Travel insurance providers

notmartin

who would be the top travel providers re customer service? I hear Axa are a nightmare and to be avoided, and several companies (e.g. Coverwise) use Axa.

cw8825

any reviews will all be prejudiced in some way
you may have heard axa were a nightmare but were the customers aware what was covered and what was not covered? highly unlikely
how many people will leave a review for a good claim? not as many

the best advice is to go with the one that offers all the cover that you need, at a price you are willing to pay

flaneurs_lobster

Times I've dealt with CS at Amex travel insurance (in fact, all interactions with CS at Amex) have been very satisfactory. Insurance product is supplied by Chubb but not sure whose CS is answering the phone.

But then I'm paying them a large wedge each year just to carry their metal card.

DullGreyGuy

notmartin said:

who would be the top travel providers re customer service? I hear Axa are a nightmare and to be avoided, and several companies (e.g. Coverwise) use Axa.

Axa are a massive organisation that does both direct and indirect sales. Like most organisations of its size it does both budget and higher end policies and the service often matches the level of purchase. They also make use of delegated authority so whilst a policy may be underwritten by them, so they have the ultimate financial risk, they may not be the ones handling claims.  Not an uncommon arrangement and particularly with delegated authority schemes.

Many people buy insurance on price and dont actually read what they are covered for. A good proportion of complaints are really an issue of someone buying the wrong thing rather than the insurer doing the wrong thing. Similarly you get complaints like the fact you get £X for every full 12 hours you are delayed, someone claims saying they were 11hrs and 10 minutes delayed and then log a complaint when it gets declined as you were delayed less than 12 hours. 


I have made two Travel insurance claims, one with Axa and one with Aviva (who has the same giant company approaches). Both were predominately done online and full payment was received within a couple of days of submitting the evidence that they asked for, which to me was reasonable given the nature of my claims. 

I also have the same Travel insurance as Flaneurs_Lobster does, by the sounds of it, with AmEx but have never attempted a claim on it so cannot say how they are. Their downside is that whilst they have a list of conditions that they dont consider pre-existing if you have something thats not on their list there is no option to have it added, even for an additional premium.