Travel Guard Insurance Refund

You should be able to cancel the insurance and get your premium back since you aren’t going to use it and you haven’t filed a claim.

Oh, thanks, Lori. We're in the same boat; our May 18 RS Best of South Italy tour was cancelled, as well. And yes, RSE has been wonderful.

I wasn't sure what to do about the trip insurance; I considered waiting to see if we would be able to take a later trip, in which case I could just change the coverage dates (and add to it a few non-refundable things.) But just cancelling would be as easy, and more certain.

Just spoke with rep at Travel Guard. All refund requests must be done online. Go to www.travelguard.com ... along the top in red it reads "We are currently experiencing high call volumes...please use our self-service options on this website" which is a clickable link. Scroll to bottom "Refunds and Vouchers" and click box on far right. Drop down menu select "refund" even though it has been more than 15 days since purchased policy and complete form. The rep said he cannot guarantee will get refund but if denied refund, will get a voucher good for two years for full price of premium paid.

Thanks, askcoachnancy. I'll follow up tomorrow.

Thank you, Nancy! Great information. I just filed my request for a refund/voucher with them for my tour starting tomorrow and will do so in a few days for the tour beginning late May, which was just cancelled. I requested a refund but a voucher for future needs will be fine, too. I plan to start booking again, just as soon as possible! Truthfully, I am not sure I would have thought to do this if not for your post. So, than you again for this timely information.

I submitted a refund request this afternoon via email and received a reply stating they would give me an answer in 15 - 20 business days.

Did anyone get a refund? I was told since it had been over 15 days since I paid for the insurance, even though I didn’t use it, I couldn’t get a refund, only a voucher to apply to future travel.

On 4/9/2020, I submitted a Travel Guard refund request via online form (not via email). We didn't receive a confirmation email that request was received or in process. Did anyone else submit form online and if yes, receive a confirmation email?

Our April trip to Ireland was cancelled of course. Because we very much want to take the trip we quickly booked the same tour for October of this year. (Call us optimistic!). I called Travel Guard directly, explained the situation to the agent, and was told she could cancel our policy and transfer our payment to the new trip. It was that simple.

Coach Nancy, I submitted a request online April 10 and this was the response:

Thank you for emailing the AIG Travel team; Your email is being
reviewed and you should expect to receive a response within 15-20
business days.

I haven't heard back from them yet, but it's only been 10 - 12 business days.

OPNancy-my sister and I were booked on the RS Greece tour to depart 11 April. We both applied online the same day (about 15th or so of April) for TG refunds. She received the same response as Jane and I received not a word. I’ll wait a few days to see if I hear anything before I call. I’m following this thread with interest as I will be doing the same thing with the Adriatic tour I had booked for the end of May.

I received vouchers good for 2 years. I applied online on April 6 and received the vouchers on April 23.

Thanks, Mary. That gives us a timeline. And vouchers good for two years works for us. I hope there's a cash choice for the folks for whom this trip really was a "once in a lifetime" event.

OK, our situation squares with Mary's. Here's the email I go today:

April 28, 2020
RE: Policy Number XXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for your request. We have reviewed your request for a
premium refund. It is our policy that all premium refund requests must
be submitted within 15 days of the effective date of the policy,
however, we are pleased to offer you a travel insurance credit voucher
in the amount of $339.00. The policy has now been canceled with
coverage no longer in effect.

This voucher is valid until the expiration date listed below and can
be used toward the transfer of your original premium to an alternate
travel insurance policy. This voucher must be redeemed through the
original travel agency listed. Please be advised that the voucher is
only good for a one-time use. If the premium of your future policy is
less than the value of your voucher, a refund or additional voucher
will not be provided.

When you are ready to purchase, contact your travel agency or our 24/7
World Service Center at 1.800.826.1300. Please have the voucher
number listed below ready to give to the representative.

Thank you for choosing Travel Guard.

PLEASE RETAIN THE BELOW VOUCHER AS YOUR CONFIRMATION

THIS VOUCHER WILL NOT BE MAILED.

NAME: Jane Xxxxxx

AGENCY: 000569

VALUE: $339.00

DATE ISSUED: 04/28/2020

EXPIRATION: 04/28/2022

VOUCHER NUMBER: 9xxxxxx

I would have preferred a cash refund, since I had considered using a different company next time, but this will do. We're certainly planning to travel within the next two years.

