Warning about BSAC Annual Travel Insurance with Home and Overseas

Just a quick word of warning to any one else who is, or thinks they are, insured under the old BSAC Travel Insurance issued through Home and Overseas in Chichester ? You are probably no longer insured!!! Please ensure you check BEFORE you travel. Your policy may have expired without any warning to you even if you had it set up for automatic yearly renewal. Even if you have what you think is a valid policy document issued by them it is apparently no longer valid with them and I have not been able discover who is currently covering their old policies or any emergency or claim contact numbers.

I thought I was insured with the BSAC travel insurance having been a member of the scheme for some years. My insurance policy was set up for continual cover with automatic renewal ever year charged to my credit card.

I have just come back from a 10 day holiday overseas that was disrupted at the beginning due to strike action at Amsterdam Airport. On trying to contact the insurance company to request a claim form I was told that they no longer deal with BSAC travel insurance and that it was transferred away from them over a year ago. I was even more shocked when I checked my current policy document and discovered that it covered me from 22 June 2001 to 2 June 2002. My policy had expired, the automatic renewal had not taken place and the cover I originally had with them had apparently been transferred to another company sometime in July last year without any notification to me of the change in cover or emergency contact details.

I have not even managed to confirm if any of the other travel I have done over the last year, including my honeymoon, was covered by any insurance as Home and Overseas say that everything was transferred away from them over a year ago and that they have not been responsible for any BSAC travel insurance cover since then. Despite spending 90 minutes on the telephone this morning being passed from one insurance company to another I still have not managed to establish who was responsible for the insurance cover I had paid for from 22 June 2001 to 21 June 2002.

Luckily I am not in a position where a serious incident occurred overseas but someone else may not be as fortunate. This could obviously lead to a very serious situation if somebody is seriously injured overseas and thinks they are covered only to find that all the emergency contact numbers no longer know anything about the insurance policy and that in fact the policy is no longer valid or expired. So please check your BSAC travel insurance policy if it was issued by Home and Overseas Travel Insurance.

Please note this does not refer to the new BSAC Travel Insurance via Dive Master Insurance.

Dear All

Over 12 months ago, Home and Overseas approached the BSAC informing us that they no longer wanted to be involved in the holiday insurance market. They confirmed that any existing policies would remain live until they expired. A letter was sent by Home and Overseas to any policy holders informing them of this decision and that at the end of the policy term, it would not be renewed. Apologies to those of you who did not receive a letter informing you of what what was happening. This was when the BSAC then involved DiveMaster and their holiday insurance.

I hope that there is no one else in this situation. However if anyone reading this post does have a Home and Overseas policy, although I do believe that most of them have now expired, please contact Home and Overseas before you go on holiday to check

If you have any queries, then you can always contact me on <a href="mailto:maryt@bsac.com">maryt@bsac.com</a>

Mary Tetley
BSAC Operations Manager

Just a quick word of warning to any one else who is, or thinks they are, insured under the old BSAC Travel Insurance issued through Home and Overseas in Chichester ? You are probably no longer insured!!! Please ensure you check BEFORE you travel. Your policy may have expired without any warning to you even if you had it set up for automatic yearly renewal. Even if you have what you think is a valid policy document issued by them it is apparently no longer valid with them and I have not been able discover who is currently covering their old policies or any emergency or claim contact numbers.

I thought I was insured with the BSAC travel insurance having been a member of the scheme for some years. My insurance policy was set up for continual cover with automatic renewal ever year charged to my credit card.

I have just come back from a 10 day holiday overseas that was disrupted at the beginning due to strike action at Amsterdam Airport. On trying to contact the insurance company to request a claim form I was told that they no longer deal with BSAC travel insurance and that it was transferred away from them over a year ago. I was even more shocked when I checked my current policy document and discovered that it covered me from 22 June 2001 to 2 June 2002. My policy had expired, the automatic renewal had not taken place and the cover I originally had with them had apparently been transferred to another company sometime in July last year without any notification to me of the change in cover or emergency contact details.

I have not even managed to confirm if any of the other travel I have done over the last year, including my honeymoon, was covered by any insurance as Home and Overseas say that everything was transferred away from them over a year ago and that they have not been responsible for any BSAC travel insurance cover since then. Despite spending 90 minutes on the telephone this morning being passed from one insurance company to another I still have not managed to establish who was responsible for the insurance cover I had paid for from 22 June 2001 to 21 June 2002.

Luckily I am not in a position where a serious incident occurred overseas but someone else may not be as fortunate. This could obviously lead to a very serious situation if somebody is seriously injured overseas and thinks they are covered only to find that all the emergency contact numbers no longer know anything about the insurance policy and that in fact the policy is no longer valid or expired. So please check your BSAC travel insurance policy if it was issued by Home and Overseas Travel Insurance.

Please note this does not refer to the new BSAC Travel Insurance via Dive Master Insurance.

Thanks for the warning........

I work in a Hyperbaric facility in the far east and you'd be suprised how many Divers turn up for Recompression treatment with little or NO Insurance!! In april 2002 I treated 9 patients. 3 had insurance while one of the remainder went home with a bill for US$10,000. I have since contacted several EU Embassys and had a letter published in the International Express and June Issue of "Dive".

Adequate insurance costs around GBP100 a year and includes "Travel Assist" (inc Repatriation) for non Diving accidents.

Let's hope anyone reading takes note:)