I book hotel reservations on www.priceline.com for over $200. I also purchased the "travel insurance" they offer through www.travelclaim.com. Due to unforseen circumstances, I am not able to take this trip. I called www.priceline.com and was given the number to www.travelclaim.com to file a claim. The representitve with Travel Claim stated that the reason I was giving to cancel my reservation "was not within the cancelation standards." I asked what those standards are and was told the following
1. Death
2. "verifiable" Car accident
3. Job Loss
4. Terrorist abduction (NO I'M NOT KIDDING!!!)
...... there where just a few more I just don't remember what they where after I heard about the Terrorist abduction reason.
I called priceline back and worked my way up to customer relations. To no avail, I was told that there was nothing that could be done. However, I disagree! I will spend whatever time it takes to post this everywhere on the internet in hopes of getting MY money back and/or saving the next victam from the priceline insurance scam.
OH YES, THEY DO TELL YOU THAT YOUR RESERVATION IS NON REFUNDABLE!!
HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION IN "THE CONTRACT" DOES NOT TELL YOU ABOUT INSURANCE RESTRICTIONS. IT GIVES YOU THE "WEB ADDRESS" OF THE INSURANCE COMPANY THAT YOU ARE BUYING THE INSURANCE THROUGH! NO MENTION OF "SPECIAL REASONS ONLY!"
2 Updates & Rebuttals
RF_X-pcln
West Jefferson,Ohio,
United States of America
Travel Insurance
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, October 27, 2010
You didn't say what your "unforseen circumstances" were but in general, travel insurance covers VERIFIABLE cases of injury, illness, death, and job loss. There are a LOT of things covered but those are the four general catagories.
Examples of things NOT covered by travel insurance would be ... "my car wont start so I cant go" or "my boss changed my vacation days" or "I cant find someone to watch my dog while I'm gone".
The travel insurance sold through the Priceline webpage really is insurance, and the information about the insurance is provided on the Priceline webpage when it is being offered to customers. Yet for some reason customers that dont bother to look at the info provided, seem to think the travel insurance is some kind of "get out of jail (or reservation) free" card that will allow them to cancel their reserveration for any old reason that they can dream up.
Just like car insurance or homeowners insurance, if you want to file a claim for reimbursement you need to be able to provide proof that a covered issue prevented you from using the reservation you agreed to purchase. You cant go to your car insurance agent, and tell him somebody hit your car, and then expect him to just hand you money to get a new car, without even checking to see if your original car really was damaged or not! He would also need the particulars of the incident, such as "Who hit your car?". If you didnt know who did it, you better have uninsured motorist coverage, or you still wont get any money from him because you wouldn't be covered for that type of issue.
Karl
Highlands Ranch,Colorado,
USA
"DEATH SWEEPS"..."DEATH SWEEPS"..."DEATH SWEEPS"...DEATH SWEEPS"..."DEATH SWEEPS"....
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, May 26, 2010
are being performed by banks who have taken out 'secret life insurance policies' on their employees, according to an article on the web and a Ripoff Report posted here.