Ebodsky

Hi,

After many decades of never claiming a bean off home/motor plus any other
insurances, my wife & I had just had to urgently return back to to UK during
a vacation in France because her father had died suddenly.

I am not normally the kind of person who claims on insurance, but 2 days
after our return and during the process of cancelling some hotel
reservations etc, I have just noticed that our AXA does cover circumstances
for when a close relative dies ( under a section headed cancellation
charges ).

Before I cantact AXA I would like some advice from any insurance claim
veterans in the NG regarding what I should & could claim for.

The holiday was organised solely by us and when briefly along these lines :-

17th July Drive Manchester to Dover and stop in motel.
Cross to Calais and spend 6 nights in motel in Paris ( to vist Eurodisney )
on 24th July leave Paris and drive to St Jean de Monts in the Vendee for two
weeks in a caravan site.
leave on 7th Aug and stop at Chartres for the evening ( just below Paris )
leave on 8th Aug and stop at Calais for the evening, then cross drive home
on the 9th.

In fact we got to our fourth day in the Vendee and on 28th a.m we learnt my
wife's father was having his last rights read to him after an emergency opp.
We bundled everything into the car and drove home , but as we queued around
Paris we learned he had not survived. So after leaving the Altantic coast at
12.30 GMT we drove practically none stop and finally got back in Manchester
at 4.30AM the next moring

I have the telephone number for the claims dept at AXA, but I'm in the mood
to claim every possible penny I can ( like 'everybody else' seems to bloody
do ! ) and I want as much advice as possible over my potential entitlements.

All/Any advice welcome...........

EvelynVogtGamble

Ebodsky wrote:

    > Hi,
    >
    > After many decades of never claiming a bean off home/motor plus any other
    > insurances, my wife & I had just had to urgently return back to to UK during
    > a vacation in France because her father had died suddenly.
    >
    > I am not normally the kind of person who claims on insurance, but 2 days
    > after our return and during the process of cancelling some hotel
    > reservations etc, I have just noticed that our AXA does cover circumstances
    > for when a close relative dies ( under a section headed cancellation
    > charges ).
    >
    > Before I cantact AXA I would like some advice from any insurance claim
    > veterans in the NG regarding what I should & could claim for.
    >
    > The holiday was organised solely by us and when briefly along these lines :-
    >
    > 17th July Drive Manchester to Dover and stop in motel.
    > Cross to Calais and spend 6 nights in motel in Paris ( to vist Eurodisney )
    > on 24th July leave Paris and drive to St Jean de Monts in the Vendee for two
    > weeks in a caravan site.
    > leave on 7th Aug and stop at Chartres for the evening ( just below Paris )
    > leave on 8th Aug and stop at Calais for the evening, then cross drive home
    > on the 9th.
    >
    > In fact we got to our fourth day in the Vendee and on 28th a.m we learnt my
    > wife's father was having his last rights read to him after an emergency opp.
    > We bundled everything into the car and drove home , but as we queued around
    > Paris we learned he had not survived. So after leaving the Altantic coast at
    > 12.30 GMT we drove practically none stop and finally got back in Manchester
    > at 4.30AM the next moring
    >
    > I have the telephone number for the claims dept at AXA, but I'm in the mood
    > to claim every possible penny I can ( like 'everybody else' seems to bloody
    > do ! ) and I want as much advice as possible over my potential entitlements.
    >
    > All/Any advice welcome...........

There's no harm in making a polite enquiry of your insurance company!
If the event is covered, there's no reason you should not collect, and
so long as you don't use an agressive "pay me or I'll sue" approach,
there's no reason the insurance company would not respond with equal
politeness.

    >
    >
    >

Ebodsky

    > There's no harm in making a polite enquiry of your insurance company!
    > If the event is covered, there's no reason you should not collect, and
    > so long as you don't use an agressive "pay me or I'll sue" approach,
    > there's no reason the insurance company would not respond with equal
    > politeness.



...yeah, but...
I'm sure the insurance co personnel are trained to only advise you about the
minimum possible liability, and not perhaps other consequential things I
haven't yet thought about. My appeal to this NG was based on the expection
of some replies starting with "Don't forget to..." , " Did you know
that......", " After I made my claim, I later learnt I could have ......"

I just wanted to get my act together before I started the whole process off.

