DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I’m having some trouble with a travel insurance claim for a cruise I purchased through my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Last summer, I booked a Viking Cruise with my father and wife. At the airport, my father suffered a medical emergency and had to be rushed to the hospital. We missed our cruise.
Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter
Since I had purchased the cruise using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which covers cancellations when you’re traveling, I filed a claim for the value of the cruise and plane tickets.
I submitted all of the documents, but Chase is taking its time with the claim. It’s coming back and requesting information it already has, such as a travel ID number.
I have provided them with all this information. If they had read the claim, they would have clearly seen they already had what they were asking for. I had to upload the same Viking Cancellation Statement four times before someone at Chase finally accepted it.
I want my claim approved and the full $19,148 paid, as per the Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits. Can you help me?
— Brent Feinberg, Canton, Georgia
ANSWER: I’m so sorry to hear about your father, and I hope he is on his way to recovery. Chase promises you “peace of mind” when you book travel with its card, noting that if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses. Your father’s collapse appeared to be covered by Chase.
As I review the voluminous paper trail between you and Chase, it appears the company was working on your claim, but it was slow. As you note, Chase asked for the same documents repeatedly. It also required you to get a letter from your cruise line stating that you did not receive any credits. Worse yet, the claims process was confusing.
There’s nothing wrong with requesting these documents. In fact, you want a credit card company to be thorough when it is dealing with a large claim like this. The underlying problem with your case is that it had dragged on for nearly three months. Even the most complicated claims shouldn’t take more than a month.
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The Chase Sapphire Card has a lot of bells and whistles for travelers and is heavily promoted by travel blogs. But stories like yours make me wonder if it is worth the $550 annual fee. You might have applied for a garden-variety cash-back card instead, bought a travel insurance policy for your cruise, and saved some money this way.
Appealing this to someone higher up might have worked. You can always send a brief, polite email to one of the Chase executive contacts I list on my consumer advocacy website, Elliott.org.
I contacted Chase on your behalf. You received a call from Chase the next day. A senior claims specialist worked with you to fast-track the claim, which Chase has now paid in full.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.(c) 2024 Christopher ElliottDistributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.