A Georgia woman is $10,000 richer after she did what many people often ignore and that is to read the fine print on a new insurance policy.
Donelan Andrews explained to CBS News that she was planning a trip to London with six of her friends in September when she took it upon herself to purchase some travel insurance, dubbed Tin Leg, from a Florida-based company, Squaremouth. Andrews explained to the news outlet that she’s a “nerd” and always reviews the fine print of contracts, policies and other written agreements.
Turns out the insurance company hid a contest deep within the policy’s fine print, awarding a client for completely reading the legalities of the policy.
“If you’ve read this far, then you are one of the very few Tin Leg customers to review all of their policy documentation,” reads a line in the policy agreement.
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Andrews, a teacher, was “intrigued” by the sentence.
“I used to put a question like that midway through an exam, saying ‘If you’re reading this, skip the next question.’ That caught my eye and intrigued me to keep reading,” Andrews said.
According to the company’s website, the idea behind their “Pays to Read” hidden contest was to “emphasize the importance of reading policy documents” acknowledging that “most customers don’t actually read contracts or documentation when buying something, but we know the importance of doing so.”
“Over the past 16 years, we’ve learned that many travelers buy travel insurance and just assume they’re covered if anything goes wrong, without actually reading the details of their policy,” Squaremouth said. “However, this often leads to claims for losses that are not covered. This lack of understanding is one of the biggest reasons travel insurance claims are denied.”
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Andrew said she plans to spend her winnings on a trip to Scotland with her husband to mark their 35th wedding anniversary.
“I’m going to turn right around after the girls trip and go back across the Atlantic for our wedding anniversary,” Andrews said. “That’s what we’ll spend it on.”
On top of awarding Andrews the money, the company donated money to a children’s literacy charity as well as to the two schools where Andrews teaches.