Can some clever soul please review my letter to my parents sh*tty travel insurance company

[Serah]

My parents were declined their claim for their holiday expenses under some bog standard insurance companies standard letter. The insurance company wouldn't have had to fork out a fortune, it was for a 3 day coach excursion to plymouth

I would be grateful if anyone out there with greater insurance/grammar understanding could review my letter and critcise (preferably constructively, obviously!!)

Thanks
I am writing to you on behalf of my dad, . Both of my parents have asked me to deal with this matter on their behalf as they already have enough stressful circumstances to deal with, as you may appreciate. I trust that you will find this acceptable.

Needless to say, both of my parents were deeply upset upon receiving your letter dated 21 October 2005 declining their insurance claim. Having read your letter along with the policy schedule supplied to my parents, both I and my parents disagree with your decision. I respond to your decisions point by point as below:

?It is a condition that at the time of taking out this policy you must comply with each of the following:

1. You are not aware of any reason why the trip should be cancelled or cut short.
   My parents were not aware of any reason the trip should be cancelled or cut short given that my dad was informed that he was clear of cancer in September 2004, as stated on the medical certificate (?MRI scan on 9.04 No residual tumour?). This scan took place on 16 September 2004, and my parents were subsequently informed of this on 21 September 2004. This policy was taken out on 2 April 2004.

2. You are not receiving or awaiting treatment for an illness or injury as a hospital inpatient, as any claim arising from this injury or treatment will not be covered
   My dad was not receiving or awaiting treatment for an illness or injury at the time that the policy was taken out. Confirmation of the policy being taken out was dated 2 April 2005.

Both myself and my parents are therefore baffled by your statement ?that you would have been aware that this condition could impact upon your ability to undertake or enjoy the holiday? as at the time of taking out the insurance my dad was clear of any cancer and therefore any ?condition? pertinent to undertaking or enjoying a holiday. (Furthermore, I take issue with your terminology ?enjoy?. I had not realised that any insurance policy would cover the ?non-enjoyment? of a holiday and I believe this is a somewhat inappropriate statement under any circumstance).

You also quote in your letter of 21 October 2005 ?We must be informed of any fact which is likely to influence us in the acceptance, assessment or continuance of this insurance. Failure to do so may invalidate this insurance, leaving you with no right to make a claim?. The conditions that must be complied with at the time of taking out the policy are listed below this statement, the two of which you have asserted as being the reasons behind the claim being refused have been dealt with previously in this response. Therefore I am unsure as to the relevance of your quoting this, as my dad complied with all of the statements listed at the time that the policy was issued. Please confirm your intention with this quote.

I trust you will now give my dads claim the merit it deserves and reconsider your decision, as I do not believe it was based on the facts as presented by the medical certificate provided and the terms and conditions of the policy cover provided by the insurers.

Look forward to your response within 10 working days of this letter etc etc

Yours faithfully,

Would really appreciate any feedback.

Sounds fine to me. Let us know how you get on.

Bastards

This sort of thing really pisses me off. Your letter's great - all I can see from a first read is a missing apostrophe: I trust you will now give my dads claim the merit... - put an apostrophe in "dad's".

Also, might you be better referring to him as "my father"?

As for the part about enjoying a holiday - wtf are they on about?! Tossers!

was the policy taken out in April 2004 or 2005? you refer to both in the letter. Also, My parents and I,rather than"both I and my parents", being pedantic!

It reads fine although the date in point 1 should presumably be 2 April 2005?
Perhaps I would refer to "my father" as opposed to dad and instead of "both myself and my parents" I would say "My parents and I...".
Only pedantic points really...good luck.

am writing to you on behalf of my Father, . My parents (already plural no need for both) have asked me to deal with this matter on their behalf. I trust that you will find this satisfactory.

My parents were deeply upset on receipt of your letter dated 21 October 2005, declining their insurance claim. Having read your letter along with the policy schedule supplied to my parents, both I and my parents are unsure as to how this deccision was reached, and I have with my parents help dealt with your decisions point by point please see below:

?It is a condition that at the time of taking out this policy you must comply with each of the following:

1. You are not aware of any reason why the trip should be cancelled or cut short.
   My parents were not aware of any reason the trip should be cancelled or cut short given that my Father was informed that he was clear of cancer in September 2004, as stated on the medical certificate (?MRI scan on 9.04 No residual tumour?). This scan took place on 16 September 2004, and my parents were subsequently informed of this on 21 September 2004. This policy was taken out on 2 April 2004.

