HolidaySafe Travel Insurance - Your Feedback

Victor_Delta · 13 January 2015 at 4:25PM

Holidaysafe_Representative wrote: »

Dear Victor_Delta,

Thank you for your post, my name is Amber Howard and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe.

Firstly I would just like to apologise that you were dissatisfied by your renewal quotation. Returning customers such as yourself are extremely important to us, and I am genuinely sorry that we may have lost your custom.

However, I just wanted to address some of your concerns.

To ensure our policies meet the needs of our customers, we have added several extensions in the last couple of years, including Gadget and Cruise. These things were not previously covered at all, so we wanted to give our customers the option to add these extras if needed.

I just wanted to reassure you that we haven't removed items of cover and converted them into extensions, these are things which have been added following feedback from our customers.

I hope you might consider Holidaysafe to insure your travels in the future, and thank you for your custom over the last few years.

Kind regards,

Amber.

Thanks for that Amber. However, are you seriously telling me that in the past my HS holiday insurance did not cover us for any cruises we went on? If that's the case, your website and insurance documents did not make that at all clear and we were obviously travelling without proper cover. I find this hard to believe...?

dacouch · 13 January 2015 at 4:59PM

Victor_Delta wrote: »

Thanks for that Amber. However, are you seriously telling me that in the past my HS holiday insurance did not cover us for any cruises we went on? If that's the case, your website and insurance documents did not make that at all clear and we were obviously travelling without proper cover. I find this hard to believe...?

Their website clearly states that if you don't pay extra there is no cover whatsoever for cruises.

Virtually all travel policies offer a standard level of cover for cruises eg cancellation, baggage and medical etc etc.They just tend not to include the extras such as missing excursions and missing connecting flights to your cruise. I assume Holidaysafe used to include this as well, however they now seem to have deleted all cover for cruises which is odd as you would expect them to leave the existing basic level of cover and offer the new extra cover as an add on at an additional cost.

Incidently if you're looking at cover for a cruise, the cover they offer for the extra money is not that great as you pay extra but they have not bothered to increase the standard cancellation cover which is £5k. For most cruises you would be looking at £7k upwards.

Their gadget cover pays claims on a "Wear & Tear" basis which means they take into account wear and tear and DO NOT pay claims on a new for old basis. So if you had say an iPhone which cost £500 and it was expected to last five years, if you claimed for it when it's two years old they may pay you £300.

It's worth also noting it does not cover damage by perishable goods eg a drink or soap leaks in your bag and damages it.

Victor_Delta · 13 January 2015 at 5:13PM

Thanks for that. I have to say that removing all cover, including basic items, for cruises from a so-called 'Premier' policy smacks of sharp practice IMHO!

Holidaysafe_Representative · 13 January 2015 at 6:06PM

Dear Victor_ Delta,

Our Multi Trip policies do not include any cover for cruising, and we do state this in multiple parts of the wording which are highlighted by red warning triangles, and on our website. This is not a new exclusion, but something which has always been a rule.

We have always offered a separate and specialist cruise single trip policy, which offers higher cancellation limits (up to £9,999 per person), plus cover for ship to shore repatriation etc. In the past, customers were always advised to buy this policy if they needed cover for cruising, to ensure they had the right cover for their ttrip.

Then, following feedback from our customers, we added an optional cruise extension to our multi trip policies, to allow customers to choose this if they were planning a cruise or multiple cruises as part of their 12 month holiday plans.

In summary, we have not deleted or removed any cover for cruising from our multi trip policies, but have tried to add optional extensions to meet the needs of our customers.

I hope this makes sense, and if you would like to discuss your individual circumstances or previous policies further, please feel free to email me directly at holidaysafe@infinityinsurance.co.uk.

Kind regards,

Amber.

Victor_Delta · 13 January 2015 at 7:22PM

Holidaysafe_Representative wrote: »

In summary, we have not deleted or removed any cover for cruising from our multi trip policies, but have tried to add optional extensions to meet the needs of our customers.

Are you sure this is correct? Looking back at your policy booklet only a couple of years ago, I can find no mention of cruise exclusions or entensions. So presumably cruises were then treated like any other package holiday from an insurance point of view?

Since then the brief renewal documents you have sent me have not mentioned any such changes. Obviously I now realise I should have read your lengthy documents (emailed after renewal) more thoroughly, and clearly I have failed to do that. However, until today's renewal phone call, the question of cruises was never ever mentioned.

I can understand travel insurance providing extra cover options for winter sports, dangerous sports etc and even cruising, but to remove even basic cover for cruising holidays I find very odd indeed.

