 Poster: A snowHead
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Familiar? There are lots of us John Hill's around - I've met at least 15.
Insurance companies do pay up if you play by their rules.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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JohnHill, welcome to snowHeads and thank you for sch an informative first post
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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A friend of mine works for a well-known chain of high street chemists that also sell travel insurance. He was told at the staff training that the underwriters were more likely to pay out on a claim than refuse it, as it was bad for their image, perhaps this needs pointing out to Ski Club? The same applies to our largest supermarket chain.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Helen Beaumont, I believe that to be true. I also believe that by contracting out the claims handling process, then those insurers no longer have their "eye on the ball". Faced with the behaviours of the "loss adjusters", many folk will just accept the rejection, and go away. The insurer will be oblivious to the feeling of injustice that has been created.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bernard Condon, I have had the Ski Club family cover for the last five years or so. I have had exemplary service and good experience of the policy and would recommend it to friends and other skiers. We have been unlucky, having had to make three claims on the policy - two for my wife tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in two separate years and one for my daughter falling ill on holiday. I can't and won't comment on your experience but I merely relay on mine.
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Something about Insurance that I had not considered till the second year I was skiing was how to pay incidental bills
I was speaking to a fellow skier who had to stay extra days in the hotel due to his wife having had broken her leg and was waiting to be transferred home.
The insurance was covering the medical bills but he was having to pay for the extra hotel stay and claim it back later.
If this had happened to me at the time I could have been stuck as I didn’t have plastic with me then.
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StanBowles, You are absolutely correct to mention your experience of the Ski Club insurance and such was my confidence in the policy that had I not had a 'Claim Experience' I would have probably been in full agreement with you.
On onother thread, Kramer, questioned whether any of your claims were in the last 12 months. I have also been made aware that something fundamental changed about the Ski Club policy in, or around December 2004. It would be interesting to know when your last claim was.
The thread was to flag up a warning that all is not what it seems with the Ski Club Insurance product and I feel that the Ski Club has now realised this.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Bernard Condon, Yes and I think sharing your experience is useful. Our last claim was in March 2005, the earlier ones were a year and two years earlier. I didn't notice any difference in the way the most recent one was handled compared to earlier.
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The thing with all insurance claims is contact the insurance company ASAP. Many people wait until they return to the UK and then discover that the insurance company won't pay out. Contact them from resort/hospital/blood wagon and they should tell you how to progress with the claim.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Elizabeth B, Always a good idea, except when the company ask you to undertake activities for which they can provide no valid reason afterwards. Here's my example. I was asked to fax my Dr's report from VT. This meant a 400 metre walk through knee deep snow with a broken collarbone, whilst still in shock and out of my tree on opiate based painkillers, to the Tourist Office (the nearest fax m/c). When I asked why afterwards, the co. said, "well we just wanted to look at it" 
There was never any valid business or medical reason for their demand, it did not speed up my claim process in any way and I was not reimbursed for the costs of the faxing. Nor the costs of the international calls to their processing centre .But it did make me feel much worse physically for several hours. Naturally, I now believe that insurers really only have their own interests at heart.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet, but it appears that Stragetic Claims Management', who dealt with Ski Club policy claims, were terminated in February 2005, by the insurer 'White Horse Insurance Ireland Ltd, from dealing with their claims. They were replaced by another claims management company. There termination was due to the enormous amount of complaints against them. I will have the full facts on Thursday Oct 5th.  
Although you are lucky StanBowles, I feel that the claimants December 2004 to January 2005, myself included were probably unlucky in having to deal with them. That said, any claims that were submitted to Stragetic Claims Management have to be dealt by them and it looks like we are stuck with them. Yesterday was a typical example of their performance, or lack of it, Stragetic Claims Management were unable, or unwilling to tell me which organisation regulated this insurance product. Under the terms of the UK regulator, the FSA, they are obliged to give me this information. I now have to find this information myself and have asked the Ski Club who also didn't know, but promised to inform me by Thursday 5th.
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Bernard Condon, There is, without a doubt, no issue over who regulates the SCGB policies - it's the FSA. If you sell travel insurance in the UK you have to be either an appointed representative of an FSA authorised organisation or you have to be authorised by the FSA yourself. One reason why the SCGB website does not comply with the regs is that you can't easily find this out. The all-important Key Facts are also buried in a pdf and they should be more accessible and obvious so that you, the consumer, have a chance of fully understanding what you are buying. OK, the FSA didn't come into this until 15th Jan and your case goes back further, however I think they would still be interested given the lack of compliance being demonstrated now. If you look at all the other online players you'll see the difference. Pre 15/1 it is an Insurance Ombudsman case.
I think it's a bit rich that White Horse blame all on the claims handlers that they would have appointed and directed!
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You know it makes sense.
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As an alternative to the Ski Club annual policy has anyone any experience of using Insureandgo (www.insureandgo.com)? Their annual policy seems to offer a similar cover to the Ski Club at a cheaper price.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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aitchdee, Yes, I used Insure & Go a year ago. They cover off piste skiing, but only if you have written confirmation from the resort management that it is safe to ski off piste, at the start of each day's skiing. This clause I believed to be unworkable, so I switched insurers-it's worth getting them to tell you in writing what their current conditions are(things may be have changed) before handing over the dosh 
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Poster: A snowHead
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snowbunny, thanks for that information. I will check that because I agree that this makes the policy unworkable.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowbunny, I have had the following reply from Insureandgo about off-piste skiing : " We do not need to get written confirmation every day now, just as long as the resort you are staying at says it is safe to ski, and you do not take unnecessary risks." So maybe they are worth considering as an alternative to the Ski Club.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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aitchdee,
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We do not need to get written confirmation every day now, just as long as the resort you are staying at says it is safe to ski, and you do not take unnecessary risks."
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Sounds fine, as long as you could prove that you had met their criteria, in the event of a claim. BTW What is an unacceptable risk?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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So the question is which insurer should skiers go for based on the claims handling?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Last March we skiied La Plagne and my daughter had to be helicoptered off the slope after a bruising fall. I had taken out a travel insurance policy that I was offered by Egg when I took out a credit card. It covered all the family travel plus 14 days of ski cover. The insurer were AXA and I must say that the service and repayment, less the excess, were excllent. It covered the ski school, treatment, medication and the helicopter costs. All for £20! I'll let you know what it casts to renew for this year.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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FAME ALERT : Just got the Ski club pack through - I appear in the small red gatefold Travel Insurance leaflet.
Only dissapointing thing is they cut my head off (Photo above the single trip premiums, my legs and right arm are at top right) !
Can I claim this on the insurance ?
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Just looked at a couple of quotes.
Direct Insure £40 for the family for the week. Dogtag and First Direct Bank about £105. So you buy cheap and they don't pay or go expensive?
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chrisb - difficult to say without knowing whether thebclaims are outsourced which was the chief cause of the recent problems with Stratgic Claims Management.
Does " Which " magazine do a survey of the best product on the market - this would help before committing?.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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chrisb, "buy cheap and they don't pay or go expensive?"... that's exactly the point... the more premium collected, the more "room" to pay claims. Insurance is just like any other product YGWYPF. A typical torn ACL will probably cost the insurer around £3 - 4,000. You've got to sell a lot of £40 policies to cover that. I'm amazed any of them make any money frankly given the high incidence of medical probs, stolen skis etc etc.
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FAQ
