Cover-More Travel Insurance Reviews

Followed their advice whilst overseas. Now are facing endless delays in being paid. Very poor customer service, slow to respond.

Annual policy taken out March 2017. Cancelled Norfolk Island trip as needed pacemaker October. Completed claim November. No action since.

Interesting that positive reviews relate to ease of insurance purchase, not claiming. Interacting with this group has exacerbated my husband's health issues which caused us to lodge the claim. Do not bother with this cover if you have had any previous health issues.

Utterly a rip off and flight centre are as bad for selling the dodgy policies. Shall not use either again after my experiences. Lesson learnt dont buy a travel insurance policy on recommendation by travel agent. At my age and travel experience i should have known better

Covermore used to be a reputable company. In July, unknown to us, they were taken over by Zurich Insurance. They now are still expensive but don't provide value for money - they will get out of paying claims and their PDS wording is ambiguous. Claims are not easy and the response time was 7 weeks. Don't waste your money - look elsewhere - Covermore are not the company they used to be!

This is a genuine warning to ALL Australians travelling to avoid using Cover-More at all costs, not a moan to receive anything more from Cover-more Travel Insurance.

I know you'll be weighing up the upfront cost difference but please heed my advice. Spending this up front could save you HUNDREDS of dollars in the long run. The three key messages to avoid any trouble are:

1) Avoid using Cover-More insurance.
2) Spend more upfront and ensure you have a travel insurance policy with a decent/reliable insurance company. (Cover-More is not one of those).
3) If you don't believe me have a quick look through their reviews. 383 of their reviews out of 1875 are rated "terrible". That's a whopping 21%. I'm kicking myself now.

With no further a-do; if you like being screwed by an insurance company, want to ensure your personal belongings are valued at the LOWEST possible rate (even below market value) and don't want to be treated like a human being, this is how:

1) Buy a travel insurance policy with Cover-More.

2) Go to Barcelona. Approximately 300 thefts occur daily in one of the world's worst cities for pickpocketing. But hey...you are covered by travel insurance. That's what you paid all that money for right?

3) Send an email to claim for your stolen phone which was brazenly taken from a zipped bag hanging over your shoulder.

4) Wait 14 days every time you want a response from someone at Cover-More. That's right. Not even 14 days to process the completed claim...but literally, 14 days to receive a "Hi", or "I'm sorry your phone was stolen, let's get onto sorting this.." or "We need XYZ document to complete your claim", etc. If I was a board member of this company (now amalgamated into the animal that is Zurich Insurance Group), I would be disgusted knowing my customers have to wait 14 days to receive boo from a representative. Imagine if you were more unfortunate and had your passport stolen? I found this "process" to have a complete lack of common decency.

5) Wait over 2 whole months...that's right...over TWO months. Then you will subsequently receive an email from Cover-More saying your iPhone 6 64GB is worth $199. They calculate this by depreciating the asset by 'market industry' standards to represent fair value today. Therefore because of the iPhone's age, Cover-More has depreciated the value down from its original purchase price of $999 to today's value (drum roll please)...$199.00. Looking on Amazon right now a brand new phone costs approx. $600 and a second hand can be picked up (all depending on age/wear) from between $250 to $500. To rub salt in the wound I have to deduct $100 of excess. So effectively I receive $99 measly dollars to replace an iPhone 6 64GB. I understand the excess part (this is normal), but there are two important points to make here:

i) This insurance company expects all people to depreciate their assets on their mental balance sheets daily to create provisions for new assets such as phones, laptops, etc. Last time I checked this is nonsensical given the majority of people don't even understand the concept of depreciation and is deceptive in its very nature.
ii) If the market price for a second-hand phone is between $250 to $500 how on earth is this insurance policy genuinely insuring me against theft or loss? If I can't physically go into the market and buy a phone for $199.00 then how can you argue your depreciation is fair and represents true market valuation? This defies logic.

6) Decide what your options are...do you respond saying you disagree with the outcome of the claim and wait another 14 days for a response only to receive a response saying its "policy" and there is nothing you can do about it after already dealing with this for over TWO whole months?

Oprah Winfrey is quoted as saying, ”Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.” Cover-More needs to do some soul searching, maybe even watch a few episodes of Oprah and regain its integrity.

We had top cancellation coverage. Husband had Routine nose op. 1 mth B4 travel Even paid $500 for flight change. Had every intention of travelling. Had major nose bleed hospitalised and specialist ENT said he should not fly due to altitude and the risk of this happening mid flight ... could cost us thousands.. Covermore are still processing and delaying and no doubt it will be rejected due to "pre existing condition" which it was not. Doctor wrote all details in letter but they requested more... I am about to go on a cruise booked through flight centre and I will never use Cover More again .... Cover Less should be their name!

They should be called Cover-Less. Our trip was cancelled due to the hurricane in Antigua. They would not pay the flight because the airport was still open and they said to pick another hotel. Thank you Cover-Less for the almost $400.00 we paid for your insurance. Never again!!!!!

