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Melania Tarquino

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Review of the Admiral, Travel insurance:

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This company is a SCAM.

It’s hard to describe in words the nightmare I went through thanks to this company. They have the most appalling customer service and, in my experience, they are greedy scammers. Their staff seem to look for every possible way to avoid paying customers, something that becomes clear when you read many of the other reviews here. After paying for years for their most expensive policy, I unfortunately needed to use their service when I became seriously unwell and needed urgent surgery in Argentina in early 2024. They left me completely abandoned during the extra month I had to stay there while recovering. They provided no meaningful medical or logistical support, leaving me to deal with everything on my own. This made having travel insurance feel completely useless. Even worse, they repeatedly asked me to call people in the UK to explain what had happened, again and again, without actually providing any support. They simply told me to pay all the costs myself and led me to believe I would be reimbursed when I returned home. I had to cover my medical expenses, accommodation and a new flight home. I also had to ask my GP to provide the documents they requested and pay for them, only to eventually find out that they had rejected my claim for what I considered completely illogical reasons. The only thing they acknowledged was that they had not provided an adequate level of customer service during this ordeal. Their response was to offer me a ridiculous £100 compensation, despite the fact that I had spent around £3,000. I then took my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), a process that took around two years. The FOS ultimately ruled in my favour and decided that Admiral had to reimburse my claim in full, plus 8% annual interest. Admiral tried to appeal the decision, but failed, and the FOS confirmed that they had to pay me. That was around seven months ago. Since then, Admiral has taken what felt like every possible step to avoid complying with the decision. They requested additional evidence and paperwork that they had not required when I originally submitted my claim. It took me hours to gather everything they asked for, but I provided it all. When they finally made the payment, they paid approximately £1,000 less than they should have because they calculated it using the current exchange rate rather than the exchange rate at the time I made the payments, despite the FOS explicitly requiring the appropriate exchange rate. It took around 50 calls to their customer service to get this addressed. I was treated horribly almost every time and repeatedly told, like a broken record, that their calculations were correct, without anyone actually listening to what I was saying. Eventually they recalculated the claim and paid the outstanding amount — but without the interest required by the FOS. It took another 20 or so calls before they finally calculated and paid the interest correctly. What is genuinely shocking is that they seemed to make endless "mistakes" when paying me, but somehow never made mistakes when reducing what they owed me. They deducted all the subsistence expenses I had submitted, a small airline refund for taxes on the flight I had lost, and even tax from the small amount of interest they eventually paid. This makes me believe the problem was not simply that their staff could not carry out basic calculations. It felt like they were actively looking for ways to reduce the amount they had to pay, hoping I would eventually give up. Every time they had to correct a payment, I was treated horribly. They never apologised. I finally received the full payment last week. It took 2 years and 9 months, hundreds of calls and emails, and an enormous amount of stress and emotional distress to receive what I was ultimately entitled to. Based on my experience and the reviews I have read, I would never trust Admiral with my travel insurance again. Please think very carefully before choosing this company. Reviewed on: 28th September 2026

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