A woman who complained after her travel insurer refused to pay for a phone and glasses lost while she was on a cruise ship has been awarded $2600.
By Susan Edmunds of RNZ
The traveller complained to Financial Services Complaints Ltd, one of the external dispute schemes that deals with complaints about financial services providers.
It has published a case note about the decision. It does not identify the people who complain or the organisations they complain about.
Financial Services Complaints Ltd said her case was an important reminder that travel insurance policy wording could be open to interpretation.
It said the woman was on a cruise ship mid-last year when she decided to go for a swim. She asked a couple she was sitting next to to mind her cellphone and glasses while she went. She left the items under a towel on her seat.
About half-an-hour later she returned and noticed the things were missing. She and the couple searched for them without success, and she eventually looked at CCTV footage but could not determine what had happened.
She noticed there was a gap at the back of the seat and thought it was possible her phone and glasses could have slipped through and into the ocean when she picked up her towel.
She made a claim for $4000, the maximum allowed under her travel policy and less than her estimated loss of $4270. The insurer rejected her claim because it had an exclusion in the policy for leaving personal belongings unattended in public places.
Is a cruise ship a public place?
Financial Services Complaints Ltd looked into it and considered the definition of a public place. It said the policy defined it as any place to which the public had access and would include shops, airports, train stations, bus stations, streets, hotel foyers and grounds, restaurants, beaches and public toilets.
"We queried with the travel insurer whether a cruise ship met this definition, noting that cruise ships are privately owned and operated, with controlled access requiring valid passenger tickets."
Financial Services Complaints Ltd said the travel insurer then reconsidered its position and agreed to pay the woman $2600 for the claim, which she accepted.
SHARE ME