My Aborted: USA Trip 2012.

[Mike Benis]

Hi Dave!

Great to hear that good old English grub has got you so successfully on the mend ;-)

Cheers

Mike

[sue_M]

Really pleased to hear of the good progress. Keep it up. x

[karl von fatboy]

Good news


Karl

[FXSTC Dave]

Hi Everybody.

I'm going to put up 2posts.

The first is regarding EagleRider and the second about my travel insurance.

I'd like to ask forsome advice and questions to ask them both.

For the EagleRider post I only thought of this around the 18 th Oct and sent myE-mail to

them onto the 21st. After the message I sent are the 2 replies the first beingan acknowldgement

to my message, followedby their reply to my message.

After that are mythoughts/questions.

Can I ask that in any replies you mark them EagleRider or Travel Insurance.

So I know which refer to which.

Sent : 21,10,12.

Dear Mr Trausner.

I don't know if youremember me.

But you booked my bikerental in March after the Eaglerider website didn't work, when Itried to book it. I have added the details of my bike rental to theend of this message.

The reference numberwas : RJFK812.

My bike hire was wasEagleriders Queens Village shop to your San Francisco shop fromMonday 4th of June to Saturday 30th June thisyear.

Everything on my tripwas going according to plan having ridden from New York up toPennyslvania then across to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, up to Wisconsin visiting several sites along the way and then down to Chicago tostart Route 66, along to the end then up the Pacific Coast Highway toSan Francisco.

This was until I had anaccident just south on Lebanon, Missouri on Tuesday June 12th,when I swerved to avoid a deer and went off the road into a culvertinbetween Interstate 44 to my left and Route 66 which I was on. Thebike was recovered to the nearest Harley Davidson dealership thenafter a few days back the your New York shop. Unfortunately I endedup hospital for 3 weeks due to my injuries, beforebeing discharged to return to the UK on Saturday morning 30thJune, (US time) and arriving home on Sunday afternoon 1stJuly (UK time).

Now I have only justthought of this question, which is why I am putting it to you now.

As my bike rental wasfor 26 days and due to my unfortunate accident I only had the bikefor 9 days (4th June to12th June). Is there any way I can reclaim back theremaining 18 days of the rental period?

I am not talking abouta partial refund of the $5,613.88 I paid, but in the form of avoucher that I can redeem at a later date.

The reason is that I amhoping to finish my “trip of a lifetime holiday” in the Summer of2015.

Which gives me justover 2 ½ years to try to save up for the trip. This time startingfrom Chicago to do Route 66 to Santa Monica Boulevard then up thePacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, which was the second part ofmy trip, that I only got a few hundred miles into.

So if you could lookinto if my question can be answered, I would be very grateful.

Yours sincerely

David Cole.

Res Number: RJFK812
Date: Wednesday, March21, 2012 6:47 PM
Opened By: PaulTrausner - LAX

First Name: David
Last Name: Cole
Email:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Phone: XXXXXXXXXXX

Your Vehicle
HD ROAD KING
0 Doors
0 Passengers
0 Luggages

Your Time andPlace.

Pickup Location: EagleRider New York-Queens Village
Return Location:EagleRider San Francisco
Pickup Date: Monday,June 04, 2012 9:00 AM
Return Date: Saturday,June 30, 2012 9:00 AM
Rental Days: 26 Day(s)
Total Mileage Included: Unlimited
Mileage Included: Daily: $123.00, Weekly: $861.00, Monthly: $3,444.00
Fuel Charge: $25.00
Grace Minutes: 0
Charge Unit Rate Total
Daily 5 $123.00 $615.00
Weekly 3 $861.00$2,583.00
Mile Allowed Unlimited
Total T&M $3,198.00
EVIP Damage WaiverTaxable 26 $24.00 $624.00
GPS Rental Unit Taxable26 $15.00 $390.00
Pre-paid Fuel 1 $20.00$20.00
Environmental RecoveryFee 1 5.5% $175.89
Options Total $1,209.89
One Way Fee $750.00
Sub Total $5,157.89
Sales Tax 1 8.875%$455.99
Total $5,613.88

VISA XXXXXXXX $5,613.88
Total Payments $5,613.88
Balance $0.00

Received : 21,10,12.

Hello David,
I received your message and I will be looking into this.
I will let you know as soon as I know more.
For any additional questions, please feel free to contact me directly, either by email (rent@eaglerider.com)
or telephone (310.536.6777) and I will be happy to help you.
Best Regards,
Paul Trausner
Reservations Agent
EagleRider Corporate
11860 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90250
e:rent@eaglerider.com
p: 310.536.6777
f: 310.536.6770
www.eaglerider.com

Received : 29,10,12.

Mr. Cole, we have communicated with the EagleRider in Queens Village about the situation. Unfortunately,
they would not be able to provide an actual voucher for those 18 days. What they would be able to do out of our
EagleRider Queens Village location is provide you with a discounted daily rate from our Queens Village location when
you decide to come in 2015.
EagleRider Queens Village would be able to offer a daily rate of $95 dollars a day.
The contract would have to originate in Queens Village and ride to your destination. If you have any questions please
let us know.
Regards,
Daniel Diaz
Regional Franchise Operations Manager- East
EagleRider
11860 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Hawthorne, CA 90250
Office: 310-536-6777 ext. 129
Cellular: 310-562-1620
Fax: 310-536-6770

Here are my initialthoughts/questions.

