I have maintained a Global Rescue service for years and I travel a great deal for business and pleasure. Last April when it came due I let it lapse as I wasn't even leaving my house....


Now its time to re-establish and I thought its worth doing a little due diligence.. RipCord has been coming on strong in many markets but GR has been around longer..

Looking for feedback - what is everyone using?

I'd stay far away from RipOff ... erm Ripcord unless you like wasting money. They are totally useless.

I've told the story several times and will continue to refer to it every time RipOff's name is mentioned here. Search for my previous comments on RipOff if interested Scott.

I've used them both over the years and thankfully have not needed their services. The one time we did a service such as this we had bought an inexpensive plan from Travel Guard and they took much better care of us than I expected. I've heard horror stories about some other providers of rescue insurance, not too hard to find.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
I've used them both over the years and thankfully have not needed their services. The one time we did a service such as this we had bought an inexpensive plan from Travel Guard and they took much better care of us than I expected. I've heard horror stories about some other providers of rescue insurance, not too hard to find.

Yep. I sent Scott a PM on our experience. I told him the only other time I ever had to actually use a trip insurance policy was years ago when my wife and I purchased a ski package. About 3 weeks before we were to depart, I injured my back again and had to undergo one of my many back surgeries. That made it a pre-existing condition for me. I had trip insurance with Travel Guard and they reimbursed us for the total trip amount.

RipOff is just that. Bought the insurance for my son prior to our 2019 buffalo hunt and explained to them the reason was my son had experienced stomach issues a year and a half prior so we were purchasing the policy in the event his issue flared up again. RipOff assured us he would be covered if we purchased the policy within a certain timeframe of purchasing the flight tickets. We purchased the tickets and the policy at the same time through Gracy.

Then when his stomach issues reappeared a couple of weeks before departure date and he cancelled, they denied the claim saying it was a pre-existing condition since he saw a doctor about it 20 months prior.

RipOff ... Ripcord, are a bunch of crooks!!

I re-upped with Global Rescue...


Like many, I thankfully have never needed to use their services and I pray I never do.. I came close in of all places, downtown Paris when I nearly got creamed by a bicyclist!

I'm not sure when RipCord was started but they have a heavy marketing machine and you see them everywhere with booking agents, outfitters and organizations..

I maintained my loyalty to Global Rescue - I think this is my 12th year with them..

Below is a posting I made in September '19. My only other comment is that if you need to use the insurance, be extremely proactive and don't trust that Global Rescue persons are reliable.

"I want to share some major issues my wife and I had these past few days with Global Rescue. For what it’s worth, I shared my dissatisfaction with their rep in the final phone call on Monday and his only comment was to ask if he could mark our case closed.

We’re done with using Global Rescue, ever. The story below is kind of long, and I’m sorry for that. But it’s worth knowing how our situation evolved, in case anyone encounters the same.

We were in Namibia and on the evening of day 1 of my leopard hunt. While in camp my wife fell and broke her upper arm. With our PH providing indispensible help we drove the 3 hours into Windhoek that night, and I contacted Global Rescue (GR) on the way in, as soon as I had reception. They recommended the same hospital that the property owner had, and we arrived and had x-rays and a doctor eval done in short order.

The doctor said it was a spiral fracture, the humerus was displaced, and she would need plate and screw surgery within 5 days to avoid permanent damage, especially to the large nerve in the upper arm. 7 days at the outside, but 5 was highly preferable. We determined to fly her back to Texas for treatment, and I started a series of conversations with GR, with whom we have had coverage for quite a few years. We started going to Africa 20 years ago, by the way, and haven’t missed many years in that time, so we weren’t unaware of the risks. That why we buy insurance.

The accident occurred on September 17, and the 5-7 day clock was ticking as far as I was concerned. GR suggested we have the surgery done in Namibia, then fly back on Emirates business class on October 7th as originally scheduled. My thoughts were (1) surgical competency unknown; (2) technology/equipment was likely less than at home; (3) if complications from surgery arise, what then? In any event, it was my call to make and I did so. Said we wanted transport back to the States ASAP. GR then said a return flight from Jo’Burg was available on the 24th. That would put us in Dallas on the 25th, and we would then still need to get in to see an orthopod and get any needed surgery scheduled. Not the best choice given the ticking clock, and I asked how we would get to Jo’Burg anyway. Answer was Air Namibia. I said no. GR suggested two alternatives – fly direct from Windhoek to Dallas or ground transport from Windhoek to Jo’Burg. For those that know Africa, there are NO such commercial flights direct to Dallas, and ground transport would likely take 3 days over very rough roads. Again I said no.

