Not covered for cancelling before policy begins

[itsallwrong]

Friend of mine has had to cancel travel plans because of unforseen events.
Rang the insurance company and they say he is not covered because he is cancelling before the start of the policy date.
They said he should have bought 'cancel from purchase' cover as opposed to the
'cancel from travel' cover he has.

Should he leave it and ring them when the policy begins?
They are kind of splitting hairs as the end result will be them being told the trip is cancelled.

They are genuine reasons for cancelling the trip, €2500 for the two of them.

Thoughts?

 

[elcato]

Was it clear on the (online ?) form which they chose ? If it was online what is the default set to ? Have they paid any premium towards it already ? If they have I don't see how they could say it's covered from time the holiday starts. Maybe try the online form and see how clear it is ?

 

[Leper]

Like nearly all travel insurance policies; you're covered until you claim on which you discover you have been a lamb to the slaughter.

 

[dohouch]

Heard something like this before and I have a long-haul trip coming up hopefully in February. I was believing that if I buy the the insurance to start before I purchase the tickets that then I would be covered in case I had to cancel due to unforeseen events, is it that simple or do the policy have to specifically state

'cancel from purchase'