Esure not honoring travel insurance following BA disruption.

plusman

My family and I were booked to travel on a holiday yesterday to Africa, flying with British Airways and have been affected by the recent travel disruption. Our holiday has been delayed by at least 2 days, possibly more, at this stage.

We have an annual travel insurance policy taken out with "Esure" which I had believed covered us for travel delay and cancellation in the event of an extended delay. However following discussions this morning with Esure, they claim that I am not covered as the cause of the delay was industrial action which is not covered. The wording in their policy is ambiguous and I believe misleading and they are refusing to cover us for travel delay and in the event that we decide that we wish to cancel the holiday (costing £18,500) due to curtailment following the delay. In addition we've had to pay over £700 extra for a night's accomodation and a new internal flight in Tanzania, as the one's we'd already booked, and lost, are non-refundable.

I believe that Esure are being misleading, and are using this to avoid paying compensation.

It all hinges on interpretation of two paragraphs of exclusions in their policy document.

The key sections are:

Section 1, page 19 & 20 - Cancellation:

This indicates that one is covered for cancellation "as a result of a Travel delay (section 11) where the delay in excess of 12 hours from the first international departure time" except in the case of "any delay due to "strike, industrial action, delays or disruptions if the situation exists, or is publicly declared on, the date the Policy Schedule is issued, or you booked the trip, whichever is the later".

On this basis we should be covered as our delay is more than 12 hours, we booked our holiday many months ago, and the policy was taken out over a month ago.

However Esure claim that we are not covered as it was exempt under the terms of their Travel Delay exclusions (Section 11) which state:

Section 11, page 33 - Travel Delay:

"We will not pay for the following.... any delay due to "strike, industrial action, delays or disruptions arising from weather conditions which had started or were publicly declared on the date the Policy Schedule is issued, or you booked the trip, whichever is the later"

They claim that the latter part of the statement (from "were publicly declared onwards) applies only to weather conditions and not industrial action; hence industrial action is exempted from payment. (This is in spite of it being specifically included in Section 1).

They claim it is all BA's issue, not Esure's, and we are not covered for anything - not for delay nor if we decide to cancel.

I disagree with this, but because of their interpretation, I run the risk of losing all my money if I cancel the holiday, and hence have decided to continue with the holiday even though it is curtailed, there is no guarantee when I will get out, I will lose a significant amount of money due to lost accommodation, services and internal flights that I have already paid for and which are non-refundable, and to cap it all pay an additional £720 for more accomodation and flights!.

I'd appreciate your advice as to whether I can claim with Esure or not, or should I take them to court?

payless

Seems harsh interpretation

Mine ( with another company) make similiar reference to " if known before booked" but is specific to the industrial action element ( hich makes more sense)

mountainofdebt

Plusman

May not be much comfort but I've heard somewhere that BA's share price has fallen due to this industrial action as there are concerns as to how much this is going to cost the company .....which tends to suggest that you may be able to claim from BA.

Alfie_E

You're right. The member of esure staff was wrong. Go back to esure, and ask to speak to someone more senior.

In the case of ambiguity, courts almost always rule against the party who wrote the contract/policy. Also, the interpretation you were given would also make it an extremely unusual travel insurance policy, and it would be expected that esure would have to spell it out clearly to the consumer.

You might like to look at the FSA's website, specifically at the How to... Complain about a Firm diagram.

plusman

The most senior person I could get to talk with at Esure was their senior customer service supervisor and she claime that nobody more senior was available. I guess I'll have to take it up in writing with them.

The worst part is that aside from the delay, I've now lost a lot of money due to accomodations, internal flights and services that were paid for in Tanzania but which are not refundable, and which we've lost due to the delay. (I'm not sure if BA will cover a claim for such consequential damages). And to cap it all, in order to take up the remainder of our holiday, I've had to pay nearly £700 for a new internal flight and a night's accomodation at a new hotel (assuming BA can get us out tomorrow). My intention was to cancel the holiday but because of Esure's hardline response, and the risk of not satisfactory claiming against them, I've now had to continue with the curtailed holiday at even more expense! Needless to say I am very annoyed! (to say the least).

Alfie_E

If there weren't so much money at stake, it would be amusing. Let's take the esure exclusion:

We will not pay for the following:

4. any delay which is due to strike or industrial action, delays or disruptions arising from weather conditions which had started or were publicly declared on the date the Policy Schedule is issued or You booked the Trip (whichever is the later).

If we take the senior customer service supervisor's interpretation, the three separate parts of the list in item four are:

1. strike or industrial action
2. delays
3. disruptions arising from weather conditions which had started or were publicly declared on the date the Policy Schedule is issued or You booked the Trip (whichever is the later).

If we consider part two in isolation, we are left with the following.

We will not pay for the following:

4. any delay which is due delays

You can compare the exclusion with the matching exclusion in Nationwide's travel insurance. (I'm comparing with Nationwide's policy, as it's one I've purchased in the past, so I knew the basic contents of the policy document before I looked at it.)

Any delay caused by a riot, civil commotion, strike or industrial action which began or was announced before your policy or travel tickets for your journey were bought.

That is much clearer, and no mention of weather in the exclusion.

Having had time to take more of a look at the esure policy, it doesn't look particularly good. esure's cancellation cover only covers "pre-paid costs", which doesn't help if you're liable to pay money in the future. Nationwide's policy covers "unused costs of the journey which have been paid or where there is a contract to pay that cannot be recovered from anywhere else". (Nationwide's policy calls your problem an abandonment, not a cancellation.)

As it looks like esure's policy decision has come down from on high, and there were so many travellers caught up in the BA strike, I imagine there are many others being given the same response from esure. If a written request to esure doesn't help, you might like to consider writing to the consumer/financial pages of one or more of the newspapers, as well as pursuing the complaints procedure. I'm sure the papers would love to write a short article on esure, especially when they have the chance to get the words "blue mouse" into the headline.

Insurance is one of the few things were outright money saving isn't the best course. You've got to read the policies, and, just as importantly, you've got to trust the insurer. This is something that the supermarkets have used in their move into financial products.

Clearly, the willingness of BA to cover claims for consequential loss will be governed by how much money they're willing to spend to minimise the PR disaster. But, I wouldn't expect a lot of help from them.

chillipepper_3

I feel that the supervisor is mistaken too.
Send a copy of your complaint to Peter Wood, Esure, The Observatory, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 0SG. He's the Chairman. Also Gordon Hannah, head of claims, although I am unsure if he is based in Glasgow call centre, Manchester call centre or the Reigate head office.

plusman

Thanks for the advice.

I've sent off letters (recorded delivery) to esure's claims and customer relations departments and also to Peter Wood outlining my case that Esure has given me incorrect and misleading information and that I should be covered and should have been allowed to cancel.

This whole affair is causing us a lot of distress. The delays & loss of holiday are bad enough, but esure's response has just been the icing on a not very nice cake (turning what should have been a wonderful and stress-relaxing holiday into something quite different).

Let's see what happens.

chillipepper_3

I'm sure they will see that a mistake has been made, good luck and keep us posted.