AXA - One star is too good for this comapny

[Syddie]

Having now read other reviews of this scandalous company my biggest regret is that I didn’t read the reviews before purchasing travel insurance. After all AXA is a reputable, 'respected' company, right? Having arranged insurance in April for a holiday of a lifetime we were due to take in June, through Leisureguard in partnership with AXA, my husband was informed 2 days prior to our flight that he had Cauda Equina Syndrome. Left untreated this could lead to incontinence and a wheelchair for the rest of his life (this affects 1 to 3 people in every 100,000). With this horrifying information, and on advice from the consultant that it would be a big and very expensive medical problem in the country we were going to, we decided it was best to cancel our holiday. Following all the usual attempts at claiming our money back (as others have), we found that AXA denied our claim saying that we hadn’t told them!!! This medical condition, as mentioned, was just given to us 2 days before our holiday! Eventually after I complained they offered us 59% back as we had not disclosed this in the original insurance (unbelievable) and said that had we let them know we could have added a further £219.00 to our premium which would have covered this. Reading other reviews it would appear that, had we gone for this option and if the unspeakable had happened while away, AXA would most definitely have not paid out. The cost in the UK for an operation of this type is £10,000 - £17,000 and had we have had to seek an operation at our holiday destination this would have been far more and possibly not even a condition they would be able to deal with at all. Would AXA have paid out – of course not. The grief for this whole experience has been enormous, and I can only reiterate what others have said – SCAMMERS, SCAMMERS, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. There are so many reviews warning others against this company except for, surprise, surprise, reviews on the actual AXA website where reviews are glowing… Funny that. I would also like to repeat again, as others have, they are SCAMMERS. DO NOT EVEN CONTEMPLATE THIS COMPANY, GO TO A REPUTABLE COMPANY WITH GOOD REVIEWS. They should be struck off. I also received, as a parting gift from AXA, a letter expressing concern and wishing my husband well with his problem which I can only assume comes from a long list of generic AXA sympathy letters which I found condescending and insulting.
I am also posting this on AXA’s website – it will be interesting to see if it stays on. Watch this space!

Hi op. Sorry to hear this.

Do you mean your husband wasn't under investigation prior to two days before the holiday? He wasn't awaiting a diagnosis or on a waiting list or anything? It came completely out of the blue two days before?

Did the doctor formally advise you to cancel the holiday? Or just say it would be expensive to treat abroad?

Sorry about your husbands illness.

Did you advise AXA once your husband had been diagnosed, before you cancelled your holiday?

I think travel insurance only covers existing illnesses, so if they didn't know about it when you took the cover out, then it wouldn't be covered.

Hi All
Thank you for your replies. My husband had not long retired from a driving job he had for 15 years and had thigh strain. He was told by his GP and 4 physios (at various points) at the time that it was due to this and gave him exercises to do, so didn't put this on the insurance as felt it unnecessary, i.e. would you put down that you had toothache? A week prior to our holiday he had an MRI scan which was not something he had asked for or was expecting so had no idea this was coming up. The results were then given to us 2 days prior to flying. The consultant said it would be a big risk to go and would be surprised if anyone would insure him. We were obviously worried, so cancelled. This wasn't an existing known illness as far as we were concerned just an aching 'post retirement' thigh. 😞

Cauda equina afaik is usually an emergency like appendicitis that comes on suddenly, why on Earth would anyone expect you to list it as a pre-existing condition?! They’re being ridiculous!

I assume they’re hinging this on you not having declared the thigh condition?

This is so crap op. You didn't know he'd been referred for an MRI? Weren't waiting for it or any other info from doctors about his thigh?

I absolutely would declare an aching thigh sadly because I know what insurance companies are like. I've booked specialist insurance a few times while waiting for a diagnosis/referral. It really is rubbish though. Hopefully your post will be a warning to others

Have you escalated your complaint through their standard complaints procedure?
Have you complained about them to the Financial Ombudsman?

Sorry for your DH but if he’s seen a doctor and 4 physios then it really was on you to declare it.

I thought you had to disclose any treatment or investigations that you're having/have had in the period leading up to the holiday?

So he had an ongoing thigh issue that he had sought medical advice for on 5 previous occasions-doctor and 4 physiotherapists. You chose not to disclose this. You are at fault, not the insurance company.

In a way though it was a pre existing condition as he had seen his GP and physios about it. I recently arranged travel insurance to go to America and ended up paying about 10 times what my sister paid for the same holiday. I do have a number of medical conditions so was not surprised and I decided to phone to company to arrange it rather than rely on the online form as I was unsure about exactly what I needed to declare.

I had to go back five years to list all the things I has soon a doctor for as well as any other medical pension, this included physios, the pain clinic, scans etc. I’m sure that the long list of conditions I had to disclose included muscular pains as I disclosed that I did see my GP for pains in my shoulder following a fall, I was worried about arthritis at the time.

However, I used a company that advertises that it insures complex medical needs so maybe their questions were more extensive.

I can understand how upset you must have been to have your claim refused.

I agree with the posters above - you have to declare everything. However I found AXA awful when I had a claim. I had to pay for my own medical treatment abroad and claim back. It took over a year, they are just not competent. I tried to raise a complaint about their service, but that was not properly handled, so I gave up. I wouldn't use AXA again.