Planet Earth Travel Insurance Reviews 

jog65 writes : needed guidance on how to navigate my way thru a snafu involving 3 overlapping travel insurance policies that I'd managed to have active at the same time and for (kinda) the same trip. Requested a call back and was most fortunate, a short time later to be talking with a fellow who introduced himself as "Ken" ( planet earth rep') and following a brief description of the sitch - then benefitted from an outstanding professional service; long story short ... snafu no more AND refunded £270 that I feared was down the plughole!
Exemplary performance
Mr Ken Lewis 👍👍👍
Pleasure doing business 🤝

Tim from this company was very helpful. I needed proof my policy covered Thailand specifically and he was able to provide me with it.

I have recently renewed my travel insurance with Planet Earth.My views are about the sales process only and do not refer to any after sales service.
I found the sales operative,Jeremy,very professional and clear in his explanation of the policy content.He guided me,patienlty, through the various options that I could add to the basic policy cover.
He did this without pressuring me and listened to my needs and tailored the renewal perfectly.Jeremy even took time to consult with his manager to clarify a health condition and again clearly and politely discussed my options.

Where to start? We recommended this firm to my 82 year old mother in law for an 8 night break in Tenerife. We had used them once before and my own Mum has obtained her insurance from them for a few years now for trips abroad. We had never claimed though - and that is important.

WE WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN.

My mother in law had a minor medical issue on the second day of the holiday which was quickly sorted out by local services. Unfortunately on the third day she had a fall by the pool and badly injured her hip and elbow. She was unable to walk unaided from this point. She was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment and we hired a wheelchair to assist her for the rest of the holiday but save for a couple of meals out she was not well enough to leave the apartment.

Dealing with Planet Earth from Tenerife was not too bad. The fun and games started when we returned to the UK on 24th October.

Planet Earth use a company called ETI Services in Mansfield to deal with claims. From the outset the process with them was delayed and irritating. They seemed to want us to jump through hoop after hoop to get our claim through. Anyone would think they didn't want to pay out the £524.04 owed to my mother in law for treatment, wheelchair hire and medication.

After them ducking and diving for just over a month, on 1st December I was finally able to submit a written claim with all the receipts that Planet Earth had already received before we returned the UK being requested again.

I found that trying to talk to them on the phone about the delays was interesting. You get put in queue which tells you your queue position. I like this system. It makes you feel like you are getting somewhere. Not with ETI/Planet Earth. When you get to position 1 it puts you through to a voice mail and when you leave a message nobody calls you back. That happened to me three times.

On 12th Jan they suddenly got in touch by email and now they asked for bank statements to prove that the receipted items had actually been paid for by my mother in law. Fortunately we had used her debit card for everything so this was wearily supplied.

By 25th Jan we had heard nothing further and this is when my third attempt on the queue took place. message left. No response. In desperation I called Planet Earth customer services and the only decent person in the whole sorry saga, Tim Lee, assured me he would get an ETI manager to call me direct.

I got that call / email and found that would now pay up but disgustingly they were deducting double the excess amount from the claim of this 82 year old lady on pension credit because they were entitled to as it was two incidents.£374.04 is now on its way. I won't hold my breath.

If you are looking for insurance I recommend you give this lot a swerve. Personally I have used the AA for years and about six years ago had to claim. It was easy and the people there seemed to care.

AFTER THE REPLY TO MY REVIEW FROM PLANET EARTH BELOW THEY DID INDEED REFUND £75 WHICH IT IS ONLY FAIR TO MENTION HERE BUT I WOULD STILL BE WARY USING THEM IF THEY STAY WITH ETI.

I have purchased a policy for a trip in November 2021, had to seek medical assistance for something minor and incurred some eligible costs. Submitted the claim form and supporting documents via Royal Mail 1st class (it seems that submission via e-mail is still not an option, doesn't feels like being in 2022!!) in early December and never heard back from them.
I have called ETI claims help line several times, every time I phone I'm always number 2 in the queue but then after a few minutes on hold the call is forwarded to a voicemail. That's very odd! However, no one called me back after leaving my contact details in the message, as requested.
Now I still don't know whether my claim documents have been received, I am afraid I might have lost the original copies which they ask for, and now it's too late (deadline is 28 days after return) to submit another claim for the same expenses.

