Columbus Direct Reviews

I had the misfortune of having to cancel my flight and rebook due to Qantas not being able to get me back to Sydney. Columbus denied my claim because the reason for the flight cancellation then delay was fuel shortage. The said they didn't cover for that! How ridiculous completely out of my control and I am only looking to be refunded the gap between my Qantas refund and the extra I had to pay for a one way ticket home. But before denying my claim they made me get not 1 BUT 3 letters from Qantas explaining the cause of the delay. What a waste of time.

1 comment on this review

Hello Kath – We’re sorry to hear of the trouble you had on your trip. I understand that our customer care team has been in contact with you and trust that the situation has been resolved to your satisfaction. As you have noted above, we only provide cover for a travel delay where it resulted from one of the listed reasons in the policy wording. These include mechanical breakdown and adverse weather but do not include airline business considerations such as fuel shortage or schedule changes. Policy varies from carrier to carrier, however passengers affected by such issues are generally able to seek compensation from the airline.

Reply from Columbus Direct representative
22 June 2017, 11:55 AM

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I have used Columbus for all the overseas trips I have made for years and the price has always been one of the best value policies around. I have had only one small claim a few years ago and it was dealt with promptly.

Purchase twice this insurance. Of course when your trip goes right everything is perfect as you don´t use it!. Second time my daughter got sick and I claimed flight and hotel. They never paid a penny or anything. No proper answer. Still waiting....

1 comment on this review

Hi Menendez – we’re very sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with us when your daughter got sick. We’d like to find out more about what happened and help you get your questions answered. Please get in touch with us at [email protected] or via phone on +61 2 9463 3371, so we can look into your claim.

Reply from Columbus Direct representative
19 May 2016, 11:55 AM

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Not obvious when purchasing Worldwide insurance that it didn't include USA and Canada. However when contacting customer support the service was fast.

Sent email to ask a basic question as to whether I need to inform them each time I go away for a multi trip policy. Never received a response. Not a good start! Guess I will have to ring them.

I called the company the day after we were travelling Canada and we had all of our ski and snowboard gear and our savings for the end of the season stolen and we were told they would send me information through email on how to claim for this and I had to ring up a second time to receive the actual form to fill out and find out what we needed to send through to them. We were told we needed to send proof of purchase for the items and the form but were not specific that this all had to be in hard-copy so we originally scanned all of this and sent it online but after a week found out that we had to send it by mail. After doing this we called up to find out how long the claim would take to process once they received this form and all of the receipts for the gear and we were told it would be completely processed within 5 working days of being received. What a load of bull that was since it is now 5 months later and the claim is still being processed. This has completely ruined our season since I had to end my employment as a ski instructor early due to not having any equipment and could not enjoy the last month of free skiing because we could not afford to buy all new gear. My boyfriend also had to end his employment early since he was working on the mountain aswell and we were both living off those wages and could not afford to buy all new equipment. Since the end of April when we sent the claim through they have asked for more information from us 3 times, the first time was a month after we originally sent through the claim. We had to cut our holiday short since we could not afford to stay there as long as we had planned without the money we had saved and since we had to stop working early. We have also now returned to Australia and were unable to enjoy the ski season here even since we haven't received any compensation yet and again could not afford to buy all new gear especially here in Australia where everything snow related is much more expensive. So many times we have contacted them and not received any reply and I actually called them once and was told that they were supposed to call me for more information but it no one was on top of it. It has been the worst organisation of processing this claim and I am faster at replying to their emails when this is their job and I have my own job working full time.

1 comment on this review

Hi Maddy, we’re very sorry and completely agree that you shouldn’t have to wait 5 months to get your claim processed and that timeframes we give you need to be meaningful, so thanks for bringing this to our attention. Thanks also for letting us know that you’ve had trouble getting a reply from our claims team and that you feel you weren’t given clear instructions as to what documents to provide. We’ll take a close look at our processes in these areas to make sure we improve on them. Of course, we want to do whatever we can to help you get your claim processed. We’re working with the claims team to get you a result asap. If you have any further problems, please get in touch, so we can assist.

Reply from Columbus Direct representative
02 October 2015, 02:23 AM

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For the last 8 years or so we have been using Columbus Direct. We found it through a friend and haven't looked back. Every time we travel there we go to their website. In less than 5 minutes the insurance is done at a very reasonable price. About 4 years ago we had the unpleasant experience of being robbed while on holidays, but the experience was somehow mitigated by the speedy way that the claim was resolved. We have been recommending the company to all our friends.

Good value, right level of cover, covered for skiing. Was cheaper than taking the car rental company excess waiver, and covered much more. Will certainly use for NZ holidays and will check out for overseas.

Very easy to buy insurance online; very good value when compared to other insurers. Fortunately didn't need to make a claim so can't comment on the claims experience but plenty of information provided.

Signing up for the travel insurance was reasonably easy, but the claims experience was another matter. I ended up wondering why I had bothered making a claim. It was not worth it after all the deductions and excesses were taken out.

I always use Columbus Direct , great prices and very friendly staff on the few occasions I have called them. Luckily I have not had to put in a claim.

I've used Columbus Direct for several trips now. Prices are super-competitive and when I've had claims (twice) they've been handled efficiently and promptly. That's why I'm staying with them for my annual trips policy.