Budget Direct Travel Insurance

They did not help at all when our holiday was cancelled due to the pandemic. They also did not refund us our premium like some other insurance companies did. I will never use them again

My Daughter purchased travel insurance before COVID.She was planning to go to Malaysia for 9 Months .Not only did she lose all her airfare but she also lost the whole amount of her travel insurance.Budget did not even refund part of it,which I thought was the honourable thing to do.She missed out on a refund by 3 days.Very unfair.Shame on you Budget. Customers don’t forget!

Like many other people I had a trip planned before the pandemic struck. I worked with various tour companies to limit and recover costs where possible, however some losses were experienced. I worked with the Budget Direct to document and submit the claim - the consultants were helpful, however were not able provide specific direction about one matter.
In the end, I submitted the claim and received a reimbursement less deductions - couldn't be happier with the advice and the choice of insurer.

I am an Army member who was serving in Africa. I spoke to them before I left (Jan 2020) for a multi trip cover while deployed on operations in South Sudan. I explained I would be deployed for 12 months and all travel would start and end in South Sudan - “all good Sir, we will cover that” they said. When COVID-19 hit I was unable to travel and had already spent 10’s of thousands on a family holiday. When I submitted my claim they refused to pay, not due to a pandemic (that was covered), but they said I did not meet the criteria as I had been out...

I purchased a comprehensive travel policy long before CIOVID was a known event. Unhappily, our dream extended holiday to Iceland & Norway was cancelled. The airlines and most of our hotel bookings were happily refunded but I had used hotels.com and bookings.com for over $3,600 worth of bookings (it was to be a long vacation!). Both of these companies refused to refund the money and offered vouchers instead. I did not seek the vouchers, nor did I want them. The original vouchers were due to expire in May 2021 but were then automatically extended...

It's was easy to purchase and a good price and gave peace of mind for the trip... Until something went wrong and I had to claim.

It's been over 1 year and they still haven't paid me for my claim. My bag was lost for 3 days from the airline I flew with (lost/stolen luggage was meant to be covered for up to $600) and I had to purchase clothes, toiletries etc.. Which were meant to be covered but no...
The process they make you go through to get the cover is ridiculous. I sent them papers of proof from the airline that the bag was lost, I sent the...

It’s the first time we used Budget Direct for our travel cover. Our holiday was booked last March. We flew to the UK, then we were due to have 10 days in Dubai. Whilst we were in the UK, the Australian government issued a statement for all residents of Oz to return home. We contacted Flight Centre, whom we our booking with, and they wanted $8,500 to get us back. We then contacted Budget Direct who asked if we could go to the airline direct and get it cheaper and they would cover it. We managed to get it sorted for about $2,500. We have since be...

Will not cover my travel losses and will not return my policy premium ,no help if you phone them.I feel this company is in the business taking money and then relinquishing all responsibility and service.please save your money and go elsewhere.

My partner and I had booked a trip to the UK so that I could go home to visit my family and decided to align this with a much needed holiday. UK to Portugal and Italy, then back to Australia.

COVID-19 hit and understandably flight providers, hotels, insurers were all over the place and noone knew what to do / to expect. But the assumption was that if your insurance policy covered epidemics you were covered...and that ultimately all good businesses would "do the right thing'

Our trip consisted of 5 flights and 5 hotels.

Before cancelling an...

Canstar rating suggested this was a good value policy and it seemed so on purchase. In December 2020 and January 2021 I arranged our annual Europe trip to see our family. I took out travel insurance in early February. In May it became clear we would not be able to leave Australia as planned in September. I set about the task of claiming refunds for the various airline and accommodation providers and obtained many refunds and flight credits. However one accommodation provider and Ryanair would not issue any refund so I made a claim. Budget dire...

We regularly take multiple overseas trips and selected Budget Direct for our insurance. When COVID struck, we had several trips cancelled. Would BD pay out - would they heck. They expected us to take credits for things that who knew if we could even use a year in the future. Abysmal service and the length of time it took to respond was atrocious. I would NEVER EVER EVER use them again. Stay away from this dodgy company. They'll happily take your money, but when you actually have the right to a refund, they'll try everything in the book they can to stop it from happening!

Like most others here my experience with Budget Direct has been lamentable Legitimate claim (pre-covid) and 12 months later still waiting for them to finalise. I guess this will be one ore for the Ombudsman.

Sickening.

Really poor experience with this company. I was unable to fly due to COVID19 and they refused the claim, stating I should have known at the time of booking that it would be a world event. Even though at the time it was only in china. Also no refund given on premium even though i never left the country! They are crooks!!! Don't bother with this insurance company

I purchased a travel insurance policy just before budget direct changed their PDS not to cover pandemics. They initially refused to pay my claim. After numerous emails and some help from a member on this page, they agreed to partially pay some of the claim. They were deliberately obstructive and made the process unnecessarily complex to put people off. Eventually we were to AFCA and they finally came around.

They agreed to pay some of the claim “in good faith” as long as we agreed to waive rights to rebookings/credits.

If you got in before the PDS change I’d encourage you to keep at them and go to AFCA. Despite wasting hours of precious time on this, I’m glad we were paid out based on principle. Thanks to the member who helped me out!

After lodging a claim for a policy bought before COVID started, I sought to claim back part of the cancelled domestic trip. Budget Direct said I should have anticipated the problem! Unless you have a personal crystal ball, don't trust this insurer.