Communication when we needed it was terrible

The staff at Budget Direct were lovely, but there was a huge gap in communication. I have made claims with Budget Direct in the past, when Allianz was part of the medical assistance team and I have to say it was much smoother last time.

It was so difficult to contact Budget Direct as my Sri Lankan number would not allow me to call and as I was in the ambulance with my partner and being his carer in the emergency room I had no time to figure it out. I sent emails to any contact I could find, including the team that had helped me before. The old Allianz team from last time even called me back and gave me their contact numbers. After not hearing from Budget Direct from my emails- until 3 days later, I had to get my Mum in Australia to call them so they could call me.

After speaking with them they arranged the original gaurantee with the hospital so my partner could get into the ward and get the care he needed. That was the good part. They then said they would call me back as soon as it was sorted but I didn't hear from them until 2 days later after I had asked my Mum to get them to call me again!

There was poor communication between Budget Direct and the Hospital in Sri Lanka and I am not sure who is at fault but it does take 2, so surely they could've made an effort to contact each other instead of me relaying all information that I could understand from the language barrier and medical terms.

Each time I spoke to someone at Budget Direct I had to ask them to call me back at a particular time either that day or the next. If I did not, then they would not call. I shouldn't have to do all this. When Allianz was working with them, their medical team would call 2 or 3 times a day and check how everything was going and help me to understand my symptoms. This time I felt like we were flying blind.

When it finally came to our day of discharge, after 6 days in hospital we were well and truely ready to leave, and I notified our insurance team at 9am. I only heard back from 1 email to say they would confirm with the hospital. I emailed 5 times asking for some light on what was happening and received no replies. I had to run around the hospital asking other people what we were waiting for and get my phone working to call them. The first time I got hold of them I was told the forms had been sent. Then the next time I was told that my partner's case had to be reviewed because his condition had changed. I can only assume this was because there was no communication with the hospital about his ongoing case. There was no change, only improvement. And I had been filling them in with what I knew everytime they called.

It is now 4pm, we have been waiting 7 hours so far for this to be resolved. Thank gosh we don't have to pay the bill but waiting for all this paperwork is painful and I don't think I will be using budget direct again. I do not have piece of mind that they will be there when we need them and wouldn't recommend.

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