Commbank Covermore Travel Insurance

OH MY GOD.

This is what I get for being honest.

They approved my 3 items, damaged luggage by Airport Security $219, Watch(Water Damage) $600 & cracked phone screen $565.

Sounds good right?

They charged me 3 X $250 EXCESS PER CLAIM(No charge for Luggage as excess is more than replacement cost).
It's based on EVENT DATES, as damage occurred on different dates.

I can only blame myself for not spending hours reading a T&C.

I am too honest, now I understand why people who understand the system simply lie or work around it.

What BS! Just putting this out there for anyone who wasn't aware and ever has to make a claim in the future.

Is this legal? I filed a complaint, they told me they would look into it & get back to me.

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closed Comments

  • -1

    So…you'd like a medal for not committing Insurance Fraud?

    • No, I said I am honest. I said I can understand why some people do tho!

      But it's sneaky, and dodgy to charge you an excess per Date/Event.
      It should be a flat $250 excess, all fell under BAGGAGE/PERSONAL GOODS.

      • +1

        It should be a flat $250 excess, all fell under BAGGAGE/PERSONAL GOODS

        Actually it should be free, apply retroactively to before you had the policy, and you get icecream.

        Unfortunately for us both I guess we're stuck with what's actually written in the T's and C's we 'agreed' to.

  • +3

    I can only blame myself for not spending hours reading a T&C.

    pack it up boys, we're done.

    Is this legal?

    You've agreed to the t and c…so yes?

    • -2

      I actually did read alot of it, I honestly did not see where they charge you an excess per event.

      • +1

        I suggest you take another look through and if you are happy that commbank/ whoever the provider is for the insurance has breached conditions, you should also raise a case with afca

        • Thank you!

  • Seems like some extra junk they can tack onto the list of 'rewards' when selling folks a credit card.

    • I wonder if this is something attached to Credit Card insurance, or something they do many of us are not aware.

      If you were aware of this, awesome but I wasn't and I do my best to keep track.

    • +1

      True, although from what I've read on here, people get high when they get 'free travel insurance with my credit card'

      • free travel insurance with my credit card

        if the product is free, you are the product

  • I filed a complaint, they told me they would look into it

    That they don't personally read the t&c to customers on sign up?

    • The policy is for one holiday, however they charge you an excess for every event.

      If your baggage is damaged on the 12/6, but on the 20/6 someone steals clothing from your hotel room…you would be charged $250 X2.

      • It's not exactly hidden though.

        Literally in the first paragraph on the first page.

        • I never visited the website, I went through the PDF that was via link through Commbank.

          It's not on the first page there.

          • @[Deactivated]: The threshold for scams is quite low around here lately… perhaps they could prevent use of the word in titles.

        • I was going to say from the commbank website - under the 'Things you should know' section - it actually even goes to the extent of giving an example of whats counted as a seperate event:

          1. Excess
            The excess is the first amount of a claim that We will not pay for. It is deducted from your claim if it is approved by us. The excess applies per event i.e. if you fall over and
            need medical treatment, and smashed your smart phone in the fall, the excess will be deducted once.
            The excess, if applicable, applies to any claim arising from a separate event . The excess amount and benefits that the excess applies to are shown in the benefits tables,
            pages 7-11.

          sorry op, looks like you dont have a leg to stand on in this instance, and I would recommend you change the title of the OP…

          • @Jimothy Wongingtons: Where are you reading this? I am on the link, and I am looking at THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW and this isn't there.

            Things you should know
            ^ Gold Awards cards are no longer available for sale from 23 March 2018.

            1 Cover-More’s cooling-off period means you can cancel or change your policy at any time before you leave home. If you cancel a policy within the cooling-off period (within 21 days of the date of purchase) Cover-More will give you your money back, provided you have not already made a claim under the policy or departed on your journey.
            Call Cover-More on 1300 467 951 (8am-5pm Mon - Fri and 9am-4pm Sat, Sydney/Melbourne time) within the cooling-off period, to cancel your policy.

