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Trip Mate review: trip mate travel insurance requires the impossible 4

L
Author of the review
3:40 pm EDT
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In May my boyfriend and I planned a 2 week trip to Morocco and Paris. Our trip was fairly complex as we moved from city to city and handled all of our own transportation and hotel bookings. Given the complexity of the trip, the fact that our hotels were very small and would charge full-nights stay in the case of cancellation, and the third world nature of Morocco, travel insurance seemed like a necessity.

We purchased Trip Mate insurance, which was intended to cover us in the case of any cancellations, sickness, losses incurred, etc. We were fortunate that for the most part our trip went smoothly and we encountered no major issues. The only mishap was when my beloved coat was stolen from the luggage rack of the train from Marrakesh to Casablanca at the end of our trip. I reported the coat as lost at the Casablanca train station, but not surprisingly the harried train station staff did not speak English and were generally indifferent to the loss. They showed me the lost and found, where I did not expect my coat to be, and otherwise offered me no forms to fill out or other recourse. We had plans for our one afternoon in Casablanca before catching our flight the following morning to Paris, so dealing with non-English language police seemed like a ridiculous and futile waste of time and would have required us to waste more money by missing our pre-arranged tour of Casablanca.

All that said, I assumed my loss was covered by the insurance I spent good money on. Isn't that the point of insurance? I filled out the necessary Trip Mate paperwork and submitted my claim. My coat cost $208.50 from J Crew, and I was able to provide proof of that, and I sent a detailed explanation of the loss and the steps I took to notify the train authorities.

Imagine my dismay when my claim was denied. The reason? I don't have an official train form claiming the loss. Mind you, no such form exists, and I did all I could do at the station to explain my loss to non-English speaking staff (and I don't speak fluent French or Arabic). In an effort to fix the situation, I had the staff of one of the hotels I stayed at go to the station again on my behalf after my claim was denied. They explained the situation and were told that there is NO loss form to fill out. The website of ONCF also states that there is simply a lost and found. So there is NOTHING I could have done short of cancelling the rest of my plans and attempting to communicate my problem to what surely would have been perplexed and indifferent Moroccan police. I certainly didn't expect them to find the culprit so why would I have thought to bother?

I am a frequent traveler, and I am extremely disappointed of ind that Trip Mate doesn't come through when it's important. Their requirement of an official ONCF form is absurd - how does my ability to fill out a form (that doesn't exist) prove or disprove that the loss occurred? How does Trip Mate actually protect you in a third world country that doesn't have the infrastructure or customer service a more western nation might? I can't imagine many situations that would have inspired me to actually waste a day of my trip dealing with the police, especially for a loss that in the grand scheme of things was small.

Trip Mate once again denied my appeal with the same explanation. They have made no allowances for the fact that they require an official form that doesn't exist. What was I to do?

Avoid Trip Mate at all costs, especially if your trip is to a second or third world country. They will find an excuse to deny your claim, and they have unrealistic requirements for travelers trying to prove a loss. I wasted my hard earned cash on insurance that did NOT protect me when I needed it, and now I'm out more than 200 for my coat plus the hundred some odd bucks I paid for useless insurance.

4 comments
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Ms. Lynnn
Raleigh, US
May 06, 2014 7:58 am EDT

This is the worst company I ever ran into. I filed a claim mid March 2014 and today is May 5, 2014 and we still haven't received our refund. Every time we call they come up with a different excuse why its taking so long. If you don't get in touch with them they will not contact you. It really seems like there isn't a proper protocol for filing claims. When you talk to the different agents they continuously ask you the same questions the last agent you spoke too. I was asked 4 different times my DOB as if they weren't updating the notes. When calling to cancel the trip please specify that everyone on the trip will not be going because they will only process one person when you told them you was canceling the WHOLE trip. This help delay our status in refunding our money as well. This place really should be looked into. There is no way so many people should be upset and have such negative experiences and this place is still running. My opinion is to stay away from this company. I never had such a bad experience. I think they are rip offs and should be SHUT DOWN for the pay and suffering they put people through just to receive your refund back after purchasing insurance. Almost as if they don't want to grant you your hard earned money back so that you can move on. I urge you, find another agency. They can care less in refunding money back.

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operadude
Wethersfield, US
May 09, 2009 5:51 pm EDT

you expect insurance to pay for your used coat and your stupidity to put it in a rack on a train in the third world, grow up.

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Joe
Kansas City, US
May 07, 2009 4:17 pm EDT

When most people have an item stolen they usually call the police. If you don't know the word police in the language of the country you're going to, you may want to look into that. I'm quite sure they didn't need a TRAIN form. They needed a statement from someone in authority that shows you reported the theft at the time it happened. If they didn't ask for that kind of proof then anyone could claim anything for any reason and just milk them for money for no reason at all. You're required to show your car company a wrecked car when you make a claim, or multiple estimates, so why is this such an unreasonable request?

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a. Friend
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Sep 15, 2008 8:24 am EDT

Why dont you just CREATE a form in MS Word os similar using the ONCF logo (in French of course - using an online translator like babel fish or the like)

Send this to trip mates insurance since the form does not officially exist who are they to say it isnt "the" form.

This should satisfy they´re bureaucratic requirements and they can then pay out.

Just an idea