Keep pushing. Insurance companies typically make you fight for your money, hoping you'll get fed up and walk away.

If they sent you any sort of paperwork or emails that said you were covered, remind them you relied upon that information and expect it to be honored as your decision to cancel the trip was based on that info.

If they still say no, file a claim in your local small claims court. Doesn't matter if they owe you more than the max amount...most likely, they will pay attention to you once they get the notice and you won't have to actually go to court.

I'm not a lawyer and there are lots of them who do post on Fodors so maybe one of them will have advice for you.

But as I see it -- you were not covered for that sort of cancellation. Whether or not they sent you a copy of the incorrect DOC after the fact, the DOC that was in effect at the time you booked didn't cover this.

The human error essentially involved sending you a copy of a DOC for a different policy -- not yours. But that doesn't change the DOC you contracted for.

It is a shame IMO but I really think you are SOL.

Maybe the fact that their info meant you didn't try to re-book/salvage something will make a difference/help???

The terms of the policy YOU PURCHASED will govern what is covered and what is not. It makes no difference what the terms of other policies are ONLY the one you purchased. That's why it's important to read the fine print to make sure it covers the event you wish to insure against. One thing that many people misunderstand is that there are many different types of Travel Insurance and not all have "storm related" coverage. You should have been given a copy of the policy at the time of your purchase. Look through your travel documents and review the policy terms to find out if you actually had "hurricane" coverage. If so, you'll have the basis for a proper claim. If you don't have that coverage no amount of pleading will help.

Thanks for all these replies!

@Janisi and RoamsAround - The main issue is that NO ONE is able to tell me what the policy is that I purchased. The call center is telling me I purchased one description of coverage under which my claim is generally coverable and the claims arbitrator is telling me I am covered under a different policy under which my claim is not covered.

Also, after speaking with Travelguard again this morning they said that there never was a revision of any Travelocity description of coverage and they were confused as to why the claims arbitrator would say that. They said they only issue ONE policy to Travelocity customers for International flights and that is the DOC under which I would be generally covered.

OK, got it.

Since you are now being told by Travelguard that they only issue one policy to Travelocity customers and you believe your loss is a covered event I'd suggest you ask to speak with a supervisor to see if they can help resolve the matter. Keep going up the ladder until you get someone who can fully explain how and under what terms your claim is being processed (either approved or denied, as the case may be).

Whatever you do, keep your cool and don't let your emotions get in the way during the process. Don't threaten to take your future business elsewhere as then they have no incentive to assist you. Instead tell them you have confidence in their company, you are aware they are one of the leading travel insurance companies and you are sure there has been some mistake in processing your claim. Then state the facts and the reason you believe your claim should be paid. If necessary, write a letter to the President or Chairman of the company briefly outlining your problem and ask him/her to assist you. He/she probably won't do it personally but often they will pass your inquiry on to a senior executive who can. Keep your letter brief and stick only to the facts. You'd be surprised and how often this tack will result in a favorable disposition.

Good luck.

Thank you for pointing out the importance of actually reading and understanding any insurance policy before buying it (and, similarly, reading and understanding any contract before signing it). Had you read the policy, you wouldn't be in your current situation. But from what you have written, you don't even have a copy of the policy.

As to what you can do now, I suspect the letter denying your claim went on to tell you how to contest that decision, which is most likely by arbitration. But you probably didn't read that either.

When one pays for insurance, they send a copy of all "small print" in e-mail. You bought your insurance through Travelocity, so most likely you don't have it. And as they've changed the insurance terms, there is nothing on their website that helps you, it looks.

Just try everything you can: BBB, Atty general, newspaper, tv.

I'm not sure why you would purchase a policy from Travelocity without reading it.

You said you bought the International Travel Policy from Travelocity because it was hurricane season. Were you told at the time you purchased this policy back in April what coverage you would receive? Were you not concerned when you didn't receive a copy of the policy you purchased? Did you contact Travelocity and ask for a copy of the policy you purchased?

IMO, without a copy of the policy you had no way of knowing WHAT you had paid for. And that is asking for trouble.

Hi @beran2401 This is Joe from Travel Guard. Sorry to hear about your experience with us. Having been with Travel Guard for a number of years, I can assure you, we are an extremely customer-focused company and take great care to ensure our customers walk away feeling good about our service. Stories like yours are uncommon. I've read it carefully and I believe you have a legitimate concern. It seems there has been some miscommunicaiton at some point in the process.

