[Anonymous]

[JeffRush]

I would be delighted to hear feedback from all sources as to how your Business Travel Insurance is provided?

1) you arrange yourself?

2) your HR team arrange for you?

3) your travel management company include it in your travel arrangements?

4) don’t know?

The next question would then be …… “is it really a bespoke Business Travel Insurance product that is put in place or is it merely a leisure travel insurance policy with a little bit of ‘Business Cover’ tagged on, suggesting that it isn’t really a policy designed to protect you and the business should any number of business related issues crop up?

Be great to hear from you.

[MartynSinclair]

Hi Jeff – I never did hear back from you with a solution for bespoke travel insurance on an advisory basis. If you recall, I use travel benefits through Amex Centurion card where the policy is held by American Express, not the card holder, thereby enabling the policy holder i.e. AMEX, to be economical with the marketing blurb and benefits. This is common practise with most of the credit/charge cards offering “TRAVEL INSURANCE BENEFITS”.

If anyone does find a solution for true bespoke travel insurance – business or leisure at a sensible cost, please do post a reply, becaue I will be right at the front of the Q. Jeff, this is an open invite, you have my number, you may call me ANYTIME – but please if your firm can, I would love to buy a travel insurance policy, that will replace the need for me to pay over £1000 to Amex next year. When we spoke last time, nobody from your firm came back with a solution.

The scary part of all of this is that if people actually read the document that protects them when travelling, it would highlight the inadequecies (most of the time) and the ability of the insurer to change benefits (yes you have read correctly) change benefits at any time.

[JeffRush]

Good morning all.

MARTIN: Without going into too much detail in the forum, I dropped you a line on the 7th April at 9.27am and again directly yesterday …. happy to re-review your specific requirements directly.

Looking forward to further feedback from the Forum.

[GoonerLondon]

You dont need to pay AMEX £1000 – the same travel policy is available through the platinum card at a 1/4 of the price. Its wrong to say this is the same insurance as a credit card travel insurance – as this often excludes heath and repatriation insurance.

Im fact the AMEX product is hugely competitive with any stand alone insurance (in terms of features and benefits – check out the $1m+ limit for hospitalization), and the fact it can extent to all the accountholders supplementary cardholders and immediate family without charge means it can become quite a bargain.

Personally I would not rely on my company to insure my travel, and given i do more than a couple of personal trips a year – an annual policy is essential. This also covers me for business use. I found the Amex policy to meet my needs more than adequately – and it pays out too when you need it (£300 last month for a 4 hour+ delay on luggage arriving).

[MartynSinclair]

Hi Gooner

You are spot on with your analysis of the Amex cover. It is extremely comprehensive and thus far, despite many attempts to get similar cover elsewhere, I have totally failed. I have paid for research to be done but not even the insurance specialists in the city could match the benefits provided by the Amex cover.

My issue with the cover is that the benefits can vary – when a claims officer suggests that we try to “chat the airline’s station manager up” to try and change a flight, rather than offer to do the change themselves, begs the question, exactly what benefits are the company legally oblidged to provide.

When the marketing blurb of a travel policy confirms that the insurer settles all bills directly with a hospital yet, patients are having to pay money up front on a credit card, again begs the question why. If claims arent being settled directly then the marketing blurb needs to be changed.

My issue with travel insurance is that you simply dont know what you are covered for becasue in the majority of cases, the traveller is not the policy holder and therefore the insurer is able to do what they want, when they want and how they want i.e. benfits can change and they do!

This thread is about Corporate Travel Protection. However, I still maintain that until travel insurance is fully regulated by the FSA and companies are forced to stop missleading travellers with travel insurance benefits which are bascially nothing more than a free gift, travel protection, whether corporate or personal is unfortuantely nothing more than a gamble as to what you are actually covered for.

I know a lot of you will say xyz insurer paid out for this or that – total claim size £400 – 700, but when an insurer is faced with a claim going into £1000+ then you will see exactly what you are covered for.

The Amex Centurion travel benefits are probably the most comprehensive set of benefits I have ever seen. I will take a look at the Platinum card now and hope that Gooner is correct (cos I may just thank that Arsenal supporter – and thats tough!!).

So if anyone out there can provide a comprehensive and similar policy, please let me know cos i will gladly give you my business.

[Prof.Gupta]

Although all the postings under this thread seem to be from UK area and related policies, I am still intruding. I have been buying overseas insurance policies in India to cover my travel over several years and these policies are bought through my travel agent who uses services of national level insurance companies (some of them with international alliances). I have used individual trip based as well as annual policies in the past. I had the first ever (unfortunate) opportunity a few months back to file for a claim (after having been robbed in London recently) and my experience has been very bad. The marketing claims in the policy cover were so vaguely written that as a customer I had no clue of how insurance comapnies get away with unethical and customer unfriendly practices. One might say that as a customer I should have demanded detailed rules of claim settlement etc.(before buying any policy) but that can never be an excuse used by insurance companies to suggest ‘we told you so.’ I thought I was covered for my baggage and valuables. It turned out that it was a loss of baggage in transit only and not for loss in a hotel or robbery! I was covered for Trip curtailment. It turned out that trip curtailment only if there is a death of immediate relative in family and not for any other reason. There was a clause of ‘Emergency cash’ to be delivered in case I loose my money, credit card etc. It turned out that some one in India has to first go and desposit money in Indian rupees with insurance company and then they will transfer eqv. amount of foreign currency to some account in overseas country for my emergency use! What a joke. I was covered for illness, hospitalisation etc with large amounts as limits. I had gone to NHS in London to get prescription for some ailment following stress after robbery. After submitting all the invoices etc. for my claim, I was informed that first 100 GBPs are to be paid by me and anything exceeding that amount will be covered by insurance company and as my claim is less than 100GBP, I should get lost. Passport loss related expenses were covered upto $250 as per the policy. My insuarance company was willing to give me the settlement only for the passport fees I paid to Indian High Commission and not for related expenses (4 trips to Indian High Commission-conveyance, photographs, documents, photocopying, notary expenses etc.) even if those expenses were genuine, supported with documents and related to obtaining my passport. These expenses were called ineligible for settlement! I can certainly fight my case but that is a separate issue. It shows that what we are actually covered for in a travel insurance gets known only when one faces the situation of claim and not otherwise.

