Travel insurance

[Whynd1]

I have been using a company called world first,as I had cancer a few years ago they will insure me for a reasonable cost.
However it seems they do not process their own claims, you have to claim through a different company. This is the first time I am claiming and its only for a missed port of call,as I pay an excess waiver it made sense to claim.
However they never answer the phone and their reviews are terrible.

I am looking for recommendations based on having made a claim and if was dealt with promptly.
Thanks
Lindsey

[gilly88]

thanks for the heads up on this company. I too need to find a travel insurance company to take me on with cancer related problems . this is obviously not the one to try.

[david63]

There was quite a long discussion on this over on CC recently - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2 ... -specific/ (easier to post the link rather than reguritate it)

However it seems they do not process their own claims, you have to claim through a different company.

That is quite common these days.

[Manoverboard]

There are also a few related Topics on here ...Click the Insurance Link

[AileenB]

Lindsey, we use All Clear Travel and they have been excellent at dealing with claims. We usually have the money in our account within a week! Very helpful .... may not be the very cheapest, but we feel the little extra has been worth it over the years because of the service.

[Kenmo1]

Lindsey, I've looked up the name of the company who underwrites your insurance and they also underwrite the travel insurance company we use. I was horrified to read some of the reviews last year when I read on the BBC Business news that they were being investigated by the FSA and have made a note for our annual renewal date later this year not to use any company they underwrite, though it may be difficult to find a decent company they aren't involved with. They actually underwrite some quite big companies and it makes me wonder if they have just taken on too much work and can't cope but it is a very unsettling feeling. However, before I agree to any other travel insurance I will certainly do a lot more investigating.

Maureen.

[Whynd1]

Maureen

Apparently Avanti claims are done in house. When I chased it up today she did say they were under massive pressure. So you are probably right too much work, not enough staff.
It's too late for my Baltic cruise in September but for both of next years I am going to do a lot more research. I dont mind paying more as over the years with the cancer I have paid a fortune in travel insurance premiums,its just a question of finding a good company.

The worst of it I have been recommending world first to others who find it difficult to get cover through a cancer illness but I have always said I have not claimed so dont know how good that bit is. The staff at world first itself are excellent.

My concern now is I just hope I dont need to access their services whilst I am onboard as even that side of things co es out with poor service.

Lindsey

[Kenmo1]

My concern now is I just hope I dont need to access their services whilst I am onboard as even that side of things co es out with poor service.

Yes, Lindsey, I quite understand how you feel because we have the worry of Ken's heart condition.

I wonder if they get so overloaded with claims for missed ports which happens pretty frequently with cruise lines and perhaps aren't the highest priority from an insurance point of view and so they get put to the bottom of the pile so that illness claims are dealt with first - just a thought.

Maureen

[Ranchi]

I always used my bank’s free worldwide policy but following illness they would cover me for all but the cancer...not a risk I was prepared to take. They suggested I contact BIBA (British Insurance Brokers’ Assn.). They carried out a ‘light’ screening and then gave me the phone numbers of three companies that may cover me. (& told me to come back to them if I didn’t get cover) As it happened the first company gave me a good quote ( following a more detailed screening) so we went with them.

[Whynd1]

I finally received my insurance missed port of call payment today, only took five weeks from start to finish.
Terrible customer service from the TIF group.
Have cancelled the World first policy and changed to Avanti, who have excellent reviews.
Hope I dont have to claim but feel happier about changing.

Lindsey

[Mrsvalb]

Lindsey, we use All Clear Travel and they have been excellent at dealing with claims. We usually have the money in our account within a week! Very helpful .... may not be the very cheapest, but we feel the little extra has been worth it over the years because of the service.

We had a medical claim with All Clear. Claims service was terrible. They use White Horse in Ireland for their claims. It was a very straight forward claim on a pre existing condition which was declared and covered. We had to make several telephone calls which were either on a premium rate number or international to Ireland. The claim was for £1200 which we had paid on Arcadia. The claim was eventually settled as $1200 and converted back to sterling. The paperwork submitted from P&O was very clear that currency was GBP. Yet another telephone call to get the remainder. Over two months to get this paid.

At the time All Clear were the only company who would cover my husband with secondary cancer. Premiums were extortionate and the claim was not related to the cancer, in fact it was for me. We only ever had that one claim and were paying premiums of £3000+ per cruise, so they certainly made a good profit out of us.
Val

[anniec]

That's appalling from a well-known company - perhaps we all think we're better off with a company we've heard of, and it may not be the case.

Last year we had a fairly expensive UK holiday booked. Don't normally bother with insurance for the UK, but decided to this time and took out the cheapest insurance from a comparison site, using a company I'd never heard of (something like rubbishinsurance4u.com).

We had to cancel because my nearly 95 year old Mother, who was not travelling with us and had about a thousand pre-existing conditions, became very ill. Not expecting to get anywhere as pre-existings for those not travelling were not covered (as is pretty usual), and I assumed they'd link her illness with one of them, I put in a claim form. Lo and behold, they paid out within a fortnight with no quibbling.

[AileenB]

AileenB wrote: ↑19 Jul 2019, 16:51
Lindsey, we use All Clear Travel and they have been excellent at dealing with claims. We usually have the money in our account within a week! Very helpful .... may not be the very cheapest, but we feel the little extra has been worth it over the years because of the service.

We had a medical claim with All Clear. Claims service was terrible. They use White Horse in Ireland for their claims. It was a very straight forward claim on a pre existing condition which was declared and covered. We had to make several telephone calls which were either on a premium rate number or international to Ireland. The claim was for £1200 which we had paid on Arcadia. The claim was eventually settled as $1200 and converted back to sterling. The paperwork submitted from P&O was very clear that currency was GBP. Yet another telephone call to get the remainder. Over two months to get this paid.

At the time All Clear were the only company who would cover my husband with secondary cancer. Premiums were extortionate and the claim was not related to the cancer, in fact it was for me. We only ever had that one claim and were paying premiums of £3000+ per cruise, so they certainly made a good profit out of us.
Val



It just goes to show that it is difficult to recommend anything to anyone!! Unfortunately, there can be very varying experiences with the same company. All of our medical claims have been dealt with very well and very quickly. Of course no two people will have exactly the same claims or the exact same pre existing conditions!
Aileen B

[Mrsvalb]

As I said previously, we insured with All Clear many times. With regard to my claim, there was no dispute about them paying. The problem was that they had a backlog, coupled with the fact they were using inexperienced staff to handle claims. When we first phoned to chase it, we were told that it would be six weeks before the claim was looked at. Totally unacceptable when we had paid a premium of more than £3000.
I would hope that they would be better in the event of being off loaded from a ship in a foreign port for hospital treatment.
Val