Finally they agreed that a Qatar flight was leaving the next day (by now it was the 20th) and we could put her on that one, though I would have to pay for my ticket. Ouch, but OK if needed. However, she needed an abdominal shot prior to boarding and again enroute (it’s 34 hours). So I got the doctor to agree that I could serve as the medical escort. It was a very tense conversation between the doctor and the GR rep, who tried every way to get the doctor to say that either she could travel alone, or just needed a nurse as far as Doha. The doctor was adamant and finally got tired or arguing with GR and gave me back the phone. The GR rep said they would arrange two tickets in business class but I would have to pay for mine. While on the phone and while I was questioning this, he suddenly said his supervisor agreed they would pay for mine too.

The flights worked as planned, and I got her into see the surgeon on day 4 after the accident – thank goodness! The orthopod with the UT medical system in San Antonio has her in a brace to avoid surgery, which surgery was "an automatic" if we stayed in Namibia as GR wanted.

I should add that at the Windhoek airport, the Qatar rep said that GR had not furnished to them the needed documents, and that they knew better than that. I did have the doctor’s “fit to fly” letter and thought that was enough. Not so, and I got the GR rep on the phone but that went nowhere. The Qatar rep got their medical personnel on the phone, described the situation, relayed a bunch of questions between me and their team in Doha - Pale? Alert? Able to stand? Pain level? Medications?. After a very tense 20 minutes we were given the OK by Qatar for her to fly. Again, GR was no help in clearing that very significant obstacle.

That was just one more example of the GR team I dealt with (1) not knowing what in the world they were doing, and (2) not putting the medical needs of the customer first. Their ideas were: do the surgery there, so there’s no cost to GR; it’s OK that the physician’s recommended time period could expire before they could arrange a flight back; it was ok for her to fly back by herself until the physician absolutely and adamantly insisted that that trip wasn’t safe for her to do alone. Shouldn’t erring on the side of caution be an initiative of the travel rescue firm??!!

I also have to add that our PH got on the phone with the head of PHASA, who contacted someone fairly high up in GR, and I then called that GR person to ask for some common sense and some help. I suspect he came through, via the supervisor finally saying they would cover my ticket as well. I am very grateful to Christo Van Deventer, our PH, and to PHASA's head for putting their weight behind my problem.

So where does that leave us? Everyone who has not needed their services loves them and everyone who has actually made a claim hates them. Pretty common reaction to insurance companies, but this is pretty critical coverage that could have very serious ramifications.

By way of background, I make my living litigating insurance claims, on the insurance companies' side.

Anyone had a good claim experience with any of them?

Lavaca,
I’ve had no claim experience with neither of these two companies, though I have friends who have had less than satisfactory claims experience with them. I have paid for their services, and currently have a family policy with one of them (hope I don’t need it). I do have experience with Travel Guard and had a much better experience than I expected (there are posts relating our experience, so won’t go into it here). The policy we now have was bought at an auction supporting one of the hunting organization chapter fundraisers, otherwise I would have gone with Travel guard.

Scott,

The only client of mine that did need the trip insurance used Travel Guard and was very satisfied.

Global Rescue couldn't answer my questions and just didn't get back to me when I asked the hard questions about whether they could really extract me from Cameroon if I was in a mess. I bitched about it on here years ago and they offered me a free year. No thanks!

Mark

Karl & Mark,

Thanks! We have somewhat of a consensus. I'm pretty sure I've used all three but never had a claim. Travel Guard it is.

Thanks for the input.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Karl & Mark,

Thanks! We have somewhat of a consensus. I'm pretty sure I've used all three but never had a claim. Travel Guard it is.

Thanks for the input.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
So where does that leave us? Everyone who has not needed their services loves them and everyone who has actually made a claim hates them. Pretty common reaction to insurance companies, but this is pretty critical coverage that could have very serious ramifications.

By way of background, I make my living litigating insurance claims, on the insurance companies' side.

Anyone had a good claim experience with any of them?

I had a great experience with Global Rescue several years ago.

Long story short, we were in Argentina. Both kids got deathly ill. I called GR. In minutes, they had a paramedic on the phone giving advice . In a very short time (less than an hour), they had a doctor from Johns Hopkins on the phone . He was incredible. They had an ambulance Jet on standby to fly us back.

They even followed up after we returned .

Thanks, Larry.