Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Reviews 7

They sold me peace of mind — then denied it when it mattered! If you're looking for travel insurance that actually shows up when it matters, look elsewhere. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is not a company you can count on.
They utterly failed my family when we needed them the most. I purchased their travel insurance policy specifically to protect my 5 year old child and me in the event of a medical emergency. We had full, paid coverage at the time of the incident — yet they denied our claim on a flimsy technicality related to the timing of our return ticket.
Let me be clear: the emergency occurred within the covered period, and I submitted every piece of documentation they asked for — including the return itinerary and confirmation of our extended stay due to the incident. Still, they found a loophole to avoid paying.
It’s obvious this company is more focused on dodging payouts than fulfilling the promises they sell. Their behavior was cold, bureaucratic, and deeply disappointing. When you buy insurance, you expect peace of mind — not red tape and stonewalling.

Date of experience: May 01, 2025

Complete garbage, waste of time, money and effort. They will pretend to help but accomplish nothing and string you along blaming everyone that THEY are responsible for. I am the customer yet I have to track down their employees to get help with my problem that they are supposed to cover. I wish I had a real insurance company to help me.

Date of experience: November 29, 2024

This is about our claims experience with Berkshire Hathaway Travel Insurance. We missed our connecting flight from Cape Town South Africa to Windhoek Namibia because we were told when we arrived at the Cape Town Airport from Newark, NJ [in time to board] that our reservations had been cancelled. Neither United Airlines which we flew in on nor South African Airways, which we were connecting to, would take responsibility for the cancelled reservation. As a result we had to fly to Namibia the following day, losing a day of our booked experience in Namibia [lodging, meals, transportation, etc. that we had prepaid]. We filed a claim for $368US, solely for the cost of our prepaid expenses in Namibia, as soon as we arrived home on July 3. We submitted proof of our prepaid Namibia expenses, flight information [booked and replacement flights], boarding passes, etc. In response, BH required us to secure a letter from the airlines stating why our reservation was cancelled. It seemed an irrelevant request to us -- the "why" would not affect the fact that we had clearly not boarded our booked flight and had had to fly a day later, missing our pre-booked experiences. Trying to get a letter from United Airlines required hours of phoning, being on hold, and ended up in a letter a month later, which when submitted to BH, was not deemed satisfactory. We then pursued the quest with South African Airways. Again, hours spent trying to communicate with South Africa, and a letter was never forthcoming. We then went back to United and tried to secure a "better" letter. Seven weeks after we filed the claim we were able to forward a "better" letter from United stating our reservations "had been auto-cancelled -- sometimes it happens". BH sent us a check a week later settling our claim for the amount requested. Considering the process, it was unreasonable of BH to put the task of getting a letter as a requirement to pay our claim; and the information in the letter provided nothing relevant to the merits of the claim -- that we had lost a day of our Namibian holiday. It felt clearly like BH was setting up unnecessary requirements that likely most people would despair of fulfilling. We were persistent and so were compensated 2 months after filing our claim. We will never get travel insurance from BH in the future.

Date of experience: June 17, 2024

I took a trip to the UK, i had to visit a Dr. for my 1 year old the price of around 100 dollars. I know its not a lot of money but i wanted to see if they will reimburse me. I attached photos of everything, the tickets, bank statements, drs receipt, invoice of flight. I called them several times and each time they told me you just have to do one more thing, i asked are you sure.. they said yes and then you are done, i added whatever they asked for and each time they emailed back with something else. if you love wasting time and money then this is the insurance for you. if not please learn from my mistake and find a more honest company. incidentally they always pick up the phone right away, i guess if you are never reinbursing you costumers than you can spend money on phone reps.

Date of experience: March 25, 2024

My name is William Davidson - Claim #02526422. I purchased Travelex insurance in case of emergency/hospitalization which I ended up needing weeks into my trip with an approx 48hr hospital stay. Now, Travelex's underwriter (Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance) stated my claim is denied for get this...
Because I hadn't purchased my return flight before taking out the policy. However, I believe this to be illegal since Travelex's own website didn't ask for such confirmation (of purchasing a return flight) at the time of the application via their website. Their website only asked when I would be returning by which was August 7, 2023.
Now, I've had to pay the bill of $2,100 USD and not the insurance company that gladly took my premium without making sure it’s clearly known… You must have a return flight purchased. Not just a return date noted which is all their application asks of.
I don't care if it's Berkshire Hathaway Speciality or Travelex's fault for not making sure this is known to the customer; outside of the legalese within the policy.
It's not right and now I'm going to file a formal complaint with the California Department of Insurance and put up reviews on every site I find and let all my 4,994 friends on Facebook and Instagram know along with ALL the ex-Pat groups in every major city know to NOT buy Travelex insurance.