As I have already paidfor the 18 days left due to my accident.
Why cannot EagleRiderQueens Village give me a voucher, for the days to be redeemedhopefully in 2015
with another EagleRider shop?

From their reply, theywill give me a discounted rate for a new contract in 2015, when in mymind I already have 18 days and just need to top it up by the 9 daysI used to give me the 4 weeks I want, plus flights, food,accomodation, petrol and spending money for the trip.

I can't be the onlyperson who has hired a bike from Eagle Rider who has had an accident,fell ill, had a family problem, etc, that necessitated thecurtailment of their trip.

Surely EagleRider couldpersuade their Queens Village franchise to say that a voucher thatstays within EagleRider would be the best solution to my question.

Because my trip isRoute 66 which starts in Chicago, I would have to start it in NewYork which is over a 800 miles away and 6 states in the wrongdirection and would take me 3 days to get to Chicago to properlystart Route 66.

If I think of anymore questions I'll add them below this sentence.

[BaZa®]

Dave does your insurance not cover the loss of the hire from eaglerider? l would have put that loss into my claim to the holiday insurance company.

[FXSTC Dave]

Hi BaZa.

I hadn't thought of that.

It's anther thing I can put to them.

[Foxster]

I think you may be stuffed regarding Eagle Rider and a refund. The terms and conditions on their site say:

Refund Policy
All confirmed rental reservations are non-refundable. No refunds on early returns.

I'd say you fall into the category of an early return.

I can see why they insist on this. If they get a bike back early then there's little chance that they can find another customer for it at that late stage. In your case they obviously couldn't have rented it out again at all as it was damaged.

In which case, any offer made by them is out of goodwill and that is not going to be transferrable to another branch.

Its really bad luck but I can't see you getting anywhere with that one.

[Foxster]

PS - I appreciate its not a cash refund you are looking for but it would be effectively the same as you are looking for 18 days free rental.

[FXSTC Dave]

Hi Everybody.

This is the second postabout my travel insurance.

This is a letter I recived from Travel Claims Services Limited on the 30th Oct.

“We had now received a response from the medical assistance company, Mapfre Asistencia, and they have advised that they were not able to extend a guarantee of cover for the shipping costs for the bike, as these fall outside of the scope of the policy cover.

There is also no cover for the unused return flight ticket, as we are considering the costs of the new return arrangements.

Mapfre Asistencia willarrange for the outstanding accounts to be cost contained, prior to arranging settlement,
and to enable them to proceed they need confirmation that the applicable policy excess of £50.00 has been paid.

You can either forward your remittance in this sum, made payable to Travel Claims Services limited, or this can be deducted from the Hospital Benefit due to you, and we would appreciate your clarification asto how you wish to proceed.

We await your further instructions.”

Here are my thoughts.

They have previously said that the cost of sending my belongings back isn't covered by my travel insurance.
So I contacted navigator Insurance to ask them, and the guy said this was true but as Mapfre Asistencia didn't do much to help to get me home after their initial couple of calls, he suggested that perhaps as a goodwill gesture they could pay it.

I did put this to them in my last letter to them, but this isn't mentioned in this new letter.

Also the letter says that the costs of recovering the bike are also not covered.
Now to me both costs are an expense due to the curtailment caused by the accident that I have had to pay.

The same can be said for having to cancel my return flight from San Francisco. And having to make alternative arrangements to get home.

Otherwise on June 29th I would have had to get the bus to St Louis Airport then fly to Chicago, then fly to SF find a hotel for the night then flight home from SF as originally planned.
Which would still entail me claiming the costs of the bus journey and the St Louis and Chicago flights, all to save £220 that the cancelling of the SF return flight would cost.

Plus the excess of £50 if I say this can be deducted from the Hospital Benefit due to me.
Will I still own Mercy Hospital in Springfield this amount when the excess is deducted ?

All I am asking for is that all my medical costs are fully paid for by the travel insurance, plus all the costs I had to pay out are repaid back to me, these being;

Cost of sending my belongings back home.
Cost of recoving the bike to the nearest HD dealership and then back to EagleRider Queens Village.
Cost of bus journey from Springfield to St Louis Airport.
Cost of flight from St Louis Airport to Chicago.
Cost of flight from Chicago to Manchester (Via Heathrow).

Although BaZa, has mentioned the loss of the hire from EagleRider.
I can put this in my letter to them, to see if I can claim this back.

If I think of anymore questions I'll add them below this sentence.

[banquo]

Hi Dave, welcome to the sad world of insurance...

First thing that strikes me is that the bike recovery is not something that would be covered by your travel insurance.

Your travel insurance insures you, not the bike, which belonged to someone else, and would have been separately insured. You must have had to pay for insurance for your bike via Eaglerider, and if anything is going to cover the recovery, it would be that, not your travel cover. I can't remember the sequence of events when you had your off, but were you able to contact Eaglerider at the time, and did they advise what to do about recovery?

I'd suggest you take that up with them, or with the insurance company with whom you had the bike policy.

As far as your own cover is concerned, suggest you go through your policy, word by word, clause by clause, including the small print, until you can be sure what is and what is not covered by it, so you can refer to written areas of the policy document to substantiate any claim that is disputed.

Most policies cover the cost of your holiday, so if your holiday costs £5,000, and was cut short after half the time, you would be able to claim half the cost back.

In your case, as the non-refundable part of your holiday included the bike hire, I would expect, as suggested already, that you could claim that from your own insurers, unless it is specifically excluded.

Hope you get a result.