ATBefore taking out travel cancellation insurance, read the exclusion clauses carefully! Otherwise, you risk paying for nothing, as the following case shows.
In 2014, Mr. W and Mme Z are booking, on Voyages-sncf.com, a round trip Metz-Nantes, for May 22 and 27. They take Prem’s train tickets (160 euros), then non-exchangeable and non-refundable, as well as cancellation insurance from Europ Assistance (12.80 euros), after having read the following message on the SNCF website: “In the event of an event preventing your trip, opt for cancellation insurance, your non-exchangeable/non-refundable ticket will be fully refunded to you. »
On May 6, 2014, Mr.me Z is informed by the University of Lorraine that an exam scheduled for May 14 has been postponed to May 23. She asks that Europ Assistance cancel her tickets and reimburse them. She is refused: her contract only covers “the invitation to a resit examination” and not the “postponement of an exam”.
On the advice of the Association for the Information and Defense of Consumers and Employees (Indecosa-CGT) of Moselle, the young couple attacked the SNCF for “unfair commercial practices”: they accused it of pushing the consumer to take a insurance, implying that the latter covers very broad cases of cancellation, while its warranty conditions are restrictive. He claims reimbursement of what he paid, plus 1,000 euros for non-pecuniary damage. The Indecosa-CGT joins its procedure and claims 20,000 euros in “reparation for the damage caused to the collective interest of consumers”.
“Message of a hyperbolic nature”
The SNCF then offered to settle the dispute by offering 400 euros to the travellers. What they refuse. They are going to bite their fingers: after various procedural referrals (costly in time and money), they are dismissed on November 14, 2019. They appeal, but still lose: the Metz Court of Appeal judge, April 12, 2022that a sentence such as “for your train journeys, leave with peace of mind with cancellation insurance” is a “advertising message of a hyperbolic nature”from which we cannot deduce “an unqualified affirmation of ticket refunds in all cases”.
Mr. and Mr.me X had more luck: as it was their travel agency, TUI, which misread the exclusion clause of their contract, they were able to obtain compensation for their loss. In 2016, these amateur photographers made a traveling trip to the United States. They book their planes, hotels and cars with TUI and take out insurance with Présence Assistance Tourisme.
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