Truly awful. I have been trying to renew my annual travel insurance policy online. The Portal is not fit for purpose and kicked me out over a dozen times whilst trying to renew the policy. Phoned cust... See more
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5weeks and still waiting an answer on a simple claim re bereavement cancellation. Issue appears to be with their "agent" Collisons. Wont be buying from them again.
I've been a customer of Columbus for many years. This year, for the first time I had to make a claim due to a travel delay and missed flights out of my control. The claims process did require th... See more
Communication quite poor. Any queries while overseas must be made to a UK phone number. There is no option to make contact through WhatsApp or email, despite the info pack saying email is an option.... See more
Company replied
Company details
Information provided by various external sources
Columbus is one of the UK's leading Travel Insurance providers. Established in 1988, we were the first company to sell travel insurance direct to the consumer, cutting out the middle man and saving our customers up to 60% in the process. Over 20 years on we have covered over 15 million travellers all around the world. We put our customers first and have won multiple awards for our cover and customer service including the ITIJ Travel Insurance Intermediary of the year award and also the Best Travel Insurance Provider from the Personal Finance Awards.
Why choose Columbus Direct?
Written by the company
- Great value travel insurance
- Columbus provides great value travel insurance and award winning customer service. With single trip cover starting at just £2.69 and annual policies from £22.
- Flexible cover
- With 3 levels of cover to choose from; Bronze, Silver or Gold - you are bound to find a policy to suit your needs.
- Excellent Benefits
- Columbus policies offer a wide range of benefits including up to £15 million emergency medical expenses, 24hr English speaking assistance service, cancellation cover up to £5,000, cover for lost, stolen or damaged baggage up to £2,500. Plus kids go free on all family annual policies.
14 day money back guarantee
Not happy with your policy? It's not a problem with our money back guarantee...
If, having examined your policy documentation, you decide the insurance does not meet your needs, you can cancel the insurance within 14 days from the date you receive the policy documentation, and we will refund the premium provided you have not taken a trip to which the insurance applies, and you have not made a claim.
Contact info
Cutlers Exchange, 123 Houndsditch, EC3A 7BU , London
- 0800 068 0060
- customer.service@columbusdirect.com
- www.columbusdirect.com
2.3
Poor
11K reviews
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Policy renewal
Very easy process for renewal with added benefits, without requesting them.
6 August 2022
Thankfully didn't need to use it but…
Thankfully didn't need to use it but felt safe in the knowledge it was there. Always the best price 👌
15 May 2022
May use AI-assist with repliesRead more
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My flight was cancelled (on the 31…
My flight was cancelled (on the 31 August Flight Nu: EZY6511 Easyjet. We had already checked in and the information we recieved was 90 minutes before our flight was due to take off. Myself and my daughter ( 9 years old ).had more expenses to pay and the only flight aviable was the return flight on Sunday. we occured more expenses that was unfair ( transport food , parking fees etc: ).that is why I took this Insurance with you. Because our flight was cancelled by easyjet are we entitled to or covered by your insurance for some short of compenation not just a small repayment. I am still over 600 euro out off my own pock.
31 August 2022
Reply from Columbus Direct
Hi Antonio. It's not clear as to whether you have actually submitted a claim or have been advised what basis any payment would be made. We cannot locate a claim from you though. That said, we will arrange for our contact centre to get in touch with you as it would appear that you are not a UK resident and that may mean you were not eligible for the policy anyway.
As for your specific circumstances. We recommend that you review your situation under the EU261 passenger rights as easyJet had a duty of care to you and you may be eligible for compensation and/or you may have a case for other costs to be reimbursed to you depending on the circumstances that led the flight to be cancelled.
Easy to navigate online & make sure got…
Easy to navigate online & make sure got the correct coverage. Not had to claim so if needed hopefully that will be easy too.
4 August 2022
I can’t call them to make a claim…
I can’t call them to make a claim because the call centre is only open two hours a day. I eventually made the effort to be free and the operator said they would call me back and then didn’t. I attempted to claim online but the system failed after some steps. Not a great experience
2 September 2022
Reply from Columbus Direct
Hi Yasmin. Thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds like you called us originally a few weeks ago as we did have an issue with the telephone lines for a couple of days where these were running at reduced hours. This has now been addressed and you should be able to call the team at any time between 9am and 5pm.
