Axa Travel Insurance

This is a warning to others so that they don’t have the problems we have had with Coverwise/AXA travel insurance. Their pre-existing conditions are not clear, providing false information. We made a claim as I was very unwell with a serious condition and could not travel. However, because I had been treated for a small rash around my mouth the previous year (2023), which cleared up after 2 days of using ointment, they are treating this as a pre-existing condition for a policy I took out with them in 2004. Please be sure to inform them if you get a spot at the end of your nose, or a bout of earache, or any minor/temporary problem as they will not honour your claim. Besides this, they are rude, speak over you, send badly/misspelt correspondence and due to the dialect and call quality it makes communication impossible. The evidence they request to support the claim is never satisfactory and each request they make for further information differs, making the whole process a shambles. Mickey Mouse, unprofessional company, steer clear for your own good. They make you believe you are travelling with peace of mind but it is the complete opposite.

Filed a straight forward claim and provided them with all the details on 3rd of July 2023. Provided them with all the paper work, invoices and everything they asked for but after 4 weeks of filing the claim, I was told i filled the wrong form online (which was filled initially on their advisors instruction) and the claim is refused and I have to fill it again. The advisor on the phone refiled it and gave me a new case number.

I filed a complaint for the first claim filed and was told that they have re opened it and asked me for the same documents I already provided them. Went through everything again. Complaints team offered me £25 compensation for the inconvenience to close the complaint which i refused. Few days later, I was offered £50 but the claim or the complaint wasnt resolved so i refused.

On 7th of september I received a call followed by an email confirming the acknowledgement of the complaint and informing me that they have upheld my complaint. I was offered £75 and a promise that it will be resolved within 5 working day but even today, on 21st of September, its still not resolved and none of the advisors can help either.

STAY AWAY FROM AXA AS THEY ARE THE WORSE

This company is a complete jokes. how many times I have to send you my bank details????. BA doesn't give any reason to cancel the flight and why do you have to know and need to know? I pay for you for travel insurance. Send you the confirmation about cancellation email. Sent you a new ticket that I had to buy. How many times I need to send them again?????? Keep repeating and asking for documents. And extremely unprofessional as you mention you only cover for the first 12 hours delay. Then you hid the information about you cover up to £2000. I had to find in the policy and show you. You shut up for a while and now asking me all those non sense documents which I have sent in the very first begging. You don't know how to read? PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

disgraceful company.. avoid at all costs!! repeatedly lie that claim is being dealt with 5 month down the line. Havnt even bothered replying to official complaint made either. Financial ombudsman it is. Could well do without all this stress. Chose this company as i thought it would be trustworthy.. wish i had read reviews

Has to cancel a trip due to my son developing a serious health issue and needing a number of operations including on the day we should have flown. Supplied all medical letters numerous times. Started claim august 2022 and still waiting. Never respond to emails and get fobbed off on the phone. Don’t ever take a policy underwritten by AXA. Just awful

Setting up the policy was easy. Getting notified of renewal, Great. Customer service was awesome until… I put in a claim for medical reasons that I couldn’t fly. I put the claim in last year May (2022). The claim is still outstanding. I made a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman, they were forced to pay me for the time the claim has been outstanding. Eleven months later, the claim has now been approved for the payout. (How long will this take, no idea)

I share this with you because I don’t want you to make the same horrible mistake.

Based on the situation it seemed they were angry to pay out on the claim. The staff became rude and dismissive, even untrue about receiving emails. It was a disaster to say the least! Thanks to the Financial Ombudsman team for working with me to get justice.

I wish I had read reviews previously which are all 100% in line with my experience. Do not go near this company. I made a legitimate claim for an overseas medical emergency and they have made the process as painful and difficult as possible. They don’t answer emails, phone lines are near impossible to get through on and they have missed every deadline or broken every promise along the way. I’m 4 months into the claim and still without the £2k I’m owed, now with legal action being threatened by the overseas hospital. I am going to make a claim to the financial ombudsmen and i suggest others here do the same. In fact, if we all approached together this would be a much more powerful statement and testament to the company's unethical activity. I have also requested my case file and phone recordings to start building the case and showing the evidence that they've misled and acted (most likely on purpose) in a way that has made the process impossible to move forward.

Claimed for medical expenses I incurred when I got Covid in Thailand. Sent all invoices etc. and heard nothing in 7 months.

I recently decided to write a negative review of Axa Insurance company after the company disallowed my claim and canceled my medical insurance policy. I hope this account will be instructional for those seeking travel insurance, which was my position three months ago in June2022.

