travel insurance claim advice please

[bednobs]

Hello, i wonder if you can help me. I have a holiday booked - four of us are going to florida. We each bought our flights, and booked a villa for us to stay in, of which i have paid 1/4 (200 pounds)
unfortunately, last week i had a DVT and have been advised that i now cannot fly until i am anti-coagulated satisfactorily (6 weeks was the timescale they gave me). I have had to cancel my holiday because of this as it's in 2 weeks' time (BOO HOO)

i am making a claim to my travel insurance (backed up by doctors certificate) However they are saying they will not entertain a claim for the accommodation. I have read my policy carefully and it states they will pay out for unused accomodation. Obviously the 3 other people are still going, but my room will remains unused, and if it had been the 3 of them going, they would have got somewhere smaller.
the girl who is handling the claim suggested i asked the others to pay for my share!!!
I would like to challenge this as my interpretation of the policy is that my bit of accomodation is unused and is therefore insured. 1) what would be the best way to challenge - by letter, on the phone, agressively, - advice appreciated 2) am i silly to even think about challenging it and is it just tough luck? i wouldn't have been all that bothered if they hadnt been so horrible to me! they seem to act as if i'm trying to defraud them as a jolly whizz, and that i would rather do that than go on holiday! Silly people

[Ethel]

How many bedrooms does the villa have?

You would have used more than the bedroom - does it have a pool, a kitchen, cable tv, and so that the others will use?

[Ethel]

The argument will be that the accommodation will be used by the others, unless it is a four bedroomed villa and no couples.

:)

[bednobs]

the four people are my mum and dad, my nan and me. I would have used the other areas of course (and i hadn't thought about this) The villa has 4 bedrooms

would anyone be able to help me with a form of words?

[Hymie]

I am surprised the insurance company have not discovered that many years ago you took time off work, suffering from flu and did not declare this to them, hence the insurance is void.

Aside from the above, if I were you, I would ask the insurance company if you had booked and paid for a hotel and had to cancel � would they pay out for your losses? Try this route, but I doubt it will work. They would no doubt argue that at worst they would pay any cancellation charges that might apply. Since you are not canceling the accommodation, there are none.

You could ask for advice from travel journalists, Gill Charlton of the Telegraph often answers such queries from readers of her column, and if she believes they have a justified complaint � fights their cause, often with a favourable outcome for the reader.

[tigwig]

Can't really offer any further advice bednobs but just wanted to say how sorry I am for you, you must be gutted. I would phone them again and state what ABTA says as Zacsmaster suggest and ask if there's anything else they can do as a goodwill gesture. Another option which I'm sure will not be popular with your family would be to all cancel the holiday and go away again together when you are well.
I myself cancelled our holiday when my mum in law was ill and that was a booking for 8 people but it was just before we had to pay the full amount.

[bednobs]

cant really cancel - we were going over to visit my sister and her son, because it's my parents ruby wedding anniversary. I suppose i could re-book for their diamond :)