Anyone here ever bought the insurance, and then had to file a claim? I remember Travel Guard being very good about paying their claims in a timely manner. We had a lot of horror stories about MedJet, none that I know of about Travel Guard.

Now Ripcord has come in with some interesting advertising and sort of made a presence in the safari industry. Every time they make an interesting rescue, they send it out on email.

Just curious, who has had to file a claim on a Ripcord Policy, and how did it go?

I had a bad outcome on a safari this year. Got incredibly sick on day one of a 21-day schedule. I was (barely) able to travel to the hospital that day, but was not able to get out of bed for the rest of the week. I did not request a medical evacuation, as it was probably not necessary. I was hunting with a physician, so I had medical care while I was there, but as soon as I could stay upright for a few hours, I booked a ticket home ($1800 change fee). I was not able to finish the hunt. In fact, I never once set foot in the hunting vehicle. Have no idea what the hunting area even looks like!

I filed a claim with Ripcord, but I have heard nothing so far.

You know how people get. They don't like silence. It is makes them nervous.

FYI, it was a small claim, since the rest of the safari was refundable. I only insured and filed a claim on the nonrefundable portion, which came out to $6,000 or so, which was airfare, travel and change fees.

Just curious if the claim time was excessively long for anyone else, or what your experience was.

Thanks.

Hi Wendell,
Glad you made it home and are feeling better. Good luck with your claim. No experience in that area thankfully.

Wendell, Sorry about the lousy trip. There is no excuse, none, for poor communication. Even a 'we have your claim and will get back to you' would suffice. If they haven't acknowledged receipt of the claim that's a problem.

Did you file the claim when you got back? Thats like over a month ago wasn't it?

Wendell,

One of my partners was airlifted remotely from an airboat wreck in Alaska last fall. He has nothing but good to say about Riocord's service. I have had their coverage for 2 years but thankfully haven't had to use it.

They have some really nice options for travel insurance as well- like if you book a hunt, then the animal becomes nOn-importable, they have a policy to cover it. I have had some leopard hunters but this to safeguard if USFW bans leopard imports in the future.

Wendell,

I filed a claim with Ripcord a little more than a year ago and it went well. It was not as much as yours (about $2,500.00)but they paid me off. I purchased the insurance through Travel with Guns as they do all my travel arrangements and they initiated the claim. I had good documentation and it took a couple of weeks or so to get the check.

I now have a claim I just submitted today through Travel with Guns for a day cancellation on my return trip from Argentina. Travel with Guns say I have a valid claim. Now waiting to hear from Ripcord.

Gracias,

Hoot

Wendell,
Sorry to hear about your trip. We used Ripcord on our trip to Tanz in Sept/Oct last year. Lost a day getting there due to an emergency landing and missed connection. Contacted Ripcord and they sent me the info by email. Pretty good communication, as I recall, and they were helpful on what was covered and seemed to try to make sure I claimed everything I could. When I got my document packet together and sent it to them it was approved in a few days and they sent me a check. As I recall, it all took about 30 days.

All that said, it's long been my observation that insurance companies don't make money paying claims, no matter what their commercials say.
kh

I may have inadvertently lead you guys to believe that they had not contacted me or communicated with me. That's not true. After I submitted all the info, I asked them if they had received it and asked for some confirmation. They were unusually slow in responding to multiple requests for confirmation. This did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling, so I told them so.

They responded, apologized and set up a conference call with me. They did apologize for a lack of communication and did walk me through the paperwork, gave me some tips on what to do. So, once I got a reply from them, it was fine. I have no issue with that part. I was concerned, they fixed it.

Since then, 45 days since they acknowledged receipt of the claims package, I have heard nothing. This concerns me. I have emailed them. Will see what they say.

It is good to see that those of you who filed a claim were paid in a reasonable amount of time. Insurance is generally worth what you pay for. Cheap insurance, low chance of collecting on claims. Ripcord isn't a cheap program, but it's worth it. Good insurance is always worth it when it is claims time! I'll continue to buy it and recommend it. I offer their packages to my clients, and like to hear good news about them. Everyone drops the ball sometimes and there could be circumstances that I am unaware about that lead to slow communication.

Andie has always been quick with answers to questions. We were the first clients to leave the USA after many airlines instituted the laptop and electronics ban from the Middle East . We had well over $15k worth of camera and computers that we were carrying onboard. She researched it and got back to me late that evening (8 or 9 o'clock) with a solution.

I'm sure this is just a hiccup in the process.