Could making a travel insurance claim be made any harder?

[Carchar]

Could making a travel insurance claim be made any harder? Probably not for Jim Dvorak and his family. Their once-a-day evening flight on United, from Dulles (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Washington+Dulles+International+Airport?tid=inform line) to Argentina (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Argentina?tid=informline) via Brazil (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Brazil?tid=informline), was canceled way back on March 30, when an air traffic control strike in Brazil closed all major airports. Additionally, the following day, their flight from Dulles was delayed long enough that they missed their connecting flight to their final destination.
The good news: The family had trip interruption insurance, up to $500 per person for the family of four. The bad news: Despite a six-month battle, Dvorak, of Woodbridge (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Woodbridge+(Virginia)?tid=informline), has yet to see a dime.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111600358.html

[Ned]

One thing that I have learned over the years, though direct business experience, and in Business School where I did extensive study in insurance, is that Insurance Companies use the precision of the wording of their policies, which are de facto contracts, not to the benefit of the insured to make them whole under the provisions of the policy, but as a club to hammer the insured and never pay a penny under the policy's provisions, if at all possible.

I see United as a villain, as much as Access America in this case. United doesn't have to say the cancellation was due to a strike to help the Dvoraks, and they know it. All they have to do is say that the cancellation was due to the Brazilian Air Traffic Control System being shut down. From there, the Dvoraks should be able to gather evidence from news sources, which clearly indicate the Brazilian Air Traffic Control System was shut down due to a 24 hour strike by Air Traffic Controllers, which was widely reported by AP and other news sources. The fact that United wouldn't identify any details of the "Air Traffic Control Problem" to the Dvoraks is reprehensible.

[Carchar]

I wonder if the family has a prayer in small claims court against the insurance company.

[Ned]

While I'm not a lawyer, I wouldn't think they have much of a chance. While the insurance company is acting on a technicality at this point, the law seems to take technicalities very seriously. A friend who's a lawyer tells me all the time when we have discussions like this that "the legal system is not about right and wrong, nor about justice, it's about what's legal and illegal, it's about the law, and that's a horse of another color."

I wonder if the family has a prayer in small claims court against the insurance company.

[DCTravelAgent]

Having assisted many, many clients with insurance claims (yes, that's part of the fee they pay me, the professional Travel Agent) I have to say that with perseverance they almost all get paid - this one would take a call from the Travel Agent to his/her United Airlines Sales Rep - explaining exactly what the letter should say and believe me, voila - it would say exactly what Access America says it should. It might take a while to get to the right person at United, but it would get done. And the claim would get paid.

[Ned]

This I definitely believe. We had problems with a luggage delay on a trip of 72 hours. We bought some clothes and other assorted items to tide us over, while in Spain. We had trouble collecting from Travel Guard, and our TA took care of the problem and got our money almost immediately. Just another reason, I always recommend booking all international, difficult and/or complicated domestic travel, and cruise travel through a TA.

Having assisted many, many clients with insurance claims (yes, that's part of the fee they pay me, the professional Travel Agent) I have to say that with perseverance they almost all get paid - this one would take a call from the Travel Agent to his/her United Airlines Sales Rep - explaining exactly what the letter should say and believe me, voila - it would say exactly what Access America says it should. It might take a while to get to the right person at United, but it would get done. And the claim would get paid.

[DCTravelAgent]

This is kind of timely - I'm giving a presentation tomorrow night at our local CTO (Caribbean Travel Organization) Chapter meeting onhow to handle client complaints/letters. This would complaints about the Vendor (air, hotel, cruise ship, car rental, insurer, etc....). It's sure of a "speciality" of mine - how to assist the client (advocate on his/her behalf) when there are problems.

Here's a little free advice to Consumers who book themselves:

1. MOST IMPORTANT - try very hard to resolve the problem if possible while you are still on-site. I recognize that this can be impossible:

2. If you must deal with this after the fact - write a letter (copy the CEO of the Vendor and the Travel Agent). Keep this letter down to one page if you can. In the letter: start with a statement of why you are writing, summarize the occurences that lead to your having to write, and STATE WHAT IT IS YOU EXPECT OF THE VENDOR IN ORDER TO MAKE YOU WHOLE!!!

3. Include, "I would like notification of this letter within one business week of your receipt of said letter." You are letting them know that you don't expect them to respond to you within a week, but that you want to be sure they recieved it. You may wish to send it registered. If you send a email, get a "snail mail" address if you can and send a hard copy as well.

4. Include copies of any pertinent receipts.

5. If you have a long list of grievances, attach that as a list - do not include it in the letter. if your letter is more than one page, it will not get read farther than the first two paragraphs.

If you have worked with a Travel Agent - prepare a letter just as above and send it to the Travel Agent who will then put her/his own cover letter in with yours and will copy it to her/his contacts at the Vendor.

[icymrot]

One piece of advice I can give is to always be professional to the claims agent you are working with, even if you do not feel they are being professional back. Yelling and name calling will not get you anywhere. Even though I cannot speak for other companies I know that we hold our agents to a high standard when it comes to professionalism and the way we communicate with our customers. If you feel you have been treated unprofessionally ask to speak with a supervisor, or notify your travel agent so they can contact their rep. Typically claims and customer service phone calls are recorded and the manager can listen to any call and handle any situation accordingly. Believe me claims agents understand that the customer has already been through enough and want to put the situation behind them as quick as possible, but they are human too and have a difficult job to do. You hear it all the time, but it is true: how would you react if someone called you at your job and yelled and screamed? That is not to say that it would affect how a claim is paid, but rather how the tone of a conversation is conducted. Don't get me wrong, being treated poorly by a customer is not an excuse for a claims agent to do the same.

Please keep in mind that the insurance company is held to very strict regulations and there can be stiff penalties applied to stepping outside those lines. While sometimes it seems that the insurance company is trying not to pay a claim, if proper documentation is not provided a legit claim might not be able to be paid. What may seem like a crazy rule to pay a claim could be the difference between the insurance company having to pay a hefty price because they violated a regulation. Every company is different but there are just as many times where the insurance company goes above and beyond to pay a claim, but that is not always recognized by the customer. If you work with an agent that has a good relationship with their insurance rep they should at least be able to find out what additional information is needed to pay a claim, or provide an explanation as to why a claim cannot be paid. Don't be afraid to ask your travel agent what their experience is like. At the same time, travel agents if you have continuous poor experience with one company do not assume all claims departments are the same.