A moral dilemma - what would you do?

[TheTripThatWasnt]

Have name changed, as this is identifiable. I tried to change details, but it all got too far from the original scenario to be useful. Be warned - it's long, but don't want to drip feed down the line.

Here's the situation...

A, B and C have been friends for 30 years (since Uni). They don't see each other that much any more (living several hours from each other), but they're regularly in contact, and when they meet up it's like they've never been apart. All have quite different lives/lifestyles, but all are in good jobs, financially secure, and don't need to 'worry' about money.

A and B are 50 soon (C was 50 in lockdown), so they decided to go away for the weekend to celebrate, and a trip on Eurostar was booked.

In the night, the night before they were travelling, A's husband had a bad accident and broke several bones. A spent the night with him in A&E, then he had to be admitted overnight. He was due to be released on the next morning (the day of travel), but was completely immobile and needed care at home (plus they have a young son). This meant A couldn't travel.

B&C faced a dilemma - to go anyway, or to cancel. Travel and first night's hotel were non-refundable. They felt that going was definitely not the right thing to do (seeing as celebrating A's birthday was a big part of the reason for going). But both called their travel insurance providers to see what they said.

Both travel insurance companies agreed that yes, their policy should cover them for this scenario (both B&C were very clear about the exact circumstances, and the reason that A couldn't travel), but that until a claim was submitted it was impossible to say 100%. On the strength of both insurance cos giving off the right vibes, B&C did the 'right thing' and the trip was cancelled.

All 3 then submitted insurance claims.
A's paid out straight away - no quibble from her insurer that she couldn't travel as her husband had the accident.
B's claim was initially rejected, B appealed, citing the call from the day of travel, but the underwriter still rejected it.
C's claim was initially rejected. C appealed, citing the call she'd made that morning. Her insurer agreed that she was given false information on the call, and therefore paid out.

B's insurer are not being as 'nice' as C's. They are saying that on the call they said it couldn't be guaranteed, and because B is not related to the person who had the accident, she isn't covered. They are not disputing the fact that A couldn't travel and therefore there are reasonable grounds for cancelling the trip.

Herein lies the dilemma. A and C are not out of pocket (apart from their excess), but B has lost all the money from the trip. All 3 have the same policy wording on their documents (so they don't have different insurance), but the different insurers have handled it differently.

Should A&C offer to share some of their refund with B? Clearly they don't have to - all 3 are independent of each other, and are financially responsible for their own costs of the trip. But would it be the nice thing to do to split the loss 3 ways and share the recovered funds 3 ways?

Are they rebooking the trip? Maybe use the insurance money from the two who paid out then split the balance three ways. The same in principle as splitting with B, just seems a nicer way of doing it.

If I were A or C I would insist on splitting it with B, otherwise there is no way I would ever be able to suggest another trip with them.

I think it’s just bad luck on the B & C. I wouldn’t expect A to split her insurance payout.

My experience of travel insurance is that they'll find any reason not to pay out so I think C was very lucky indeed. If I was B then I'd think it par for the course, but most of all I'm thinking why didn't they just go ahead with the holiday anyway?

It was booked, paid for and about to happen and they were perfectly able to go. Disappointing not to have A with them but life happens.

So I think they made the wrong decision as it didn't help A at all and now there's this 'dilemma'.

Frankly I'd have gone on the trip in the first place mainly to avoid this issue.

If none of you need to worry about money like you said, then split

I think A, B & C should share the refunds equally. Assuming another trip gets booked won’t they feel guilty that B’s total costs are double theirs?

They were able to travel. That is the key point.

As A I would not handover any money. The trauma of a broken bone etc and I definitely wouldn’t be out of pocket. Particularly if I was the only person with a legitimate reason not to go. I also would have told friends to go without me.

As B or C honestly I cannot fathom why they thought they were covered, I would probably just suck it up if I had made such a ridiculous mistake.

Me too after all if A hadn't dropped out then none of them would be out of pocket. Not A's fault obviously but then B&C are less at fault as it wasn't them who pulled out.

Having been in a scenario where travel insurance refused to pay, I say pursue the claim. Take it to the Ombudsman, I learned a lot and basically if there's an element of doubt then they have to pay, therefore because of the phone call, I'd pursue and get a decision from the bossman! Nothing to lose and everything to gain. (My claim was for an American hospital bill worth $45,000, it took a long time but they ruled in my favour)

For a 30 yr friendship? Split it, without hesitation.

@Snowpake

i agree with this. It was 95% that A would get a refund.

B&C took a punt, one got lucky, the other didn't.

But I guess that also depends on whether one chose a good name insurance company & the other went cheap.

its all complicated isn't it.

I think that's terrible on the part of Bs insurance. I thought it was immediate family or travelling companions covered as standard! What if it had been only A&B travelling!l? Would they have expected her to go alone!? I would take that to the ombudsman!

I think that B and C took that risk of not getting a refund. I wouldn't have expected them to get a refund because a friend's husband had an accident. I think that C was very lucky indeed to get one. Whilst it would be nice to offer to help cover B, A could obviously argue that it wasn't her decision and she didn't tell you not to cancel. B could argue that they lost money because of A cancelling. I think that it's unfortunate because it's not an easy decision. I actually don't think that the right decision was to cancel the trip. I think that B&C should have gone for at least one night, not made a big thing of it and then arranged an alternative smaller celebration for A when they got back.
Incidentally, what would have happened had C also not been refunded? Essentially A would then end up having to pay both B &C.

My solution would be to plan a night out in this country at a nice hotel and for A and C to cover B's costs. I think that would be a nice thing to do.

Spilt it for the sake of the friendship

If I were B I'd complain the the Financial Ombudsman

The decent thing do would be for A and C to either reimburse B or plan another celebration and pay for B

You could still go, you chose not to.

Personally I think A and C should split with B. If i were B I wouldn't be rearranging otherwise.

I think you are B

I don't think this is that big an issue. I think I'd go with a three way split but I wouldn't mind if I was B and I ended up loosing out as it would be between me and my insurance.

I think A & B should put their refund towards a replacement trip and then the remaining costs be split by the 3 of them.
B was unlucky and the problem was caused ( obviously not intentionally) by A.

Basically I think B and C should have gone. So it's hard to decide this specific question because they shouldn't have ended up in this position in the first place.

To be a 100% honest B and C don't seem to really understand the quite basic facts of travel Insurance and quite frankly seem at very best naive. Their was no reason that they could not travel. They chose not to, travel insurance does not cover change of mind.

I honestly question whether B&C clearly explained the situation to the Insurance Companies as it is very hard to believe that two Insurance company Customer Service Agents made such fundamental errors.

If i were c i'd split with b, - if i were b i'd say no as it was my shit insurance that wouldnt pay. But noone spent more than they can afford (and less than they would have fone had they'd gone), so i would forget about it and rebook

This is the nicest thing to do. If it were me who couldn't go, I'd encourage the others to go anyway and if my insurance didn't pay out I would expect the others to split it. But I think splitting the loss 3 ways is the best option