Well, had a trip that I had to cancel due to COVID-19. Was planning to go on vacation and on our way back stop in Charlotte to watch a NBA Game with the Horents and La Lakers. The tickets were fairly pricey ($789 for 3 tickets) so I decided to get the Ticket Insurance from Allianz for $53. Thinking that if something happened on our trip and we had to miss the game we would be alright.
Well I purchased the tickets in December 2019, way before anyone had really heard of the corona-virus issues. Then in early March the NBA decided to postpone the season after several players tested positive to the virus.
Then our vacation was canceled due to other places we were to visit had decided to close as well. So we had no reason to go anywhere for vacation as we could not due anything we had planned. I canceled all the hotels (5 places) I had booked for the trip, with no issues and since I used point to book they were just put back for later use. Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt did not even ask why I was canceling and just said we look forward to you staying at a later date.
Tried to call Ticketmaster to check on the tickets, their phones were dialing busy for many days. I decided to wait until closer to the game date to check on a refund. Finally got to someone who basically told me sorry, no refund on postponed events. Also Ticketmaster tried to update their policy to address the pandemic, which was caught and they were called out in the news for shady business practices.
With TicketMaster looking to screw everyone out of money, It came to me that I had purchased the ticket insurance on the website along with the tickets. Looked up my policy on the Allianz website to see what I needed to do, of course they had a banner mentioning they were busy and stuff about the COVID-19 pandemic. I looked to see that for a postponed event I was covered and could get a refund. However, in their policy they also mention an epidemic and that noting was covered due to that. Well I figured I would give it a try, since I was driving and not flying. Read some twitter posts were they specifically said Allianz was denying anything where the Government canceled travel. Submitted all the information they asked for, and waited the 7-10 business days. on the 10th day, and since I had not heard anything I decided to check on the status. Noticed that it had a simple statement saying they had declined my request. Not stating any specifics to why, but did mention they would send a letter or email me on the reason why.
Decided to send them another request to tell me why they had decided to decline my refund request for a postponed event. Will wait to see if I actually get a real reason, or if they just lump it in to the epidemic clause in the policy, so they can keep my money and not have to pay out anything.
I did decided to call American Express to see if the purchase protection would help me, as it was still withing the 120 day window. But, after speaking to the nice gentleman on the line, their policy specifically identifies that any tickets of any kind are not covered. He basically said it covers physical items and not events, unless you purchase their trip insurance. it was a long shot but figured I would check, but no such luck.
Lessons learned from this event. Never purchases tickets through Ticketmaster or go to events that only sell thorough Ticketmaster (this will be hard as there is a Monopoly in ticket sales). Never get the Allianz insurance and always look for alternatives that will be way better if I am worried about an issue with the event.
Only thing I can do now is to see if and when the event will be rescheduled, and hope we can attend the event. If possible may try to resell the tickets once the event is schedule.
