say that holiday cancellation was not the first thing on your mind when you were referred to hossie for further tests!!

That may be the wrong thing to say! They will ask why's that? did you think that there was something sinister or doctor suggest there was something sinister re these further tests, best to just say that you didn't know such a 'department' exsisted

Best thing to do here is if your mother can't recall exactly then request an extract of her medical notes from that appointment from your GP. The insurance company will probably do that anyway at a later date. Forward this to the insurance company with a brief summary of what your mother can recall and actual note. Sounds to me like they are trying to say date of knowledge is that appointment.

Right best get this replied to then. I've been thinking about it and its all about the date used here as it determines which policy. What is this "date of knowledge"?

I did supply them with a doctors Medical Certificate already (which cost us £25 and took 2 weeks! lol) which gives these dates and some medical details. It also gives "Date Advised To Cancel" as 28/4/2011

To summarise,

• 13th April - date of first consultation/referral - this is when mum 1st went to docs with a lump and they just referred her to hospital (this falls under OLD policy) 90% chance it been just a cyst
  
  28th April - date of diagnosis - this is when we knew for fact it was cancer and surgery and no holiday etc. (this falls 2 days into NEW policy) We 1st phoned them up early May re: claim.

I think we maybe have better chance of claiming on the old policy as that is definitely valid since 26th April 2010.
They may say we are claiming under new policy and due to a "non-disclosure breach" that this new policy therefore isn't valid and refuse on those grounds.

This whole old and new business seems a nonsense as we renewed it way back on 4th April , no questions asked, they just took the money. So its not "renewing" at all , its just a new policy, rather than extending the existing one. But then strange why they never asked any medical questions when we phoned up to pay.

I know its a complicated one and its doing my head in but I'm still disgusted that they are refusing the claim. It's only about 400 quid too. It is more the principle than the money that's making me pursue this as far as I can.

These people are very quick to take your money and then use these "grey areas" to deny payouts. This whole market needs nailing down a bit tighter. I'm sure if it wasn't for the renewal/payment dates mixing in with doctors dates this would have been straight forward claim.

Anyway, rant over.

date of knowledge is the date when the ordinary person would have known or ought to have known that the lump in their breast may have possibly been cancer. There is no definitive way to know when the date of knowledge is. Insurance companies will usually determine this by medical notes and what doctors told their patients. By the sounds of it, it reads to me as if it falls within the old policy.

airbag i read all the posts on this topic last night and am unable to offer any better help or advice than has already been aired, however i hope your mum is recovering well from her ordeal and is receiving better treatment than she has had from the insurance company that she had the misfortune to give her business to

No doubt you mum paid to renew the policy soon after receiving the renewal notice well before her health problem became apparent, at her age how she could be expected to contemplate the relevance of the renewal conditions when faced with such trauma escapes me, it is obvious the company is trying to avoid their overwhelming morel obligation to pay the costs involved and stop trying to hide behind terms and conditions that could never cover this situation. sadly the phrase "moral obligation" seems to have disappeared from present day business

Thanks for the replies. I think I am just going to reply to their questions with this.. Any thoughts/tweaks?

-----------------------
Dear xxx,

Thank you for your email.

My mother went to her doctor on 13th April having found a lump in her breast. The GP referred her to the local hospital for further tests which included a biopsy.

We did not contact the medical referrals line as she was not aware there was such a department and there was also nothing definite to report at this stage.

Regards,
------------------------

my thought is that even if I had been aware of a "medical referals helpline" it is somewhat misnamed! That sounds like the place you'd call if you needed help whilst on holiday. The doctor's referal was to a hospital not an insurance company and what "help" would you need off the insurers at this point? A more honest name may have made it more obvious.

And don't forget to mention that the doctors first thought was that it was probably a cyst

They seem to be saying we should have informed them of it in the interim as it would have affected the new (renewed) policy which was due to start.

Sounds to me like they want to have their cake and eat it too. As in, "We'll insure you so long as you tell us just before something bad happens so we can un-insure you, or charge u more" lol

We did not contact the medical referrals line as she was not aware there was such a department

IANAL but I would avoid saying this. Ignorance is not a defence. Buried somewhere in the policy will be details of this telephone service and you would have ticked a box or signed to say you had read the T&Cs. Others though may disagree.

Whoops, too late as I've sent it now.

just saw this today
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-advice/8796735/Travel-advice-missed-train-connections.html

which may give you some more advice, or confuse you even more

Well got some great news today folks. I got an email saying that they are upholding my complaint and will be paying out!
Can't believe it's worked. As I was reading it , it sounded like it was going to be a knock back.

It was a long winded email basically saying how they were right and we were wrong but in the end said considering everything decided to let us off this time....

"However, having looked into the full circumstances of the case, we appreciate that it was a difficult time for your Mother and taking everything into account we are willing on this occasion to uphold your Mother's complaint, and I have instructed IAS to contact her to arrange payment of her claim" .

Mum was well chuffed when I told her. I can post the full reply if anyone's interested.

But a BIG thank you to everyone on this forum who has posted advice and helped me out with this. I really appreciate it.

One up for the little guy

What a great result airbag, now you can get on with your lives without the stress that this must have caused.

Judith

This is one of those moments when we need a like button, wonderful news

That's such excellent news airbag. I'm so glad for your mum, she'll be happy that at least this issue is sorted. I hope that the advice you had on here went a little way to achieving success.

Thanks on keeping us informed throughout. All the best to your mum with her fight for better health.

Great news Darren

All the best to your mum with her fight for better health.

Seconded.!

Sanji

and thirded

I like so many on here I think have been following this thread, and I could not be more pleased for you with the outcome, well done you

Fantastic news! I am so pleased for you and your Mum. I hope that she continues to a full recovery.

And many thanks for keeping us posted and updated, it is appreciated.

luci