2. You are not receiving or awaiting treatment for an illness or injury as a hospital inpatient, as any claim arising from this injury or treatment will not be covered
   My Father was not receiving or awaiting treatment for an illness or injury at the time that the policy was taken out. Confirmation of the policy being taken out was dated 2 April 2005.

Both my parents and I are therefore somewhat understandbly confused by your statement ?that you would have been aware that this condition could impact upon your ability to undertake or enjoy the holiday? as at the time of taking out the insurance my dad was clear of any cancer and therefore any ?condition? pertinent to undertaking or enjoying a holiday. (Furthermore, I take issue with your terminology ?enjoy?. I had not realised that any insurance policy would cover the ?non-enjoyment? of a holiday and I believe this is a somewhat inappropriate statement under any circumstance). this bit is not relevant IMO

You also quote in your letter of 21 October 2005 ?We must be informed of any fact which is likely to influence us in the acceptance, assessment or continuance of this insurance. Failure to do so may invalidate this insurance, leaving you with no right to make a claim?. The conditions that must be complied with at the time of taking out the policy are listed below this statement, the two of which you have asserted as being the reasons behind the claim being refused have been dealt with previously in this response. Therefore I am unsure as to the relevance of your quoting this, as my Father complied with all of the statements listed at the time that the policy was issued.

I would be grateful if you could review this case and give my Fathers claim the merit it deserves , as I do not believe the original decision was based on the facts as presented by the medical certificate provided and the terms and conditions of the policy cover provided by the insurers.

I look forward to your response within 10 working days of this letter etc etc

I feel it important to advise you that if the claim is rejected a second time for what we consider to be spurious reasons, we will have no hesitation in asking the Insurance Ombudsman to review this matter.

Yours faithfully,

CC Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London E14 9SR

With a note to the I Ombudsman that it is for refernce only at this moment in time.

Thank you everyone All points are really gratefully appreciated and I'm just off to squirrel away at it with all your suggestions.

Really pisses me off too HM. Tossers tossers tossers. Feel a bit better now. Wouldn't be so bad but my dad has multiple infarct dementia and can't remember whats going off and my mum can't deal with much more than my dad at the mo.

Bollocks. There. My favourite word. Feel better now

Would add that you intend to refer the matter to the insurance ombudsman - and why not cc a copy to your MP? Always worth stating that you are prepared to involve the big guns.

Good points LGJ... thanks! (I was writing the last bit when you posted). Did you mean "furthermore" was not relevant or the whole sentence after it? The comment about the enjoying just pissed me off so I just spewed forth on that bit.

Good idea with the ombudsman for info only tho... thanks

Just don't see how, having made it perfectly clear that he had had cancer but had had the all clear, they could take his money and then deny the claim unless they had specifically excluded cancer from the policy. (I have thyroid condition and my travel insurance excludes anything relating to that.)

I know you are pissed off re enjoyment, but it is just wording and not relevant IMO(or certainly does not seem to be) to the rejection of the claim.

SOrry to sound negative, but I sincerely doubt that this will get you anywhere. Basically as I understand it you have to tell them everything to ensure you are properly covered. I was really careful last time, and had to claim for problems with my pregnancy (possibly) but it was for £80 and the excess was £50. I included all that they requested, but they then still asked for more documentation and in the end it just wasn't worth it. They will screw you over in any way they can.

Did your father declare the fact that he had had cancer when he took the policy out? Every travel insurance policy I have seen has a clause stating that existing medical conditions must be declared. Sorry to be brutal but cancer is usually defined as going to remission and hence is classed as an increased risk to an insurer.

dh's life insurance is loaded by 33% as his father had bowel cancer when he was 52 and dh is therefore a greater risk to the insurer.

If your father declared it and wasn't waiting the results of any tests when a) he took out the policy and b)booked the holiday then I would say that this is a mistake made by someone.

The only health clauses are as follows:

You are not aware of any reason the trip should be cancelled or cut short.

You are not receiveing or awaiting treatment for an illness or injury as a hospital in patient

You are not travelling against the advice of a doctor, for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment or after being given a terminal prognosis

If you have received hospital treatment in the 6 months prior to booking you must obtain medical advice confirming you are fit enough to take the trip

If you are undergoing medical treatment at the time the balance is due you must present a certificate of fitness confirming your ability to travel

If you are on medication at the time of travelling your medical condition is stable/well controlled.