I wonder how many of your other long standing customers are also unaware of this change? Don't worry, it's probably only me.

allandornothing · 5 May 2015 at 10:38AM

I'm afraid I had problems with these guys.

When I opened a policy online a week ago, they failed to send any documents, which I stupidly didn't notice until just two days ago. I'm going away tomorrow so I was understandably a bit anxious.

So, I called their customer service line twice and was on hold for 10 minutes each both times, at which point I chose not to throw good money after bad. I was given the option to leave a message, but wasn't called back that day or the next, which admittedly was a bank holiday, which would explain why no-one answered that day. I also sent them an email, just in case that got dealt with first.

This morning they hadn't got in touch so I called again and again was on hold for 10 minutes, at which point I noticed that they actually have a Live Chat link on their home page, and when i tried that I received a reply immediately. They sent me the documents by email so it's ok now, but I'm seriously worried that if I really have an emergency abroad I won't be able to contact them. And if it takes so long just to answer a simple query, I can't imagine how long a claim would take.

So, my advice is to factor the call charges from being kept on hold into account before deciding how good value their policies are! I've certainly now spent more than the quotes I'd received from other insurance providers .

If you can though, use their Live Chat. The link is on the right hand side of the page and is called "Need Help?"

Holidaysafe_Representative · 6 May 2015 at 9:30AM

Dear Allandornothing,

Thank you for your post, my name is Amber Howard and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise that you did not receive your documents, and that you then found it difficult to contact us to discuss the issue.

Over the last few weeks (in the build up to the bank holiday), we have received an unprecedented volume of calls and emails from customers, which has unfortunately led to delays in response times.

We are in the process of training a group of new starters, who will be on the phones as soon as possible to cut hold times and improve customer service.

I have also asked our web team to investigate why you did not receive your documents when you first purchased your policy.

I would also just like to reassure you that if you had an emergency abroad, we have a dedicated Emergency Helpline, which is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The phone number and email address for this service is in your policy wording.

Once again I am very sorry for any inconvenience caused, and I hope you have a lovely trip.

Kind regards,

Amber.

tomolol · 8 May 2015 at 11:11AM

Do not use this travel insurance company.

Actually paid a little bit extra for the longstay plus policy so though I would get fairly good coverage considering the recommendations on this website.

Was in Nepal during the recent earthquake. The country was in chaos and the FCO shortly afterwards advised against all travel to the country. We therefore had to cut short our trip and leave the country, rebooking on an earlier flight home.

Phoned up the claims department and was told aside from medical coverage, there was no coverage for earthquakes on any of the company's policies. This was while speaking to many people whose insurance companies were paying for their customers to get the soonest flight home.

In addition to refusing to pay out when coverage was needed the most, due to the FCOs travel advice the travel insurance is invalidated. This left me exposed in an earthquake zone with no cover.

Avoid.

Holidaysafe_Representative · 8 May 2015 at 6:24PM

Dear Tomolol,

Thank you for your post, my name is Amber Howard and I am the Brand Manager for Holidaysafe.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise that you were dissatisfied with the service you received from our appointed Claims Team - Travel Claims Facilities (TCF).

TCF are obviously very aware of the terrible situation in Nepal, and although there is no provision for Earthquake under our policies, they have been asking every customer affected to complete a claim form so they can directly approach our Underwriters on each case.

Therefore I think there may have been a misunderstanding when you spoke to our Claims team.

If you would like to complete a claim form, you can download one from our website (Holidaysafe.co.uk/cutting_short_your_trip_travel_insurance_claim_form.html). Please include as much information as possible, and our Claims team will consider your costs and reply to your directly.

I also just wanted to reassure you that your cover was not invalidated because of the change in FCO advice, this condition only applies to people who have not yet travelled, not to people who are in the country when the advice changes.

If you have any further questions or queries, please feel free to email me directly to Holidaysafe@infinityinsurance.co.uk.

Kind regards,

Amber.

Quentin · 8 May 2015 at 6:46PM

Holidaysafe_Representative wrote: »

Therefore I think there may have been a misunderstanding when you spoke to our Claims team.

If you would like to complete a claim form, you can download one from our website (Holidaysafe.co.uk/cutting_short_your_trip_travel_insurance_claim_form.html). Please include as much information as possible, and our Claims team will consider your costs and reply to your directly.

.

As clearly the fault (you call it a "misunderstanding") is at your end will you be contacting all your policyholders with this link, or is it just those that go public who get this "service"?

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