Travel Insurance for Pricey Trip for protecting a sizable trip investment may offer you a chance to cancel for any reason … but what happens when that “any reason” day comes?
Marianne is an upright and honest nurse who want to travel with some like-mind women on a specializes and theme trip through Scotland and Ireland. She did her due diligence, works with an executive from a very reputable and long-standing tour company who was assign the endeavor, and purchase the travel insurance he highly recommends right on the spot. All was going well for these plans, in fact, until one of the hosts had to cancel and then the trip itself had to cancel. It happens. People get sick, love ones go into the hospital, war breaks out … you name it. That is what CFAR or cancel for any reason travel insurance policies are for.
But in Marianne’s case, the trip was cancell for her and well before the launch date. To be fair, the tour company refunded her deposits in full. But the travel insurance premium? That was another story. Marianne implore the tour representative who sold it to her to return the amount – only a few hundred dollars but an amount she wants back.
Travel Insurance for Pricey Trip
The tour representative apologizes and basically closes the transaction saying that if Marianne wants her policy investment back she would to discuss it with the tour company directly, an entity under the Allianz umbrella.
She locates the phone number and got to work. Days went by, and then weeks. Initially the company said they did not owe her that deposit. Then they offers a voucher giving her travel insurance for a trip she might take in the next year. But Marianne did not want to take a trip in the next year. She wants the trip she paid for and there was no guarantee it would offer again in the next year or after. Marianne asks for her money back.
In fact, Marianne was on the receiving end of a major play by travel insurance companies who prefer to hold onto the money at any cost and have found ways to do so. Most travel insurance policies for trips like Marianne’s offer generous lists of protection circumstances and for a small percentage of the total trip costs. But when it comes to cancelling not only the trip but the insurance that goes with it, that is another story.
Travelers, it turns out, have a 2-week window usually, and possibly less, for deciding to cancel their insurance coverage and receive, by decree, the full amounts of that investment. That way, companies can protect themselves from comparison shoppers who may get a better deal elsewhere. However, while being a godsend to those who break their leg the day before leaving, the two-week purchase window does little to help the traveler whose trip gets canceled a day before departure or much, much earlier.
Strong Arming For Travel Insurance for Pricey Trip
Eventually, with a lot of strong-arming, case escalating and possibly some help from tour company executives, Marianne receives an OK on her refund request and the check is supposedly in the mail.
For others, it may take some help from travel advocates and savvy agents who know how to navigate the very lucrative travel insurance industry. This case by Elliott Advocacy examining travel insurance for a case that ran through Overseas Adventure Travel, shines a light.
Howard Gleckman’s wife breaks her ankle just before the couple is scheduled to embark on an Overseas Adventure Travel tour. But now their insurance check has been delayed five months. What’s going on?
Q: My wife and I purchased a tour to Tuscany for last October from Overseas Adventure Travel. For an additional fee, we also purchases cancel-for-any-reason travel insurance for this trip from their partner Allianz.
We had to cancel a week before the trip began because my wife broke her ankle. Also we files a claim with Allianz and receive an email from the insurance company a month later stating it had complete its review and that “payment details” would forthcoming from Overseas Adventure Travel.
We never heard from Overseas Adventure Travel. When I call them, I was told we would receive a check in 45 days.
We received no check. I called again two months later and a representative told me we would receive a check within a month. The check still did not arrive.
Overseas Adventure: Travel Insurance for Pricey Trip
I call again. This time Overseas Adventure Travel changes its story. A rep told me Allianz had not complete its processing of our claim. The next month, I spoke with a representative at Allianz who confirmed that Allianz had indeed completed its processing of my claim three months ago. I informed a supervisor at Overseas Adventure Travel of this and was assured it would be resolved. Moreover i never heard back from the company.
I called again today and was told yet again I would receive a check next month. There are two issues. Overseas Adventure Travel, either through incompetence or deliberately, has delayed our refund for almost five months.
The second involves the travel insurance. I was surprised to learn that even though I paid a premium of $1,398 to Allianz, Overseas Adventure Travel and not me, is the beneficiary of the policy. Thus, it appears that Allianz paid Overseas Adventure Travel and it chose whether or not to pay me. If this is not illegal, it should be.
Qutoe
We would like the cost of the trip refunded to us, as promised. Can you help?
— Howard Gleckman, Kensington, Md.
A: I’m sorry to hear about your wife and I hope she is all healed up by now. For travel insurance payments of this type processing should take place within a month or two, so you should have received a check by now.
I’ve been getting more complaints about these types of delays. With certain travel companies, when you buy travel insurance for your trip at the time you book your trip, the insurance payment goes to the company, which then pays you. (Technically, the product is a waiver that is adjudicated by a travel insurance company.) That can create a delay, especially when there’s a second approval process on the company’s side.
The solution? Buy your next travel insurance policy directly from a company like Allianz. That way, if you have to file a claim, it will pay you directly.
Why did your fefund take so long?
Why did your refund take so long? You were filing a claim during a busy time for both Allianz and Overseas Adventure Travel. My advocacy organization has been dealing with hundreds of delayed refund cases and insurance claims that dragged on.
The best approach for resolving a tardy insurance claim is patience and persistence — two key elements of what readers have called the Elliott Method. I think you needed to let both companies know of your displeasure. Most of your follow-up communication happened by phone, and unfortunately, there’s no way for you to prove you made any of your calls unless you recorded them.
I share your discomfort with travel insurance claims getting the payment to the company rather than the customer. This practice may be legal, but it surely isn’t equitable — and I don’t see that it benefits the consumer.
I contact Overseas Adventure Travel on your behalf. A representative responses directly to me, blaming the delay on a “technical issue in the approve claims process between Allianz and Grand Circle.” You receives your $10,954 check.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.
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