Travel insurance

[forum guy]

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?

 

[oldnick]

You may have a case but it has to be 100% certified by the doctor that the cause of death had nothing to do with his pre-existing condition.
I have found that in 30 years of selling travel insurance doctors are reluctant to confirm in writing that death due to x is in no way linked to illness y.

Insurance companies will drag out their own doctor who will state that ..well, it could be connected.

Speak to your doctor now.
Get his positive assertion that death was not connected to illness in writing.
Write one last strong letter to claims adjustor (whose job it is to ensure their customers-the insurance companies- don't pay out) giving them two weeks notice and after which write to the insurance ombudsman.

one last problem - the insurance company could state that it is a condition of their policy that you must declare whether you or close relatives have a medical condition.
By not declaring this -whether or not death was due to that condition - could invalidate the claim. It depends on the policy.

I'd love to know how you got on.

As an aside...
The sad fact is that most sellers of travel insurance tend not to emphasise the fact that a pre-existing condition which causes the subsequent cancellation of travel -whether the condition is suffered by the traveller or close relative -nullifies the policy. Many buyers of insurance polcies are not aware of this ,except when purchasing from a reputable source such as my travel agency. We clearly tell them that if "anyone travelling or very close family has an illness and if it gets worse and you have to cancel then ,sorry, no claim."

 

[mercman]

The fact is that in most cases Insurance Companies do not like paying out on claims in relation to Travel Insurance.

Example. Last year my wife and I got caught in Rome when the debacle occurred at Dublin Airport. We had to book flights to Heathrow, Hang around all night and then cathch the first flight to Belfast and then Taxi it down to Dublin. In Rome, I was told to place my camera in my bag , and yes guess what when I got home the camera was nicked. Went to claim the expenses of approx €2.5 thousand but nothing was covered. However, I claimed for the camera and received a cheque last week, over 1 year later for half teh cost of the camera. Insurance was with a reputable company but my broker told me tough.