Keith Willshaw

"Ebodsky" <had.enuf-of@spam> wrote in message
news:x0xOc.1231$...
    > Hi,
    > After many decades of never claiming a bean off home/motor plus any other
    > insurances, my wife & I had just had to urgently return back to to UK
during
    > a vacation in France because her father had died suddenly.
    > I am not normally the kind of person who claims on insurance, but 2 days
    > after our return and during the process of cancelling some hotel
    > reservations etc, I have just noticed that our AXA does cover
circumstances
    > for when a close relative dies ( under a section headed cancellation
    > charges ).
    > Before I cantact AXA I would like some advice from any insurance claim
    > veterans in the NG regarding what I should & could claim for.
    > The holiday was organised solely by us and when briefly along these lines
    :-
    > 17th July Drive Manchester to Dover and stop in motel.
    > Cross to Calais and spend 6 nights in motel in Paris ( to vist
Eurodisney )
    > on 24th July leave Paris and drive to St Jean de Monts in the Vendee for
two
    > weeks in a caravan site.
    > leave on 7th Aug and stop at Chartres for the evening ( just below Paris )
    > leave on 8th Aug and stop at Calais for the evening, then cross drive home
    > on the 9th.
    > In fact we got to our fourth day in the Vendee and on 28th a.m we learnt
my
    > wife's father was having his last rights read to him after an emergency
opp.
    > We bundled everything into the car and drove home , but as we queued
around
    > Paris we learned he had not survived. So after leaving the Altantic coast
at
    > 12.30 GMT we drove practically none stop and finally got back in
Manchester
    > at 4.30AM the next moring
    > I have the telephone number for the claims dept at AXA, but I'm in the
mood
    > to claim every possible penny I can ( like 'everybody else' seems to
bloody
    > do ! ) and I want as much advice as possible over my potential
entitlements.
    > All/Any advice welcome...........

Dont be aggressive.

Dont inflate your claims - if nothing else its illegal,
you really dont want to prosecuted for making
a fraudulent claim.

AXA are a reputable company why not simply call them
and explain the situation and see what you can claim ?

At the very least any lost deposit or payment for
booked accoomdation and additional channel crossing
expenses will be covered.

Keith

Padraig Breathnach

"Ebodsky" <had.enuf-of@spam> wrote:

    >I have the telephone number for the claims dept at AXA, but I'm in the mood
    >to claim every possible penny I can ( like 'everybody else' seems to bloody
    >do ! ) and I want as much advice as possible over my potential entitlements.
    >All/Any advice welcome...........
First, my sympathy to you and your wife on the loss of her father. The
loss of the holiday seems a lot less important.

I cannot imagine that you will have any difficulty with a claim, and I
expect the insurers would advise you in a reasonably fair way what
your entitlements are. Your entitlements will be limited to actual
losses or expenses incurred; there will be no "pain-and-suffering"
element to compensate either for the bereavement or for any reduction
of your enjoyment of your curtailed trip.

I expect that you can claim for things like unused travel tickets and
for accommodation bookings, but it is your responsibility to keep
losses down to a reasonable level, so if you are entitled to any
refunds you should claim them, and claim only the net amount of your
loss. You should have no difficulty claiming for the additional cost
of getting home.

EvelynVogtGamble

Ebodsky wrote:

    >
    > ...yeah, but...
    > I'm sure the insurance co personnel are trained to only advise you about the
    > minimum possible liability, and not perhaps other consequential things I
    > haven't yet thought about. My appeal to this NG was based on the expection
    > of some replies starting with "Don't forget to..." , " Did you know
    > that......", " After I made my claim, I later learnt I could have ......"
    >
    > I just wanted to get my act together before I started the whole process off.

Well, of course the only travel insurance claims I have placed were with
my American Express travel medical policy, but that only required a
phone call to advise them of the loss (and ask if it were covered).
They sent me the necessary papers to fill out, along with instructions
as to what I needed to submit for backup, and both times I've used it, I
received my reimbursement check practically by return mail.

A word of advice - I think there are deadlines for placing travel
insurance claims (x number of days after your return) so it might be
wiser to get the required info from your insurance company, rather than
trusting to newsgroup posters (who may or may not actually know what
they're talking about) and finding your claim denied because you waited
too long to file it!
    >
    >