Budget Direct Travel Insurance Review

We purchased their Comprehensive Insurance within 2 weeks of booking our holiday and 3 months out from our vacation... with the COVID-19 travel bans coming in we claimed (as travel ban is covered in their PDS) and they denied our claim!!! Dumbest excuses either - we're taking them to the Ombudsman.

We decided to cancel 2 trips out of the country, due to our age and the coronavirus. One trip was insured by Australian Seniors. No trouble. Got a full refund. The other trip was insured with Budget Direct. Not a cent was offered in return ie no refund. Not again, Budget. You talked us into taking on a top of the range policy, so now we lose it. Not a good choice by Choice.

These people are absolute dogs. Don’t care about you or your situation. Took over 6 weeks to resolve a claim and over 20 hours worth of phone call.I also have a newborn baby and had to use my wifes car and my family was stuck at home. They said they didn’t give a fuck about my situation. I was left in the dark the whole time. Had to track down different departments myself. Was told false information by a nob end called james in the claims department. Would definitely not recommend these dogs!!

After our cruise was canceled due to Covid-19 I began contacting everyone I had booked with. We are receiving a full refund from the cruise line, accommodation, tour bookings, airport car parking etc. Even receiving a refund where it was stated bookings were subject to a no refund policy. Everyone has been so helpful and understanding... except Budget Direct. We have paid for a comprehensive travel insurance policy we no longer need because... we are not traveling. So you would think it would be possible to cancel in light of the current situation. But no, they won’t cancel or refund because it is outside their cooling off period. No consideration at all for their customer’s nor any compassion shown. Needless to say we will never use any of their insurance products again.

Easy online travel insurance..good value for money..online chat helpful and immediate reply. Car insurance also good value and good customer care.

I can't believe this company is allowed to perpetrate such a blatant fraud on consumers. Their PDS outlines cover they have either no capacity to provide or more accurately no intention to honor.<br/><br/>They make up the rules as they go and if you need assistance will just drag it out until the policy expires or you've returned home.<br/><br/>JUST PLAIN CRIMINAL CONDUCT

The staff at Budget Direct were lovely, but there was a huge gap in communication. I have made claims with Budget Direct in the past, when Allianz was part of the medical assistance team and I have to say it was much smoother last time.<br/><br/>It was so difficult to contact Budget Direct as my Sri Lankan number would not allow me to call and as I was in the ambulance with my partner and being his carer in the emergency room I had no time to figure it out. I sent emails to any contact I could find, including the team that had helped me before. The old Allianz team from last time even called me back and gave me their contact numbers. After not hearing from Budget Direct from my emails- until 3 days later, I had to get my Mum in Australia to call them so they could call me. <br/><br/>After speaking with them they arranged the original gaurantee with the hospital so my partner could get into the ward and get the care he needed. That was the good part. They then said they would call me back as soon as it was sorted but I didn't hear from them until 2 days later after I had asked my Mum to get them to call me again!<br/><br/>There was poor communication between Budget Direct and the Hospital in Sri Lanka and I am not sure who is at fault but it does take 2, so surely they could've made an effort to contact each other instead of me relaying all information that I could understand from the language barrier and medical terms.<br/><br/>Each time I spoke to someone at Budget Direct I had to ask them to call me back at a particular time either that day or the next. If I did not, then they would not call. I shouldn't have to do all this. When Allianz was working with them, their medical team would call 2 or 3 times a day and check how everything was going and help me to understand my symptoms. This time I felt like we were flying blind.<br/><br/>When it finally came to our day of discharge, after 6 days in hospital we were well and truely ready to leave, and I notified our insurance team at 9am. I only heard back from 1 email to say they would confirm with the hospital. I emailed 5 times asking for some light on what was happening and received no replies. I had to run around the hospital asking other people what we were waiting for and get my phone working to call them. The first time I got hold of them I was told the forms had been sent. Then the next time I was told that my partner's case had to be reviewed because his condition had changed. I can only assume this was because there was no communication with the hospital about his ongoing case. There was no change, only improvement. And I had been filling them in with what I knew everytime they called. <br/><br/>It is now 4pm, we have been waiting 7 hours so far for this to be resolved. Thank gosh we don't have to pay the bill but waiting for all this paperwork is painful and I don't think I will be using budget direct again. I do not have piece of mind that they will be there when we need them and wouldn't recommend.

It looks good when you first see what they offer, however all little bits are hidden in their terms and condition. Basically they cover nothing. My flight was late by 13 hours, bag arrived 6 days late and items worth more than $6000-00 were missing. They found way and made some up other reasons and paid almost nothing.<br/>Be extra careful of Budget Direct, all the good rating they claim are bluff, its a big con operation

They are cheap, I'll give them that. But that low price equates into a drawn out claims process that took 2.5 weeks. And in the end, because I complained to them about the processing time, they found a loop hole in the policy which says that any modifications to the engine, body, suspension, etc without written consent beforehand can give them cause to cancel the policy. If you apply that logic, even replacing the windshield wipers without consent can cause your policy to be cancelled if they don't like you. Which is what happened to me. I could understand if that modification was the cause of the accident but it wasn't even my fault. However because I complained they took it upon themselves to cancel my policy. Which worked out great because I wouldn't want them to be my insurer anyway.

Suffered a serious injury while overseas, tried to contact them, no answer, tried online chat and was given an email address. After 11 days I received a reply from some claims officer from Allianz who gave no advice or help just questioned me on my level of injury (obviously assessing liablity) I needed medical help and I couldn't even get a commitment to pay my bills.<br/><br/>They dragged the email back and forth until it was time to fly out giving no assistance what soever, when I finally got home and got medical help the injury was far worse than expected and now have a permanent injury due to delayed medical assistance. <br/><br/>3 weeks of asking for assistance, got none, got back to Australia and racking up medical bills only to be informed by the Insurance Company that now that I was back home none of my medical expenses are covered under the policy......which is exactly why they gave me no assistance while I was overseas, they didn't want to pay the bills.<br/><br/>THE ABSOLUTE WORST INSURANCE SCAM I'VE ENCOUNTERED SO FAR.

Flight got cancelled due to operations issue try to claim back and they offered no help just saying due to wording in the policy you are not covered. Called the help line useless as well. Find a proper insurance waste of money trying to save a few dollars for basically no cover.

Policy only covered us for what we entitled to be paid back back the airline. Despite appearing to offer cover up to $12500 on multiple occasions and when discussing on the phone. Our cover was no more than the airline would pay back anyway. There is no cover at all. Don't waste your money. Go with a proper insurance company.