DiveAssure - terrible customer service/claims service

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Dough18

Registered
Messages
21
Reaction score
3
Location
USA
# of dives
500 - 999
Hi All,

Just wanted to share my experiences. I had a trip to Thailand booked to dive the Similian Islands. Developed some inner ear issues and had to cancel the diving part of the trip. Put in a claim just on the live aboard costs that I lost.

Submitted claim March 18 and got the acknowledge emails.

Followed up several times and again sent in the forms April 2 (to a live person at customer service)

Followed up again (several times) and again sent in the forms April 15th (different person again).

Last I heard from them was April 29th after I called...still nothing. Emails go largely unanswered...

There was generally good feedback on them so I felt they would be a good choice. Others seem to have had a more positive experience...its been terrible on my end. Perhaps DAN insurance would have been better...
 
I’m sorry to hear of your poor experience.

I seriously considered them for a liveaboard this past December, because they’re the only ones who offered a liveaboard rider. I found no solid feedback on them, good or bad. The only feedback I found was that people said they “thought” they were good and had purchased insurance from them before, but I heard of no actual claims experience. Some people said they were legit (whatever that means). You can even search this board where I posted the question twice asking if people had any claims experience. Crickets. I was also not impressed with their policy document, which was unprofessionally done, and I’m picky about that. As a result, I did not buy.

Yours would be the first claims experience I’m aware of and unfortunately, it’s not a positive one. I was hoping they’d be a good alternative to DAN, so consumers have a choice. I hope they will come through for you in the end though.
 
Can't speak to Dive Assure but I do have some experience with travel insurance claims. A couple of years ago I had a family trip planned and purchased travel insurance from Allianz. Unfortunately my competitive cheerleader daughter took a tumble before the trip and fractured both ankles. She had a cast on both ankles, could not bear weight on either side and was using a wheel chair. To me the injury seemed like a fairly clear cut medical reason to cancel our trip and her doctor was more than helpful filling out all the required forms but to Allianz it was not so clear cut. I went back and forth with filling out forms and showing receipts for several months. We were denied several times and had to appeal the decision. The doctor had to resubmit forms several times. Eventually we did get a check for the portion of the trip that we could not recoup from the original sources ( not a great deal of money $1500+- ) but it was not an easy process. In the end it worked out and it was better to have purchased the insurance than not but when I read the glowing reviews about people getting reimbursed instantly with little or no hassle I always wonder if they are legit.
 
I think getting reimbursed with little or no hassle does happen, although I also think it depends on the insurance company, the facts of the situation, and if all the stars are aligned or all screwed up. My dad was diagnosed with cancer and was told to not leave the country by his doctor. He had to cancel his plane ticket very last minute and his credit card insurance gave him very little hassle. We just filed the form, they quickly requested a little bit more evidence in terms of receipts, and my dad was fully reimbursed. They were picky about how the receipts looked, and what it said, but the travel agency my dad used was able to whip something up to satisfy the insurance company.
 
Credit card insurance is generally better that straight insurance companies who deny, deny, deny, until they realize you won't give up. That's one of the ways they get rich. Have you ever seen an insurance company building that wasn't somewhat grandiose?

Cheers -
 
DAN doesn't offer travel insurance? Or just not for liveaboards?
 
DAN doesn't offer travel insurance? Or just not for liveaboards?
AFAIK they don't offer a liveaboard rider. (I was chatting to someone from DAN while on a trip someplace, and I thought she told me they were working on such a thing. But that was a couple years ago so I wouldn't hold my breath.)
 
I had to make a claim with Dive Assure last year when one of my flights was cancelled and I ended up arriving at the second portion of my trip late by 1 day. It was pre-paid full board/all-in which also included diving. The reimbursement was for the pro-rated amount.

The process is not “quick” by any means and I would estimate that with both Dive Assure and credit card claims that I have pursued, I averaged about 1.5 to 2 months to get paid out. They want more info and more info each time they reached back out to me.

When I sent emails out, they answered within a day or two so I’m actually quite surprised. Please keep us posted.
 
We are in the early stages of a claim with DiveAssure for emergency medical coverage and evacuation. Since it is secondary to our health insurance provider, we were told it could take many months for it all to settle and to recoup our initial OOP upfront payment at time of treatment ( it was many thousands of dollars on our CC). So we will see.

VERY IMPORTANT: If I have learned one thing through this experience and had to do it all over again, I would definitely have purchased PRIMARY coverage instead of SECONDARY, but of course, really never dreamed we'd need it for a serious accident, and not just for trip cancellation. Consider this a lesson and warning to others.
 
We are in the early stages of a claim with DiveAssure for emergency medical coverage and evacuation. Since it is secondary to our health insurance provider, we were told it could take many months for it all to settle and to recoup our initial OOP upfront payment at time of treatment ( it was many thousands of dollars on our CC). So we will see.

VERY IMPORTANT: If I have learned one thing through this experience and had to do it all over again, I would definitely have purchased PRIMARY coverage instead of SECONDARY, but of course, really never dreamed we'd need it for a serious accident, and not just for trip cancellation. Consider this a lesson and warning to others.

Hold on a minute! Wasn't Dive Assure touted as PRIMARY coverage as opposed to DAN, which is SECONDARY coverage? If that is not the case, then it should not be repeated as such. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I remember people saying that on several threads here. Or was there actually an option that you could choose and pay extra for primary coverage?

Found some threads where people say Dive Assure is primary insurance:

DAN vs Dive Assure Travel Insurance
Insurance - DAN or diveassure? (very old)

I also remember going to their website in the past and that's what it said, as a marketing strategy to differentiate themselves. I have just checked out their website today and found no such wording anymore. Maybe things have changed, or maybe my memory is worse than I thought.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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