TD 1st class visa denied delayed luggage claim, because Cruise Next cert was used as part of payment for cruise fare

[Middleager]

We purchased a NCL Getaway cruise for 2021.12.5-22, and bought airfare from NCL.  My wife and I flew on 2021.12.2 with KLM,  YYZ-AMS-FCO to get Rome on 12.3, then get on cruise 12.5.  One of two luggages (mostly my wife's cloth, face lotion, etc.) did not arrive Rome on 12.2.  We quickly asked a TD rep back in Canada and was told there is coverage for delayed luggage, and to keep our receipts for claims.

 

The luggage got to Rome on 12.3 and we asked if they can get to our hotel before we leave for the ship.  Didn't get it. We got on ship, NCL tried to work with KLM to get the luggage to us in one of the upcoming ports.  After 7 ports, nothing.  After getting home, we submitted our expense claims to KLM and TD.  After that, KLM returned our luggage back to our home.

 

Took KLM 7 months to reimburse a bit -- which we informed TD.  TD claim processing was bad, encountered error messages in submitting online sometimes, re-submitted.  They kept asking questions (we paid on credit card, so some were in euro and some in US, then showed us on our Canadian CC as Canadian currencies..), and we kept answering.

 

Late last Fall TD said they rejected our claim, closed the case, saying we paid part of the cruise using BMO CC ?!?. 

We re-submitted the TD statements and NCL statement/invoice, showing there is no BMO any where, everything was paid with TD 1st class visa.  They then said they'll re-open the closed case and review.

 

In late Dec/2022  TD said our claim is rejected because we paid part of our cruise fare with Cruise Next, and provided their T&C.  We were supposed to pay the cruise in full with TD, in order to be covered.

 

Anyway, it took TD one year, where they had system errors and asked us a lot of questions, then said BMO, then eventually rejected the claim because we did not pay the cruise in full using TD CC.  We tried to explain that CN is like a discount, etc., but oh, well.

 

So beware.  If you did not pay your cruisefare in full with TD 1st class visa, you won't get any travel insurance coverage with TD.  Other CCs may use similar reasons to reject your claim, but for sure TD does.

 

Lesson learned.  This is a consideration for using CN certs, when buying airfare through cruiselines.

 

P.S.  NCL CruiseNext cert is something we can buy onboard a cruise.  Buy one cert for US$250 and get $100 OBC, or buy two certs for $500 and get $250 OBC, can use the OBC to pay for that CN cert.  Carnival had something similar.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Middleager

[Fouremco]

While there is no excuse for the sloppy handling of your claim, the long delay and the varied excuses, TD's policy is consistent with other members of the credit card industry: pay in full with the card or lose any potential insurance protection. I remember reading about a case a few years ago where the wife had booked a cruise and made the initial payment using her personal credit card. She and her husband maintained separate bank accounts and credit cards, but with the same bank. Her husband made the final payment using his card, same bank, same type of card, but in his name only. Their travel insurance claim, fortunately small, was rejected as the same card hadn't been used to make full payment of the cruise.

[xcell]

Good to know -- thanks for the warning.

 

Insurance always wants to find a loop hole.  

 

One time, I was going to cancel a flight, and TD said if I cancelled (due to illness), westjet would charge me a rebooking fee and put the rest of the cost of the flight in credit.  In that case, TD insurance would not reimburse....I would have to wait for an entire year for the credit to expire and then claim for it.

 

 

[rodndonna]

20 hours ago, Middleager said:

We purchased a NCL Getaway cruise for 2021.12.5-22, and bought airfare from NCL.  My wife and I flew on 2021.12.2 with KLM,  YYZ-AMS-FCO to get Rome on 12.3, then get on cruise 12.5.  One of two luggages (mostly my wife's cloth, face lotion, etc.) did not arrive Rome on 12.2.  We quickly asked a TD rep back in Canada and was told there is coverage for delayed luggage, and to keep our receipts for claims.

 

The luggage got to Rome on 12.3 and we asked if they can get to our hotel before we leave for the ship.  Didn't get it. We got on ship, NCL tried to work with KLM to get the luggage to us in one of the upcoming ports.  After 7 ports, nothing.  After getting home, we submitted our expense claims to KLM and TD.  After that, KLM returned our luggage back to our home.

 

Took KLM 7 months to reimburse a bit -- which we informed TD.  TD claim processing was bad, encountered error messages in submitting online sometimes, re-submitted.  They kept asking questions (we paid on credit card, so some were in euro and some in US, then showed us on our Canadian CC as Canadian currencies..), and we kept answering.

