Hello Brendan & Mercman,
Having this particular travel claim rejected was quite shocking to the conscience. Having submitted a claim on 08/07/2012, I was shocked to have it rejected. The insurers advised me to follow their complaints procedure which I did and nothing came of it, the claim was still rejected.
I referred the case to the Ombudsman 17th Aug. A file was created by them and they gave me the name of a claims manager and the address of the insurer to write to for a final response. They sent my file to this claims manager. This is interesting because the person / address I was advised to write to was not the same as in the complaints procedure outlined in either the policy documentation or when when the claim was rejected.
It appears the person I was advised to contact was a member of senior management nominated to review disputes before a final response letter is issued. I wrote to the person, outlined my complaint and made reference to the complete file passed on to the person by the FSO.
Five days later my claim was paid. I can say with all sincerity that good as my case was and the detail and records I had, I really would not have got anywhere without the assistance afforded by the case offficer in the Financial Services Ombudsman.