Travel Insurance Feature and Claims Process Query

[dalereardon]

Hi,

We just had what was meant to be a 7 week holiday in Europe and I was going to extend one more week, but it was cut short at 5.5 weeks due to my wife getting injured by falling down a set of stairs in a French property we were staying in - anyone know a law firm in France that speaks English and does no win, no fee?!

We were relying on the Zurich insurance provided as part of the CBA Diamond card. When the injury occurred we were in rural France about an hour from Telouse. There was a local hospital but the doctors spoke next to no English and this made things very difficult indeed. We got from them that there was a broken bone (slight tailbone) and would be safe to travel home if could tolerate pain or else could end up in Hospital in France having surgery where don't understand system or language.

We contacted Zurich and they have a 24 hour help system manned by nurses. They can't give medical advice though and won't advise you on what to do. More importantly they won't accept or deny a claim.

Also I asked if Zurich could provide a translator service and that isn't something they help with either.

Zurich wouldn't make a decision on whether they would pay to cut holiday short and come home (and the prepaid holiday costs that would be lost, plus new airfares etc) until claim is lodged. We opted to come home and get further medical treatment in Australia. If it had been at start of holiday we would have gone to UK for second opinion and treatment by English system.

We will find out in a few weeks if Zurich covers the claim - our Australian doctor has certified that we did the right thing - luckily she also reads French so could understand the doctors report.

My query is are there any travel insurance policies that will help with translation and will also give you a definite answer on what to do and whether it will be covered?

It was very stressful and hard to make a decision on what to do when the insurer won't commit and will just have to see how the money turns out separately. However in the future we plan to go to more foreign places and a better policy may be in order.

 

[cgichard]

I can't help with your insurance questions but please extend my heartfelt sympathy to your wife. I too fell down steep wooden stairs the evening before before flying back to Australia from the UK. No time to seek a doctor's opinion or certificate (but I think I had just badly bruised my coccyx rather than broken it). I spend most of the flight walking up and down except when required to be seated, as standing was far easier than sitting. The crew were very sympathetic. I survived, but I still remember how ghastly painful it was.