B. T. Judge, of Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, was disconcerted when his “free” Alliance & Leicester (A&L) travel policy suddenly stopped being free.
“Until recently, I was happy enough with my free travel cover from A&L as a holder of its Premier Plus Account.
“Imagine my irritation and dismay when A&L wrote to confirm renewal of my travel policy and informed me that the policy’s underwriters had changed from Zurich to Fortis Insurance. What angered me was that my wife and I were asked to contact Fortis with details of our medical conditions. These details had been registered with Zurich and should not have had to be repeated.
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“Nevertheless, I contacted Fortis only to be told that I would have to pay £75 for the same level of cover that I had received free with Zurich. I have declined to pay this and now have restricted cover, as does my wife, who was also asked to pay a £75 premium for a pre-existing medical condition. I wonder how A&L can refer to this as free insurance?” After the intervention of Times Money, an A&L spokesman said that the bank “worked closely with Fortis to ensure that the overall cover was virtually identical to that previously provided via Zurich”.
The spokesman added: “It is common in the insurance industry for insurers to take different views on the level of risk attached to individual circumstances.”
Unfortunately for Mr and Mrs Judge, Fortis deemed their risk to be greater.
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