J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by msej449

Just heard today from my AA Travel Insurance claims contractor, Drakefield Insurance Services. After fourteen weeks, and innumerable emails, calls and documentation, they have sent me a cheque for just under £300. I estimate they are reasonably liable for at least £1,300.

Those of you considering your next renewal may want bear my experience with AA Insurance in mind.

It might not be too bad if they let you book seats like the charters from Gatwick to Sion. We've traveled to Sion as flight-only with Neilson, and the price was reasonable, if not the cheapest. But yo do need to book early.

I would name the insurer but as mentioned, it might be better to do so after this is all settled. Plus my guess is that Admin will be nervous about their site openly criticising a high-profile organisation: they could easily be the subject of legal threat, as j2ski can't know how reasonable or not my statements are.

I have now submitted a Formal Complaint to the original vendor of the insurance (as opposed to the claims handling company), as indicated in their Guidelines. So let's see whether they expedite things.

Of course, any apologies from the vendor will be crocodile tears - they must know that outsourcing claims to the open market is going to get them a lowest common denominator, cheap-as-possible outfit. No surprise we customers end up losing out.

Travel Insurance Woes

Some of you may recall that in February I had my rucksack stolen on the train into Geneva Airport. Key items taken were an SLR camera, video camera, mobile 'phone and clothing. These were covered by a combination of my Ecclesiastical Home Contents and a major brand Travel Insurance. Whilst Ecclesiastical have been brilliant – operating over email and accepting scanned documents – my other insurer (with only 1/3rd the value in liability) has been a nightmare - insisting on paper-based forms, letters, and an endless cycle of requests for clarification and the same information multiple times.

Many of you will be renewing your travel insurance over the summer, so here is some advice based on my (continuing) battle with my travel insurer:

You may have a Big Name insurance retailer, but the travel claim is likely to be handled by one man, an aged PC and four underpaid teenagers in a dingy office. The sole target of the claims handler is to stretch out the claims process to the point where you give up.

* Buy travel insurance from a retailer who is underwritten by a major insurer who does their own claims handling. No subcontracted claims management.

Even the best insurance companies only have a 5-day turn-around policy. You submit something – they wait 5 days to reply – they ask for clarification – you reply – they wait 5 days …. and so on. Any and every inconsistency and omission will be dragged out. Moreover, your policy will have a maximum claim total – if a few items hit this ceiling anyway, then don't cloud it with trivia that just gives them an excuse to prevaricate.

* Only claim for Big Ticket items that you have full receipts and documentation for. Forget about stolen/lost gloves, pyjamas, plug adapters etc.

* You need documentation for everything. And even then it may not be acceptable. In particular you must have

Police Report + Full Inventory of Stolen Items.
Airline Report + Full inventory of Damaged/lost goods.
Proof of Travel
Original Invoices/Charges (how many of you have the original invoices handy for everything? Really?)

* Try and determine up-front just what is acceptable documentation. This will save endless cycles of submission/clarification.

* Think how you will handle the old "We have no proof of ever having received this …" – If at all possible retain original receipts.

* Proof of Travel – Clarify just what constitutes 'Proof of Travel'. An easyJet Boarding Pass? A web invoice? A BA Check-in Confirmation email?

* Communicate by letter: So that you have documentary evidence - You'll never win the "But when I 'phoned, you told me that ..." argument ...

So far, the most ludicrous query was when they asked how old my pyjamas were, so they could adjust the replacement £18 purchase price for wear-and-tear (when the other items mean that I've hit their £1,500 liability ceiling). This sort of thing is par for the course, sadly .......

If you're that keen, consider an overnight at a mountain hut or café. In Verbier, you can spend the night at the Cabin du M.Fort and the Chez Simon restaurant. The Cabane is CHF 32 for a walker, ChF 52 for a skier for a night. Has anyone done this?

I've had a Contour 1080HD for some time and got good results on ski and cycle helmets. Using a goggle attachment seems to produce less vibration than on a helmet attachment. But the trouble with both is the difficulty of panning separately to the direction of view (try skiing or cycling while looking sideways ...). This year I did better by hand-holding the Contour for some shots, which allowed me to pan the camera while moving. It also significantly reduced vibration.

I also tried my Canon EoS 5D Mk.II with f2.8 wide-angle zoom in video mode, held in one hand. Of course, the picture quality was much better, but at 2.5 Kg it was hard to hold for very long and I was nervous about falling over onto it. It really needs something like one of those 'C'-shaped brackets that hold the camera under the handgrip (CamCaddie in the USA) I'll give this a go next season.

Examples:

(As described below) Canon iXus held in one hand and poles in the other (as is obvious once I hit the sunshine).
+ Easy to pan
- Unexpectedly hard work balancing (see end).



Contour 1080HD, Hand-held
+ Easy to pan.
+ Less vibration than on goggle/helmet mount.



Canon EoS 5D Mk.II, 22 megapixels, hand held
+ Image quality
- Weight

We've done the hotel thing with the family and whilst it was convenient In terms of catering, we didn't have much in terms of personal space outside our rooms. Also, some of the other guests were irritating at times. I can do without that on holiday. I've done the chalet thing and really, again, it was dining with other guests that proved the downside. In the end, we now go for self-catered apartments and this works for us - not least because we have far more personal space in which to come and go. For £1,000 we get two bedrooms, a kitchen, and spacious lounge all to ourselves in the Swiss Alps. So it's cheaper too.

I have vowed never to book a holiday with Crystal again, after an incident with them a few years back. Similar small print situation. Argument with them at airport ended up with rep threatening to call Security. So I'm not a great fan and not surprised they've removed your post.
Conversely, the reps and hotel owners with Neilson went way beyond what you'd expect when my son was hospitalised after a ski accident in Italy. They went out of their way to visit him, be available as interpreters, and help with the return home.