From the policy…'We will not cover any claims arising from:
Unsupervised luggage and personal effects;,
Does this mean rings accidentally left in hotel room while on a coach tour are not claimable?
Also I no longer have receipts will this be a problem?
Sometimes it's better to say something is lost, rather than it being left somewhere and stolen. Check the fine print.
It's for things like "I stopped at McDonalds for a coffee and had my bag under the table. I went to the toilet, and the bag was gone when I got back."
I've been in a similar situation to you. I had a couple hundred dollars cash taken out of my suitcase that was in the luggage compartment of a bus in Thailand. The scam is they have little kids that hide in there before you load the luggage, when the bus starts driving for the 4 - 10 hour trip, those kids turn their lights on and go through bags taking everything valuable.
Same as you, I was told "if it wasn't in your hand, and you weren't looking right at it as it was stolen, then we won't cover you". If I was in the situation again, I would go the police, say you had your bag snatched by a motorbike thief (if SE Asia) or similar. That is the only way to have the insurance actually pay out.
Is it legal? No. Is it ethical? Depends on your perspective. I personally think all the insurance loopholes are unethical.
my insurance policy listed where things needed to be for it to be covered. i.e. you were covered if you got robbed for your passport/money (upto x), but they couldn't be in your bag.
Terrible advice IMHO. Making a false police report for insurance purposes in Thailand can quickly land you in prison as many have found out. Any "story" you fabricate will get tested. Better to keep your valuables on your person.
I've never heard of anyone being arrested in Thailand for a false police report when they have genuinely had something stolen from them. You'd be lucky to even get them to write a report at all, even if you were bleeding all over their desk. Thai police are notoriously corrupt and lazy.
The only ones who have been in trouble over it were the ones stupid enough to still have the items when they claimed a theft, or tried to report a police officer for stealing/extortion.
Yes a false police report is illegal here and in Thailand, so of course there is a degree of risk involved. Ethically as far as I'm concerned it is perfectly acceptable for the following reasons:
1) You paid for an insurance premium to cover you for theft of belongings
2) Your belongings were actually stolen
3) Insurance companies have many ambiguous and poorly worded loopholes to allow themselves to slip off the hook to avoid paying out. My favourite one was "So a dog bit you, were you being friendly or aggressive towards it?", "Why does that matter?", "Well if you did either, than your cover is voided". So why should you not play the same game with them?
It comes down to risk vs reward. You acknowledge that there is a risk involed and for a couple of hundred dollars you would risk your freedom.
sorry I place a higher value on mine.
Thai police do investigate and solve crimes thats why the prison population is so high and when they start asking questions about your snatch and grab I seriously doubt they wouldn't see through you Which then leaves you highly vulnerable to them as yes you'll probably be asked to make this problem go away. Another thing to keep in mind is there is a lot of CCTV in Thailand. You did the right thing and wore the cost of your misfortune instead of trying to claim something you had no entitlement to.
Have a look at the the Tim Ward case, he had his money and belongings stolen by the Thai police, they arrested him and eventually released him when he refused to pay a further bribe or sign an admission of guilt.
The Thai police are heavily corrupt, they are notorious for supplying drug dealers with confiscated drugs just so they can arrest the customers and extort more bribe money. They then repeat the cycle endlessly. The prisons are full of mostly foreigners (not just western foreigners) that refused to pay the bribes. Yes of course there are some genuine criminals in prison, but their whole justice system is a joke.
It will highly depend on your policy wording but if the rings were left in the room (not in a safe or locked luggage) chances are it is not covered. Insurance companies are very particular with the way you word your loss so think about it carefully before you lodge a claim.
Thanks everyone. Rings were found and are being mailed on to me at a hotel we are at in a few days. Happy traveller:). On a gruelling coach tour this could happen to anyone. Strongly rec that we all put these possible scenarios to the insurer before we eagerly throw money at them.
I had my personal bag next to me on a bus in hongkong.
It had some spending money, my tablet, mobile phone, camera and laptop.
I fell asleep, the bag strap was cut and was left with the strap still around my leg.
I had taken photos of the serial numbers of the items at the airport.
Police report took 15minutes.
They even asked if there wasnt anyting else!
Chinezejew, your property was stolen, so a report was pretty easy to get from police. I don't know if they are all that thrilled about giving reports for property that was lost rather than stolen. And a report number is required by insurance co.
Obviously they don't expect you to never leave anything in your room. It's more to say don't leave them somewhere where joe bloggs walking past in the street could pick them up.
There are a few examples if you search for your exact title in google that will point you in the right direction.
ie: Cover for luggage and personal effects