Must you take the insurance your travel agent tries to sell you?
Benny was really happy. He’d just come away from the Big Travel Agent in the High Street after booking his cruise with the Big Tour Operator. He was going to take his wife on a once in a lifetime cruise around the Caribbean. Everything was included, the entertainment, the meals and even a couple of excursions. He’d got his eye on trying some scuba diving for the first time in his life. His wife was looking forward to playing some tennis on the ship’s deck but was wondering how that was done without losing a lot of wayward balls in the sea.
Later that evening, he took a closer look at the documents. He had a particular look at the invoice. There were a lot of figures on it and, to be honest, he didn’t understand them all. One however did jump out. Insurance £103.34. He was flabbergasted. That was not much less than he’d paid to insure his car for a whole year!
The next day, he went back to the Big Travel Agent but the person that sold him the cruise wasn’t there. It was her day off. So he spoke to someone else who turned out to be the manager, someone who should have known better. When he queried the amount he was told that it was part of a special deal with the Big Tour Operator’s insurers. “Well, what if I don’t want your special deal?”, he said. “It comes with the package, and whatever happens, you won’t get a better price“. Benny left the Big Travel Agent’s office feeling like he’d been ripped off.
The thing is, he had been ripped off. The Big Travel Agent and its incompetent manager now HAS to tell Benny that the insurance sold with his cruise must be optional. Last year, the FSA introduced new regulations for the selling of travel insurance in conjunction with holidays. Travel agents and tour operators now have to make it clear to consumers that they can shop around and the package sold with their holiday isn’t necessarily the best deal.
Of course, consumers shouldn’t go presuming that the deal they’ve been offered is necessarily a bad one, especially with more specialist products, but at least they have the option of asking around now.
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Tags: beach, health, holiday, Travel, Travel insurance
