07/1935809

From:N_Coombs@das.co.uk
Sent:24 December 2007 14:49:45To:
t0mcahill@hotmail.com

Complaint Reference: 21114-669

Dear Mr Cahill,
I write with regards to the above complaint, which has been allocated to
myself to respond to.
I understand from your email that you are unhappy with various aspects of
the way your claim has been handled. Firstly, you disagree with the
decision taken to decline your claim. Secondly, that you received an email
advising that no further emails should be sent to us, and lastly that a
colleague tried to justify the email and then terminated a telephone call
with you.
I will respond to each of the issues outlined above in turn.
I understand your dispute to be with Obelisk International. They have not
refunded the monies you paid to them, following you cancelling the
agreement with them. You now seek to pursue a claim against them to
recover these monies.
Your DAS policy covers Contract Disputes, this being the only relevant
section of the policy with regards to this matter. This section of cover
states that 'We will negotiate for an insured person's legal rights in a
contractual dispute arising from an agreement or alleged agreement which an
insured person has entered into for the buying or hiring in of any goods or
services, or the selling of any goods'
However, under this section, 'Any claim relating to a contract regarding an
Insured Person's trade, profession, employment or any business venture' is
specifically excluded.
I do agree with you that the agreement with Obelisk International is
governed by the laws of England & Wales and so doesn't fall outside of the
territorial limits outlined within the policy.
The contract entered into was in relation to the purchase of 2 apartments
in Bulgaria as an investment. I consider this to be a business venture as
it is an agreement you have entered into with a view to making a financial
gain. In view of this, the claim falls within the exclusion outlined
above. I note you contend that it is a personal business venture, however,
this still falls within the exclusion in question.
For the sake of completeness, I also consider that a claim against the

sellers of the properties in question will not be covered. Firstly,

property is considered to be real estate and does not fall within the
definition of a good or a service and as the agreement with the seller was
for the purchase of 2 properties, this does not fall within the cover
outlined above. Secondly, the policy stipulates that any agreement must be
entered into within the territorial limits, which is defined in the policy
as being 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the
Isle of Man and the Channel Islands'. Within the purchase contract for
Alpine Lodge, it stipulates that disagreements must be referred to a
competent Bulgarian Court and for the issues not regulated within the
contract, the provisions of the Bulgarian Law shall apply. Therefore, this
is a bulgarian contract and falls outside of the territorial limit and so
cover will not be available in respect of a claim against the sellers.
With regards to the email sent to you advising you to send no further
emails, I agree that this should not have been sent. Further, I concur that
attempts to justify the sending of this email should not have been made,
and I would like to apologise for any offence this email may caused you.
Turning to the termination of the phone call, I believe you were advised
that the language used would not be tolerated, and you continued to speak
in that manner. This left the handler with no option but to terminate the
telephone call. I am sorry that you unhappy about this, but I do not
consider your comments on this point to be justified.
As a last point, I would advise that your claim was allocated to a senior
claims handler on 20 December, and you received a response on 22 December
2007. Further, an acknowledgement to your complaint was sent earlier
today, this being the first working day after it was received. Clearly,
your claim has been dealt with within our service standards.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of my investigations into your
complaint you may ask for the matter to be referred to a more senior
manager who will review your case. If this is what you would like to do,
please contact me and I will arrange for your case to be referred. If you
are still unhappy once your complaint has been reviewed you may be able to
refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Should you wish to
proceed on this basis, please note I am out of the office after today until
3 January 2008 and would request that any emails to this effect be sent to
cpcb@das.co.uk.
I am sorry I am unable to write in more positive terms.
Yours sincerely

Neil Coombs M.Inst.L.Ex

Deputy Team Leader
Claims Department
T:
0117 934 0263
F: 0117 934 2007