Still waiting for payout after 6 months. Had emergency surgery a week before trip and still waiting for payout. Provided documents to prove this but no payout as yet.

I travel a lot and I have always paid my travel insurance with Cover-More.

Throughout the years, most of my policies have been there just in case. However, I launched two claims with them, and I'm most happy with the company.

My first claim was several years ago due to an unexpected change of flight schedule, which forced me to travel on a Christmas festivity, pay for the only hotel available in town, a five stars, so as to be able to get that flight. Claim and reimbursement were easy peasy, and got my money back in full.

The last claim was in the second half of last year. I became very sick while traveling through Northern Europe, I had to visit a hospital, two doctors, pay taxis for transportation, buy the medication myself, etc. Besides, my credit card was charged a commission for each transaction done in those countries. I hesitated when I came back because I thought that I would find grumpy people and lots of questions and delays or a reduced reimbursement. I had a zero excess policy, so that helped greatly, as well as me providing all the receipts. doctors reports etc. I launched my claim and, in less than a week, I got all my 1 money back, including the cc commissions. Mails arrived informing of the progress of my claim in a timely manner and the people I talk on the phone were really lovely.

My main complaint about CM is the pricing, which as become ridiculous in the last five years; at present, if you want your cancellation costs covered and zero excess you pay a lot. I am not sure whether the pricing is reasonable or not, but it is a bit of chunk of my holidays money. One of the things I like the least is that, unless in case of emergency, you have to pay your bills overseas and then claim them to be reimbursed, which can be a problem if you are traveling on a tight budget. Also, you have two natural months since the expire date of your policy to claim it, so if you are really sick or in hospital, how are you going to do so?

My mum got sick and died overseas whilst we were away on a family holiday in Ireland. I rang covermore as soon as she got sick, lodged a claim and told them my husband, 2 young children and I would need to postpone our flight back to Australia. Initially they were lovely, offering their condolences, then mum unexpectedly passed away whilst in hospital overseas. That was over 2 months ago and covermore are still 'processing' my claim, coming up with all types of vague reasons for not paying and for the delay in processing it. Everytime i ring them they make me go through the entire heart wrenching event. Never once have i been able to actually speak to my claims officer. All the condolences are gone and all i get now is the run around. I am now to the stage of referring it to the insurance ombudsman as i am entitled to be reimbursed for the additional expenses involved in postponing our return flights home due to mums illness and eventual death. Covermore state that they might reimburse the cost of one party to stay behind however they never told me this when I lodged the claim and it would also mean that i would be sending my 5yr old and 7yr old home to the other side of the world without me whilst their grandmother was in intensive care and then died. Insensitive, heartless and rude. Never again covermore.

We were sold Covermore insurance by Flight Centre in Frankston. The premium was 15% on top of the total travel package price, so not cheap.

Unfortunately we were robbed in Naples and lost Phones and Ipads. Pretty straight forward. We even got certified (In Italian) Police Crime report.

Making the claim was torturous and difficult.
They were slow to make an assessment, and when it came through it was only enough to replace 1 of the 4 devices lost. Not happy, as we always like "New for Old Polices, the same as we have for our Home and Contents (And Covermore.... don't tell us to read the PDS. That is patronising and not realistic). Flight Centre should have made the exclusions and depreciated claims process clear when selling it to us. It was too late after we had paid for the insurance and flights at Flight Centre. They also should have told us Covermore has a shockingly bad reputation for claims so we could consider their suggestion in an informed way.

Eventually Covermore stated they would pay us (By EFT to our nominated account in the claim form); a small part of our loss by a certain date. The payment didn't turn up. That was mid Dec 2016.
Many emails unanswered later, they admitted that the payment had not been made. they claimed it bounced. They didn't offer to resubmit it (in case they made an error with the bank details, and said they would mail a cheque which we should see in a few days.
It didn't turn up either. Many emails and calls. Eventually Cove-more admitted (alleged) that they had mailed it to an address unrelated to our address provided on the claim form. Why we asked? Ooops.. sorry they said.

So far (assuming they really tried to actually pay us) they have used incorrect EFT details, and mailed a cheque to an incorrect address.
So then they say, "give us another bank account" we say why, the one we gave you is fine. They insist so we do. They say the EFT will be paid urgently (the next business day).

Guess what... no payment. Emails and calls later, they claim (is anything they say true, or all lies?) they haven;t yet cancelled the cheque and won'y EFT until they do.

That is different to what they promised in writing, and anyway, they are so incompetent they can't process an EFT or correctly address an envelope. What hope is there they will know or care how to cancel a cheque.

So in desperation we escalated to the ombudsman.
We get emails and calls from Covermore now... to ask us to withdraw the complaint.
"Not till we get paid thanks" we reply.
Next we get an email from the ombudsman checking as they were told by Covermore that the mater was resolved.

So not only grossly incompetent or fraudulent, but Covermore Insurance is happy to mislead the Financial Services Ombudsman. Is that legal?

Needless to say, that latest (fourth) promise of EFT payment the next business day has not occurred.