Budget Direct Comprehensive Travel Insurance (page 2 of 6)

We have heard of it happening in the broader insurance company community whereby the Insurer deliberately creates delays and generally makes it so hard for the consumers to pursue legitimate claims that the claimants eventually give up. Going on our own personal experiences and by looking at so many other similar instances documented on this site, it is very apparent that Budget Direct are the masters of employing these tactics. We lodged out claim for international flight refunds then followed up several times when nothing happened and were ...

Whenever I plan to take a trip overseas, I organise travel insurance, on the off chance I may need it. I had used Budget Travel before, but never had need to put in a claim. And then I booked a trip to Vegas in mid-February - at the time COVID-19 wasn't widely known, or viewed, as a pandemic, so the trip was booked and paid for, and travel insurance organised. I had to cancel the trip due to closed borders, and put in a claim. They told me it'd take a maximum of 10 days, but almost 3 weeks went by and no response, so I followed them up. Th...

Like many others here, I am really disappointed with the service received by Budget Travel insurance. I've been left waiting for well over three months with still no outcome of my travel insurance claim. During this time, I've been promised a response within 10 working days multiple times, but the timeline inevitably comes and goes. Following up on these over the phone, other promises of receiving feedback in 24-48 hours has also not been honoured. It was stressful and disappointing to cancel a once-in-a-lifetime trip due to the global pandemic...

Travel insurance PDS clearly covers for pandemics and confirm by phone. The prior to cancelling they confirmed by two separate phone calls. When it comes to claiming they don't respond, delay and then deny on obscure clauses. I have never made an insurance claim in 25 years, a loyal customer of any insurance company. I had other insurance with budget direct but why would you bother if you can't claim when needed. I do not recommend them to my worst enemy. I hope people keep reviewing dealings with them and not just the cheap price.

UPDATE- Today, 29/07, Budget have informed me that my claim has been rejected on the grounds that i didnt accept an alternative flight (which didnt suit) and/or i didnt take a credit note (which i didnt want) . Take note Budget, people have long memories.
As with travel agents, budget travel insurance is dragging its heels in assesing insurance claims. Have provided info more than once but they keep asking for the same info. My elderly father is waiting for money both from Flight Centre (another ripoff) and budget direct for over 3 months. Hard earned down the drain. Once bitten....

A pandemic hits the world and this company takes advantage of their customers instead of supporting them. They hide behind travel credits which can't be used. My husband was due to travel to Europe with mates in May and was going on a particular tour. The tour was paid up in full and was 100% non refundable. However who would have thought a pandemic would hit the world and the govt issue stage 4 travel restrictions. Budget Direct claim that we haven't taken all measures to minimise the loss but we have. We hassled the tour company and got...

I was one of the people who was affected by covid. On 23 Jan I bought comprehensive travel insurance for a trip to Bali in March. On 2 occasions before the travel restrictions were put in place I called budget direct to confirm that I would be covered in the event of cancellation. They confirmed that I would be covered. When my flights were cancelled due to stage 4 travel warning (which is covered under the PDS) I lodged my travel claim. So to ensure I did it correctly I called BD who told me very specifically not to accept any travel credits o...

Before taking out my claim I searched for a company that covered pandemics and clarified with a customer service representative if I would be covered as I wasn't sure whether to travel with the risk of covid and was told as my destination was not on the "do not travel" list I would be covered. Half way into my trip the government issued an urgent return home notice as they were going to close the border, unsure of what to do and if I could afford new flights I reached out again to Budget direct and asked if I would be able to claim this and was...

Terrible service, no communication on the progress of claim, unprofessional customer service ethics towards their customers. They don’t follow their own PDS, which leaves them open for legal action. Call center staff are rude. Terrible claims service. Still waiting for claim outcome that I lodged in March .

We purchased a full comprehensive travel insurance for 2 people, near the $800 mark. Unfortunately we have been affected by COVID-19 and due to 'do not travel' advice had to cancel our dream 5 month holiday after 3 weeks. We have incurred significant cost and Budget Direct is using all non valid excuses not to pay out our claim. They had updated their PDS mid march, we purchased it prior. So excuses made so far:
* Everyone knew about Covid end of January - you should have gone on holiday - even though they still sell the policy including cove...

Top comprehensive cover purchased in JULY last year for a two-week trip beginning of April for two 80yr olds. Trip canceled due to Covid-19. Budget Direct has refused to cover them, happy to take the $900 for the policy though, shameful to take advantage of two elderly pensioners. Sending a strongly worded request to appeal on their legal responsibilities as per the terms and conditions this week. If that fails I will be taking this further and seeking a class action against budget direct. I will let you all know their response, if they reject it again I will be back asking who else wants to join.

This is an update to my original one star review below.
After sending my appeal to the Budget Direct IDR panel, Budget Direct made good on my original claim that they initially denied. I would have given them 5 stars if I did not have to go through this the first time. But I'm glad they have been responsive to my complaint.

Here is Budget Direct response to my appeal...
"As you are aware, your claim was escalated to the Stage 1 IDR Panel for consideration. Following the Panel’s review of your claim they are pleased to advise that your claims...

