Two family members died but insurer still refused to reimburse additional expenses
We bought the most comprehensive (and expensive) single trip top cover travel insurance from Europ Assistance Australia (trading as Tick Travel Insurance) for our June/July 2023 trip to Budapest, Hungary and the Azores, Portugal.
When one family member suddenly died in June we cancelled our non-refundable Brussels Airlines flight to the Azores and made a claim for curtailment (cutting short your trip) and additional emergency expenses. However, the insurer refused to reimburse $1254.99 in lost airfares.
A second family member suddenly died in July, forcing us to cancel and postpone our non-refundable Finnair return flight to Brisbane, Queensland. We once again claimed for curtailment (cutting short your trip) and additional emergency expenses. However, the insurer once again declined to reimburse our $3149 in unused flights.
As it stands we lost $4403.99 due to unexpected deaths in our family. However, neither Europ Assistance Australia nor its head office in Paris, France reimbursed us. This happened despite their product disclosure statement (PDS) promising to pay accommodation, meal, phone and travel expenses above what we originally budgeted for if a relative dies in Australia at the time of trip interruption.
In this case we should have been reimbursed $4897.81 in extra Lufthansa flight expenses between Budapest and Lisbon as well as $1920 in additional Finnair airfare rebooking fees. Europ Assistance still owes us $6817.81.
We raised the matter to internal dispute resolution but the insurer refused to settle. We then escalated the complaint to the Australia head of insurance, and entire executive committee, but they all declined our claim. We finally brought the matter to the Europ Assistance head office in Paris, France but neither the Asia CEO nor entire media relations team ever responded.
Throughout the whole claims process we were repeatedly provided with the wrong claim forms, incorrect/misleading information and even ignored. This was definitely not what we expected after paying top-dollar for the best possible travel insurance money can buy with all of the bells and whistles included. The level of service Europ Assistance delivered was extremely disappointing in our tragic circumstances.
We are shocked to learn the Australia head of insurance still has his job. We are also surprised that the Paris head office never launched a formal investigation into the handling of our claim numbers M058682.15 and M059027.49 and M061360.39 and M058989.58.
We would like a written apology from Europ Assistance and to receive the $6817.81 it still owes us according to the insurer's own PDS.
September 20, 2023
Unprompted review