Took out a policy with SCTI last September before anyone in the world knew about Covid-19, took out extra cover to cover cost of Trip which was 20K, claimed for accommodation in India and subsequent Flight home having being asked to leave India because all Tourists were being expelled, in the small print on an obscure page apparently it states that if a Pandemic is declared your insurance policy is voided, that's all well and good but at least we should receive a refund of the cost of the policy having taken out our policy as I said above in September everything is weighted in favour of your company and I for one will never use you company again, and I will inform anyone who will listen about how bad you have treated us

Had to cancel insurance well in advance due to travel bans. No claims just no longer allowed to travel, ergo no need for insurance. Was charged 20 % to cancel. Nice little earner. Will not be using southern cross when I rebook travel.

We purchased a policy form Scti to cover a cruise. We cancelled the insurance when we did not sail on the ship and would have expected a partial refund of the premium given that there was no risk of a claim from the date of cancellation.
SCTI is very difficult to contact and do not answer e-mails. They have denied a partial refund without any explanation. We have used SCTI for the past ten years as our insurer and had recommended them. We can no longer recommend them as they are too difficult to communicate with and there explanations don't pass the pub test.

Clause on their website that excludes any claim for volcano related incidents, which seems to be long standing and in place for future events. I reached out to scti for clarification on this as a long time customer of theirs only to be ignored twice. Thanks scti, I will go elsewhere.

Have used SCTI many times and haven't had a problem. Last year, I experienced severe Morning Sickness due to unforeseen Pregnancy and as a result had to cancel the holiday. STCI refused to refund hotel costs as Morning sickness is not covered despite the event being unforeseen and after the purchase of the insurance. I provided documentation from my OB stating that travel was not advised as well as proof that I was not pregnant at the time of purchase of the insurance - and this didn't change the outcome. This is extremely disappointing that their policy doesn't support women in this scenario.

Great travel insurance and normally very responsive to contact via supplied numbers. However! I did contact SCTI on email when the recent Coronavirus issues arose as we were travelling in Japan , just asking where we stand with our insurance and given that health organisations had declared higher emergency status and if our insurance was still valid. Sadly no one ever got back to me - Very Poor form guys.

We were in Italy 3 week ago when I had a fall.

We tried to contact the Emergency 24/7 number at least 6 times- and each time we received a message to say that we should contact this number in office hours.
Twice we rang inside Australian 9-5 office hours and still received this message.

We wanted advice on how to proceed with hospitals and treatment documentation, but in the end , were forced to managed, on our own as the number you advertise as being available all hours was not , in fact available at all.
We will use anther Insurance company in future.

I always use SCT. This time though I had to dash to the UK -emergency surgery for my daughter. Insured for 2 weeks, OK. She was recovering well, then had a relapse and rushed back into hospital, so I needed to extend my policy. This was done for another 2 weeks. Then when I realised I would have to extend again, no one was around, no one contacted me, until I received an email stating I had to pay within a few hours. With the time change - ie email arrived in the middle of the night, by the time I read it at the hospital I was out of time... Could someone not have realised how difficult things were for me??? I thought you were real people...

So Jetstar screwed up our plans and we lost a nights accommodation and then due to weather delays, Lost out on accommodation at one of our destinations.
Spoke to SCTI and they told me how to do the claims process. We were in total owed $300. Thanks to what the clown on the phone said, We only get back just under $100 of that $300 because of their "excess" x 2. Instead of telling me to do one claim, They made me do two thinking I'd only have to pay a single charge of $100 excess.

Not happy. Not even worth me scanning, filling out and posting it all registered mail!

Broken crown and dislodged, so had it replaced . Told it was a loss and not a emergency treatment not covered, eating with a exposed stump and gum would have been unbearable

Used SCTI 3 times and was good until having to claim. Depreciation rate used by SCTI much greater on some items than other companies. By saving $20 on policy lost over $600 on claim ( one camera and 2 lenses). When challenged SCTI stated that they set their own " Reasonable rate of depreciation " and they thought it fair even though it way worse than industry rates.Try another company like TID that does disclose depreciation rates. Not promoting TID as have never used them but will try them next trip.

I do have to agree that the policy was easy to set up, offered good value for money compared to similar companies and the response once my claim was submitted was fast.

But unfortunately this is where it ends.
A flawed logic in assessing the claim, trying to rip you off.
Disappointing experience!

This company (and many others) exclude any form of mental illness from their insurance. So if unfortunately a relative has developed anxiety, depression etc and you need to return home you will not be covered.

Have used Southern Cross for many years but never claimed.
Needed to go to a emergency centre on a week-end for what turned out to be a pulled muscle in my shoulder.
USA medical fees meant a bill of $1600 for a 5 min consultation.
SCTI initially refused to pay as they claimed a slipped disc from 5 years earlier, that I have not needed any further treatment for, was somehow linked.
It was not until I started action through the insurance ombudsman that they finally changed their mind.
It was an unpleasant & disappointing experience.

Went to book a policy travelling at xmas with my wife & kids age 17 & 18
Told I have to book a separate policy for the 18yo even though she is a student, dependant etc
Poor form STCI, you lost a customer there guys.
We are a very low risk customer and shouldn't be penalised for holidaying wth our kids
Andrew

After reading good reviews I took out travel insurance with SCTI in 2014 for a family trip to Bali.

While away my iPhone was lost and it took me months and a dozen emails and numerous phone calls to recover any money from them, they kept asking for more and more details, such as for a cost of the phone new when it was on a plan, not even Optus could provide them the exact costing of the phone so I ended up receiving only about 1/2 of what was needed to replace my phone.

Disappointed, great service until I had to make a claim.