Vrbo Purchased Travel Insurance Gets Lost on Shuffle

Dear Travel Troubleshooter: I paid for a vacation rental on Paradise Island in the Bahamas through Vrbo. I also purchased a trip cancellation through his CSA Travel Protection on the Vrbo site and I have confirmation of that purchase.

Unfortunately, one of my party members cannot travel due to health reasons.

I called CSA to file a claim, but they don’t have a record of my policy. The rep also told me that Vrbo is having issues verifying travel insurance and information he doesn’t send to CSA. CSA said I was not covered as far as they were concerned.

I reached out to Vrbo again. My agent told me to contact CSA. He copied the insurance confirmation and pasted it into the correspondence, but he wasn’t interested. I asked him for his badge number as well, but he said he wasn’t allowed to provide it.

In order to resolve the issue, we would appreciate it if you could review your travel insurance policy so that we can take the necessary steps to receive your refund. Can you help me?

— Sam Manier, Hudson, Ohio

answer: If you have travel insurance through Vrbo, you should. What Vrbo will or won’t do with your money after making sure the policy isn’t your problem.

Communication with Vrbo clearly indicates that you have purchased an insurance policy. This proved to be a smart move as this insurance covers unexpected illness. Members of your group are unable to travel and need a full refund for their stay.

The paper marks are confusing, but they support your position. Vrbo’s system displayed “original purchase was not completed and has been canceled”. Yet you have received confirmation. But Vrbo also says it has started retroactive purchases of travel cancellation insurance. So you should be covered.

Vrbo executive names, phone numbers and email addresses are listed on my consumer advocacy site at www.elliott.org/company-contacts/vrbo-customer-service-contacts. It seems that you have tried to contact them, but have not heard back. that’s a problem.

The only way to know if you don’t have insurance is to carefully monitor your credit card purchases. If you’re hoping for a deal and it’s not working out, you’ll need to make an inquiry. Especially when it comes to insurance. Yes, even if it is confirmed.