June 15th, 2020
On June 10th I updated you with the latest email from Ellison. There was also a letter to give out for your information. Here is that Letter.
June 10th, 2020
We are pleased to advise that Manulife has begun to process the claims we have submitted on behalf of our school groups. We have seen some positive progress over the last few weeks however the claims have been processed much slower than anticipated. Manulife is not currently able to commit to a specific timeline on the turnaround of the claims, as it depends on many factors including the workload of the examiners and the complexity of the claim.
Although they have hired extra staff to assist with this process they are overwhelmed with the number of claims which are over 30,000 to date since March.
We ask for your continued patience as we work closely with Manulife on your behalf. As a school group we know it will be difficult to distribute these funds over the summer months and we wish we could speed up this process for you. Some schools are readying themselves by collecting contact information for the students/families and others are planning to pick up the claims refund process in the fall. Please advise if there is a different contact we should be in touch with about your claim after June or if you will pick up with the administration of the claim in September.
We do understand the stress everyone is under during to this difficult time and hope to have your claim resolved in the near future.
Thank you,
Megan McLellan
Ellison Travel & Tours Ltd., Claims Department
Associate Member of CWT Vacations
311 Main Street, P.O. Box 1990, Exeter, Ontario, Canada N0M 1S7
+1 (519) 235-2000 x 359 / Website: www.ellisontravel.com
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May 11th, 2020
All of the forms for the refund have now been completed. Ellison is now sending the information in to the insurance company to continue the refund process. I will email when I have further info.
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Here is the latest info I have received from Ellison Travel about refunding the Quebec payments:
Dear Rob Cairns,
We have begun the claims process with Manulife on behalf of Lester B Pearson regarding the cancellation of your trip due to Covid-19. To finalize the claim, the legal and claims departments at Manulife Insurance Company and Active Care Management require a signature from every participant on the trip (or a parent/legal guardian if the participant is 18 years or younger). We have approval from Manulife to acquire these signatures electronically through a secure and customized link for ease of process. This signature authorizes the insurer to reimburse Ellison Travel & Tours any and all approved funds related to the claim. We will then in turn reimburse the school 100% of the benefits issued by Manulife.
Only once ALL authorizations are received Manulife can finalize the claim and release the insurable funds.
Once the online form is completed and submitted - the summarized information is gathered in an excel document which will allow us to track who has completed the online form. Once we have gathered all the names and e-signatures, we will send the excel document to the claims department. At NO POINT will Ellison Travel & Tours or Manulife use the information provided for any purpose, marketing or otherwise. The personal information is being gathered solely for the purpose of processing the group claim.
Here is your customized link: LINK
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Here is the latest email from Liz Cooper, who is our contact at Ellison for our Quebec refund claim, to Mrs. Baker and myself:
Liz Cooper
11:44 (3 hours ago)
Good morning,
Hope you're both doing well and staying safe.
Just a quick update on this, we have cancelled the final payment for the trip with the online system. Please let parents know that they do not have to worry about any withdrawals from Ellison Travel. As I get additional updates, I will let you know.
Thank you for being so patient and understanding during this time.
All the best,
Liz Cooper
We have the outcome of the grade 8 End-of-Year Trip Survey that was presented to you in September. The results indicate that the majority of parents prefer the trip to Quebec.
Assuming all 56 student attend the trip, the cost for this year will be a bit lower than last year, $1201.28 There are no other expenses except for having to provide a bag lunch on the first day.
In order to avoid any difficulties with potential labour disputes, payments are being made directly to our travel agent, Ellison Travel. The trip will go ahead regardless of the labour situation.
Price: $1201.28 Canadian funds per paying person, based on 56 students.
** Should our numbers change from the above, the tour cost will be re-calculated accordingly**
A deposit of $250.00 is needed by Friday, December 6th, 2019 to register for the Quebec Trip. The following link will take you to the Pearson's page on Ellison's website. All the details listed here are also available on that website.
Note: Online ordering for this fundraiser is available. To order online follow these steps:
Rheo Thompson Mint Smoothies - In December and in the spring, toward Easter, mint smoothies for Quebec fundraising will be available on a first come, first serve basis. Here is how it works:
Note: All fundraising profits will be sent to Ellison to come directly off students' individual trips. They will appear in your Ellison payment portal.
Any other fund-raising ideas that you have are also welcome. If you have any questions please contact us.
Here are some of the highlights of the tour that we will be seeing: