Hello All,

I need a bit of advise.

I lost my phone in Sri Lanka as it fell out of my pocket in a cab and then the cab drove off before I had realised.

I read the website, which stated i needed to contact the police within 24 hours and obtain a crime reference number. I was not sure if Sri Lankas crime reference number was sufficient and so I contacted a friend in the UK to ask if they could contact lifestyle services group for advise.

The advisor stated that I should contact my airtime provider to block the sim and then I can wait until I am in the UK to get a crime reference number if I felt the sri lankan police could provide what was required. They also said I had two weeks to log a claim from the incident. As I was using as sri lankan sim, I did not need to contact the airtime provider as I still had the UK sim. Within 24 hours of my arrival back into the UK I logged a claim and went to visit the police station.

Today, I have found out my claim has been rejected because I did not log a claim with the police within 24 hours and therefore did not meet the terms and conditions. As you can imagine I am left furious as I was advised by there representative of what to do and now the company have rejected my claim.

Lifestyle group services state that at first they look to see if the terms and conditions have been met and accept/reject on that basis. An appeal considers any personal factors. Thankfully my friend noted the time, date and person he spoke to and they have the recording available. I have appeal, forwarded the email correspondence between my friend and I when I was out in sri lanka and explained why I could not log a call within 24 hours to themselves and how I was advised that I could sort out the police reference in the UK.

I am awaiting a response from Lifestyle services group which could take 5 working days, but am expecting rejection as I dont see how they can give fair consideration when they are a profit making organisation. Do you think I will have a chance to take them to a small claims court?

You say they have a recording of the call where they told you about the timing. If the letter you are waiting for turns out as you expect, then send the a Subject Access Request (£10) and specifically mention that you want 'all' communications with them including transcripts or copies of all telephone conversations.

If they don't settle as you wish, then you have the ammunition to take them to court and win, but I wouldn't expect they would go that far once you have telephone logs.

Hi

It seems to have worked ....i sent three emails explaining why I did not comply with the current t&c and the actions i took to retrieve the phone without going to the sri lankan police. My main reason was down to the fact that I was given advise which was different to the T&C. What helped was when discussing why my claim was rejected with an advisor, that person also made a mistake and couldnt see why I got rejected until she got corrected by a colleague. I assume they would have heard the recorded to see I was advised incorrectly and thus won the appeal.

All is well anyway