Today I received a generic looking email from my travel insurance company. I know I am but one sentence and the post title into this story, but I can already sense that a knowing smirk is growing on Mr Cotton’s face*. What did the email have to say about my claim? Yes indeed, computer says no. For now, anyway.
The rejection was based on one principle. The airline had offered me a refund credit note to the value of my flight, valid for nearly two years with that airline. As such, the insurance company believes, I have been fully reimbursed.I disagree. To start with, I would have to fly with that airline within the next two years. I have no intention of doing so, and the very idea that I am in someway obliged to do so is ridiculous. As such, the credit note is worth precisely £0.00.
My 1619 word, 8885 character response has been delivered electronically to the claims team, followed up with an 854 word, 4709 character letter of formal complaint to the bank. The pandemic hasn’t only caused a massive increase in workload for companies in the travel industry, but has also given their customers an abundance of time with which to express their chagrin to the fullest.
They can remedy the situation by approving my claim and paying the required amount into our account. This is, believe me, the cheapest option available to them. I won’t go away. If they choose to stick to their guns, I have insisted that they provide an answer to a series of reasonable questions:
a) provide me with the relevant section of the travel insurance policy wording which explains that a voucher or refund credit note is reasonable reimbursement, or the wording which would at least imply this, along with an explanation as to how I would reasonably understand the implication.
b) provide me with a reasonable explanation as to how you have calculated that a voucher or refund credit note reimburses my costs for a return flight as originally booked. That is to say, how you have determined that flight costs will not change and that British Airways will remain in business for the full duration.
c) provide me with a reasonable explanation as to why you believe I am obliged to fly with British Airways within the next two years and how a refund credit note can be considered to have reimbursed my costs when, as I have stated, I do not travel with British Airways within the next two years.
d) provide me with the date that the FCO advisory against all but non essential travel to my chosen destination will be lifted or an explanation as to why you feel it is reasonable to ask me to arrange to fly when restrictions are still in place.
e) provide me with an explanation as to why I was not informed, on either of the two phone calls I made, that claims may not be considered if a travel voucher or refund credit note were offered by the airline.
I know that settling my claim is the cheapest route because I’ve worked in the insurance industry. I know how this goes. My questions will be followed by further requests for information, recordings of phone calls and other relevant data that they are legally obliged to provide me with.
There will be a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which in itself levies a charge against them of nearly two thirds the cost of my claim. Ultimately, the costs of these charges, the resources in manpower and the costs of the sundries they are obliged to expend in dealing with my complaint will exceed the total value of my claim.
There is a final cost, which is hard to measure. It might amount to nothing. It might amount to small fortunes. You never can tell. It’s the risk of damage to the brand when complaints enter the public domain. And this is a brand which absolutely prides itself on reputation. More than any other I can think of.
We will see how this goes. Stay tuned…
- Mr Cotton is too decent to smirk. But he might have a little chuckle… 🙂
The Mexile 