Flight Centre messed with my mum.

[kgr]

Hi there, I am hoping someone can offer some help.
My mum booked a trip to Equador, then a few weeks later went to her GP and received a standard request for blood tests, due to a 10 yr old cancer treatment and on going testing, then a few days later went to the oncologist to find out the results. In between the Dr and the oncologist she booked her insurance for the trip.

Having found out, at the 2nd oncologist appt that she has a terminal cancer she contacted flight centre and cancelled her flights.

Flight centre said they would handle all the paper work and have been messing my mum around with ongoing emails, requests for the Dr to fill out paperwork, then more requests to fill out more paperwork.

Then the medical form B was sent to the insurance agency only here is the issue, it was not signed by my mother and someone at flight centre has forged her signature and sent it in. The issue is that the dates from the GP were wrong, which has affected the claim and the insurance company have denied her refund stating she was diagnosed before booking insurance which simply isn't true.

Who at Flight Centre can she lodge a complaint to and is there any way to change the insurance companies mind, or is it a done deal?

many thanks in advance for you help.

 

[Deleted member]

I suspect the insurance ombudsman might be a good place to start

 

[Pushka]

The forgery isn't good. But sadly I think in any case there would be no Insurance for a cancer recurrence even 10 years later.

Hope your mother receives excellent care.

 

[DavBlayn]

Sometimes you can go to your local member and ask them to help out. I know the local (state) member in my electorate was able to help out with a travel insurance issue.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi there, I am hoping someone can offer some help.
My mum booked a trip to Equador, then a few weeks later went to her GP and received a standard request for blood tests, due to a 10 yr old cancer treatment and on going testing, then a few days later went to the oncologist to find out the results. In between the Dr and the oncologist she booked her insurance for the trip.

Having found out, at the 2nd oncologist appt that she has a terminal cancer she contacted flight centre and cancelled her flights.

Flight centre said they would handle all the paper work and have been messing my mum around with ongoing emails, requests for the Dr to fill out paperwork, then more requests to fill out more paperwork.

Then the medical form B was sent to the insurance agency only here is the issue, it was not signed by my mother and someone at flight centre has forged her signature and sent it in. The issue is that the dates from the GP were wrong, which has affected the claim and the insurance company have denied her refund stating she was diagnosed before booking insurance which simply isn't true.

Who at Flight Centre can she lodge a complaint to and is there any way to change the insurance companies mind, or is it a done deal?

many thanks in advance for you help.

It's always best to take out travel insurance at the time you pay any monies to the travel agent starting with the deposit, as you want to be covered from that moment onwards for cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances.

Most travel insurance companies would want a separate form filled out declaring any previous illnesses or pre-existing conditions so they can assess whether they will a) insure the traveller and b) if they do, what extra premium is payable.

As Pushka mentioned above it's quite possible that the travel insurance company may have denied cover to your Mum based on her illness 10 years ago.

Have you got the travel insurance product disclosure statement so you can read the specifics as to what the company won't pay in relation to pre-existing medical conditions etc?

Before you do anything more about contacting the travel insurance company or Flight Centre get a trip dossier together with all your documentation making sure that you keep the originals of everything and make photocopies of the following things:

a) any written correspondence from Flight Centre
b) receipts from Flight Centre that would show the date travel insurance was paid
c) credit card statements or bank statements backing up when the payments were made
d) print out a hard copy of all emails between Flight Centre & your Mum
e) dates of all medical appointments

Make a list in chronological order of the booking process, phone conversations with the TA and in particular anything that related to the topic of travel insurance.

After compiling the above list plus all the supporting documentation I would then call the travel insurance company and ask for important details such as what date the insurance policy was issued, what date they received the pre-existing application form and any other information they have.

You will then have all the paperwork in front of you should the insurance company need to clarify any important details. I don't think they'll think too favourably on the travel consultant forging your Mum's signature.

How does the above information compare to the date your Mum paid for the trip?

I would expect the travel insurance policy to be issued online the same date it was paid for however in order to pay for the policy you would need to know the cost of the pre-existing levy which could only be done after the travel insurance company had assessed the application.

I hope you can get the matter sorted to your satisfaction so you can then focus on your Mum and the care she needs at this time.

 

[mannej]

Have you checked the PDS of the Insurance? As they may be declining the claim due to the medical history?

Best to document everything so if you do need to go to the ombudsman you have the information to do so.

 

[Tamerton]

Your state Fair Trading department can also help as it maybe a problem caused by Flight Centre. Good luck.

 

[Anna]

If anyone ever forged my signature I would report them to the police.

 

[Pushka]

If anyone ever forged my signature I would report them to the police.

I think it depends on where the policy originated from. If it was a Flight Centre Policy then it might be that they signed acting as the Policy Owner's Agent.

But as mentioned, having had experience with both cancer and spinal surgery from incidents 25+ years ago we have not been covered for these. So I think the claim will be excluded on those grounds.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I think it depends on where the policy originated from. If it was a Flight Centre Policy then it might be that they signed acting as the Policy Owner's Agent.

I would have thought if that were the case they would sign their real name not that of the customer.

 

[blackcat20]

I think it depends on where the policy originated from. If it was a Flight Centre Policy then it might be that they signed acting as the Policy Owner's Agent.

But as mentioned, having had experience with both cancer and spinal surgery from incidents 25+ years ago we have not been covered for these. So I think the claim will be excluded on those grounds.

Theres a difference between signing on behalf of someone, and forging their signature...

 

[Pushka]

I guess I am seeking clarity as to how exactly, the document was signed. Signing in the claimant's "spot" doesn't necessarily mean an offence has occurred.

I know the OP has stated "forged her signature" but that might not be the case. But if it was actually forged as her mother's name then yes I agree.

I think there might be specific details missing from the original story.

If the Insurance company had made investigations and the dates didn't match up (due to the described error by FC) then that would be obvious in their investigation.

Sorry, I am being pedantic but often the devil is in the detail.