I'd love to advocate for you on this to help reach a fair resolution on your behalf. I've spoken to one of our senior arbitrators and together we reviewed the details of your case. She will be calling you with some news I hope you're happy with. In the meantime, feel free to email me, Joe, at: Travelguard@travelguard.com with any questions or concerns you may have.

Best,
Joe

Kudos to Travel Guard!

Beran2401 pls let us know how this turns out. I have used Travel Guard in the past, but have been lucky enough never to have to test their claims process. Indeed, I have an existing policy with them now for an upcoming trip.

It things don't work out head to small claims court. Its a simple procedure, though it can take some time. The T&C that applied to your trip were those set forth in the policy that you purchased, not a subsequent one. Kontract law is in your favor, assuming the T&Cs are different. Good luck.

I am happy to hear that Travel Guard will review your claim. Based on what you have written, you relied on incorrect information given you by a representative of Travel Guard which led you to believe that you had a covered claim and you acted based on that misinformation. Many readers of this forum use Travel Guard insurance, and I think the company has more to loose than the cost of reimbursing you for your airline tickets, if they do not review your claim and pay you. Please let us know how things turn out.

Beware of the 'preexisting condition' scam! Travel Guard will deny your claim on this basis, even if it's injury sustained after the purchase of their policy (see below).

I purchased travel insurance from Travel Guard on November 7, 2010. The coverage included trip cancellation due to injury. Late at night on the same day I got into an accident, resulting in hand injury, and checked into the Beth Israel Emergency Department the following day. Due to the accident, I had orthopedic surgery on November 12, which caused me to cancel my trip.

Based on the above, I filed an insurance claim with Travel Guard. After collecting all the paperwork and months of follow-ups, the claim was denied on the basis of 'preexisting medical condition.' Although my injury was most certainly not a preexisting condition or a condition known before the purchase of the policy, I was unable to appeal it. It was impossible to get a hold of anyone in the claims department over the phone. Responses received via voice-mail did not result in a resolution.

I lost both the trip cost and $131 spent on the purchase of the Travel Guard policy.

Was coverage denied for a preexisting condition or because coverage did not begin until 12:01am the day after you paid for the policy, which would be standard for most insurance policies?

Sorry for your trouble have confronted similar issues in the

past if you paid with credit cards you can file disputes

and trigger investigations for free threaten to do this.

Also threaten to file a complaint with insurance commission

of your state they do not like this always do this with

a supervisor.Might speak also to a supervisor threaten to

file a complaintwith www.bbb.org Travel Guard's current

rating/record(currently A+ below.

These complaints concerned:

1 regarding Advertising Issues
1 regarding Advertising Issues

7 regarding Billing or Collection Issues
7 regarding Billing or Collection Issues

24 regarding Contract Disputes
24 regarding Contract Disputes

8 regarding Customer Services Issues
8 regarding Customer Services Issues

1 regarding Delivery Issues
1 regarding Delivery Issues

4 regarding Guarantee Or Warranty Issues
4 regarding Guarantee Or Warranty Issues

2 regarding Not Classified
2 regarding Not Classified

60 regarding Refund Or Exchange Issues
60 regarding Refund Or Exchange Issues

8 regarding Selling Practices
8 regarding Selling Practices

13 regarding Service Issues
13 regarding Service Issues

These complaints were closed as:

19 Administratively Closed
5 BBB determined that despite the company’s reasonable effort to address complaint issues, the consumer remained dissatisfied.
6 BBB determined that despite the company's effort to address complaint issues, the consumer remained dissatisfied.
3 BBB determined the company made good faith and reasonable offer to resolve the issues, but the consumer did not accept the offer.
4 BBB determined the company provided proper verification that indicated there was no obligation to resolve the issues of the complaint.
1 BBB determined the company provided proper verification that indicated there was no obligation to resolve the issues of the complaints.

76 Assumed Resolved
8 Assumed Resolved
17 Assumed Resolved
29 Assumed Resolved
22 Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to the BBB.

33 Resolved.

Hope this is of some help the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

In the future might www.insuremytrip.com separately with

accountable quality companies cheap wise and copy cotracts.

I always do saved me twice last year in the Iceland volcano

and Ecuador civil unrest got 100% of my money back X 2.

Good luck!

