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TRAVEL INSURANCE

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  • 13-08-2009 12:20pm
    #1
    forum guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8 ✭


    hi all

    just wondering if anyone has had the same travel insurance problem that i encountered recently. I booked a holiday for my wife in June of last year. It was a surprise for her birthday in August. The holiday was booked for the 4th October for one week in Dubai with connecting flight from Galway to Dublin return.

    We had taken out travel insurance (WONT MENTION WHO I TOOK IT OUT WITH HERE BUT A VERY REPUTABLE AND NATIONWIDE SOURCE) on that year so I didn’t bother to take any out when I booked the trip.

    The previous May my father-in-law was diagnosed with bowel cancer. A week before our trip, my father in law developed a blood clot and pneumonia and sadly died on the 4 of October, the day we were due to travel.
    I had cancelled the holiday that week as things were not looking good. The travel agent sent me out the forms to fill in for the insurance claim.

    I filled these out in November and sent them off with a letter from the doctor stating that my father in law was diagnosed with bowel cancer but died from a blood clot.

    The insurance company then replied stating that we were not entitled to a refund as we knew my father in law had cancer before we booked the holiday.

    As it was not the cancer that killed him I decided to take my case to the Insurance Federation of Ireland. They said I had a case but even though I have called them repeatedly over the last 8 months nothing seems to be happening.

    The holiday cost me over two thousand euro and as I said previously it was my wife's birthday present.

    I feel that we are entitled to get most of our money back as even though my father in law was diagnosed with bowel cancer it was not classed as terminal and we had no idea my father in law was going to die, if we did we would never have booked a holiday.

    Has anyone out there endured similar difficulties?


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  • Options
    #2
    mikedragon32
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,939 ✭✭✭mikedragon32


    OP, sorry for your loss.

    I'm moving this to the Biz category as it's more about an insurance claim than a holiday query and I feel you will get a better considered response there.

    Mods: If you feel it's better back in T&H, move it back.


  • Options
    #3
    RangeR
    Registered Users Posts: 7,265 ✭✭✭RangeR


    This is ridiculous carry on. Read over the terms and conditions of your travel insurance again. Make sure what they have said is in it. Most if not all travel insurance policies allow for close family bereavement. Hell, if you think about it, there aren't many other reasons why you would cancel your holiday, other than a non fatal accident to yourself.

    I believe that the insurance company are doing what they do best. Fobbing you off for as long as possible in the hope that you will go away. Fight them. Stop ringing them.

    Only follow these steps if you are pretty sure you are not in the wrong here. READ the T's & C's.

    1. Write a formal letter of complaint, detail everything, including all the times you made contact with them. In the letter tell them you are giving them 10 business days [2 weeks to you and I] to reply. If the reply isn't favorable, you will take it further.
    2. Send this via registered post to their office.
    3. I'm gonna be a bit hazy here as I'm not too clued up on the financial market but... You can then take it to the financial ombudsman or small claims court.


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