True Traveller Insurance – My Terrible Experience

I have been rather quiet on the blogging front lately, and this post might explain why.

I have written posts about insurance, which is a perennial problem for long-term travellers due to the restrictions many suppliers place on the amount of time you can stay out of the UK and the difficulty of getting insurance when you’re already abroad.

It’s a subject Mark and I have researched extensively. We followed all our own advice, so when we took out an expensive policy with True Traveller Insurance, underwritten by AXA, we didn’t think we’d be caught out in this way.

1. When Your Insurer Tells You Your Claim for Curtailment When Your Dad Dies Constitutes ‘Loss of Enjoyment’
2. How To Complain To Your Insurer
3. My Advice When Choosing Insurance
4. How To Escalate Your Claim to the Media
5. Update 30th December
6. Update 3rd January
7. Follow Us For Travel Tips & Stories Straight Into Your Inbox!

When Your Insurer Tells You Your Claim for Curtailment When Your Dad Dies Constitutes ‘Loss of Enjoyment’

After our travels around the Balkans, my husband, Mark and I, were set to spend the winter skiing in Monte Rosa in northern Italy. We took out ski insurance with True Traveller. They are one of the few suppliers who offer cover when you’re already abroad, and who offer cover for the adventure sports we enjoy, such as off piste skiing and windsurfing. 

Just before Christmas, we had to rush back to the UK because my father was taken to hospital.

He passed away on the 20th December. 

Our policy covers curtailment, so we put in a claim for the cost of our barely used seasonal ski passes, and nothing else, since we would have had to drive home anyway at the end of the season.

So we did not claim for fuel, road tolls, tunnel costs, or ferries, and since we paid only for the nights we stayed at the campsite, we made no claim for accommodation.

I could not fly home because I had a bad cold and Dad was in a respiratory ward with pneumonia, so we decided to drive. I had to hope I would be well enough to visit by the time I got back. Our truck, The Beast, has at top speed of 45 mph, so our 1000-mile mercy dash took four-and-a-half days.

True Traveller refused to cover the cost of our ski passes on the basis it constitutes ‘loss of enjoyment’.

The loss of enjoyment was the death of my father.

The ski passes was the loss of £2,000.

The policy cost £550.90 for a three month ski season. Ironically, we only used it for about 10 days and no skiing for me because I was ill! 

When we were forced to return from a ski trip under similar circumstances for Mark’s mum and brother, who were rushed to hospital on the same day for different reasons, we were insured by Big Cat Travel Insurance, who refunded the costs without question.

To make matters worse, on our journey back from Monte Rosa, our credit cards were scammed in France, and when we arrived, our truck broke down.

On the day Dad died, we were recovered from the hospital car park on the back of a low loader! I know this is nothing to do with the insurance claim, but it added to the stress at an already stressful time.

Then we’ve had this on top. 

All while we’re stuck on a car park in the middle of nowhere with no transport, trying to organise a funeral, truck repair, and sort out an insurance claim with no working credit card, sketchy internet, and a phone that only works if we stand in the centre of the car park, usually in driving rain.

We escalated the matter to a manager at True Traveller, but she was just as intransigent. She said if we’d had lessons booked, that would be covered, but the means to get to the lessons (i.e. the ski pass) was simply ‘loss of enjoyment’! 

I don’t understand how they can offer ski insurance and not cover something as fundamental as a ski pass. It made me wonder whether the insurance was worth the paper it was written on. What else constitutes ‘loss of enjoyment’?

True Traveller has really made a deeply upsetting time much worse, although I got to the hospital two hours before my Dad lost consciousness, so I was able to speak to him and hold his hand one last time. In the scheme of things, that’s the main thing that matters. 

There is a lot to deal with when a close relative dies, all when you’re suffering from unspeakable grief. On top of everything, your insurer refuses to cover one cost which I feel is an entirely justifiable claim.

I could do without having to pursue this with the Financial Ombudsman Service, but I will do it, because I feel this is very wrong and would rather it didn’t happen to anyone else. Unfortunately, when I explained my predicament on Facebook, travel insurance companies trying to weasel their way out of their commitments seemed more common than you might hope.