But this is why we have internet, so we can send stuff over via e-mail and get a fast acknowledgement and keep a clear trail of any communication with a company. Nowadays the competition have developed fast, convenient and clever ways to submit claims digitally using apps or web portals or email messages, Planet Earth/ETI claims seem to be unable to catch up with this and they still rely on snail mail! A very unpleasant customer journey so far, hard to recommend.

Planet Earth Insurance outsources their claim handling to ERGO however I have given my money to Planet Earth, I will hold them responsible for my claim, and demand an answer from them. What goes on between PETI and their outsourced operations is their business, PETI must take ownership of these cases.

PEMSM/35913

We booked excellent insurance cover from Planet Earth at a competitive price.

Whilst booking it we were in need of an urgent confirmation letter to submit to the Thai Consulate to apply for an entry document.

I spoke to Tim who was friendly helpful, and had supplied me with all I needed within 30 minutes of calling.

Cannot recommend these guys more highly.

In the throws of returning home to Thailand and the New Thai Pass requires certain documents, one of which is travel insurance.
Planet Earth's (Ken Lewis) after issuing the policy then sent me a bespoke covering letter to meet the Thai Pass requirements, virtually on the same day.

This in my eyes goes a long way, a first class company with there clients interests coming before before the just the sale of policy's.

Bravo Planet Earth.

SS

Looking for travel insurance for a season ski trip.
I almost bought the cover thinking it was 91 days cover, then reading the small print.... winter sports cover is only 17 days. What a way to deceive people. I have to pay extra for winter sports cover and they only give 17 days.
My bank gives me 31 Days!

such a pity, don't offer winter sports for long term and then hide 17 days in the small print. Too bad if someone buys this and hurts themselves while skiing.

I bought policy PEMSM/33165 from PlanetEarth just before the pandemic. Tim was very helpful in answering questions before I bought the policy. My summer flights were cancelled due to the pandemic and Tim replied to my emails immediately even though they must have been inundated with claims. Once Oman Air refused to refund my flights, Tim suggested to start a claim for my > £3000 flights. But I persisted with my complaint to Oman Air and fortunately got a full refund. Although I did not use PlanetEarth for a claim, I was pleased that Tim always replied immediately and that PlanetEarth were there to help me if I ever needed to claim. Will definitely be using PlanetEarth for my next holiday.

Well it turns out the policy will not cover me unless Foreign and Commonwealth Office recommended not to travel. Fact that I could not travel because Swiss authorities closed the ski slopes and when I took the policy there was no knowledge of the pandemic is not considered by Plant Earth Insurance. So a nice loophole for the insurer. Still feel very shabily treated as ive had to phone mant times to try to speak to someone, emailed twice, complained twice on Trustpilot. Insurer has just told me to complain to Financial Ombudsman. Fine who has time to join that huge crowd of dissatisfied customers. Not even a meaningful apology or compensation for all my wasted time. Cut the customer adrift seems to be the approach. VERY BAD CUSTOMER RELATIONS Plant Earth.

Appalling and abysmal customer service - same experience as previous 2 reviewers, no response at all from Planet Earth. They just ignore their valued customers. Phone line just rings out then cuts the call after 3 mins. They seem to be extra quick with their replies on Trustpilot though!

I appreciate that the firm must be handling a great number of claims but waiting virtually two months without even an acknowledgement is unacceptable - I know the claim has been received and logged and have a claim reference number I obtained from the Customer Services but absolutely nothing from the Claims people!!!

One other in our party had their Claim paid within a week of submission.

Sent refund after one week , knocked one star off because a ten pound management fee was deducted.

GREAT service so far :-)

Ken was an extremely helpful chap.
He was calm, patient, and had a pleasant manner.
His explanations and details were easy to understand, which made the job of booking our holiday travel insurance very easy.
Thank you Ken

Mr K Tipping
19/02/20

Very good experience very, easy to deal with good staff knowledge and a good price to.

Very often it is quite a stressful experience negotiating with any insurance firm , however, Planet Earth in Bramhall is always so helpful, patient, accommodating, giving fair and honest advice which is always to the customer’s benefit. It is a pleasure to deal with them.

All very easy, informative. Would recommend.

I had a couple of medical issues for myself and my wife that I wanted clarification of before taking out travel insurance. The person who responded to my queries was very knowledgable on all aspects of the policy and answered all my queries and I have now taken out the policy at a very competitive price.