[MartynSinclair]

Hello Professor

My point exactly, unfortuantely, the holders of travel benefits/policies, only know at the time of a claim, exactly what they are covered for becasue in the main, the small print is either too small to read or written in such a way that you need a lawyer to translate.

Most insurances in the UK have to be sold by firms regulated by the FSA and all marketing material has to confirm to certain standards. Unfortunately, whilst most firms have some form of regualation, the product itself, remains unregualted, hence the fact that the companies can put into marketing leaflets, what they want. I can provide clear instances of where marketing brochures. Company execs state that they will be changed “in time”. If the product was regualated and marketing material subject to regualtory checking, the brochures would not need to be withdrawn as they would have been correct in the first place.

Too many people hold travel policies belieiving they are adequately covered, but if they read the terms and conditions, they would be horrified to see exactly what they are and are not covered for.

My crusade, which I thought would be quite simple is to find a tailored insurance solution, which I am quite happy to pay for, where the policy is designed and regulated.

Hence, again to answer the threads question, I would love to find someone who can sell me a regualted travel insurance policy or at the very least a tailored solution.

I hope your UK problems are resolved Professor – I am sure the forum looks forward to hearing your positive news.

[Prof.Gupta]

Hi MartynSinclair

I agree with you completely. Insurance products are vague and regulations (in most countries) not upto the desired level. Even in India we have a regulatory body but it is not very effective. I am sure many customer like you (including me) would love to pay more to get a policy with no useless riders and ifs and buts. I searched many existing policies (in India) after my recent experience but all of them are similar in nature.

None of my problems have been resolved so far. I continue to fight and make noise in my own ways but nothing has happened so there was no news to report to the Forum.

I have been following your other posts and you (and few other posters) have amazed me with knowledge and experience. I would love to meet you some day somewhere. Best regards

[JeffRush]

Both the professor and Martyn make extremely valid points and the quality of ‘Point of Sale’ detail, information, T&C’s can very often be somewhat lacking.
GISC, subsequently followed by the FSA, started to insist on ‘Policy Summarys’ being issued to customers, which allegedly condensed say, a 36 page policy wording into a smaller document, but these documents, whilst reasonably helpful have become almost as long as the policy wordngs themselves and have subsequently been removed from the FSA’s requirements.

Professor: Do I understand from your communications that you made the insurance purchase yourself?

[Prof.Gupta]

We usually get a policy document (in India) which gives highlights of the coverage usually in a table form. That information might be technically correct but that is where most confusions arise (as the table highlights the benefits and amounts but no conditions). Along with the policy is a brochure which is a typical marketing brochure. The details of the policy and all the fine prints are not given out with all the policies (as far as my experience goes) and can be separately asked for. That is where devil is hidden. Even if one would have read the document, there would be no choice as all the policies are more or less similar in nature. My tickets are booked by my travel agent. These travel agents also work as agents of insurance policies. So I filled out a form and then policy is sold to me by my travel agent (as a dealer or agent) while the policy belongs to an insurance company.

[MartynSinclair]

Hi Jeff

You were very gentle in your post – I thought you would get in there with a pitch to entice me. I think it is most concenring that you cant put up a defence for the issues I bleet on about (just for the forums sake – Jeff and I spoke sometime ago about travel insurance and it is known he is in that sector). Somebody out their must be marketing a comprehensive (similar to Amex) policy.

[JeffRush]

This thread was really interested in obtaining some feedback as to the methods by which Business Travellers obtain their Business Travel Insurance protection.

As one voice in the insurance world, for me to attempt to defend the entire world of insurance would be futile as they do actually strive to get it right, with or without the governance of the FSA, but sadly do not quite match customer expectations all of the time.

Having said that, I have arranged insurance for millions of travellers through high qulaity travel insurers namely Travel Insurance Facilities, Mondial Assistance, Europ Assistance, Aviva, AIG, providing retail products for the likes of Santander, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Airmiles, Monarch Airlines and BA to name but a few and can count on one hand the number of compaints spanning over a 15 year period, relating to the customer having concerns with a declined claim. It is all about the point of sale company delivering high quality and clear details about the product to the customer …. basically, managing their expectations. There is an onus on the cu

The facts are that the premiums of the many pay for the claims of the few and as such the masses are deemed, by insurers, to be more than adequately catered within ‘standard’ wordings.

My experiences of Underwriters (having been one for over 15 years) are that they have neither the time or inclination to specifically bespoke one mans individual needs but do try and support a number of intermediaries who identify the product gaps and try to fill them.

It sounds like the product you currently have provides the benefits you desire but sadly does not deliver on service or compliance issues that you hold dear to your heart and that you would have welcomed a clearer explanation, or clearer documentation at the time you were provided with such a product.

There is an onus on all of us who purchase insurance to read our policy thoroughly and if it does not meet our requirements then a ‘cooling off’ period allows the policy to be cancelled without charge.
We all have that choice.

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