            2 Maximum liability collectively for Loss of income, Disability, and Accidental death is $25,000

            Before making a decision on CBA Travel Insurance, refer to our Product Disclosure Statement for full conditions.

            For products offered by Cover-more, information about the Target Market can be found in the Target Market Determination (TMD): Credit Card Travel Insurance TMD, World Debit Travel Insurance TMD or Standard Travel Insurance TMD.

            CBA Travel Insurance is provided by Zurich Australian Insurance Limited, ABN 13 000 296 640, AFS Licence Number 232507 through its agent Cover-More Insurance Services Pty Ltd ABN 95 003 114 145, AFSL 241713 (Cover-More) for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

            Terms, conditions, restrictions, exclusions (including for pre-existing medical conditions and persons aged 74 years or over), limits and excesses may apply to all insurances. Please read the CBA Travel Insurance Combined Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide for more information about CBA Travel Insurance.

            If you have purchased CBA Travel Insurance on or before 30 March 2021, please refer to CBA Travel Insurance Combined Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide – effective 15 January 2020.

            Where used, the term “unlimited” only means there is no capped dollar sum insured. All costs and expenses claimed must be reasonable. You are only covered for treatment received and/or hospital accommodation during the 12 month period after the sickness first showed itself or the injury happened.

            CBA and its related bodies corporate do not issue or guarantee this insurance. It does not represent a deposit with or liability of either CBA or any of its related bodies corporate. We do not provide any advice on this insurance based on any consideration of your objectives, financial situation or needs. If you purchase a CBA Travel Insurance policy, we (CBA) receive a commission which is a percentage of your premium.

            • @[Deactivated]: sorry I was in the wrong tab lol

              Its in the PDS from that page.

              https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/commbank-assets/impo…
              (or go back to the page i linked, and ctrl+f, pds, its the 1st result if you dont trust the link.)

              go to page 46 of the PDS, part 1, listed under POLICY CONDITIONS:

              • @Jimothy Wongingtons: Thank you.

                It's on PAGE 46.

                I mean I know 99% of people on here clearly read all the T&C of every policy right?

                We all know everyone is perfect here.

                I do thank you for providing the information tho!(I'd feel more stupid if it was on page 4 LOL)

            • @[Deactivated]:

              Before making a decision on CBA Travel Insurance, refer to our Product Disclosure Statement for full conditions.

          • @Jimothy Wongingtons: I might be blind, but I can't see the text you've quoted in the "Things you should know" section of the page you linked..

            • +1

              @mboy: yeah just updated, i was in the wrong tab, got no joke about 10 commbank tabs atm - the things i do for this community lol

              • @Jimothy Wongingtons: You know, I'm starting to come around to the OP's POV (ever so slightly..).

                If they bought the insurance off Commbank is it reasonable that it's buried in page 46 of an 88 page PDF that's linked in the "Things you should know section" of the Commbank page? Maybe they could be more up-front about that - like actually explicitly mentioning it in the "Things you should know section"?

                Particularly when, as you've pointed out, if they bought it off the Covermore website directly (instead of through Commbank), it's literally the first thing listed in Policy conditions:
                https://www.covermore.com.au/pds/policy-conditions

              • @Jimothy Wongingtons: I never doubted it was written somewhere in the T&C, and I am not pretending I read 70+ pages.

                I was just surprised, I have never really made a claim and to charge $250 per event felt so excessive.

                • @[Deactivated]:

                  felt so excessive.

                  3x excesses is quite excessive

      • -1

        Yeah, this is because they would need to speak to the airport for events that happened on the 12/6, and they would need to speak to the hotel about security footage on 20/6, and so on.

        Separate events, separate case# etc?

        • They don't speak to anyone dude, they didn't even want photos of damage.

          • @[Deactivated]: You speak with the authority of someone who knows a lot about how the travel industry works.

            Maybe you can offer some expert tips to the confused person who created this post.

  • What an eventful travelling trip you must have had.