We have located the case that has been set up for you and will arrange for someone to try to call you tomorrow to provide assistance. We are sorry for the issues that you have had.
Easy form to fill out no fancy jargon…
Easy form to fill out no fancy jargon reasonable premiums
1 October 2022
Very not professional and impossible to find oh number also nearly inpossiboe to claim on damaged mobile ohone
Very not professional, hard to contact as well….. shocking
Not explained at the front all procedures in regards to mobile phones gadgets etc claims
Nearly inpossible to claim anything from Columbus
I will not recommend it to any one
4 October 2022
Reply from Columbus Direct
Hi Aleksander. We're sorry to hear that you had any difficulties contacting us. Based on our records, we note you've opened the claim within a few days of the incident occurring and on the day it was opened, you were sent a claim form to complete and we asked for evidence of the costs incurred.
This is generally what would happen with a travel insurance claim. We're sorry if you were expecting a different service.
Found claiming to be quite difficult…
Found claiming to be quite difficult with everything biased towards covid claims. Did not successfully claim despite losing my flights due to illness.
27 September 2022
Reply from Columbus Direct
Hi Kevin. Thank you for your feedback. There does appear to be a claim logged for you but it doesn't look like the matter progressed beyond us registering your details.
Not quite sure what the challenge has been but if you were unwell and unable to travel and this is certified appropriately, we should be able to assist with your claim. We will ask our claims team to reach out to you to understand where there has been an issue.
Reply from Columbus Direct
Hi Richard. We're sorry to hear that you encountered some difficulties. We think we've located your file and our records are showing that we did speak to you at the time. Maybe this was with regards to a different matter.
Our customer service agents have been trying to call you this afternoon so that we can look to resolve this for you.
The hotel was lovely staff were nice…
The hotel was lovely staff were nice but only downfall at 8 am there was no loungers people must go down so early and not enough for everyone and I had a disabled person with me so by time we got down 4 days we were there never got one , food repetitive but expected AI, wifi I paid for kept disconnecting and paid for but had to end up paying 02 x
21 September 2022
Very very good Amazing service
26 August 2022
Pleased to receive
It took a couple of weeks to arrive but I'm very happy with product.
I ordered my product before it was advertised on tv as being a great idea
5 October 2022
Quick easy and good value for money
14 September 2022
Great insurance
1 October 2022
Best Travel Insurance
It was easy to take out a policy with everything clearly explained. I always use Columbus for my travel insurance and have always had great service.
22 September 2022
Reply from Columbus Direct
Thank you for sharing your view.
We become aware of an issue with this free benefit of the travel insurance policy and worked with our partner to fix it, and this is now resolved.
We do understand that this would have caused inconvenience, as you expected to take advantage of this extra service and we apologise this wasn't available at the time.
Happy with the coverage provided at a…
Happy with the coverage provided at a competitive price.
29 September 2022
Purchased to cover potential flight…
Purchased to cover potential flight cancellation, flight was cancelled less than 5 hours before a 7am departure and guess what, cancellation not covered, waste of time and money!
9 September 2022
Travel insurance Is not worth it.
I bought travel insurance for the first time in my life. My planes were delayed going in and coming back. Not a even a small amount of compensation was offered.
14 September 2022
Reply from Columbus Direct
Hi John. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Our records indicate that your claim was following a two hour delay on your outbound flight. For us to pay any compensation under the terms of the policy, a flight must be delayed in excess of 12 hours. If we have misunderstood the level of delay suffered, we would be happy to hear from you to discuss the matter further.
The Columbus policy also comes with a free benefit of the Lounge Access programme where you can register your flights and, if you are delayed for more than an hour, if there is a lounge available at the airport you are departing from, you can get complimentary access to the lounge at the airport to help improve your comfort whilst delayed. It's not clear whether you registered your flights and had been able to take advantage of this benefit, but we hope you did.
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