Axa disallowed compensation for medical bills, giving the reason that I failed to purchase a travel insurance policy the day before leaving Los Angeles for Sydney. They wrote to state that buying the policy on the same day as my departure (although it was purchased hours before the flight left the ground) disqualified me for compensation. This text below was copied from their cancellation letter sent on August 3rd, 2022:

"We regret to inform you that the policy that you purchased on June 9th is ineligible due to you (sic) purchasing it the same day of your flight departure. Policies must be purchased with confirmed scheduled departure and return airfare tickets at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure date. Accordingly, we have cancelled the policy #2461716, effective immediately."

I have looked exhaustively for information about this in the travel insurance policy guidelines provided by Axa and could not find any language that supports their position.

In addition, I was issued an acceptance letter on June 9th, 2022. If purchasing a policy on the same day as departure disqualifies a customer, doesn't Axa have a responsibility to conduct due diligence before providing an acceptance letter? It's not as if it would have been difficult for them to find out, as the departure date and purchase date are both on the web application they provided.

Axa disallowed my claim based purely on their need to avoid honoring the financial commitment they voluntarily undertook when they sent a letter of acceptance. Both documents, the acceptance letter and the travel insurance policy, fail to support their denial of my claim.

I am writing an appeal to Axa to ask them to review the claim and have also engaged the services of an attorney to sue to obtain compensation. Whatever the outcome of my efforts, I hope to communicate to others about Axa's refusal to provide claim coverage. Insurance companies shouldn't be allowed to do what Axa has done, i.e., make money on a policy that offers an illusion of safety without actual coverage. Companies that deliberately and willfully place their customers in such financial danger should not be allowed to conduct business.

Most people would happily pay more for insurance that does what it says it will do, and hopefully, this message will reach others in time for them to become aware of the problem before they make choices concerning the purchase of insurance.

In case some background will be helpful, here's an abbreviated account of the medical issues that led to my filing a claim for compensation for bills that the Axa travel insurance was supposed to cover. I was hospitalized (July 22-25, 2022) for acute care in Northern Beaches hospital in Sydney, Australia, after experiencing a heart attack. While hospitalized, I underwent an angiogram and insertion of a stent in the left anterior descending artery on the left ventricle (also known as the "widowmaker" blockage location). I was told I had a 99 percent blockage. Such an obstruction for a first heart attack often proves fatal, but thanks to a swift ambulance trip to the emergency room, I was fortunate enough to survive.

On July 22nd, AXA was initially informed of my admission to Northern Beaches hospital. Over the next week, they requested information concerning the claim via email messages and phone calls. This supporting documentation was given to them.

On July 27th, Axa wrote, saying my policy might be canceled and my claim disallowed. The text on that message read as follows:

"Please note for future reference that AXA Assistance USA plans are eligible for travel plans that has (sic) a defined departure and return dates purchased prior to leaving your state of residence. User (sic) are required to enter the exact dates of their itinerary as originally booked prior to traveling. There are 2 options that are available to you. We can rescind the policy and refund you the premium paid at the time of purchase on June 9th 2022, as you may have not been aware of how our AXA plans work. No claims can be filed if the plan is cancelled. If you wish to still proceed with a claim once the policy end date occurs, you can submit this for review, but please be aware if the original booking and travel documents do not match with your policy dates, the outcome of your claim may not be favorable after review. Please note we do not approve or deny claims here in customer service until they have been submitted and fully reviewed by our claims adjusters."

This text information caused me stress concerning the hospital and surgery bills I would be responsible for if my claim was denied. After receiving this notice, I spent eight hours researching what could be done if Axa refused to pay, e.g., checking for similar problems on the internet and contacting persons for consultation.

This process caused me considerable stress and, in my opinion, contributed to a second hospitalization I underwent after those eight hours on July 28th.

At that time, I experienced angina and shortness of breath and returned to the Northern Beaches emergency room. I was admitted due to an abnormal ECG reading and blood assays of elevated troponin levels and stayed for a second time in the CCU (July 28 – 30, 2022). A second angiogram was administered on July 29th. Further surgical interventions were not required then as the cardiologist didn't see any problems from the previous stent surgery.

After the hospitalization, I was advised by a local cardiologist to avoid air travel, and the doctors recommended home and bed rest before flying or doing anything strenuous. Since then, I have been living in Sydney, awaiting a return home, and feel incredibly grateful to have survived.

In summary, please spare yourself the trouble I have gone through and avoid purchasing an Axa travel policy. You do not want to be in my current position of seeking compensation for a claim unfairly denied and having the stress of dealing with a hostile company’s legal team when your health has been compromised.

Avoid at all costs will not pay out.