tifgroup - West Malling

Gerard Kelly

Bought 12 month backpacking insurance from this company.
Unfortunately about 6 weeks into my trip I was informed that my mother had unexpectedly passed away in the UK. Obviously devastated I needed to return home quickly, I telephoned the emergency line and was informed that I should book a flight home asap and that it would be covered under the insurance, I went ahead and even found the bes/cheapest deal I could. I attended my mums funeral and submitted a claim. Instead in the UK for 4 weeks before continuing my backpacking trip. It took 6 weeks for them to come back to me to tell me my claim had been rejected, and they quoted a line in the small print which said - claims will it be paid out if a return flight when I initially took out the insurance was not booked !!! Who books a return journey 12 months in advance when going backpacking for 12 months. I would steer clear of this company as it seems when you need to claim for something as life changing as your mother dying they do not want to know. Also incredibly slow in dealing with any communications, they also lied when telling me I should book and pay for a return flight when I contacted them

Francis Asiaw

I had to cancel my holiday, as my travel companion had to have surgery. I contacted my insurance company and everything was explained clearly, regarding the process and what i needed to send them. Documents were sent and confirmations received and the claim was sorted in really quick time. Getting the money before Christmas, was a welcome surprise

Angie Flood

We had to cancel a cruise 3 days before departure due to illness. That in itself was very stressful, but our claim was dealt with very quickly with no added complications, so hopefully we can book again at some point. The only thing I would check for more carefully in the future, is that the full cost of the holiday is covered for cancellation as we didn't get it all back, but the fault was with us not the insurance company. Very happy with their service.

steve eskriett

My recent claim for missed ports was handled, quickly, efficiently and easily. I called the office and within a couple of minutes my form was in my inbox, after I'd completed and returned the form I received an further email and text updating me of the situation and payment was made in full within 14 days from start to finish. An excellent service and certainly a provider I would use again.

Tim Hogan

Never bothered with travel insurance until year before last, when I booked a trip to the Isles of Scilly. The nature of the journey being prone to disruption, decided to take out insurance, which I renewed last year and glad did; I had to cancel my annual Christmas walking holiday at short notice due to a broken leg!

No worries, payment recieved in my bank within a week of posting the completed claim form. Can't complain at that service can you? With luck, I'll not have to claim agin, but the peace of mind is worth the fee, especially with non-refundable deposits and advance train tickets on most of my trips!

John Hardcastle

My sister took out a policy with this firm through Boots (the chemist) and paid extra for an ‘activity pack’.

I had an accident whilst abroad and consequently submitted a claim under the policy - 1. electronically by email and 2. a few days later with hard copies of claim and supporting documents via Royal Mail. The Email submission received an automated reply confirming receipt; nothing was sent by the firm in response to the hard copy.

Their website asserts that the claims process will be completed ‘in about 5 days’ and where it isn’t they will keep you informed.

After about 50 days/6 weeks there had been nothing from the insurer at all. I resubmitted by email asking for an update: nothing. A few days later I tried calling them. After 46 minutes on hold I was initially told that they couldn’t find my claim; as I expressed my disgust - given that I had sent it 3 times and had received 2x email acknowledgment of receipt - the call handler informed me that he had found it. I was told that the claim had been passed between claims handler and supervisor and it appeared that a decision was imminent and I would hear something the next week. 3 weeks passed and nothing.

I sent another email asking for a complete response within 72 hours. Within hours of the deadline I received a simple response saying they were dealing with it and I would hear something ‘shortly’. I replied saying that this was not sufficient and that I would bring proceedings under s13A of the Insurance Act 2015 if I didn’t receive an immediate response: a week later - still NOTHING - not even a response to that ultimatum.

I have now issued proceedings under s13A of the Insurance Act 2015 having regard to ICOBS 8.1.1

In short: don’t deal with this firm!

David Barrow

I would advise avoiding this travel insurance company. They will not pay out legitimate claims and the policy was sold fraudulently. I was told that the FCO advising against all but essential travel was 'not unexpected' therefore they are refusing to pay my claim. Losing baggage or a flight delay are also 'not unexpected' so I expect that they would refuse to pay out if these things happened. They expected me to know exactly what the FCO was going to do a full 2 weeks before they issued the travel advisory yet they apparently did not know because they still were happy to issue the policy.

Sepali de Lima

Our holiday was cut short due to covid and we had to book emergency flights back to the U.K. at a significant additional cost. The claims process was simple, I received email updates throughout and I got my claims request approved within 12 working days, which is pretty impressive as I’d imagine they were inundated with other covid-related claims; really grateful for the quick turnaround as I expected it to take much longer with lockdown! My partner who submitted his claim at the same time with his insurance provider (different group) is still chasing them up three months on and has had to complain to the financial ombudsman - makes me appreciate the great customer service and resolution times even more! (insurance bought through Alpha Travel)