Annual Travel Insurance that will not refund

Yes I had staysure annual world wide insurance a couple of years ago. They are always on the ‘recommended’ list so I thought all would be ok.
I had only one minor health condition which they accepted but when I reported another condition which was not serious they refused to cover me for the 2 week long haul trip we were going on a couple of weeks later, so I ended up having to buy another one off insurance who accepted my condition, so paying twice. I won’t ever use them again.

I also had a very bad experience with Staysure. They called and left a voicemail me on day two of our holiday to say, that there had been a mistake with the quote and I had to pay more. What would have happened if I’d decided to really opt out of being “on call” and switched my phone off for the duration (as I have done previously). If,
God forbid something had happened, I’d have been uninsured. Very shoddy practice.
I would never use them again.

I am in the same position middleagespread but with Coverwise. I took out an annual policy in early March as I intended to travel over the course of the year. It was expensive as my DH has some health issues. When I realised there would be no holidays for us this year I telephoned and asked to cancel the policy and receive a pro-rata refund from the date of my phone call. I did not ask or expect a full refund as I accept that technically I had the benefit of cover from the date I took out the policy. I knew that some insurers were giving such refunds if no claim had been made but Coverwise refused saying they were entitled to retain the premium as it was outside the 14 day 'cooling off period'. It is particularly galling as the policy is underwritten by AXA who are one of the companies who are offering partial refunds . I stewed about it for a while and then decided to make a formal complaint. They have four weeks to respond then I can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman if it is not resolved, that will be in a few days. Honestly I do not expect to receive a refund but felt that I couldn't just sit back.

Good luck with that Juno.

Thank you silverlining.

I wouldn’t use Staysure again, don’t like how they go about things.

That is appalling.

BabyLayla, that is awful, the stuff of nightmares. Maybe someone should write an article for Gransnet if there is enough feedback.

I would report them to the Competitions and Marketing Authority. They are looking at unfair practices especially at the moment with regard to Corona. The CMA are online and its very easy to report an issue, just google. If they have enough complaints they may look into things. They have been in the news this week with a success story so really worth a go.

Daisymae I think I will.Thank you

I have just posted today that I have managed to get a refund. Have been trying since April but I think that the CMA ruling and statement this week really did help. Hope you are successful.

I too would never use Staysure again, dreadful company.

Thanks for the tips about insurance companies to avoid.

Hmm interesting. I am with staysure, and like many, we take out a full bells and whistles annual policy, I just treat it like house and car insurance, paid, done and dusted. But, we will not be travelling for a while, and our policy runs until end of September so I had been hoping for a refund of around 25%, looks as if I may be out of luck. At present, I am trying to get reimbursed for airfares costs incurred as result of covid19 and not having much luck. Well, it looks as if I will be looking for another insurer for next year, when we can finally start going away again. It is insignificant compared to the losses many have had, but still very irritating.

It’s a shame that some companies are being so difficult. We booked a single trip travel insurance for our holiday to the USA on May 6th which was obviously cancelled. When we read that some insurance companies were refunding policies we contacted Columbus Direct, the company we used who were incidentally the cheapest quote by far and they refunded the full amount within days. We have used them many times and they paid my medical expenses when I was hospitalised in the USA in 2003 so I can recommend them.

Do they deal with people with health issues like Staysure though, Jane43? That’s why a lot of us used Staysure. If they do, I will try them.

always google any company before you part with money.
other users' experiences can be quite enlightening.
i'm surprised anyone took out holiday insurance in march, didn't see the news of what was happening across the world ?
still i'm sorry you lost out, guess we should all be grateful if it's only money lost.

Luckylegs I found All Clear to be very good after Staysure refused to insure me after I tried to add a new condition to my annual policy.

A claim with All Clear was all done online.
They paid out without any problem, after a drug allergy put me in coronary care.

I’m not sure LuckyLegs, you could look on their website. I had breast cancer in September 2018 and DH has Type 2 Diabetes which we declared but we were able to get cover for £220 whereas other companies ‘ quotes varied from £500 to over £1000. As I remember there were three levels of cover you could choose from depending on what was covered and the amount of excess etc. They are worth looking at anyway. We took out our policy when we booked our flights in January welbeck even though our holiday wasn’t until May.

a bit of a segway, to motor insurance, but heard on moneybox today that people who have hardly used their cars during lockdown are advised to contact insurers to see if they can get some money back, as their actual mileage is much lower than usual. paul lewis was talking about it.
apparently admiral have given some money back.
worth a try if appropriate.

We went to St insurance after seeing them on gn. Not 10/10 score for them following our experience in early spring.

I have type 2 diabetes and other problems and DH has heart stents and other little problems. We get free travel insurance though our bank account with Nationwide and paid almost £400 in January to cover all medical problems. We have never used the insurance this year so tried to get Nationwide to give us a pro rata refund . They refuse saying go to UK Insurance who underwrite the policy. The insurance company say they need Nationwide to agree before they would consider a refund . We have written twice and had no reply and phoned and contacted bth companines via the internet. Every other company has refunded our holiday costs ( only had one booked ) , parking even the Executive lounge but we are at stalemate with the annual insuarance .
Stay Sure seem to be the only company offering cover if you get the virus on holiday now.

Thank you FloraDora9

thank you welbeck