    I wanna read the stories behind each insurance event

    • Sounds like OP figured they are paying an excess so on subsequent days could throw stuff around.

      Or at least that's the reason insurance charges a excess on each event.

  • So they actually paid out. How hard was it to claim

  • +1

    Screw the scam, everbody is more interested in hearing about this holiday from hell…

  • Makes sense. Why would they not charge you the three rounds of excess fees as they are three separate events.

    • However it's all on one claim form, they didn't ask me to put in 3 separate claims.

      • Good news, if you want to write them out on extra forms (one per event), you're totally allowed to.

        Go on, treat yourself.

  • +1

    Every insurance is per event.. car insurance, house insurance, travel, everything

    • My mate took out travel insurance and his is not, so no.

      • Which company?

        Maybe it's a deal and we can all jump on the gravy train for a $250 flat fee.

      • Your "mate" is likely not telling you the full story and its not the same situation.

        Its completely possible an insurance company would cover everything under one excess, but I think at the same time they would probably refuse to insure you in the future.

  • All-in-all; a glowing review of an insurance policy paying out on three trivial claims without much issue. Thanks for the recommendation OP.

  • +2

    Firstly it does sound pretty dodgy af. Mind you the t's and c's do indicate it is per "event".

    They approved my 3 items, damaged luggage by Airport Security $219, Watch(Water Damage) $600 & cracked phone screen $565.

    Damaged luggage - Debatable as to if they should pay out on it (it's there to protect whats inside)

    Water Damaged Watch - Debatable, i'd say this was failure of the watch or carelessness.

    Cracked phone screen - Again - i'd say this is carelessness.

    Note to self: Buy $20,000 Rolex, undo crown, go swimming, claim back value, profit.

    No wonder they're charging triple excess if this is what they're paying out on.

  • do you think any other insurance is just a once off excess? like house insurance? of course its per event.

    • -3

      ONCE AGAIN, my friend took out travel insurance separately and his CLAIM is a SINGLE EXCESS FEE.

      YOU'RE WRONG.

      • why did he have the watch and phone in the bag, that seems dumb

      • so you both are claiming on travel insurance for different things? sounds like you are trying to fraud the system, did your "friend" also have 3 claims?

        • -1

          Where did I say my friend is making a claim??

          Once I told him what happened, he went to look into his travel insurance.

          My travel insurance was through my diamond platinum credit card, he had taken out separate travel insurance.

          • +1

            @[Deactivated]: You literally said your friends claim was a single excess.

            • @redfox1200: Yes? I said that's what his paperwork says.

              I never said he filed a claim!

  • I thought travel insurance was mainly for personal injury/disease so you don't have to pay $15,000 if you end up in hospital.

    • I mean they told me I have $15,000 cover under BAGGAGE.

      Travel insurance normally covers everything, tho Commbank in BIG writing does NOTE EXTRAS aka Water Sports etc

      • NOTE EXTRAS aka Water Sports etc

        24 hour tarp replacement, good to know

  • +3

    If I'm thinking from the point of view of the insurance company, it seems fair….

    It is very rare that someone would have one bad event when traveling, you've had three separate bad things happen and from what it sounds like, two of these events you were personally responsible for.

    Something isn't right. To be honest if I was the insurance company I would deem you uninsurable.

    • My Watch is 100M, but the specialist said many watches from new aren't sealed correctly. How is that my fault? I just swam in the lake.

      The phone fell out of my jacket pocket while I was walking on the beach, it fell on rocks. My cover took the damage, then it scrapped the screen so I have red scrap marks through the middle which hinder scrolling and off course viewing. Yeah, STUPID to have it in my jacket pocket as I jumped down!

      But it was an accident.

      I never lied, or tried to claim more than the actual damage in any of it. Phone store wanted to take it apart to look for internal damage, said maybe to claim whole phone. I said no, it's working fine.

      • +1

        The watch would be a warranty issue, not an insurance issue.

