Sadly Mark, my experience of travel insurance companies only reflects and compounds your own…when I was in a major road traffic accident in Thailand in 1997, everyone was taken to a two-room hospital in Mae Hon Song; the staff at the hospital were utterly overwhelmed by this sudden deluge of causalties and took one look at me – the only non-Thai involved – and said “no farang” (trans: “no foreigners”)…and left me outside the hospital gates, so I was not treated by a doctor immediately following the accident. When I got back to the UK, I tried to claim on my travel insurance (the company concerned has since been taken over by Commercial Union)and they refused to pay me a single penny.

Why? well…because, despite being given an accident report that I had obtained from the Thai police that specified that I had been injured in the accident but that the local hospital had been unable to treat me…despite a report from a doctor I saw in Chiang Mai ten days after the accident…despite a letter written by an Australian witness to the Mae Hon Song hospital’s refusal to treat me…despite a report from a British GP on my injuries…despite a report from a British hospital consultant on my injuries…despite all the evidence provided that legitimised my claim for compensation for personal injury, for loss of possessions, for costs incurred when I had to change my flight home, for loss of future earnings from the job contract (on a tall ship in Australia that I could no longer take up because my injuries – specifically the dislocated hip – rendered my “unfit for sea service” in the eys of Merchant Navy Law)…the insurance company refused to pay out because I did not have a report from a doctor who had treated me within 24 hours of the accident.

Integrity, ethics, morality, decency…none of these words can ever be applied to Insurance Companies – bastards, the whole damn lot of them!

I didn’t intend my story to make yours pale by comparison – and to me your story is truly horrendous because of the personal emotional situation involved – I intended to compound yours and add fuel to the fire (pyre?)

I only appreciated that I could have contacted the ombudsman some time after the event – too late after to claim; and that was because I was too busy trying to recover from my injuries and find something to do with my life having been rendered unfit for the Merchant Navy (so went to Uni and got myself a First Class Honours Degree and all that)…anyway…think you should do what Andrea says and contact the ombudsman…and write a letter addressed to ‘travel features editor’ and email it to the insurance company and say that it will be sent to every travel editor and finance editor in every print and braodcast media in the UK if they don’t revise their decision within ten days;

screw the bastards

Mark – this appears to be more about payment protection. However it stinks of the same practices of the cheating Mondial bastards. Certainly the part here that reads: “the Financial Services Authority has begun cracking down on firms who don’t explain the full details of what their policies cover ”

May be worth a look…..

Tonight: Payback Time
ITV1, 8.00pm

Following reports of the questionable selling practices of some payment protection insurance providers, the Financial Services Authority has begun cracking down on firms who don’t explain the full details of what their policies cover before taking their clients’ money. Now thousands of customers could be entitled to a refund. Martin Lewis follows three who have been successfully reimbursed.

“I FOUGHT THE LLOYDS AND THE LLOYDS LOST” music video hot off the press! Get it to the top of the charts by ordering a 50p download, text bankers to 82822.

Spread the word about this protest song by OYSTAR.

Full article at :
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/bank-charges-song

It cheered me up no end!!

I am currently in a fight over a travel insurance claim….there are certain key things to remember. 1. always and only deal in writing, get a name, fax and email address.
2. Send copies of your complaint immediately to The Financial Services Authority in the UK. 3. If your Insurance Company attempts to use what they call a Loss Adjuster, make sure they are registered and not a Private Detective Agency. It happens! 4. Send all letters Record Delivery. 5. Deal with the top man only and write to all parties involved with the Insurance. Fobbing you off is an industry, if claimants who are mistreated also turn it into an industry, less will be refused. Make sure you ask the Insurance Company to produce a copy of The FSA guidelines and ask them to detail how they have followed it. A fax is very important, it is cheap and easy..send all letters by post and fax…the final step is to look at the website for The Smalls Claims Track….you can fill the form in online and fax it to the Company there and then. Do they really want to go to Court to explain themselves. Those who issue a Court action will move right to the top of the queue!

My Insurance Company just paid out after about 20 letters to the different top men. Then they struck out most of the claim. The key here is to involve The FSA from day one. An FSA enquiry is very tiring and laborious for an Insurance Firm and they may be disciplined. If the FSA are flooded with complaints they will eventually do something to stop this mistreatment of customers.