I did receive a "request received" email from them a day or two after I submitted my request. Last evening I received the same email as Jane. It is a fine solution for me as I also plan to be traveling within the next two years. One trip down and one to go. Good luck, Nancy.

I had an inexpensive Medical Evac policy with them for my trip in May. I did the online request and was expecting a voucher but today I received an email stating they were refunding my premium. As I plan to use them again, I would have been happy with either. It took about 15 days.

Today I finally got confirmation that my Aer Lingus RT Seattle-Dublin flight was officially canceled (more on that on an Aer Lingus discussion). I applied for a refund from Travel Guard within 30 minutes of dealing with Aer Lingus. In the "reason for cancellation" box I put the following in exactly the way below. The box does not wrap the text, so it was one long string.

Rick Steves Best of Ireland in 14 Days tour May 9-21 2020 canceled. Beginning hotel in Dublin closed. Ending hotel in Belfast closed. Aer Lingus round trip flight Seattle to Dublin, departing May 4 2020 and returning May 23 canceled.

I hope that was enough reasons!

My coverage effective date was November 26 2019 because, as always, I buy early to get the Pre-existing Medical Condition Exclusion Waiver. To get the waiver the fine print says, "The Company will waive this exclusion if you meet the following conditions: 1. You purchase the plan within 15 days of making your initial trip payment." My initial trip payment was the deposit on the tour on November 13 2019. Travel Guard sent me the trip insurance confirmation on November 25 2019, well within the 15 day limit.

Bit of a catch-22, eh? I hope they will see the light about the conflict of their rules. It is highly likely that this would have been my last European trip, so a voucher is probably not the best option for me.

BTW, I got the"response within 15-20 business days" immediately after submitting the form.

Lo, wait; what? Last European trip? Say it isn't so...

I hope the planned Ireland trip isn't my last, but I'm not going much of anywhere until things settle down and there's an effective vaccine.

I'm probably a bit more wary than many because my mother's mother died at the age of 19 in November 1918 in Vanoss, OK from a combination of childbirth and the 1918 Flu Pandemic. She was in the most vulnerable group back then,
young pregnant women.

Obviously 25% of my DNA came from her and now over 100 years later, I'm in the most vulnerable group. The last thing I want to do is to put myself in a totally avoidable situation where history could repeat itself.

Here's the answer I received from Travel Guard this morning in response to my refund request. No mention of a voucher.

We have received your request to cancel your policy xxxxxxxxxx. Based on the terms of our policy, your request is denied. As outlined in the Description of Coverage:

FIFTEEN DAY LOOK
You may cancel this insurance by giving the Company or the agent written notice within the
first to occur of the following: (a) 15 days from the Effective Date of your insurance; or (b)
your scheduled Departure Date. If you do this, the Company will refund your premium paid
provided no insured has filed a claim under this Policy. After this 15 day period, the premium is
non-refundable.

Our company always strives to give the finest quality service to our customers, while administering the contract as it is written.

Thank you,

Eric, I wish I had paid better attention. We are now within 15 days of our scheduled departure date.

Oh, well. A lesson learned for next time.

Jane,

If you bought your policy some time back, the initial 15 days from the Effective Date seem to apply. Near as I can tell, the Effective Date is essentially when you paid your premium.

I'm curious as to why some are receiving vouchers. That wasn't offered to me.

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that travel insurance is a ripoff.

UPDATE ... received this reply from Travel Guard on 5/16/2020:
"The furthest we can put the voucher expiration date out is 2 years from the issue date. For example, today the expiration of the voucher would be 5/16/2022. I want to make clear, you do not have to travel by the expiration date, you just must book a trip and purchase the insurance for that trip by the expiration date. You know this all is so unknown as well, many have asked about voucher extensions too. As mentioned, we can’t extend a voucher past 2 years however, if it wasn’t used by the expiration date, at that time a request could be submitted to have it extended. I hope this helps."

Great news and we requested a voucher. :-)

For those who might be considering a different provider for future trips, last November, I had purchased my May trip insurance (which did not include Cancel For Any Reason) through Nationwide. I have received a full refund.

They inquired whether I had "decided not to travel" or whether my providers had cancelled the trip. After providing copies of the cancellation and full refund notices from RSE Tours and British Airways, Nationwide issued the refund, as an exception to their usual 15 day cancellation window.

