Summary
This is my story and my interpretation.
I felt a bit like I did when I wrote the post “Hello, my old friend, conflict!”
A few days ago, I was talking to someone about insurance. He pointed out to me that the insurance I took out in Hungary last August was probably not good.
I looked at the fine print.
Atlas Privileg annual pass, World 2 package
In the post “Missing post: The final practical steps”, I wrote about why and how I bought this package.
This is a one-year world travel, atlas-crossing insurance package that expires after 31 days of staying abroad. In other words, I should have come home every 31 days for my insurance to remain valid. In other words, I have been breathing the air of Asia without insurance since last September.
If I choose this intentionally, then I would also call myself stupid. So, the fact that this turned out to be an unplanned disaster, I think I can discover another lesson in the story.
This story is about taking responsibility and not taking responsibility.
The first letter
So I wrote a letter to the lady with whom I took out this insurance.
This letter was honest, so I didn’t send it. I’ll just show it for the sake of the story’s clarity:
Hi Appolónia!
I’m looking for you because of the insurance I took out with you last August.
I’m disappointed!
Someone just brought it to my attention to look into something because I’m going to have problems and unfortunately they were right.
When I presented my plans to you, I told you that I would be living abroad continuously for at least a year.
Now I’m reading the Atlas Travel Insurance Regulations 250625.pdf in section 2.4.2. Risk Coverage Period:
In the case of an Annual Rental, the Insurer’s risk coverage does not cover:a. any Trip lasting longer than 31 days;
That is, I have not had insurance coverage since the end of last September, and I can only thank blind luck that I did not suffer any damage because I have not needed to use it so far.
In summary, this story looks like I paid 104,900 HUF for insurance valid for 31 days.
It is my responsibility that I did not read the 47-page policy before signing the contract. The fact that I trusted you did not exempt me from this. I believe that your responsibility is that you sold me an unsuitable product.
I await your response regarding the above!
Regards:
István
The second letter
I sent the more polite version, of course:
Hi Appolónia!
I am contacting you regarding the Atlasz Privileg Annual Rental insurance that you brokered last August.
When we concluded the contract, I explained my plans in detail to you and said that I would be staying abroad continuously for at least one year.
Now, after reading through Section 2.4.2 of the Insurance Regulations, I was confronted with the following:
“In the case of an Annual Rental, the Insurer’s risk coverage does not extend to any Trip lasting longer than 31 days.”
Based on this, the insurance did not provide any substantial coverage despite my continuous stay abroad exceeding 31 days.
I would like to understand why this product was recommended to me, given my circumstances, and what solution you see for resolving the situation.
This is particularly unpleasant for me because I took out the insurance in good faith, based on my previously agreed life situation.
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
István
To be honest, I did not expect the following response:
Imagined answer
Hi István!
I’m sorry you’re in this situation!
I think it’s too late for you to read the information afterwards, I see, 47 pages is quite a lot. Unfortunately, I offered you a product that was not suitable for your stated goals.
I suggest that we see how much a 30-day insurance costs. We will deduct this amount from the amount you paid and, based on the shared responsibility, I will refund 80% of this to you.
…
The reality
I immediately saw from the greeting Dear István appearing instead of the greeting Hi István! that the answer I expected had arrived:
Dear István,
When I requested a personal quote, I offered 2 options, one was daily pricing (the fee for this is higher than the rental fee), the other was an annual rental fee, at which time I handed over the product information booklet, you took it and you took out the insurance knowing this. A longer time, several days, passed between the handing over of the product information booklet and the taking out of the insurance, you did not immediately decide which insurance you would like to apply for.
At the same time as taking out the insurance, you accepted that you had read the insurance conditions.
Gratitude
I try to see the good in everything. It’s always been easy. Well, I had some really tough years.
The glasses of gratitude help me a lot. When I’m in a situation like this, my first thought these days is automatically what the lesson is.
I’m grateful for this answer, because it confirmed again how quickly the idea of shared responsibility can disappear in some people, if it ever existed at all. It’s good to see the you-are-the-fault mentality in everything again.
And I’m grateful that I’ve decided one thing for sure.
If possible – based on my own experience – I’ll never buy anything from a Hungarian insurance office again.
And I won’t waste any more of my time visiting TRAVEL-KOM Trading and Service Ltd. in Komárom.
Oh, and I definitely don’t want to blame Hungary for this story. I’ll definitely have to deal with similar excellent businessmen in my life.
I’m looking forward to seeing what they will teach me.
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
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Short introduction