Unable to see anywhere in that lot of "must informs" where canceror any other pre-exisiting medical condition which has been confirmed as clear outside of the dates specified fits in. It could be there, but I haven't seen it, and I usually do - if any one does, please tell me.

I have been on the phone tonight grilling my mum almost to the point of tears over dates etc so I can get it right (luckily you all noticed my 2004 error - just making sure you're all on your toes! )

Thanks again everyone [group hug]

I guess they are denying the claim on the cancer, not the dementia? Did he provide a letter from his doctor stating that he was fit to travel?

yes, its the cancer not the dementia Milge - the dementia is not relevant to the claim - just my poor old mum!

He didn't need to prove it as his treatment and confirmation of clearance was more than 6 months prior to booking the holiday.

I know what you are saying as well Flossam, but I also think that insurance companies just try to bamboozle the majority of people into accepting their verdict - and hope the majority of people will just say "oh, ok then". I'm hoping they backpeddle on this one as I am prepared to take it as far as I can as the refusal letter completely flattened my mum and dad

HOw is this going?

Not heard back yet Galaxy. I gave them 10 working days from the date of my letter so they have time to sit on it yet.

Thanks for asking though. I will keep you posted

Heard back today... they wrote to my dad, explaining in depth about his cancer and saying that even though he may have had the all clear, "sometimes microscopic traces of the cancer can be left behind, undetected by scans etc..... since these cells cannot be detected in any way it is impossible to give an absolute guarantee that a cancer has been cured after treatment" and as such cannot go ahead with his claim.

Thats the very abbreviated version. I'm pissed off on a number of levels, not least that this is so insensitive - I am beyond words at the moment. I expected them to say no again, but not like this - they're an insurance company, not a cancer consultancy

Exactly Sally... the agents are Towergate Chapman Stevens who I am dealing with at the mo. I'm not going to stop here - I just need a day or so to think about it. I'll need to post my letter again for grammar checks so please stay around if its your forte!

It was part of a holiday package. Think the tatal claim is in the region of £450. I suppose they don't look at that though.

tatal? You know what I mean

Any clever souls still around?

It took me a while to compile some feelings, and then I shot a load of words at it. Then I inserted some insults and reasons why they are arseholes and deserve to be boiled in tar. Then I tried to make it make sense followed by trying to remove any emotions from it and make it sound like I mean business(as much as I could anyway) and this is what is left:

All criticism gratefully accepted once more...

Thank you for your letter dated 11 November 2005. You will note that the written consent from my father authorising you to contact me directly over this matter is enclosed.

My father was shocked to see the detailed extent to which you had described his cancer and the potential for it to remain in his body undetected by ?the most careful of examinations and the most sensitive of special tests?. I would like to remind you that you are an insurance agent and not a consultant specialising in the care of cancer and would like to register a complaint against the originator of this letter due to the distress this crass statement has caused. I trust this complaint will be investigated properly and I anticipate that future correspondence be dealt with at a more senior level.

As you are already aware, it was confirmed to my father that he was clear of cancer by his consultant prior to taking out the insurance policy in question so despite your reiterating the clause ?you were not aware of any reason why the trip should be cancelled or cut short? and your detailed cod-consultancy on cancer as cause to decline the claim it is obvious that my father was not aware of any reason why the trip should be cancelled or cut short. Therefore your repeated statement that my father?s ?condition? could ?impact on his ability to undertake or enjoy the holiday in question? is at best unfounded as he had no ?condition? (cancer) at the time of taking out the policy and therefore the claim should be met.

Furthermore, you repeat a statement with no acknowledgement that I have already challenged it (my letter dated 4 November 2005), notably ?we must be informed of any fact which is likely to influence us in the acceptance, assessment or continuance of this insurance...? This quote is out of context with the policy. It pertains to the health conditions as set out and stated, but is not a condition in itself. My father disclosed all facts which were likely to influence you in the acceptance, assessment or continuance of the insurance as per the health conditions stated.

I trust you will now give my fathers claim due consideration and look forward to your final decision on this matter within 10 working days of the date of this letter.

I would like to apologise to cod in advance. For some reason, cod is a word I know that symbolises a sham, a fake etc. Any one know a better word that fits? I'm pretty sure the agents won't know what it means!