HolidaySafe Travel Insurance - Your Feedback

Binkx · 19 June 2013 at 8:28PM

Phoned (Fri 14/06/13) and got a quote and ask for it to be emailed to me. Got home and checked the quote, went to phone Holidaysafe back and noticed it stated that if you get the quote online you get 15% extra discount. Tried this, and it was the same price. Went on to the chat program and the customer service (CS) advisor said the discount is taken of when you start your quote. I told him they were the same price....after a wait, he came back with "we are running a 15% discount on the phone as well." I said that that answer was not good enough, as it states on the web site that you get and extra 15% online compared to CS phone quotes(it actually states this). I asked to speak to a supervisor and guess what, I am still waiting (Thur 19/06/13 @20:30hrs). Oh and by the way Amber you are never in work according to the CS staff ( I asked to speak to you on 2 occasions), oh and the supervisors are always busy and can't speak to customers with a problem. The CS advisor tried to make up the full price I should have paid and he got his percentages wrong, so what was full price or was the price I was quoted the full price. I have screen grabs for everything and I copied the chat transcript as I was talking to the CS advisor (good job I did, because at the end of the chat, I asked for the transcript and I never received it.) Rant over for now

Unhappy Customer

Kieran

I have just received a call from Holidaysafe and they have honoured the extra 15% discount compared to the CS phone quote.

Much Happier Customer

Kieran

JulianW_3 · 23 June 2013 at 9:14PM

Just tried to get a quote from www.holidaysafe.co.uk but their web site is down

Either that or it has a real hate for Chrome!

axelariat · 24 June 2013 at 5:02PM

Fair play to Amber Howard, you lot are keeping her busy!

marchmont · 1 July 2013 at 11:35AM

Claims on Holiday Safe insurance are administered by "travel claims facilities" tif-plc.co.uk
Wear and tear is considered when assessing the claim value of personal property. Items "quickly' reach 100% depreciation so an insurance claim can result in essentially no cover. (eg the lens on my five year old glasses broke and "spectacles" over four years old are considered to have 100% depreciation by "travel claims facilities".)
Details of the depreciation rates are listed at
tif-plc.co.uk/wearandtear

Holidaysafe_Representative · 1 July 2013 at 5:17PM

Hi Marchmont, thanks for your post, my name is Amber Howard and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe. I just wanted to take this opportunity to clarify some of your concerns.

All travel insurance policies settle claims for personal possessions on an indemnity basis, in other words all losses are adjusted for wear and tear. Travel insurance, unlike household insurance, does not settle claims on a new for old basis.

We make this clear in our policy wordings and on our website – in fact as you rightly point out, customers can view the ‘wear and tear’ scale via the link you have quoted.

With regards to spectacles in particular, we have a clear limit for ‘eyewear’ and because people undergo regular eye checks, replacement spectacles are never of the same prescription, especially after 5years, and invariably cost more to replace because they require new lenses and (possibly) new frames.

All travel insurance providers strongly recommend that customers insure their valuable items all year round through their home contents insurance, where they will get ‘new for old’ cover.

Kind regards, Amber Howard.

bigbandbossa · 7 August 2013 at 2:31PM

Very disappointed with this travel insurance policy. We purchased the HS Premier Annual multi trip policy to cover a 10 day trip to Egypt flying into Cairo airport, scheduled to depart yesterday 6th August. We cancelled the holiday approx 40 days ago due to the advice of the FCO website advising all but essential travel to the area. By cancelling at this point we had a 50% refund from the tour operator, Virgin. Cancelling a few days later would have reduced that to 30%.

We submitted a claim to HolidaySafe and have been refused due to policy wording, ie:-

“Cover is only provided if… cancellation is not because of the failure of your travel agent, tour operator, or due to the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office”

Personally I would have thought government advice not to travel would be a reasonable ground for even a budget policy to pay out.

Perversely, the policy also states – “You are not covered under any section, unless specified.. (if).. You travelling against the advice or recommendations published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office applicable at the time of your departure”.

So the policy is worthless if I go, and worthless if I don’t go. Premier? Really?

Holidaysafe_Representative · 8 August 2013 at 2:54PM

Hi Bigbandbossa, my name is Amber Howard and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe. I came across your post, and just wanted to clarify some of your points in regards to our policy on FCO advice.

Firstly I would to apologise that you feel dissatisfied with the outcome of your claim - obviously every claim is handled individually by our claims department, and I do not know the specific details of your case. However, I think it is important to note that most standard travel insurance policies will not automatically cover cancellation due to a change in FCO advice. You will usually have to purchase a more comprehensive policy to get this kind of cover, and Holidaysafe does actually offer cover for changes in FCO advice under our Premier Platinum policies.

This is the case because Tour Operators will usually cover these kinds of costs. Tour operators monitor FCO advice constantly, and if the FCO advised against all travel to your chosen destination close to your departure date, they would usually refund the costs of cancelling your trip or offer an alternative arrangement. However, because FCO advice is updated daily, tour operators will not cancel a trip for this reason too far in advance, as the advice could change again in a very short space of time.

Further to your comments below, insurers will not cover anyone who puts themselves in unnecessary danger by travelling to an area deemed unsafe by the FCO, which explains the exclusion you mention and is common practice across all travel insurers.

I hope this has answered some of your queries, but if you still wish to complain about the outcome of your claim, the complaints procedure is clearly outlined in your policy wording.

Kind regards, Amber.

bigbandbossa · 9 August 2013 at 3:58PM

Hi Amber

Firstly I appreciate you posting a response. Thankyou.

We have been unable to get the remainder from the tour operator (Virgin). Their comment is that as they have paid a third party hotel for accommodation they have therefore lost out. To be honest at the point of cancelling with them I was 90% sure that I would have no issues with the insurance.

It would be useful if the comparison page on your website gave some more detail about the differences between the products in the pre-travel phase. Looking at the policy wording I see the fairly subtle differences, however possibly like many consumers I was driven more by headline figures on the comparison chart such as “Premier - £5000 cover, Premier Plus - £7500 cover”. Knowing that the holiday cost was sub £5000 drove me to a certain product, maybe naively.

Holidaysafe_Representative · 12 August 2013 at 8:23AM

Hi Bigbandbossa,

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your comments regarding our website, we are always looking for customer feedback and will take your comments into consideration when we next update our site.

Kind regards, Amber.

moneybas · 26 August 2013 at 2:05PM

Not happy!

I went on holiday to the South of France with holidaysafe and had a rented bicycle stolen. I told the local police and got a report etc but on my return I was told bicycles are not covered and neither are any items 'not under supervision' which to me means the policy will only ever cover what I carry on my person in case of a mugging? Any thoughts?

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