My wife and I flew to Austria for a week’s winter walking in February. We had to fly back to the UK on the advice of hospital staff, as my wife’s aunt had been taken seriously ill. My wife was her aunt’s official next of kin and unofficial carer. She died before we arrived home.
We contacted our travel insurance company, Axa, from Austria and were assured that we could make a claim. We sent the form and a medical report from the aunt’s GP and Axa informed us by phone that the claim had been approved.
Days later we received another call from Axa, telling us that a mistake had been made and the claim was no longer approved because an aunt does not qualify as a “close relative”. I wrote to protest and received a further call from Axa, advising that an independent underwriter had agreed that, in the circumstances, the aunt could be deemed to be a “close relative”.
There was then a further delay before we received a letter from Axa, once again disallowing the claim, this time on medical grounds. We appealed and heard nothing, in spite of two further reminder letters. I asked for a copy of the company’s complaints procedure and was told that my letters had not been replied to as Axa “considered the case closed”. That was last month. Since then, we have heard nothing. It appears to us we are being ignored. MW, Hexham, Northumberland
Insurance companies are notorious for wriggling out of claims but few duck and weave as shamelessly as this. Axa is disinclined to explain how it plumbed such depths of customer service. It merely blames, primly, “some confusion around the circumstances” of your claim which led to “a level of communication below Axa’s usual standards”.
Apparently, the call handlers have been hauled in or, rather, in Axa’s words, “given the necessary guidance” to ensure your plight is not repeated. Within hours of my contacting the press office you were told that your claim would be settled in full with the excess waived as a goodwill gesture.
And you’ve finally been sent the complaints procedure with the assurance that the global travel complaints manager will handle your case personally. So it would be a happy ending, save for the sneaky feeling that if Axa hadn’t run scared of a headline, your laments would still echo through emptiness.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
