Scottsdale man wants travel insurance to reimburse him $4,400

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) – Bob Stamper is retired and uses his time to travel around the world. “I’ve been to the Galapagos, Italy, Africa, Egypt and Israel. So, five of them,” Bob said of the countries he’s already visited.

Bob’s most recent trip was to Israel, a vacation that cost a pretty penny. So, prior to leaving, Bob purchased travel insurance through a company called Allianz to protect himself financially. “Does trip insurance give you a peace of mind?” On Your Side’s Gary Harper asked. “Yes, very much so,” Stamper said. It’s a good thing Bob had that travel insurance. As required, Bob had to take a COVID test before returning back to the States, and the news was not good.

“I’m taking the COVID test before we go to dinner. And positive!” Stamper said. “They said, ‘You’re not going home. You’re not going to dinner. Go back to your room and stay for five days.’” That’s what Bob did. He quarantined at his luxury hotel in Tel Aviv, which may not sound bad, but it cost this retiree thousands of dollars out of pocket paying for the hotel room and new airline tickets to come home.

“Who foots the bill when you’re quarantined?” Harper asked. Stamper said, “You pay for everything. But the insurance is supposed reimburse you for anything due to the trip being interrupted.” In all, Bob was out around $4,400, so he turned to his travel insurance company, filled out the claim and provided receipts asking Allianz to be reimbursed.

Nearly three months later and after numerous phone calls and emails to the company, Stamper says he’s still waiting to be reimbursed. “Well, one of my biggest complaints with the company, Allianz, you can’t talk to a human being who can give you any answers.” Frustrated, Bob got a hold of On Your Side and asked if I could help get his money from Allianz.

“They’ll pay a lot more attention to you than Bob Stamper simply sending them an email.” And that’s exactly what happened. After I reached out to Allianz and asked them to review Bob’s paperwork, the insurance company immediately resolved the issue by saying they are mailing Bob a check for $4,400.

Bob says he’s grateful to On Your Side for making it happen. He also says when it comes to future vacations, he may consider another travel insurance company. “There’s other companies that offer trip insurance that are competitive with Allianz. So, that’s not a problem.”

The insurance company never did say why they were sitting on this viewer’s paperwork for so long. But once he gets that check, I’ll let you know in a follow up report.

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