Easy process to make a claim on the travel insurance. All online and very straightforward.
I paid for travel insurance last year, a multi trip policy to use for obviously multiple trips, but just days after I purchased the borders were closed by the government and all overseas travel was out of the question. When I called their call centre number it was not open on weekends, and when I called on the Monday I was advised I had missed the cancellation and refund period by one day, despite advising I had tried to contact them on the weekend prior my request for refund was declined. I had not had the opportunity to use the insurance which runs until May this year. The only one to benefit is the insurance company. I won't use them again since their customer service is so bad, and their refusal to refund me for missing the seven day cancellation period as you have to speak to someone not do it online and they don't have service centres open on weekends when you may need them and daytime business hours are also not the most convenient.
Great cover for the price - includes coverage for epidemic (coronavirus) disasters which most others don't. Claims process wasn't very straightforward, but good customer service.
Total waste of money with deliberate delay tactics. No effort to assist or even honour PDS. The worst insurance we have ever taken out. We have the feeling they are delaying to avoid payment. I would never ever use them again even if the charged 1 dollar for cover.
This company is completely unethical, they use tactics to ware you down in order to make you go away and can not be trusted. Their customer service people are well versed on lying and they never return calls. My husband was due to take a once in a life time trip with his brothers & friends to Europe in May this year. Of course Covid hits and everything is cancelled. The tour they had booked was for 100% non refundable and we'd paid in full. We took a credit from the airline but needed to make a claim for the tour. After much negotiation with the tour company I was able to get us a partial refund. They said if we wanted they'd credit the balance of the tour to next years event. It was valid for May 2021 only - no exceptions. My husband can't go, nor can his brothers/friends. However his brothers and friends have all had the balance of the tour refunded by their respective insurance companies but Budget Direct will not refund ours because they say "we haven't taken all reasonable steps to reduce loss". We did, we got a partial refund, but it's not our fault that we can't take a "ONCE ONLY" credit. Who's going to be travelling in May 2021 anyway? I can't believe how unreasonable they are being. Big company bullying the consumer is all it is. I've taken it to the AFCA.
They fail do pay out legitimate claims. They fail to answer most emails and then when they do they promise an outcome by a particular date. That date passes without any further communication. Their inactions and deliberate tactics to delay paying legitimate claims are bordering on criminal.
We have all probably heard of it happening in the broader insurance company community whereby the Insurer deliberately creates delays and generally makes it so hard for the consumers to pursue legitimate claims that the claimants eventually give up. Going on our own personal experiences and by looking at so many other similar instances documented on this site, it is very apparent that Budget Direct are the masters of employing these tactics. We lodged our claim for international flight refunds (flights cancelled by the airline)then followed up several times when nothing happened and were then asked to submit "additional" information (which we had already previously submitted) then chased up again and again. After months of deliberate delays our claim was rejected as the airline, South African Airways (SAA), have offered to anyone holding a cancelled ticket a "credit" against future travel. However as the trip for us was a one-off and we will never be flying long-haul again due to our age and health reasons (further complicated by the advent of Covid 19). Additionally SAA have been placed in something akin to Receivership with the SA Government making a recent commitment to inject funds some funds into a new national carrier. SAA announced that they will not be flying into Australia and have already sold the only planes that were capable of flying that route. So even if we were wanting to fly again we could not use the so-called credit for a flight out of Australia. As a result of all this we then asked that the rejection be reviewed by a Manager/Team Leader in accordance with Stage One of the Budget Direct Dispute Resolution. We were promised written determination within ten business days and then fifteen business days but nothing ever happened well beyond that period. No contact, no apologies just silence. Now after further urging from us we today received an email saying the claim is still rejected even though we had comprehensive cover but we can further challenge the decision by going to Stage 2. Here is how Budget Direct summarised things: "Given the above information, we are only able to provide coverage for items which you are unable to recover from any other source and you must take all reasonable steps to reduce your loss which could possibly lead to a claim. As you have been offered credits for the bookings you are claiming, this is considered as recovering the costs from the source and accepting these is considered a step which you could take to reduce your loss. Therefore the costs are outside the scope of the policy." Apparently according to Budget Direct it doesn't matter that the offered "credit" cannot be used by us or the fact that SAA are unable to provide anyone future flights from Australia it is simply a matter that the airline has made an offer and we according to Budget Direct's interpretation are obliged to accept a worthless offer. Go figure......... So don't be fooled by the cheap insurance quote you may get from Budget Direct as its real value will only be exposed if you have to make a claim. Our strongest recommendation to anyone considering using Budget Direct is DON'T USE THEM AS THEY ARE TOTALLY UNETHICAL.
The advertising for this company is not a true representation. They will use all the tricks to avoid there responsibilities under the travel insurance contract. Don't expect fairness from them when it comes to their dealings with you. My advice is not to be sucked in to there advertising and go to a different provider.
Terrible and slow customer service, poor communication, bad faith, better find another. Book their travel insurance for a trip back in January and was denied a claim saying "Covid 19 was a known issue at that time" The communication sucks, took them 30+days to get back to me after sending them email again pushing them for a decision. Their product disclosure statement Part A-Section 8 stated that: "We will pay a benefit under this Section if the cancellation of your trip is necessary and unavoidable as a result of: You being unable to travel because of travel restrictions imposed on you after an epidemic, terrorist attack or natural disaster." I feel like they are trying to weasel their way out of this.
Had to make a claim for a hospital stay in Singapore. Prompt payment no questions asked.
They immediately accepted my request about changing the time.
They ripped us off for our New Zealand trip
Great service.
Awesome
Mozo gives you the inside story on the best banking, energy and insurance products as rated by thousands of real customers around Australia. We don't make subjective judgments, nor do advertisers influence our ratings. Although our reviews may be moderated to improve quality standards, they are moderated independently of any of Mozo’s commercial relationships.