Travel Insurance Woes & Tips - (Geneva) - Ski Chatter

Travel Insurance Woes

Some of you may recall that in February I had my rucksack stolen on the train into Geneva Airport. Key items taken were an SLR camera, video camera, mobile 'phone and clothing. These were covered by a combination of my Ecclesiastical Home Contents and a major brand Travel Insurance. Whilst Ecclesiastical have been brilliant ? operating over email and accepting scanned documents ? my other insurer (with only 1/3rd the value in liability) has been a nightmare - insisting on paper-based forms, letters, and an endless cycle of requests for clarification and the same information multiple times.

Many of you will be renewing your travel insurance over the summer, so here is some advice based on my (continuing) battle with my travel insurer:

You may have a Big Name insurance retailer, but the travel claim is likely to be handled by one man, an aged PC and four underpaid teenagers in a dingy office. The sole target of the claims handler is to stretch out the claims process to the point where you give up.

* Buy travel insurance from a retailer who is underwritten by a major insurer who does their own claims handling. No subcontracted claims management.

Even the best insurance companies only have a 5-day turn-around policy. You submit something ? they wait 5 days to reply ? they ask for clarification ? you reply ? they wait 5 days ?. and so on. Any and every inconsistency and omission will be dragged out. Moreover, your policy will have a maximum claim total ? if a few items hit this ceiling anyway, then don't cloud it with trivia that just gives them an excuse to prevaricate.

* Only claim for Big Ticket items that you have full receipts and documentation for. Forget about stolen/lost gloves, pyjamas, plug adapters etc.

* You need documentation for everything. And even then it may not be acceptable. In particular you must have

Police Report + Full Inventory of Stolen Items.
Airline Report + Full inventory of Damaged/lost goods.
Proof of Travel
Original Invoices/Charges (how many of you have the original invoices handy for everything? Really?)

* Try and determine up-front just what is acceptable documentation. This will save endless cycles of submission/clarification.

* Think how you will handle the old "We have no proof of ever having received this ?" ? If at all possible retain original receipts.

* Proof of Travel ? Clarify just what constitutes 'Proof of Travel'. An easyJet Boarding Pass? A web invoice? A BA Check-in Confirmation email?

* Communicate by letter: So that you have documentary evidence - You'll never win the "But when I 'phoned, you told me that ..." argument ...

So far, the most ludicrous query was when they asked how old my pyjamas were, so they could adjust the replacement ?18 purchase price for wear-and-tear (when the other items mean that I've hit their ?1,500 liability ceiling). This sort of thing is par for the course, sadly .......

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