 

Late last Fall TD said they rejected our claim, closed the case, saying we paid part of the cruise using BMO CC ?!?. 

We re-submitted the TD statements and NCL statement/invoice, showing there is no BMO any where, everything was paid with TD 1st class visa.  They then said they'll re-open the closed case and review.

 

In late Dec/2022  TD said our claim is rejected because we paid part of our cruise fare with Cruise Next, and provided their T&C.  We were supposed to pay the cruise in full with TD, in order to be covered.

 

Anyway, it took TD one year, where they had system errors and asked us a lot of questions, then said BMO, then eventually rejected the claim because we did not pay the cruise in full using TD CC.  We tried to explain that CN is like a discount, etc., but oh, well.

 

So beware.  If you did not pay your cruisefare in full with TD 1st class visa, you won't get any travel insurance coverage with TD.  Other CCs may use similar reasons to reject your claim, but for sure TD does.

 

Lesson learned.  This is a consideration for using CN certs, when buying airfare through cruiselines.

 

P.S.  NCL CruiseNext cert is something we can buy onboard a cruise.  Buy one cert for US$250 and get $100 OBC, or buy two certs for $500 and get $250 OBC, can use the OBC to pay for that CN cert.  Carnival had something similar.

 

I could have sworn this has come up recently regarding paying in part with gift cards or such, and that the terms were now 75% . 

 

[rodndonna]

4 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I could have sworn this has come up recently regarding paying in part with gift cards or such, and that the terms were now 75% . 

 

 

Couldn't edit my post  - 

 

I was always looking at medical (my biggest concern) and it is 75%.

Baggage claims require 100%. 

 

Good to know ... 

 

[Middleager]

4 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I could have sworn this has come up recently regarding paying in part with gift cards or such, and that the terms were now 75% . 

 

Hmm.  That's good if it's 75%.  But I guess it was 100% when I paid it and travelled in late 2021.

There was one time when aeroplan redemption tickets were not covered, even though you'd pay all of the tax/fees with TD aeroplan visa.  They've changed that.

[rodndonna]

1 minute ago, Middleager said:

Hmm.  That's good if it's 75%.  But I guess it was 100% when I paid it and travelled in late 2021.

There was one time when aeroplan redemption tickets were not covered, even though you'd pay all of the tax/fees with TD aeroplan visa.  They've changed that.

 

I know the changes to 75% are recent, maybe less than a year? 

[Kamloops50]

On 1/8/2023 at 1:45 PM, xcell said:

Good to know -- thanks for the warning.

 

Insurance always wants to find a loop hole.  

 

One time, I was going to cancel a flight, and TD said if I cancelled (due to illness), westjet would charge me a rebooking fee and put the rest of the cost of the flight in credit.  In that case, TD insurance would not reimburse....I would have to wait for an entire year for the credit to expire and then claim for it.

 

 

Its not a loop hole. It is written in the contract you signed when you get the credit card. Most people don't read it and just accept it.

[gmbhardy]

8 minutes ago, Kamloops50 said:

Its not a loop hole. It is written in the contract you signed when you get the credit card. Most people don't read it and just accept it.

It is a loop hole, plain and simple.

[Heidi13]

36 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

It is a loop hole, plain and simple.

 

It is clearly written in the Terms & Conditions of the credit card, so how is that a loop hole. As with any insurance, it pays to read and understand the T&C, especially the exclusions. Sure pays to be an informed consumer.

[gmbhardy]

13 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

It is clearly written in the Terms & Conditions of the credit card, so how is that a loop hole. As with any insurance, it pays to read and understand the T&C, especially the exclusions. Sure pays to be an informed consumer.

It shouldn’t be in the T&C. It’s unethical and another example of corporate greed. Shame on TD. The so called insurance benefit coverage is a joke

[trixiee]

1 hour ago, gmbhardy said:

It shouldn’t be in the T&C. It’s unethical and another example of corporate greed. Shame on TD. The so called insurance benefit coverage is a joke

I don't agree.  I used my TD card to book a cruise for Jan. 22. Had to cancel due to COVID.  Got every penny back.  I'm a satisfied customer.  However, I also buy more insurance for comprehensive coverage.  I'm likely over-insured, but I sleep well at night, knowing we covered for most anything that could happen on a trip.

[gmbhardy]

28 minutes ago, trixiee said:

I don't agree.  I used my TD card to book a cruise for Jan. 22. Had to cancel due to COVID.  Got every penny back.  I'm a satisfied customer.  However, I also buy more insurance for comprehensive coverage.  I'm likely over-insured, but I sleep well at night, knowing we covered for most anything that could happen on a trip.