I presume that if I had "decided not to travel" they might have decided not to issue a refund. When we originally considered rescheduling, they offered a Trip Postponement, a normal option (not specific to the pandemic) available for travel 18 months from the original departure date.

We also had our Ireland trip cancelled. Travel Guard issued us a 2 year voucher for future travel. Have to go online to contact them, they did not answer emails or phone calls. There were only 2 options which were a voucher or a refund (but the insurance had to of been bought within 15 days). They sent us an email about 2 weeks after we submitted our online claim. Hope this helps!

I hope my experience today will be helpful to others. I have a couple of other replies up thread.

I was one of the many who requested an insurance refund from Travel Guard and got the canned response related to this quote: "You may cancel this insurance by giving the Company or the agent written notice within the first to occur of the following: (a) 15 days from the Effective Date of your insurance; or (b) your scheduled Departure Date. If you do this, the Company will refund your premium paid provided no insured has filed a claim under this Policy. After this 15 day period, the premium is non-refundable."

I got the vouchers like most people have mentioned on other threads that mention Travel Guard insurance.

Then I saw Ann from New York's posting on a difference thread and started a PM discussion with her about the timeline details of her policy that might have affected her getting one so easily. Bottom line was that we both had purchased our policies months ago and the effective dates for both were the day after purchase. Both our departures were in May, although not the same day in May.

I got through to Travel Guard today by using the Rick Steves number (800-400-9509) and selecting the option to buy or learn about travel insurance. I talked to a guy named Blake. If you call that RS number, ask for him. The following is what I learned.

New York is the only state whose insurance laws require that you get a refund.

The rest of us can really only get a travel insurance refund from TG if we cancel within 15 days of the effective date of our policy. There's a slight chance of getting one after that under rare circumstances.

The only other way to be eligible for a refund is if you get Medevac/medical insurance only. In that case the effective date is the same as the start date, i.e. the date of departure.

Don't give up! I just received a full refund from Travel Guard. Here's how I did it:
1) Filed a consumer complaint with the State Insurance Commisioner (I live in WA) stating I was dissatisfied with the insurance credit voucher offered and demanded a refund of the insurance premium.

2 )Insurance Commission sent a letter with a copy of the complaint to National Union Fire asking them to respond to the issues raised in the complaint.

3) Response from National Union Fire/TravelGuard: Upon review of the complaint, Travel Guard made an exception to issue a full refund of the Insured’s premium.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info and your tenacity, newmalick. I'm gonna try that from AZ.

This is a follow up to “Sophie’s” success with Travel Guard Refund posted 7/29/20. I decided to follow the lead since Sophie had success recovering the premium credit. We originally were offered a voucher, expiration 7/2022. I sent a complaint and attached original request to my insurance commission (WA St.) The commission responded the following day and demanded TG respond by 8/20. They did and reported they are crediting our premium back to our bank card.

The back story: We purchased our premium 12/2019 for 9/2020. We don’t know if or when we will travel again.

Like Sophie remarked, don’t give up. Thank you to Sophie and our State Insurance Commission.

Thank you Sophie ... because you posted how you received a refund, I followed your advice and I also received a 100% refund from Travel Guard without sending a letter to state insurance commissioner! This is the email I sent to Travel Guard:

"Although we were grateful that you issued us a travel voucher, we felt we had no choice but to accept the voucher or lose our money. As I shared with you previously, both the airline and Rick Steves Tours issued us a 100% refund. And we were referred to Travel Guard by Rick Steves Tours.

I just learned that someone who was going to be on our tour received a full refund from Travel Guard because they wrote a complaint letter to their State Insurance Commissioner stating that they were dissatisfied with the insurance credit voucher and demanded a full refund of the insurance premium. Their State Insurance Commissioner contacted Travel Guard and Travel Guard made an exception and issued them a full refund.

I thought I would check with you one more time and ask for a full refund before contacting our Texas State Insurance Commissioner to file a complaint and ask for a full refund.

Hoping you make an exception and grant our request for a full refund without us contacting our state insurance commissioner. Please let us know as soon."

askcoachnancy- Thank you for sharing your refund story. I thought your letter to Travel Guard was very well written and on point. I sense Travel Guard has received many requests since you posted back in April. Our ins. commission in WA State is filing our complaint to analyze future complaints. They are looking for a pattern. I hope more people speak out and receive refunds. Happy future travels!