travel guard, travel direct settlement offer

A question about : travel guard, travel direct settlement offer

Hello, here it is October and I am still trying to recover some money for expenses incurred during the April volcano chaos. I have had an offer from our insurance company and don't know what to do. I want to give up and take the money but it is such a paltry offer it makes me angry! Advice would be very welcome please!

My husband, daughter, her partner and myself were on Tenerife at the time of the volcano. We weren't in a position to wait and booked our own way off the island. We returned to the UK cross country from Tenerife to Barcelona then train, rental car, ferry, and more rental car. For the four of us the costs were about Ј2000.

Our flight costs were quickly refunded by RyanAir. Our insurer, Direct Travel, and its minion Travel Guard have taken ages. Firstly they refused our claim for medical expenses as extra medication is not covered. So that put us out of pocket about Ј200.

Secondly, they said that they will only compensate my husband and myself for Ј200. each for delayed departure. When I wrote protesting, they upped the offer to Ј300. each. Six hundred pounds doesn't begin to cover our expenses but I'm not sure we have any recourse other than appealing to their good nature.

Should I drop it? Or appeal to the Ombudsman?

Sorry to prattle on so long!

K

Best answers:

• What did the insurance policy say about travel delay? IMHO it's usually a certain amount so will not relate to your expenses anyway.
  If you think the insurers are going against the policy terms, then tell them so, and that you intend to take them to the Financial Ombudsman and ask them for the final response as per their complaints procedure. Then if their response is still negative and you think there's a case for them to answer then refer the matter to the FO.
  Download the Ombudsman's form online once you've reached an impasse and got that final response from the insurer. I have done this with my insurer and have to tell you that the FO process takes months - they have only acknowledged the form and sent a holding letter and that complaint went in to the FO in June.
  We were stuck in Lanzarote and our insurer refused to pay any travel delay for spurious reasons, IMHO plucking irrelevant clauses from the policy to quote to try to fob us off. There is NOTHING to lose by referring an insurer to the FO, it costs the insurer money just to deal with the complaint when you take it that far (hundreds of pounds) but it costs you nothing at all. So if you feel there's a case to answer in that they are not adhering to their policy terms then take it to the FO.
  Finally, Cityboy will hopefully be able to tell you if Ryanair should have done more for you than just refund your flights. The Airline is responsible when you are stranded when a flight is cancelled - but as you took a flight costs refund it changes things I think. Some questions that spring to mind:
  Did you get stranded in Tenerife - or mainland Europe - for any extra days, where did you stay?
  When did you apply for the RyanAir flight refund?
  Did they advise you of your rights under EC 261/2004 when your flight was cancelled?
• Thanks very much for your post, Coupon-mad. I am a little lost!
  The policy says for travel delay a set amount (Ј200 each) and, in fairness Travel Guard is offering now to pay over that (Ј300 each). It doesn't really seem warranted to pursue to the Financial Ombudsman…
  I'm not sure who CityBoy is… Can you elaborate please?
  It does seem that we "caused" the problem by leaving Tenerife. We travelled to Barcelona by air then train to Montpelier and rental car to Calais. We then took the ferry to Dover and a further rental car to Birmingham. We had two nights on the road and stayed at inexpensive hotels.
  I applied for reimbursement of our expenses to RyanAir as soon as we returned home. They paid for the flight costs and said that, because we travelled on our own, they had no further obligation to us. We were only told what our rights were with that reimbursement, never before.
  Perhaps RyanAir? Or perhaps the credit card company?