CSR Benefits - Flight Cancellation and Claim Denial
Chase Card Benefits claim problems - what a total nightmare! My international flight was delayed by 3 hours on July 6th and I was not going to make my connection, so United were only able to offer to rebook me on the following day. If I had waited to take the original flight, it would guarantee that I was overnighted and having to wait an entire day in a different city before the next flight (the flights to Ireland all depart in the evenings).
So, I called Chase Travel to ask if they could rebook me quicker with another airline, and they aren't able to switch anything for leaving the same day, they aren't even able to access the system for any same day changes. So they check with their supervisor to confirm that my CSR travel benefits would cover the cost of a new one-way flight with Delta for $850, and after around 20 minutes of checking, they told me to go ahead and book that flight or any other flight I could find for that same day, and I would receive that cost back in a claim to Chase Card Benefits. ***The entire call was recorded and they were very explicit about this exact flight being covered, but I haven't gotten as far as to bring up that part yet, it has been all documents so far***
Now today, after spending the last 5 weeks asking for me to upload the exact same duplicate document about 4 times, the claim was denied, as they will not cover any new flight tickets in this type of situation. They would only cover the costs like meals and hotels if I actually went ahead to be overnighted and experienced that 24 hour delay, they won't cover it because it didn't happen.
"After carefully reviewing your Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance claim, we found that the claim is ineligible for payment for the following reason(s):
• This benefit only covers unused, prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses as defined in the Guide to Benefits"
I just wanted to let everyone know that this insurance is definitely not everything people expect it to be, when it is an emergency and you need to use it. As for the misleading statements from Chase Travel to go ahead and book a new flight, Chase Card Benefits stated that it is a different department, and they don't make the decisions about what is covered or not in terms of benefits.
Lesson learned for me, just don't think you are fully covered by the CSR! I've had this card for around 10 years, now I'm looking for recommendations for a change!!
***Addition for the comments - This time, I might be at fault for trusting what I'm told by the CSR team, but come on, that's why you call these guys to clarify what your insurance covers, right?? Or as one person implies, I should just carry around the almost 50 pages Guide to Benefits booklet and know what to do in an emergency - great suggestion, lol!!
I actually filed a claim using the insurance before for car rental damage - it was around 1800 Euro for a scratched bumper, and eventually it was successful. BUT, they spent around 6 weeks of back and forth asking for more documents that weren't required (e.g. at one point, they wanted a police accident report, for a scratched bumper!). After 6 weeks, they denied the claim because the number amounts of the charge on the receipt from the car rental company's mechanic report and the credit card statement charge "didn't match" - they were different amounts. They had not considered while denying it that this all happened in Europe, so there would be Euro receipt and a USD charge. I called them and spoke to an adjuster, and when I told them that the amounts don't match because one is in Euros and the other is USD, they quickly reversed and approved the claim. That was around 4 years ago. Does that fill you full of confidence in the insurance with CSR?