Of course, there is a protocol to follow to raise a complaint with your insurer.

How To Complain To Your Insurer

If you think your insurer is simply acting unfairly, you can make a complaint. The UK’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau offers this advice to which I have added slightly:

• Put your complaint in writing. Explain to the insurer how you want it resolved.
• If you’re not happy with their response, make a formal complaint using the company’s internal complaints procedure.
• All UK insurers are covered by the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and have to deal with complaints in a certain way.
• You should give the insurer up to 8 weeks to reply to your complaint. If they don’t come back to you or you don’t agree with their response, you can ask for a letter of deadlock. A letter of deadlock confirms that you and your insurer have been unable to reach an agreement.  
• You can then take your complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which is a free service.
• You must make your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months from the final response or letter of deadlock from your insurer. You can find out more about time limits affecting your complaint on the FOS website. 
• The Financial Ombudsman Service will look into your complaint and make a decision. The insurer will have to follow their decision, but you don’t have to.
• If you don’t agree with the Financial Ombudsman Service ruling and want to take your complaint further, you can take your insurer to court.
• Here is further guidance from the Association of British Insurers on Making a Claim & Getting Help.

My Advice When Choosing Insurance

• Read the small print and ensure you have adequate cover:
  • For the full duration of your trip
  • For all the countries you plan to visit
  • For all activities you plan to undertake, including driving off road
  • Despite this – we still got caught out. The policy mentions ski passes are covered if we were injured, or if they were lost or stolen. Then there is a separate Curtailment section, where lift passes aren’t mentioned at all. One would assume they were covered, since a ski pass is an essential part of a ski holiday, in the same way as accommodation or travel. But in the event you have to forgo using it because your trip is curtailed when your Dad is terminally ill, it’s not a justifiable claim because it’s not a financial loss, it’s loss of enjoyment!
• Make sure all your documents are up to date and remain valid for the duration of your trip, including your photo card driving licence, passport and EHIC/GHIC card.
• Travel & health insurance is essential in addition to your current EHIC/GHIC card
• Disclose everything to your insurer, even if you’re not sure it’s relevant. If you don’t, they may find grounds to refuse to pay up in the event of a claim.
• Confirm in writing anything unusual you have agreed with your insurer.
• Comply with all local rules and regulations, including Schengen restrictions
• Specialist insurers are experienced in their field and will likely offer better and more suitable cover.
• In insurance terms, cheaper is not necessarily better – and in our experience, neither is expensive!

How To Escalate Your Claim to the Media

These are the organisations and journalists I contacted:

• Which? – the UK’s consumer champion. Which? campaigns for consumer rights and will take companies to task. If you are a member, they offer legal advice. Here is a link to the Which? contact page.
• Elliott Advocacy – a nonprofit founded by consumer advocacy author and journalist, Chistopher Elliott, to mediate disputes between customers and companies when customer complaints have failed. Christopher runs three nationally syndicated columns, is a regular guest on national news programmes, and contributes to major media outlets including National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Travel & Leisure.
• BBC Consumer Programmes – the British Broadcasting Association runs a number of consumer programmes which investigate various issues. Watchdog and Rip off Britain are two of the better known ones, but there are others. You can find a list of BBC consumer programmes here. They will only take up your case if it fits in to whatever they happen to be investigating at the time, but if they receive a number of complaints about the same company or industry, they are more likely to take it up..
  • Contact Watchdog via their Facebook page, Twitter, or email watchdog@bbc.co.uk
  • Contact Rip Off Britain via their Facebook page, or email RipOffBritain@bbc.co.uk
• Newspapers and Journalists
  • Telegraph Travel
    • Queries may be sent by email to asktheexperts@telegraph.co.uk. Please provide your name and, if your query is about a dispute with a travel company, your full address, daytime telephone number and any booking reference.
    • Richard Madden is a freelance journalist who covers adventure travel for The Telegraph and other outlets. richmadworld@gmail.com
  • Financial Times – Ian Smith is the FT’s insurance correspondent, Ian.Smith@ft.com.
  • The Times – money mentor and Editor at Large, Georgie Frost, wrote an article What is Travel Insurance and Is It Worth It? which was last updated on 30th December 2023. Georgie.frost@news.co.uk
• Social Media – I posted about my experience on all my social media profiles, and shared it in ski and adventure travel groups, so that other customers who may use this service would be warned.
• Forums – I am also a member of a number of overlanding and travel forums, who will have an interest in poorly performing adventure travel insurance.
• Reviews
  • Reviews matter, and organisations do take note. Leave an honest review on Google, Trustpilot or anywhere else you normally leave reviews, since this will send a strong message to the company, and help other consumers to avoid companies who offer poor service.

