What I learned from filing a claim........

I recently submitted a claim for cancellation of a cruise and wanted to share some things that I learned and hope it will help others. Many of you may already know these things.

My husband and I have been avid cruisers for 25 years. We have competed 35 cruises. We always purchase travel insurance. We filed one previous claim 20 years ago when my husband became violently ill with stomach flu the night before we were to fly from the west coast to Florida. We went to our local Urgent Care clinic as it was a Saturday. The physician quickly determined that Mark could not travel and wrote a strong letter for the insurance company supporting that. We sent it along with a brief form and in about two weeks got a full refund. It was quick and easy.

It is no longer that simple. I became ill with "acute gastroenteritis" the day before we were to fly from the west coast to Miami, spend the night, and board the ship the next day. We went to the Urgent Care Clinic and the physician I saw wrote a letter. I called the insurance company when we got home and they emailed the forms and a list of the required documentation for a claim. There was a section to be completed by the physician and his summary on clinic letterhead was not satisfactory for their purposes. They even wanted his tax ID number. So…...after several phone calls, back to the clinic I go the next morning and fortunately was able to track down the physician who graciously completed the form.

It took 10 days for the insurance company to get the paper work! Why so long? Sending it Certified slowed it down significantly. The company has some sort of concierge service that deals directly with the PO which interrupts Certified mail.

Now you now need to attach proof of down payment, final payment and the official cancellation notice from your TA or cruise line.

Much of this busy work speaks to the fact that there have been some fraudulent claims filed.

All of this work did pay off. I sent the forms on 3-16. I heard on 3-25 that the claim had been logged in. A check was dated 3-31, and we received it on 4-6 for the full amount that we requested.

If there is a next time, I will do two things differently:

1. Call the insurance company first, before seeing a doctor and have the forms emailed to you to take to the clinic or physician.

2. Ask the insurance company the best way to get the forms to them. ( I chose not to fax them)

Sorry for the length of this…..

Judith

Glad you got your claim settled quickly. When I had to file a claim 10 months ago I had to deal with all kinds of delays including the claims department losing half of my paperwork and the insurance company "investigating" whether or not this was a pre-exsisting condition. I had never seen a cardiologist in my life before my little problem came to light so there was no way it could be pre-exsisting.....It took the better part of 3 months to finally settle the claim and then we only got 95% back because we used a gift card for our deposit and the insurer did not consider that to be "real money".

Faxing is really the best way (unless the insurance company offers a decent online document-submission system.) You can get a little USB-modem for your computer for $10 or so, and use that to "fax" .pdf files that are scans of all your documentation. Print the transmission log from the fax software, and you are all set for proof you sent the documentation.

But if I HAD to mail something, I'd definitely use Certified, even with the additional delay.

Judith,

Thanks for your report... What policy do you have?

-Steve

I scanned mine documents on and emailed them once I had a contact person.

Judith,

 

Thanks for your report... What policy do you have?

 

-Steve

Steve....We purchased Insure Assist thru insuremytrip.com. It was the one of the least expensive policies with more coverage than others that were of similar price. It had very good reviews from those who filed claims. I was very pleased with the quick settlement process. I would purchase from them again.

For others...thank you for your advice after the fact, but I consciously chose not to fax or email. I wanted a very clear original copy to go to the adjuster. The physician's hand written summary was difficult to read and I did not want to take any chances on it being, even slightly, blurred. For me, having worked in medical administration, presentation is very important. I would do it that way again, but I would not used certified mail.

Judith

When documents arrive, if the company is of any decent size, they are going to be scanned (then shredded) and put into your electronic claims file, just like faxes or emails.

It does seem odd there was a delay on your certified mail. You'd think an insurance company would be picking up their certified mail daily, as I imagine they get quite a bit of it.