Beran: I would love to hear how this turned out. I have used TravelGuard for several trips, but have never had to file a claim. I now have to consider buying insurance within 10 days for an upcoming trip (have to cover pre-existing condition), and I'd be interested in the follow through in your matter.

This is like a nightmare. I generally purchase a annual travel insurance policy as I travel frequently. Now I will have to look into buying something else. I generally buy from a online agent http://www.nriol.net/. Will check and find something better now.

You could write to the travel guru Christopher Elliot or the ombudsman at the Conde Nast magazine. Sometimes big names can make things work for you.

TravelGuard outsources its claims operation to something called Mercury, and they're very bad at responding to e-mails. We had to deal with them on a delayed-baggage claim, and it's fortunate that Air France paid up and we didn't need the TravelGuard coverage.

I almost never buy travel insurance, because I keep hearing stories about how hard it is to collect if there is a problem.

in the UK, travel agents don't even like letting you out the shop unless you purchase travel insurance (and i'd never consider travelling outside of europe without it) but i meet very few people outside of the uk who even consider it, is it just that difficult to make claims?

Even if it is a matter of old policy of vs new policy, I would take a good look at the old policy. The rewriting in the new policy might actually give you an argument as to why your issue is covered under the old policy.

The old DOC might have said something like: "You are covered if the hotel is rendered uninhabitable".

Based on maybe they got claims that saying that "uninhabitable" was due to too many bugs or too much noise or thin walls. So they clarified it to say what uninhabitable meant in the new policy. In this case, your issues WERE covered.

Sounds like TravelGuard is getting ready to do the right thing, though.

The DOC at travelocity today does cover "no water or electricity". It is dated October 2009.

It also says that it is NOT APPLICABLE to residensts of TEN states! Sez to go to travelguard.com/fulfillment or call a phone number.

This is what I foud:
content.travelguard.com/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=7001

I got to that DOC by following links at travelocity when I went through the process of booking an air+hotel package, but stopped short of purchasing.

fredandgingermad - I believe more and more people in the US are purchasing travel insurance - especially with the events going on in the world today. I've never heard of not purchasing because of a claim issue though it maybe because of lack of knowledge of how travel insurance could truly benefit them if a mishap occured while on vacation.

Leah12, the nightmare comes from confusion over which policy the OP bought and not (yet) about what the purchased policy covers.

What I learned from this thread is that we need to be more proactvie when a claim is denied. The insurance company might be confused so we should not rely on them.

In the OP's case the policyholder needs to be able to at least identify the policy

oops. continuing that post:

The policyholder needs to be able to at least identify the policy that applies.

In the OP's case I am pretty sure that means calling the company and telling them that the applicable policy is "Travel Protection Plan 008616 P3 10/2009".

The policyholder might then trust the insurer rep to read and understand it, but better would be that the policyholder understands it.

In this case, the trip cancellation and interuption coverage, part (d) covers the "Destination being made Uninhabitable by Natural Disaster" (the uppercase first letters in those terms identify them as being defined in the policy.

Their definition of Destination is met by the destination being shown on the travel documents. Natural Disaster includes hurricane and flood. Definition 4) of Uninhabitable is "the rental property is without electricity or water". Even the word "or" is important there if the Destination had electricity!

It is a valid claim if that is the plan. The plans applicable to different states PROBABLY have the same coverage and definitions.

I reread the OP. Maybe the policy I found at travelocity, apparently dated 2009, does not apply. The lesson learned is to read and downloading & saving the policy before buying it. It is provided beforehand and probably is required by law.

Anne_Traveler - I noticed that all 4 of your posts on Fodors, going back over the last year, are about travel insurance. Is that a particular interest of yours?

A few years late, but I'm an insurance agent and have a few thoughts that may be helpful to future travelers...

Generally speaking, insurance policies require insureds to take reasonable steps to mitigate losses. It's typically not okay, and a claim wouldn't be paid, if you do not take steps to reduce losses. For instance, if the roof blew off your house and you didn't take reasonable steps to cover it, the insurance company would probably deny claims for property damage caused by failure to cover the roof with a tarp. In the case of travel insurance, if the airline would have refunded any amount, but you did nothing to request refund, then the claim would be denied.

In reading posts above, it appears TravelGuard did, in fact, step up to the plate and take care of your problem. TravelGuard is an excellent company with wonderful claims handling.

Nice to have inside track info here.