Avoid financial fish-hooks when travelling
Am I the only person who gets nervous about losing money when I travel?
I worry that my insurance won’t pay out, money on my travel cards will disappear, my flights will be cancelled with no comeback, a volcano will erupt and I’ll be caught by the fine print, I’ll miss a connection, someone will rob me of all of my cards and passport. Don’t even get me started with the “what if my flight is cancelled due to a pandemic” question.
Travel does come with financial risks. But, armed with knowledge, you can avoid some of the more common ones.
Travel cards
These cards, loaded with foreign currency, are convenient but usually come with poor exchange rates, high fees and convoluted terms and conditions. Both the Banking Ombudsman and Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL) have handed multiple complaints about these cards. In one case heard by FSCL, “Declan” found that $706 had been withdrawn from his card. The provider said tough luck because he hadn’t notified them within 30 days of the theft occurring. Declan got his money back when FSCL agreed with him that the notification should be within 30 days of him discovering the loss. Check out: tinyurl.com/ TransferWiseNZ
Travel insurance
So much can go wrong on a holiday and it’s not always covered by insurance. In 2019, the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman heard from one couple who had to book flights to Chad in order to get their visas. Their passports, however, were lost by a courier en route to the relevant embassy and the insurance claim for unused travel was declined because they didn’t have visas. Catch-22. Often, travel insurance complaints tend to come from people who haven’t read their policy. Make sure that’s not you.
Financial default of provider
FSCL heard a case where “Mira” found herself stranded in Mumbai. She bought new flights not realising her insurer wouldn’t reimburse for financial default of travel providers, which is excluded most travel insurance policies. Ensure your travel agent is IATA bonded.
Overseas booking services
Every time I book with Expedia, Trivago, Booking.com or other overseas provider I am painfully aware I’m at the mercy of a their customer service staff. Local travel agencies belong to schemes such as the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand. TAANZ says it will refund $250,000 for unticketed bookings should your agency go bust. You can also take New Zealand based companies to the Disputes Tribunal.
Car hire
Talk about tricky contracts. Car hire often has little fish-hooks, which I’ve written about before and there are lots of tricks such as the rental car company’s insurance policy you pay a fortune for, not covering under-body damage. Check out more fish hooks at: tinyurl.com/ RentalCarNZ
Airport parking
While researching this article I found cases against airport carparking services. One person had to spend $300 on a hotel for the night because they couldn’t access an offsite parking facility at the time booked to liberate their car. That owner was reimbursed after going to the Disputes Tribunal.
Overseas ATMs
To his horror, one Kiwi victim of shoulder surfing had $3000 stolen from his card while overseas. The card company refused to refund the money because he hadn’t reported that the card had been swallowed. FSCL decided that as he hadn’t breached the terms and conditions and should be refunded.
If you truly think you’ve got a case against a provider for whatever went wrong on your holiday, then don’t take “no” for an answer. A Community Law Centre can point you in the right direction for who to complain to. Or check out ComplaintLine.org.nz, which has links to all manner of complaint services. If you can’t get the companies to respond in your favour then take to social media. Time and time again I’ve seen companies back down.