travel insurance rip off help needed

[roncarron]

i booked a holiday on 10 july 06 for 6 people to travel to egypt in may 07 in oct 06 one of the people traverling my father in law died when in hospital for hip resurface the cause given was for ismatic heart dease. we went and placed a claim with thomsom who sold the insurance and contacted axa insurance. my mother inlaw also did not want to travel due to the loss of her husband. well we claimed for two cansulation fees, after having to pay out for death cert to send to them and also another 40 pounds for two years medical records they turned down the claim.

reason given failing to disclose medical disorder, he only had high colestriol , well mothers claim for not wanting to travel due to the loss of husband same reason given, so they wont pay.

the travel agent thomson gave us no information on the insurance or on anything we was just told it will cover all,

when i took this up with axa they said it was down to thomsom for misselling the insurance and as they was not regulated it was not thair problem.

i have been throo all complaints and one plays it of against the other and im 380 pounds out of pocket for insurance and with other bits cans fees and medical bits and phone calls its now up to about £980 out of pocket

i have been on to watchdog and the insurance obs man but has any one else been throo this or have any idears what i can do many thanks

[mistie]

hi,
cant offer much help sorry,
i wont even go in a thomson travel agent after they ripped me off.
we booked to go to the states, got free travel insurance, cut a long story short hubby had fight with sister, ended up in court so had a criminal record. no entry allowed for him.
we to cancel the holiday allready paying the full deposit. the cheeky B******s then would not let me cancel until i had paid the insurance money £440 (not that we even claimed on the dam thing)

my heart goes out to anyone that has the misfortune to deal with this company.

good luck and i hope you get your money back.

[wez1211]

I hate reading stories like this because it reinforces the bad impression that the public have of the insurance industry, and justifiably.

1. Most travel policies will ask you to declare pre-existing medical conditions and /or whether you have seen a doctor in last 12 months etc. If you honestly believed to the best of your knowledge and belief that there was nothing to declare then you have a case. Was medication prescribed for the high cholesterol? The fact that the hospital treatment was for one thing but death was a result of something else helps your cause I think.

2. Pursue with Ombudsman, I am sure that they will not appreciate the misselling element and will hopefully find in your favour.

3. Do you have legal expenses cover under household insurance? If so, launch legal action against Insurer for breach of contract - that will please them

4. Never buy travel cover from travel agents as they are not regulated (After all they sell holidays!! and have no (insurance) knowledge at all). The FSA are looking into this area as it is.

Wez1211

[ladybird17]

I think you need to get some definitive medical evidence that the death was wholly unconnected to any pre-existing medical condition.
After all, if you declared on your application for insurance that you had visited the Doctor in the past 12 month's because you had sprained your ankle, and then later you suffered a heart attack, then one can hardly be related to the other. So that is something to think about.

However, really your claim is against Thomas Cook for mis-selling. Did they not give you any details of the policy before you signed and paid for it - didn't ask about pre-exiting medical conditions etc? Didn't even give you anything to read about the policy?

[Planner]

I think you will find that the Ombudsman cant help you as the insurance that travel agents sell is not regulated by the FSA. You will have to take your complaint to ATOL or what ever travel organisation they are a member of.

[roncarron]

no thomas cook did not ask any questions about medical and to dat5e i have been given no medical insurance books or policys at all
they are more following that he had high blood pressure and colestrol but at the time of booking we said that dad had to go into hospital for hip surgery

[ladybird17]

yep, this sounds like mis-selling of the policy. So your claim would be against Thomas Cook.

[Bookworm]

Originally Posted by Planner

I think you will find that the Ombudsman cant help you as the insurance that travel agents sell is not regulated by the FSA. You will have to take your complaint to ATOL or what ever travel organisation they are a member of.

But the insurance company is. The complaint is about declining cover, and will therefore come squarely under the Insurance Ombudsman remit.

Let's not get into the alleged mis-selling straight off, here.

First port of call is the Ombudsman, about the insco refusing to cover on failure to disclose a medical condition which is unrelated to the cause of death. Now in this case, it may well be that there is no case to answer as ischaemic heart disease can be a direct consequence of build-up of cholesterol, and there is a possibility that the PMH was indeed very relevant.

If that is the case, then, and only then, should OP go after Thomson for mis-selling the policy.

[Planner]

Roncarron SAYS - "when i took this up with axa they said it was down to thomsom for misselling the insurance and as they was not regulated it was not thair problem".

It was on watch Dog or some consumer programme about how the holiday companies are selling unregulated travel insurance, think Thompson might have been one of the first to say they where going to start selling regulated insurance (this was only last month) lets hope it applies. It should say in your policy document.