Even when give a complete set of supporting documents, Swiftcover/AXA Insurance will simply ignore them and try to get away with paying the minimum. I have only said I was "successful" because I extracted partial payment of my legitimate claim. I have now made four chasing phone calls - none of which should have been necessary - to get them to do their job properly and am still waiting for a second cheque. I have paid travel insurance for 40 years and this is the FIRST CLAIM I have ever made - so i have subsidised this industry up to the hilt. Swiftcover will - if you actually get through to someone who admits to working for travel insurance claims - tell you all sorts of things to reassure you, but then do nothing about it. As with many large companies, their overpaid "managers" refuse to demean themselves by getting off their backsides to talk to a mere client, and hide behind the footsoldiers. In an industry which for decades has been a byword for incompetence, Swiftcover maintains the tradition.

I had Swiftcover insurance that expired last week. To my surprise, Swiftcover have sent me an email saying 'We've renewed your annual insurance!'. They didn't ask me if I wanted to renew the cover, and sent no advance warning (as they , so this was quite surprising. I wrote an email back asking them to cancel it, to which they haven't replied. I've now been on hold to their 0871 number for 10 minutes trying to cancel it - they claim they sent me a reminder, I can see from my email inbox/spam filter they didn't. VERY DUBIOUS!

Absolute useless... Waste of time and money!! DO NOT USE!

We travelled as a family, group of 7 in April and were stranded in America for an extra 10 days due to the Volcanic ash cloud and we were told we could claim for this

On arrival back to the UK we claimed and were told £25 per day per person could be claimed, 7days later we chased and they declined this saying they need boarding passes. We sent these and chased 5 days later and they said they needed a letter from the airline... sent this and chased 7days later to find they need another letter, sent this and are still chasing to this day - 4 months on!!

They aren't willing to compensate anyone terrible company!

Although easy to set up (as stated in previous reviews), when it comes to making a claim this company is appalling. We were unable to travel in April due to Volcanic Ash and 10 weeks after making a claim for loss of hotel costs etc, we were refused under a late departure clause. I would never use them again and would not recommend them.

Annual holiday to Goa, week into holiday had deep vein thombosis, 5 days in the hospital and a operation to save my leg, Swiftcover, reimbursed me within a month of my return to the uk as I paid via direct debit to the hospital, to save time and also my leg! No quibble I felt the service was very good. I just sent all the receipts by recorded delivery. What more could you ask for? Jasckie.

i wouldn't insure an animal with this company. they are liars using clever celebrity endorsements to hoodwink the needy out of their last few pennies. of all the companies i have been ripped off by this one has to be the most diabolical. i went abroad and Swift cover clearly stated if i lost my cash i was covered and they refused to pay.

total morons, they couldn't even be bothered to apologize or retun all the travel documents i wasted time and money sending to them.

some money blew out of my pocket while abroad and i promptly informed the police. i was told by swiftcover i was entitled to compensation as i purchased the policy before a wording change. swiftcover treated me with contempt and never even said sorry for turning down my claim. they are a waste of time and money

Swiftcover travel insurance is APPALLING. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

My partner and I were abroad in France when we learned that one of his colleagues had tragically died (of breast cancer at a young age) and we needed to come home for the funeral. It cost us more than £600 to cancel our existing arrangements and rebook everything. Swiftcover refused to cover us. Why?

First of all, they claimed that we weren't covered for employees, only death of close family. Luckily, I had the contract to hand, and was able to discover and point out that this was a barefaced lie - the contract says you are covered for "close business associates".

Next, they tried to argue that the colleague wasn't a "close business associate". After I said that the company only had four employees and they all worked together closely, they reluctantly accepted it. But then they argued that...

The contract says you must inform them of any pre-existing medical conditions that might result in you having to come home. Since we hadn't told them she had breast cancer, it was apparently not covered! Well, firstly:

- I said that we'd taken the travel insurance out six months ago, and didn't know the condition was terminal at that point - they said we should have informed them when the condition became terminal. Well, we only found out she was terminally ill a week ago, and at that point we were very upset. The last thing on our minds was ringing the insurers to tell them!

- Also, I said that they hadn't asked me upfront at the time of buying the insurance whether anyone we knew was ill. They said it was in the small print in the contract, so it was our fault for not reading it.

Summary: Swiftcover were appalling and insensitive. From the first minute of the phone call I had the sense that they were going to find any excuse they could not to pay out (including simply lying about the policy).

It's hard to describe how horrible it was having to argue over the phone just after we'd found out that someone we knew had died.

And they left us totally in the lurch, hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

AVOID!!!

The most awful of experience of an insurance company ever. We lodged a genuine claim with all documentary evidence. Swiftcover travel insurance is underwritten by another company who couldn't care less. Have now escalated to the financial services ombudsman for review. Swiftcover was cheap, but then they don't cover you. Do yourself a favour and look elsewhere.

Easy to buy. Cheap. Very cheap. Easy to use website. Insurance certificate immediately available (as a PDF). Answered a couple of queries promptly by email. No experience of their claims handling efficiency.