Claims on trip insurance?

[braumeister]

We had our luggage stolen on our last trip and submitted a claim when we got home. Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, bought through insuremytrip.com.

It took two weeks before they even looked at the claim, and then demanded more documentation that was clearly irrelevant (detailed itinerary of the rest of the trip after the theft). I had initially sent them everything they asked for, including the police report. Asking them about that got me nowhere ("It's just our policy").

It has now been over two more weeks (over a month total) and all I can get out of them is "in progress" or "under review". Prominent on their website is the boast that they pay claims faster than the industry average, whatever that means.

I'm curious whether anyone has ever claimed through them. The trip insurance was pretty expensive. I doubt I'll ever use it again.

[Bestwifeever]

I appreciate your calling the company out by name. We have started getting trip insurance for our overseas travel, and I will be sure to never use Berkshire Hathaway. That is ridiculous that a simple claim for lost luggage like yours is "under review" for a month--imagine if you had a more complicated claim.

[MrsHaloFIRE]

CHeckout Allianz. I had a couple claims with them on a yearlong policy and they were WONDERFUL. Gave me zero amount of BS and sent me money multiple times on multiple claims.

[travelover]

Sorry about your experience. I filed a claim with them this summer using a simple on line form. I scanned a medical bill and they approved and paid it within a day or two - no second guessing or hassle.

[candrew]

Filed a trip interruption claim last September with Berkshire Hathaway. Filling out the claim form was a bit tedious and like you, felt that having to provide additional travel itinerary information irrelevant, including boarding passes for flights. Our claim was quickly settled, though. I believe we received a check within two weeks of submission.

[Moemg]

I have had at least six claims on trip insurance and most have been quickly settled .The last claim they kept on asking for more proof . I went on their facebook page and complained . It was settled quickly after that .

[Teacher Terry]

My friends had travel insurance as did we for a 2 week cruise we were taking together. His cancer came back and he was terminal and too sick to go. His wife had Alzheimer’s so couldn’t go without him. I sent all the paperwork and letter from the doctor 3xs as they kept claiming they didn’t receive it. Then I told his son I was done and he pursued it. 6 months after he died it still wasn’t paid. I don’t remember the name of the company.

[donheff]

I don't use it anymore. I use CC insurance for travel interruption and my health insurance covers medical. I used to get it from Hancock and had the occasion to use it once - when I broke my shoulder in France. They were very good about upgrading me to business class to fly home for the surgery. I suspect they were glad to cooperate to avoid me extending my stay in France.

[athena53]

No experience with claims- thank heaven- but glad to hear the stories of individual companies. I'm on Medicare so I need something to cover beyond the $50K lifetime limit my Medigap pays when out of the country. My health is excellent but I'm a very active traveler so accidents can happen.

One suggestion on companies that appear to be dragging their feet- threaten to file a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner. (The Insurance Commissioner or equivalent for your state can be found at https://content.naic.org/consumer.htm under "File a Complaint".) Companies are monitored for market conduct and complaint ratios are one metric so they'll pay attention to that. I use that threat sparingly but have found that it makes companies snap to attention and pay the darned claim.

[Sunset]

I just learned a low cost $110 lesson about CC travel coverage.

Our flight back from a trip was delayed 19 hours, so I called the Citi AA Advantage number to make the first ever claim against a CC insurance.
Turns out Citi removed travel coverage on many CC's on Sept 22, 2019 so my claim was denied as I bought the tickets after that date.

I never received a notification about this change as far as I know, and only learned of the Citi Costco card dropping Travel coverage on this site, which I did phone about to confirm months ago.

So anyone using a CC and depending upon travel coverage, may want to phone the CC company prior to trip purchase to confirm it's still effective.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister We had our luggage stolen on our last trip and submitted a claim when we got home. Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, bought through insuremytrip.com. It took two weeks before they even looked at the claim, and then demanded more documentation that was clearly irrelevant (detailed itinerary of the rest of the trip after the theft). I had initially sent them everything they asked for, including the police report. Asking them about that got me nowhere ("It's just our policy"). It has now been over two more weeks (over a month total) and all I can get out of them is "in progress" or "under review". Prominent on their website is the boast that they pay claims faster than the industry average, whatever that means. I'm curious whether anyone has ever claimed through them. The trip insurance was pretty expensive. I doubt I'll ever use it again.

I just went through my own travel insurance claim, with a similar treatment by the insurer. There could be multiple reasons for this.

It could be a deliberate filtering effort to delay and deter, hoping some of the applicants will give up and walk away. Alternatively, they could be having a jump in claim volume, and do this to give themselves a chance to catch up. Finally, it could be they use mostly lower employees with SW assistance and this claim falls outside the norm their systems and process are designed to handle. . They don’t have enough skilled or senior analysts, it’s in a queue and eventually will seen, and this is their way to manage that process.

In my case, with the Chase Sapphire travel insurance, it’s either the first or third reason.

[Pellice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsHaloFIRE CHeckout Allianz. I had a couple claims with them on a yearlong policy and they were WONDERFUL. Gave me zero amount of BS and sent me money multiple times on multiple claims.

I have made two claims to Allianz, one for a special tour cut short by the death back in the states of a family member, and one for a taxi ride from one airport to another when a scheduled departure was canceled and I was rebooked. Both were paid promptly, within 3 weeks. I DID send them a large amount of documentation, but I felt they dealt with me fairly.

[Sunset]

OP and others, I really appreciate when the company involved is named, as it's useful to hear and consider for future purchases. It makes the post super useful even if it's just anecdotal information, since I only have reviews for comparison (and we all know some reviews are fake/bought).

[mystang52]

OP, a few suggestions:
1) Echoing others, file a complaint with Insurance Department, and the let Berkshire know you filed that complaint.
2) Call insuremytrip and ask them to intercede.
3) Call your Congressman or Senator. They will frequently have someone call from their office. That often will scare the insurer into acting on your claim.