I think you’re very fortunate. For every satisfied customer there are dozens who have been denied claims for rediculous reasons imbedded in the T&A.

[mom says]

1 hour ago, gmbhardy said:

I think you’re very fortunate. For every satisfied customer there are dozens who have been denied claims for rediculous reasons imbedded in the T&A.

If you don't like the T&Cs there's a simple solution. Don't use that insurance coverage. Get a travel insurance policy elsewhere that does give you the coverage you want. We never rely on credit card insurance coverage for international travel due to the limitations and exclusions, which are plainly spelled out within the T&Cs.

[Fouremco]

Any type of insurance, whether travel, car, home, etc., has T&C. If you leave your car unlocked with the key in the ignition in a shady part of town, don't be surprised when the insurance won't cover your loss. That's not a loop hole, it's part of the T&C you agreed to.

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

It shouldn’t be in the T&C. It’s unethical and another example of corporate greed. Shame on TD. The so called insurance benefit coverage is a joke

 

The T&C are what governs the use of the card. That is where informed consumers check to understand the coverage and exclusions.

 

If you don't read the T&C prior to purchasing how do you know what risks are covered and more importantly, what risks aren't covered.

[bennybear]

Agree that you need to understand terms and conditions, BUT they will also do whatever to wriggle out of covering you.   A few years ago our domestic flight in Italy was cancelled due to a fire in Rome airport and it cost us 700 euros for a replacement last minute.  Our Amex at the time told us NO,   but we said we wanted to submit a claim and they actually covered it.  YMMV

[Brian V]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:11 PM, Middleager said:

Late last Fall TD said they rejected our claim, closed the case, saying we paid part of the cruise using BMO CC ?!?. 

We re-submitted the TD statements and NCL statement/invoice, showing there is no BMO any where, everything was paid with TD 1st class visa.  They then said they'll re-open the closed case and review.

 

In late Dec/2022  TD said our claim is rejected because we paid part of our cruise fare with Cruise Next, and provided their T&C.  We were supposed to pay the cruise in full with TD, in order to be covered.

 

Did you use your BMO card to settle your on board account when you purchased your CN certificates?

If so...pretty sure they got you on the T&C's

 

If you used your TD card on the cruise you purchased your CN's...you might have a case 🙂

 

Good Luck!

[Middleager]

On 1/29/2023 at 7:38 PM, Brian V said:

 

Did you use your BMO card to settle your on board account when you purchased your CN certificates?

If so...pretty sure they got you on the T&C's

 

If you used your TD card on the cruise you purchased your CN's...you might have a case 🙂

 

Good Luck!

No.  It was TD First Class visa all the way.  There was nowhere BMO came into the picture, except when TD used that reason to deny the claim initially, then admitted they made an error, and re-opened the claim (then later denied).

[ilovetotravel1977]

This is why I won't get rid of my BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard.  Trip can be paid in full or in part for the insurance.

[pink845]

We investigated this requirement that 75% of our British Isles cruise upcoming this summer be charged to the TD Card with TD Insurance representatives directly over the phone (I called several times over several days to make sure I was getting the right information and jotted down all their names and locations) and had them send me the link to the Insurance Certificate so that we / them could go through line by line the certificate as it pertains to Medical, Trip Interruption and Trip Cancellation coverage because we too had moons ago (under 2 years) bought several of the Future Cruise deposits with Princess for $100 bucks each) and I wanted to make darn sure, I had coverage for all the above.  So for us, everything, hotels, cars, the cruise, the air, the whole darn trip is on TD with the exception of $200 bucks (the future cruise credits) and TD told us specifically, we will be covered for all the above, M, TI and TC).  Did not ask about the luggage, but we are not checking anything this time so not worried there, but if we were we would normally buy a separate policy through RBC Insurance for Luggage alone to get a higher value covered than what our credit cards usually offer.  TD was not willing to sell a separate luggage only policy in the past.  On top of this, there are monetary limits on the TD policies (check each credit card separately depending on which TD card you have) as to how much trip cancellation money is covered and how much Trip Interruption is covered.  We have found that based on the price of our trip / airfare (all those prepaid expenses) that we of course have exceeded the limit and are having to purchase additional cancellation insurance and additional trip interruption insurance.  As we have yet to make final payment on the cruise, days prior to that payment being made, we will purchase that top up insurance.  Worth every penny in my opinion.   Insurance is such as pain and they try their best not to pay, so it is up to us to read the fine print.