'll just apologise and pay now, however given they didn't even acknowledge a formal complaint or followed their own complaints procedure they may need to be forced to the table. 

Would the court (small claims or otherwise) still not expect you to explore and possibly exhaust other prescribed settlement routes first?  I would think this would strengthen your case if you have been to the Ombudsman and they found in your favour. Equally not perhaps be perceived well by the court process if you went straight down that route (wasting court time/process?).

sheramber

You are claiming for ‘no show’ as you did not cancel.

Does your policy cover no show, which may be separate cover to cancellation?