Read The Small Print, Cover Is Minimal (Insure and Go)

Member Name: angelosanzone

Product:	Insure and Go
Date:	31/01/06 (1618 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price

Disadvantages: Does Not Like Claims

Whilst trawling the internet in October 2004 for “a good deal”, I came across INSUREANDGO, and because of their competitive pricing I purchased online, the “Annual Family Multi Trip” package. This was to cover three trips that we where making in the following year, New York Nov 2004, France Aug 2005 & Italy Sept 2005. I went for the Silver as it provided increased medical cover as well as personal effects & baggage up to £1,500.00
New York & France went without a hitch. The Trip to Italy was a short break to take by boss to Calabria, and show him the place I was born and to do a bit of sightseeing. As this was only a long weekend, Friday to Monday, I took with me a pilot bag which is specifically of a size to go in the above the head lockers. At the stage of checking in, for whatever reason, which is still not known to me, Alitalia insisted that my bag had to be checked in as they would not accept it as hand luggage. As there was only twenty minutes before the flight took off I did not bother to argue the point and allowed them to take it. My boss who had a larger & heavier bag, argued the point and they allowed his bag on as hand luggage.
As you can now guess, my bag was lost, and to this day it has yet to be traced. I did all the right things, and reported it and have been tracking it on the “Alitalia lost luggage tracking system” on their web site.
In that bag apart from a small amount of clothes and toiletries, was a video camera, digital still camera, portable Sat Nav with the Italy map loaded, and my prescription glasses. The total value of all the items was over £2,500.00.
I reported the claim to them, and a claim form was sent out. This I duly completed and sent it back with all the necessary receipts for the items lost, proof of flight, as well as proof of loss which was in the form of a printed report given to me at the airport in Italy, and a print out of the log on the Alitalia web site.
Without boring you with the chain of correspondence to date, the situation is, that firstly they wrote to me saying that the maximum cover was £200 per item but then, I was advised that because most of the items were classed as valuables, they should have been in hand luggage and therefore no cover whatsoever is provided for those items. Therefore they have managed to whittle down my £1,500.00 of cover down to what is likely to be no more than a couple of hundred pounds for my clothes & toiletries. Whilst I was unaware of all these restrictions and limitations at the time of purchase, it is in their policy document, which was posted to me after I had paid for the policy. I have endeavoured to try and get a claim out of Alitalia, but that is also leading nowhere.

· Do not get taken in by the “marketing hype” and supposed extremely competitively priced deals that are flying around from these new players in the field. From my experience, they are not worth the paper/web pages that they are written on.
· Make sure that you have access to a policy document before you part with any cash. Whilst I was aware at the time of purchase of the maximum £1,500.00 total limit. At the time I purchased the cover I was not aware of the clauses relating to the maximum £200.00 per item or the exclusion relating to valuables not carried in hand luggage. At that time, there was no facility on their website to download the small print. The policy document came in the post with the certificate, after it had been paid for. With many insurers, their classification of valuables is only jewellery whereas INSUREANDGO’s “valuables” comprises of a long list which is more or less everything except clothes.
· Read the policy document from front to back and make sure you have taken in every condition. Had I done that, I would have been aware of how limited my cover really was, and what to expect in the event of a loss occurring.
· Look at your existing household insurer for personal belongings cover. From my experience, whilst they may appear dear, at least you have the peace of mind that a genuine claim will be entertained.
· Pay the extra and go to a reputable long established insurer that I believe will provide a comprehensive and quality customer service. Whilst thankfully I did not have any claim on the medical part, I dread to think what would have happened if we had been unfortunate enough to have needed to make a claim. The tone and contents of the letters to date from INSUREANDGO, are structured in such a way to make it clear that you will have to go to hell and back before a claim is considered.
Now some four monthd later I have still yet to receive an offer of any sort from this company.

Summary: CHEAP PREMIUMS DO NOT MEAN VALUE FOR MONEY.