Kazee wrote:

Question, when is a safe - safe
Not so long ago I am sure I read an article about insurance. If the safe is behind reception then you are covered, no questions asked. However, if it is in the room it may be at the insurance discretion.

Exactley. This is what I have always been led to believe. A Reception Desk is normally staffed twenty four hours a day by at least two Receptionists and at least one Receptionist with a Security Guard on patrol during the evening and night time. Therefore the safes are under constant observation. However, Hotel Rooms are left vacant more often than they are occupied and thus some Insurance Policies will not cover in the event of loss from Hotel Room Safes, but they will honour a claim in the unlikely event of a loss from a Safe in the Reception area.

It is vitally important to read and re read your Insurance Policy to make sure you are covered. And I would personally buy an independant Insurance Policy rather than one the Travel Agent tries to sell you which may only be a very basic one.

Did you have to pay for use of the room safe ? I understood if you did some of that fee is for insurance against stolen items.

As mentioned before claim twice off ( you and husband )the travel insurance and check household insurance re jewellery

Kind Regards
Stewart

No consolation, but it sounds suspiciously as though you were targetted - could you have been observed with large amounts of cash when you checked in?

Jodie, I am so sorry to hear what has happened. I can sympathise with you 100% because we had a smilar incident in Portugal two years ago. Our hotel room was broken into,and the actual safe was removed from the wall and wheeled out of the hotel (with 24 hour reception!) in one of our suitcases, wrapped in one of our beach towels. We basically lost everything of value, passports, driving licences, cash, camara, video recorder, house keys, credit card (they used it within half an hour to buy several thousand pounds worth of items in different shops) mobile phone and several other things. We had only gone out for something to eat, and had always been told to leave everything in the safe, otherwise you may not be covered by insurance if a theft occurs. We always thought that we were more likely to have things stolen off our person than from the safe, in fact the idea of the safe being stolen we had never heard of before.

Needless to say, it was very distressing, especially for the children, who were due to swim with the dolphins the next day, so no camera, video, other then a disposable. Thankfully it had been pre-paid. We spent a lot of our remaining time in the country going to the consultate and obtaining emergency passports to get us home again. We had to make several visits to the local police, and that in itself was very distressing and took up a lot of time.Of course, it also had a knock-on with changing the locks on the house, etc. Mercifully, our credit card company covered the money loss, and our travel insurance covered a lot of the other losses, but not all, so we were left with losses to cover ourselves. We now personally think twice before using the safe for everything. The memory of it all is still ripe.

I do hope that you can get things sorted out quickly and easily.

Regards.

thank you all so much for your replys , i was told that the safe , i paid 30 euros for, is insured by the hotel company who lets out the villa, and if i dont claim all my losses back though my insurance which i doubt i will plus i have to pay 150 pound excess, i will try to claim through the holiday company, ( well hotel) , as i have said we told usually take all money, we had approx 400 euro gave us as we have had a hard time , over the past 2 years, with my husbands illness,
i took a pre paid american express card, which i had drawed 300 euro from that day, as the bank was there, so i did it, plus you get charged everytime for using it, like i say its my wedding ring, thats the most upsetting, as most people never take theres off, im always taking min off, even when im on the toilet shower, and forget to put them back on, so i left them in the safe with all my other jewlerry, not even giving it a second thought, the ring was my husbands mothers ring who passed away when he was 2, so very sentimental,
its just hard as you read the small print on the insurance and its like anything over 100 pound you need a recipt for? how would i have a recipt for that,
one good thing , no calls were made on my mobile , but i have to pay for a new sim, even though i contacted the company, i will keep u all updated on my outcome , if any

Jodie, we too thought about claiming on the hotel's insurance, but we found out that the total amount insured would only be 1000 euros (even the Manager agreed that he should increase the amount) and that to try to claim we would have to be dealing with a foreign insurance company and that they would need all receipts, etc. within a short time of the incident. By the time we had gone through everything with our own insurance company (and it can take a while) it would have been too late. Plus I didn't much fancy trying to deal with someone abroad (costs, etc.)

I do hope it all turns out ok for you.

Regards.

Jodie, I'm so sorry to hear this, especially after everything you have been through these past few years. It's one of the worst things that can happen on holiday and I agree about the sentimental value of rings etc.

