Karen and Belinda were on holiday when their suitcase went missing. They contacted us to complain about the policy excess applied to their insurance claim.
What happened
Karen and Belinda made a claim under the baggage and personal possessions section of their insurance policy.
When their claim was processed, they were unhappy with the amount their insurer paid them, so they complained. The insurer said they’d paid the claim in line with the policy and wouldn’t change their mind.
Unhappy with the outcome, Karen and Belinda brought their complaint to us.
What we said
Karen and Belinda said they had only one suitcase between them and were claiming under one section of their policy – so they thought they should only be charged one policy excess and not two.
We looked at the terms and conditions of Karen and Belinda’s policy. These said:
‘Policy Excess: Under most sections of the policy, claims will be subject to an excess. This means that you will be responsible for paying the first part of the claim up to the excess value per insured person for each and every incident, under each and every section of cover’.
We explained to Karen and Belinda that we understood they only had one suitcase, but the terms and conditions of their policy said an excess was payable per person, and so we didn’t uphold their complaint.