I think you will have to try to battle this one out with the Insurers. You may have to go to the FOS, as I can't see the Insurers dealing with this very easily. The Insurers have 8 weeks to try to resolve following a complaint from the policyholder, after which your son can take the complaint to the FOS. The FOS are taking atleast 6 months to deal with complaints, so you will have to deal with the credit card bill and then hope a decision is made in your sons favour.

The way I read the policy is that in the event of any medical issue, is that you have to make sure you go to public health facilities first and the Insurers will only accept private treatment in exceptional circumstances. Now I don't know what state your son was in and whether he was in a fit state to know what was going on. You have to hope that the doctors in the private hospital can convince the Insurers that your son was in such a state that he would not have been in a right state of mind to make decisions about his medical treatment.

Thinking about this further. I would suggest that you find out the doctors contact details at the hospital in Cyprus to see if they can provide a letter that might be helpful. If you explain the situation to them, they might be prepared to help. That is the only way I can see you getting any quick resolution in your sons favour.

Also if the attack on your son was reported to Cyprus Police, perhaps they can provide a report.

Many thanks for the advice. Just one last thing, if my son was not of a right state of mind I am not sure what he could of done. Also the Fax from the insurer to the hopsital reads:

"If the treating doctor is of the opinion that the transferring of the patient at this time would be dangerous or would jeopardize a positive outcome then we will agree cover until such a time that the patient is well enough to move".

All of this was going on without our knowledge or my Son's, is this above not statiting that the insurance company have agreed to cover the costs of the medical bills until the doctors are happy to move him?

I just feel like we have been given a rough deal without doing anything wrong.

Unfortunately you appear to have purchased a budget type of Insurance, which on reading I would never suggest that anyone arranges. For £10 or £20 extra for a single trip policy you can get a much better policy,

Just a few parts of the Alpha 50 policy, from which you note that to be covered for private treatment the Insurers emergency line had to be called and they had to agree to the treatment being needed in a private hospital. They won't cover the private costs for something that they consider could have been treated in a public hospital. You can submit the claim and make a complaint etc, but the policy is fairly clear in what it covers and what it excludes.

If you need to see a doctor in Europe or Scandinavia, ask your hotel reception or tour representative for the nearest public medical facility. In Europe you should show them your EHIC card. Medical treatment will be free or at a reduced cost and you will not be required to contribute towards the claim as the policy excess will be reduced to NIL. You will only be covered for the cost of private treatment in these countries if this is approved in advance by our 24 hour emergency assistance service, +44 (0) 845 260 3 260 Elsewhere it is advisable to seek advice on where to go for treatment from our 24 hour medical helpline if possible, as standards of medical facilities vary greatly and to avoid unnecessary admissions and treatment at inflated prices.

HOW TO PAY FOR YOUR TREATMENT Outpatient bills less than £500 should be paid by you at the time and claimed on your return. It is very important to obtain an itemised receipt for any monies paid for medical treatment. If you are an inpatient then you may need to pay the policy excess locally and ask the hospital to send the rest of their bills to Travel Claims Facilities at: PO Box 420, Hadlow, Kent, TN9 9DE. Our 24 hour medical helpline will explain this to them and provide them with a faxed/email confirmation if necessary.

Your travel policy is not private health insurance, in that it only covers unavoidable emergency treatment.

costs of private treatment unless our 24 hour medical helpline has agreed and adequate public facilities are not available.

Many Thanks for the reply. The cover was taken out with an Insurance company called Alpha and it was for worldwide cover. It was an Alpha 50 cover.

The hospital do state that my son was not under the influence of alchol.

I beleive they then mentioned he put himself in danger, but surely this is very vague. I would have thought crossing the road or swimming in the sea puts you also in a certain amount of dange.

Without seeing the actual policy wording it would be difficult to comment. Which company is the policy with and which product did you buy ?

Policies do vary. By the sounds of it, the policy you arranged did not cover using a private hospital in Europe, but only state services, so it was similar to EHIC.

The problem is that many hotels in Europe have an arrangement with private hospitals who pay them a commission for sending people to them. Once you are in these hospitals they set the meter running and you start to incur quite large bills. If the Travel Insurers then turn around and find a reason not to pay, you are stuck. Most Travel Insurance exclude ANY claim where alcohol was a factor. Not saying this was the case with your son, but something you should be aware of if the Insurers raise this.

Having taken out travel insurance for my son through this site, who is 19, for his holiday in Cyprus, I thought that was fine.

On his first night in Cyprus he got attacked and manage to make his way back to the hotel. The hotel owner was very concerned for his well being and took him to hospital. The next evening we got a phone call from our son saying he was in hopsital and was not allowed to leave until the bill had been settled. We did ask whether he had been in contact with the insurance company but he said they had refused to pay. We settled the bill as he was very distraught ( he broke down in tears over the phone ), in the region of 2000 euros, and he carried on to with his holiday, not allowing the attack to spoil it too much. We did offer to pay to get him back home if needed and we did try to get a flight out there, but none was avaliable until a few days later.

He returned yesterday with all the documents from the hospital. The hospital he was taken to was a private hospital, which is not covered by the insurance, obviously my Son had no idea where he was being taken. The insurance company did state that he should be moved to a public hospital if well enough if not, they would pay for the treatment. The hospital responded, stating that he was not in a fit state to be moved.

I now have a claim form from this insurance company which I need to fill out, but I wondered where I stood? Would I be able to claim for the interest incuured on the credit card? Should I be seeking Legal advice to assist in the claim?

I am feeling very let down by the insurance company and angry for the further greif caused to my son during a very stressful time.