We had to claim for a lost wedding ring (my husbands) and didn't have a reciept. The insurers accepted a photo of the item and a jewelers quote to replace. Wwe were lucky as I still had mine which was identical so the jeweler just quote for the man's version. They also needed a crime ref no so we had to go and report it to our local police station after the event but they still accepted it.

The best advice I can give is to check both your home and travel policies for cover, excess etc. and see which is the best one to claim on.

I was going to say could you try and get an estimate from a jeweller on replacement value of the rings? However you won't get any more than £500 per item depending on the policy, unless they were specifically insured otherwise.

This has been a real eye opener. I've always put everything in the hotel safe, but may think about "spreading" a few bits about just in case. We are off Thursday so thanks for everyones tips. Good luck Jodie, hope you get it sorted out.

i have now phoned the claim line, and are awaiting the claim form, ill have to see what it says, god do i feel down now

Jodie try what I suggested and both you and your partner claim for 50% of the cash each. It might be worth a try.

Hi so sorry to hear what happened. It must have ruined your holiday. Whilst in Bulgaria last year we had £90 sterling stolen from our room. It wasn't in a safe but we thought we'd hidden it well enough. The theft was discovered on the last night of our holiday so we had no time to get the police involved. We did report it to the manager who did a trace on anyone who'd entered the room via the main door(credit card type security lock)and were told that the cleaner and supervisor were the only two who'd been in. He didn't seem to want to admit that it must have been one of these (according to him no-one else had reported anything). He wasn't too happy when we mentioned the police (I know it was only £90, but if you don't get a police report you haven't got a leg to stand on apparently). He offered to speak to the maid the following morning. Meanwhile next morning the rep proceeded to fill out a report with us, but she again was surprised as she said that she'd never heard of this happening in this hotel before. We spoke to the manager again with only a couple of hours to go before the coach picked us up for the airport and were told that he's been unable to speak to the maid as it was her day off (what a coincidence). There was no more time to do anything. It left a really sour taste in our mouths after what had been a lovely holiday. We never did get any of the money back because 1. The money hadn't been in a locked safe 2. No police report 3. £150 excess on cash.
It just makes you paranoid for the next trip.

i know what u mean, my claim form has come today , lots of clauses, and they dont accept photocopies, and it asks for how much i think things are worth?
i wouldnt know what to put for the ring?

Good luck with it all Jodie.

Can you not see if there is something similar in a jewellers ? Be careful though, because some policies will only pay what something was worth when bought, not what it would be to purchase today.

Good luck and watch those clauses and excesses.

Kath HT Admin

thanks again for all the replys,
just trying to fill in clsim form now, not sure weather to go through home insurance for the wedding ring? as its worth more than there max pay out for one single item of 250, what do you think? am i allowed to do that

You can only claim any item against one insurance company. I would suggest that you speak to your insurer prior to submission of your claim.

Having put in your claim if you find the insurer will not allow then you will have to convince the other to accept a claim. That would be difficult.

Whilst you say there is a limit I would suggest speaking to your insurer re the hotel insurance. It may be that they can recover your uninsured losses (the shortfall) from them. This could help with the the final payout.

fwh

hi just thought id let you know the outcome so far................
i have gone through my home insurance which is new for old and not the other way round like my travel insurance i can claim 250 pound through my home insurance, which i have done, and claim the rest through travel insurance, im stil awaiting result from travel insurance,
my home insurance has been quick and well praised, i have had a brand newphone selivered, and they are issuing me with an amout ( not known yet) to spend in a jewelerrs, for my stolen items, ( even though my wedding ring wil never be replaced-as stated in previous messages)


as for the holiday company dedicated holidays, i wrote a complaint on the 28th may, they replied to say they have recieved it on the 12th june!!, but that they had recieved it on the 28th and wil endevor to reply within 28 days , which is the 26th june, so i will let you know the outcome, xx

just advise for anyone going, dont eave anything in a safe!

jodie32 wrote:

just advise for anyone going, dont leave anything in a safe!

I agree with that if you mean an Apartment or Hotel Room Safe. I believe these safes are far from being anywhere near safe. But a secure safe in the Recption Area in full full of Reception Staff and Security should be ok. I would NEVER leave anything of any value or anything with sentimental attachment in a Hotel Room Safe. These can be broken into whilst you are not in your room and the fact that they are not on camera, or that there are no witnesses around leave hotel room safes 'open' (forgive that pun?) to theft.