Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection

I have had better purchasing experiences on travel insurance with other companies. I never had any feedback or emails directly from Squaremouth which was unlike other 3rd party insurance providers. I never really felt that Squaremouth was going to be there for me as a customer. BHT customer service was not that friendly of helpful and I am talking way before the Covid-19 pandemic was even known. When I added to my policy along with the way with additional payments for our vacation rental I thought the customer service reps were aloof and as if it was a bother. I cringed over the fact that if I did not have to make a claim that it would be a big issue. If they can't even be friendly or helpful when I am paying them money than I can't imagine they would be civil if I had to make a claim.

During our trip which was in Feb and March of this year we did run into issues with the pandemic. We were in Key West in March and was forced out of vacation rental by a county directive that cancelled all vacation rentals and hotel stay and forced everyone to leave by Mar. 22. Our provider did not provide any reimbursements of the remaining time and we thought that we would be able to collect something from the travel insurance. We soon learned that would not happen at it had to be a "named peril" in order to collect. Of course a pandemic or a governmental order was not a named peril so we could not collect. My review is not based on this issue though disappointing. I now have a better understanding of travel insurance and not sure that large amount of money we pay is really worth it considering how few events are actually covered.

My contact with Berkshire Hathaway customer service was in mid March in an effort to receive some compensation for changing airline flights because of the Covid-19 outbreak. In spite of Embassy alerts advising travelers not to travel to certain areas, and travel alerts prohibiting entry of US citizens to the country where travel was to depart from, I was advised that CoVid -19 was not part of the policy coverage. Upon return home, I started a claim, but it was very clear on the claim form itself that there is no coverage if the claim is related to re-routing travel as a result of CoVid-19. If either of us had been hospitalized or treated by a physician and our travel was delayed, I believe coverage would have been available. In addition, the policy states that claims need to be made within 72 hours, and all receipts and travel credits need to be submitted as supporting documentation. I started cancelling and re-routing flights in mid-March and am still waiting for airline credits or refunds.

I cannot specifically say that this is unique to Berkshire Hathaway Insurance with a basic policy. But it certainty seems that a pandemic would fit into travel re-routing the same as terrorism, etc. When I purchased the policy in September 2019, who had even heard of CoVid - 19?

As always, Squaremouth walked me through some of the finer points. Thank you.

Due to the Coronavirus and we are both 66 years old we cancelled our 11 day cruise 9 days before departure.
We were refunded our premium payment in full in a timely fashion.

We are extremely happy with your service.
Thank you.

Trip canceled week before itinerary started. Unable to cancel the policy that covered only medical evacuation and get a refund for a trip that never happened. If I insure a car, and I sell it before the policy period expires, I get a refund for the unused service period. Discouraging that BH does not offer the same courtesy.