Below is a copy and paste of specifics of their denial letter which still doesn’t make sense. Their own definition of “Trip” states, “the trip has a defined departure and return dates specified when the Insured applies.”
I did just that by specifying a return date of August 7, 2023 when I applied; yet…

Within the denial letter (see below) they change the parameters of their own definition of a “Trip” by stating…
“According to the definition of Trip as stated by the policy, you must have a defined Return Date specified in your travel documents. Because the return flight was not purchased before the Departure Date of February 11, 2023, the Trip is considered one-way and your coverage ended upon your arrival at the Destination. Therefore, there is no coverage for your claim under the Medical Expense portion of your policy.”
NO WHERE IN THEIR OWN DEFINITIONS OF A TRIP DOES IT STATE YOU MUST HAVE PURCHASED YOUR RETURN FLIGHT. JUST THAT, “the trip has a defined departure and return dates specified when the Insured applies.” Which again, I did just that by stating a return date of August 7, 2023. Their entire definitions are stated below of what a “Trip” is and what their denial is for.
You can clearly see they broaden the scope of their own definition of what a “trip” is to fit their denial. Their own words: definition of “Trip” states, “ the trip has a defined departure and return dates specified when the Insured applies.” DOES NOT EQUAL THEIR DENIAL OF A “TRIP” in their denial letter stating “you must have a defined Return Date specified in your travel documents.” If that was the case why didn’t they ask for proof of return flight purchased at the time of purchasing the coverage?

Also, over the last month while I was waiting for a response (after getting them all the required invoices, doc’s notes, etc to them) I called Travelex and spoke to a representative who I asked… Am I still covered while I’m waiting for your guys to reimbursed? What if another medical emergency happens again while I’m waiting?? They lady on the phone assured me I was covered and there’s nothing to worry about in case of another hospitalization. What a bunch of lies… I’m lucky nothing happened between now and then. Now, Travelex will pay on every review site and social media avenue I have. BUYER BEWARE!!

Policy Definition:
“Trip” means a period of travel away from home to a Destination outside the Insured’s City of
residence; the purpose of the trip is business or pleasure and is not to obtain health care or
treatment of any kind; the trip has defined Departure and Return Dates specified when the
Insured applies; the trip does not exceed 180 days; travel is primarily by Common Carrier and
only incidentally by private conveyance.
Denial Letter Definition:
According to the documentation received, your return flight has not been purchased yet. According to the definition of Trip as stated by the policy, you must have a defined Return Date specified in your travel documents. Because the return flight was not purchased before the Departure Date of February 11, 2023, the Trip is considered one-way and your coverage ended upon your arrival at the Destination. Therefore, there is no coverage for your claim under the Medical Expense portion of your policy.

Date of experience: March 17, 2023

They charged me 130/m for simple e and o insurance, until I showed the policy to my agent... my agent recommended NEXT, all I wanted was e and o! I found out from one of their scam agents at THREE BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY that they were charging me for workers compensation too! No wonder it was soo high! I now pay 100 less, and wasn't MISLED, LIED TOO, SCAMMED, MISREPRESENTED AND OUTRIGHT ROBBED of my MONEY! Everything was good until I tried to cancel. Once I cancelled, they sent NUMEROUS CERTIFIED LETTERS and now are threatening to charge me an EXHORBORANT amount of money, simply because there is no need to do an audit! I thought this was America, where we could CANCEL SCAMS AT WILL, apparently, this company RETALIATES AND ATTEMPTS TO MAKE YOU INTO A DEBTOR. Warren Buffet is an EVIL MAN. This is the scam he has run, and this is how he got so rich! This is a dishonest scam criminal insurance company, please please please avoid and if you have been scammed by them, report them immediately to the ATTORNEY GENERAL, because the Department of Insurance is actually FOR these CRIMINALS, ESPECIALLY THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE!!! THEY ALLOW COMPANIES LIKE THIS AND SELECTQUOTE TO SCAM BILLIONS OUT OF INNOCENT AMERICANS. oh... and the connection between these two scam companies located on the PLAINS? WARREN BUFFET!!! DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Date of experience: October 18, 2022

Filed cancelled for any reason travel claim. Never received money back. Received a response with unreasonable amount of paperwork request. Replied with it. Never got in touch with anybody again. Customer service transfers to claim person that never picks up the phone or returns calls. SCAM!!!

Date of experience: May 24, 2020