Update 30th December

Unexpectedly, this morning, the MD of True Traveller wrote to us from home because he’s on holiday until 3rd January and said they would honour our claim.

It goes to show that making a fuss does occasionally work. I sometimes wonder whether big companies simply take a stance of saying “No” at first, because even if it deters a small proportion of people, it saves them money.

I am pleased that they finally decided to do the right thing, and settle a claim for a ski pass on a ski insurance policy. However, I really don’t think we should have had to fight for it, particularly in such distressing circumstances. I do not believe they would be honouring the payment if they didnt’ think it was just in the first place.

I also can’t help wondering whether mentioning the fact that I’m a travel writer and blogger and would publicise my case to every media outlet at my disposal had something to do with their change of heart.

It is notable that every person who contacted me who had pursued their claims had been repaid WITH compenation. Pehaps True Traveller has at least saved itself that expense, because this is not a pretty story.

If True Traveller are sensible, they will have alerts set for their company name and will have seen how busy I’ve been in the Blogosphere and on Social Media. And now, I have a few consumer bodies and a number of travel and financial journalist to update!

Update 3rd January

We got a nasty email from True Traveller and a scathing response to our Trustpilot review, implying fraudulent behaviour on our part, because the ski resort offered us a voucher against the unused part of our ski pass.

It was only after True Traveller refused our claim that we approached the ski area to ask whether, as a gesture of goodwill, they could refund our ski pass. They had no obligation to do so, and went away to think about it.

They came back several days later to offer a credit for next year, which we probably can’t use, but we really appreciated the gesture and their kindness and compassion.

In the meantime, True Traveller had a change of heart and offered to pay our claim. Although not specifically listed under curtailment, they said that sometimes ‘the spirit of the policy’ should be taken into consideration. In the background, they went away to try and recoup some of their expenses from the ski area and were told that we had been given a voucher.

When you’ve spent your life being scrupulously honest, it is so hurtful and insulting and I hope they amend their response to our review. They have also made us look dishonest with the kind people in the Monte Rosa ski area, and I simply cannot put into words the pain caused by the abhorrent suggestion that you’ve tried to use your father’s death for personal gain. All through a situation that is not of our making.

In the meantime, our truck went in to be fixed and didn’t come back the same evening as promised, so we were homeless! I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to find last-minute accommodation when you own four dogs. We spent two hours on the phone, all to no avail. Eventually, I had to beg a favour of a friend who lived 20 miles away. With no transport, no dog food, and wearing only the clothes we stood up in, we ordered a taxi from a firm that had told us it was dog-friendly. In the kerfuffle, we forgot to mention the dogs when we booked. They made us pre-pay, but when he turned up, the driver refused to take us for religious reasons and drove off. He told us he’d send along another cab. He didn’t. He left us standing in the doorway of a pub in the rain. When we chased up the firm, they just told us they’d cancelled our booking, but didn’t consider it their responsibility to let us know. As yet, they haven’t refunded our pre-paid fare.

I really hope we can now draw a line under this awful sequence of events. At the moment, all Mark and I want to do is crawl into a hole and never emerge.

Although the claim process has been disappointing and very upsetting we are pleased with the outcome. Finally, they honoured the claim and later communications with True Traveller have restored some confidence in the company.

Image credits Pixabay and Rawpixel.