I got bitten by a dog in India and had to get rabies shots. On the good side, World Nomads referred me to a travel clinic in Scotland (where I had flown a couple of days later) to receive the shots. On the awful side, they are now totally unhelpful and dodgy about reimbursing this simple and very modest expense. I filed a claim promptly on returning home, got an e-mail from World Nomads saying my claim had been received and would be processed, and then... nothing. Now, trying to contact someone who will see this through is extremely frustrating. The policy is very clear about reimbursing necessary medical expenses; why can't they reimburse one for under $100 in a prompt and helpful way? There's a lot of happy talk on their website about people in bad situations being reimbursed for their expenses, but at this point I don't believe them and wouldn't recommend World Nomads.

The reason you by insurance is so that you are covered. My baggage was delayed and I had PIR report and documentation and then denied my claim. Baggage Delay over a day is covered in the insurance. This is illegal for an insurance company to not uphold the plan that I bought.

My husband and I were in Sacred Valley, Perú. It was the eve of our long awaited first visit to Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, just after midnight my husband suffered a pretty bad gastrointestinal episode in our hotel room. Our itinerary called for a 5 AM wake up time. Needless to say, we were able to sleep only for about three hours... There was no way that we could continue with our itinerary, as he (and me, too) needed to rest and recover. Fortunately, we had arranged for a second day in Machu Picchu, which saved us from missing such an incredible destination, but we still had to purchase new Vistadome train tickets, as well as new bus tickets for a later in the day departure. We ended up spending $300 dollars in order to catch up. WORLD NOMADS demanded a physician's letter in order to reimburse us....I honestly don't know how can one see a physician at one o'clock in the morning in that place, and can't imagine wasting the precious few hours that we had left to rest attempting to find out....Additionally, after finding out that we had unnecessarily paid double for the travel insurance (once for me and once for my husband, when a married couple only needs one payment), WORLD NOMADS refused to reimburse me.

My review is been long due. I feel a responsibility to share my experience so fellow travelers have the option to chose. We bought the best option insurance for my husband and I just in case something happens. We had a few claims with some incidentals. First of all the process for submitting the claims is an ordeal. Clearly the company is making it very difficult to submit for a reimbursement.There is a pile of paperwork that needs to be submitted with redundant information. When they ask you for a proof of Nomad Travel Insurance payment (that they have on records) makes you wonder what their goal is. They are still processing the claims from September 2014 (last year, 13 months later). The forms they claimed to send never arrived. I asked 3-4 times. The last email I sent for follow up on September 17th (33 days ago) was still not answered. The most concerning one was, our insurance got canceled because we had a layover in a hub that is within 70 miles of our home address. Thus we lost coverage but also $800 for the insurance fees. You can decide if this is worth while. I would never use Nomad again.

I recently had the misfortune of being hospitalised for one night in the USA. As turned out I only had bad reflux. But being cautious the hospital ran certain tests to see if I may have suffered a heart attack which thank the Lord I did not. Then the fun started with a mob called speciality assist based in London. When I contacted them about my claim on numerous occasions no one seemed to show any empathy and basically all answers they gave me appeared to be generic and very unhelpful. Even the case manager had I couldn't care less attitude. There feedback to me was even worse there was none. It was only after contacting the medical assist team in Sydney did things happen and they were great. After filing a complaint with World Nomads I received a two page response from speciality assist London outlining everything they did for me and basically saying they gave me great service. As my policy expired before I returned to Australia which I subsequently extended World Nomads will no longer cover my Reflux it is now classified as Pre existing condition. There policy covers this condition as pre existing only if you haven't sort treatment in the last two years. Check the fine print and shop around...

I was impacted by the snowfall in England last Christmas and put in a claim for an additional £300 of expenses that were incurred as a result through cancellation/rebooking. The claim was not accepted with World Nomads advising that they only accept claims for cancellation that are made prior to the day of intended travel. The main reason I went with them is because I was able to take out the policy whilst living in the UK after leaving my own country of Australia.

Basically, World Nomads provide cheap and very basic cover and as my policy still applies I very much hope they will cover me in the case of a real medical emergency (although they provide no option of cover for pre-existing medical conditions . . .). If you have the option of going with a different company, I would.