        As I said, three separate incidents in one trip… thats way too many.

        • They're small claims, I was away for 4 weeks over 3-4 countries.

          I was moving around a lot between beaches, hiking, cities etc

          When you travel alot, stuff gets damaged very easily!

          In the bus in Florence, the driver took a sharp turn and some guy went flying into a girl and her phone went flying! Lucky no damage, but this stuff happens.

          The watch isn't a warranty issue, apparently between what specialists, it's common knowledge that a lot of watches aren't sealed 100%>

          Sure, I could email the watch manufacturer but I'm not sure what kind of response I'd get.

          Unfortunately, who knew replacing a screen on a pixel 7 Pro would cost $565.

          My luggage is only $219.

          • @[Deactivated]: Sounds like someone needs to be more careful and look after their stuff better tbh

  • +1

    I know it sucks but that is how insurance works. It's one excess per event.

    For example with home insurance, If a tree falls on your house one day and the next day your washing machine hose breaks and floods your house the you would be up for 2x excess payments.

    • Yeah, I had no idea.

      It just feels really unfair, it just feels like it only benefits people that are wealthy.

      If I owned a $10,000 watch and the damage was $3,000, obviously benefits me more than if I only own a $250 watch and it gets damaged.

      I can't do much about it.

      I filed the complaint, but that's directly with Cover More. However, I'm probably going to file another complaint with Commonwealth Bank being that it was listed on page 46 of things I should know.

      I've never made a travel insurance claim in my life, actually…I've never made an insurance claim in my life for anything until now.

      Always a lesson 😂

      • Often with travel insurance you can pay more premium to reduce the excess. This might suit someone who has lower value items.

      • If I owned a $10,000 watch and the damage was $3,000, obviously benefits me more than if I only own a $250 watch and it gets damaged.

        Premium usually varies with sum insured; also there might be limits. Read your T&C.


        Insurance is to compensation you for loss (less excess), not about gaining/losing relative to someone else. Get that out of your head.

  • It's never even occurred to me to claim travel insurance for things I damaged myself like phones…in my mind I associate travel insurance for medical/luggage/cancellations only.

    FWIW the last time we travelled my daughter couldn't be covered under the free credit card insurance, so we bought cover for her separately - we reduced the excess to zero because it was only a small increase on the premium. $6 or something. Unfortunately she had an accident so we had to claim, but fortunately it was zero excess and full payout. Might be worth looking at paid covers with reduced excess if you're on an adventurous holiday with high chance of claiming.

    • I wouldn't call swimming in a lake, and my phone falling out of my jacket pocket on the beach a high chance of claiming.

      Everyone here comments like they're perfect, but this is my first ever insurance claim in anything in my entire life.

      I love how people lecture you here, and I guarantee people that have commented on here have probably made more insurance claims than the single one I have ever made in my life.

      It just caught me off guard, like I mentioned. It's bizarre to me that they're willing to pay out 15 thousand dollars for luggage, however…everything is a separate $250 excess.

  • I wouldn't call swimming in a lake, and my phone falling out of my jacket pocket on the beach a high chance of claiming.

    A. Why did you go swimming with a non-waterproof watch?

    B. Also, why were you wearing a jacket on the beach?

    • Yeah, apart from luggage damage, I wouldn't consider this travel insurance issues.

      What if OP has these issues in normal day to day life.

      Why did you go swimming with a non-waterproof watch?

      The entitlement mentality of people.

      • +1

        Can you imagine the loading if certain people were able to claim their derpy life decisions on insurance?

    • -1

      My watch is 100m proof, watch specialist said alot of phones even new aren't sealed correctly.

      Obviously people on here aren't very bright, I'm pretty confident no insurer would cover you if you actually went into the water with a non-waterproof watch.

      It was May, so the weather in Italy was up and down. It was cool, and raining some days.

      • My watch is 100m proof

        Then this is a manufacturing issue. You take it up with the manufacturer as you would if you were at home without travel insurance.

  • Comments closed as per request from OP

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