I purchased travel insurance from this company in January for a trip to India in May. Trip was cancelled due to borders being closed. Silly me thought we would be covered by travel insurance. Not so according to the travel insurance company of the year. Denied as the trip was cancelled by the operator, in fact it was cancelled by the overseas service provider, after all what service could they provide. Used this company several times without making a claim. Would I recommend them or use them again. Not likely. Any excuse to get out of paying our claim. Full of excuses.

I purchased travel insurance for a 4 week trip to Europe over May/June. AND Budget Direct refused to pay out, after our trip was cancelled due to COVID19. I was told that because I didn't book insurance in January (I booked in February) that I should have known. The video below shows pdf files currently on Budget Directs website, with one file showing the travel insurance policy conditions purchased after the 5th of march 2020, and the other showing the same policy purchased BEFORE the 5th of March. (I booked BEFORE the 5th of march 2020). on p...

Do not trust this company! They make excuses to not pay genuine claims! They don't response to claims until months later! You will know if an Insurer is good during claims time and it is no point buying any insurance at low cost when they don't actually pay you when you need to make a claim. This is an extremely hard lesson I learnt googling for "best insurance companies in Australia or cheapest", cheap is bad and this is Budget Direct, their name itself is a reflection. They spent a lot of advertising money and mostly appears at the top of sea...

We put a claim in to be refunded for our tickets back home as the airline carrier declared it was cancelling certain international travel due to financial difficulties. Budget insurance are using COVID-19 as an excuse for the airline going bust. Absurd to be denied our claim on this basis as we insured our travel tickets and not for why companies go bust no matter the reason. Also our cover included pandemics so how Budget Insurance decides to choose the end of January for no cover on insurance claims relating to the pandemic is mind blowing as...

Bought travel insurance in January.Company claims credit the same as refund. Was not advised this was the case when querying if I was covered even before travel alert issued for Stage 4. Never answers emails even after many calls advising I wanted to speak to my claims rep. No return calls either. Very poor customer service. Will not purchase any other insurances after this experience

We had flights booked in January to London, and proceeded to book Italy accommodation in February (for our May trip) and had budget direct insurance taken out at the same time when Covid-19 was a problem in China only.

We stayed up to date with travel warnings and what the medical experts were saying so weren’t worried about our trip at this stage.

March is when the situation turned and it was clear it was unlikely any international travel would happen. We then reached out to a girl on the online chat about what we could do and it was clear b...

Flights to UK cancelled resulting from the pandemic, but we thought we were one of the lucky ones that wouldn't suffer loss because our travel insurance stated we were covered for a pandmic and we took it out in Dec 2022 - pre-COVID.

Unfortunately, because we have been offered a voucher by the travel agent, we are advised we are ineligible for a refund. This, despite that fact said travel voucher must be booked by end 2020, rendering it useless, in light of international travel restrictions

Budget Direct are hiding behind 'travel credits' as...

After preparing a thorough and detailed claim application and attaching all proofs of payments and cancellations, Budget Direct Travel has been asking for proofs of cancellation (2 weeks in a row) still which I believe were already posted to them initially.
I can't believe how inefficient their travel insurance is which I have not experienced with their car insurance when making claims! I have already been stressed chasing transport and accommodation refunds from a cancelled trip, and receiving further requests from them which I know have alre...

I asked for a refund on my policy for an overseas trip in July, because obviously I wouldn’t be able to take the trip. And they refunded the whole thing with one email request. I asked on Friday. The money is in today - the Tuesday after. Very impressed.

I’ll also add getting the insurance was a breeze. They need to send this team over to the home and contents and car insurance team

Perhaps Budget Direct should spend more money on its company than it's over the top TV commercial...Telling everyone how good they are...They AREN'T.
I too purchased a policy, but was unable to travel due to COVID19...
Budget said it would take ten days to get a response...well that was the first lie.
I have in my policy the PDS states that I'm covered for epidemic...But now they say that no they won't pay a thing...I can't go to the travel agent as they have gone bust too (FLY365)
I'm devastated...It took me over 12 months to save for the trip...

Lodged a claim took way to long, also had the claim refused. Making up there own story to avoid the claim,making up dates that are incorrect and very inaccurate I have all documents to support my claim.We took out our cover pre covid-19 and before any restrictions told many time we had cover for the covid -19 as there cut off was 04/03 we took the insurance out in Feb, I have many friends that have or had worked for Budget direct and they all told me there practices from budget is criminal can't believe I used them .Stay away

On 18 February we purchased a comprehensive travel insurance policy for our trip to Cambodia and Thailand. Before finalising the purchase I phoned Budget Direct twice to clarify the exclusion clauses of the policy. I was assured both times by the sales staff we would be covered for any medical and cancellation costs as Cambodia and Thailand were not on the Aus. Govt. Do Not Travel list. One week later I again rang Budget Direct and again was advised we were fully covered. We proceeded on our trip but on 13 March we were advised by Foreign Affai...

We purchased a fully comprehensive policy for our cruise /holiday through Budget . It was purchased in February with the salesperson strongly reassuring us we would be fully covered for all cancellation .This policy was worded It included epidemics .
We were told if we got covi19 while travelling were would not be covered . But would be covered should it be cancelled.
We would not have purchased this policy if it didn't include cancellation . And we were reassured we would be covered if the cruise company cancelled .
26th March long afte...