Should a dive op give you your money back?

[DiveMaven]

We had TravelGuard insurance for a trip to the Middle East and when our flight was delayed out of Israel, we missed our connection in NJ. When I went to make a claim with TravelGuard for the hotel expense for the night we had to stay in NJ, they not only required that I send them a receipt PROVING we had insurance with them, but also get a letter from the airline explaining WHY the plane was delayed in Israel. Huh??

I was floored that our cards from TravelGuard with our names and policy number on them weren't good enough as "proof", and there was no way we were going to ever get that letter from the airline. Nice scam...at least we were only out $100 for the delay.

 

[RowingMunkeyCU]

If you don't mind me asking what is your average monthly/annual spend on AMEx? PM me if you don't want in on a public forum.

thanks

I believe the minimum annual expenditure to qualify for an AmEx Black card is $250k. The card also has virtually no limit, with record single purchases being in the neighborhood of $30 million.
(It's amazing the things you learn from VH1)

Heh, now that would be sweeeet. I can picture it now... ATM cash advance for $30 million. Fly to Barbados, buy a boat and all the diving equipment you can dream of and live the good life. ;-)

 

[Wayan]

Hi Y'all

I am going through an issue currently due to my wife suddenly coming down very sick, to the point she was in the Hospital for a week.
We had booked a 2 week vacation, that, of course, we had to cancel with 1 1/2 weeks to go before the start date. Now the problem.
The dive operator is saying they will not rerturn any of the almost 4000.00 we paid them in advance. They did grudgingly offer to allow us to reschedule for another date, but at first they said that was also off the table.

So I was wondering.. Should they give us the money back with a cancellation fee or something, or is it ok for them to take our money and run with it? Last year they cancelled on us, and offered us the money back, but because we were forced to cancel, no deal.
I am concerned that the company may not be in business next year, or my wife may never be able to dive again, so we would still be out all that money.
All the other outfits that were involved in this trip have given us our money back in full, like airlines, and hotels, and the other dive ops. Because they were so good about it, they get my undieing support and future business. It's just this one op that refuses. Am I out of line here? I know..TRIP INSURANCE!! Next time you can bet I'll get that. I wanted to this time, but the spousal unit said no, and all you guys out there know what that means.

hard to really say one way or the other as it depends on the policy of the company (read fine print) some will have a tiered cancellation policy ie: 3 month 40% 2 months 20% 1 month no refund. Some of the better operators will offer a re-schedule but usually not necessarily at the time you want (read peak season here)

Ahhhh and yes of course good TRAVEL/ TRIP INSURANCE is a must (be sure to read the notoriously small fine print) Saw a travel insurance policy the other day that only covered divers to 9 metres (27 feet) - the extra expense a couple of hundred dollars is worth the expense just for peace of mind and a stress less and wonderful holiday would you say

 

[underachiever]

How bout rescheduling the trip and take out some insurance? Worse case your out a few $100.