Dear Tripped Up,
I was a 68 year old solo traveler touring Sicily in June 2022, when I fell off the bus, breaking multiple ribs, vertebrae and pelvic bones. I purchased the RoundTrip Choice plan from Seven Corners Travel Insurance, so I called, hoping they would help coordinate my medical care with Italian-speaking doctors. But they told me to get help myself, save the receipts and file a claim when I got home. Our tour guide was an angel, arranging drivers to take me back and forth to the hospital and even interpreting via speakerphone to the doctors. Days later, I got a doctor to fill out a form (which I had to Google Translate for him) saying I could go home, as long as I was in a reclining position. My family went along to buy business-class seats for the return flight, a day and night trip from Palermo to Munich to New York to Jacksonville. Seven Corners ended up paying $5,772 for my fees and missed trip, but refused to refund me most of my business class fare. Worse, I believe they failed to give me the help they promised, which essentially left me to fend for myself and left me unable to communicate with the hospital staff. I registered complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the state insurance agencies of Florida and Indiana (where Seven Corners is based), but got nothing. Can you help? Helaine, St. Augustine, Fla.
Dear Helaine,
What a scary ordeal. And also an important reminder to solo travelers that while it’s fun to see the world alone, it can also be dangerous. Get sick or hurt in a place where you don’t speak the language (or don’t understand the health care system) and who is there to help you?
Seven Corners says it, according to its website, boasts “a 24/7 multilingual team available to assist with travel emergencies,” including assistance in finding medical care and second opinions as well as ” interpreter referrals” and medical evacuations. The website told the reassuring story of Makenzie, a 22-year-old who fell ill near the French-Belgian border. Seven Corners staff are described as springing into action, talking to her doctors, arranging for a family member to fly, and eventually booking Makenzie “a lay-down seat to ensure the maximum comfort” upon his return to California.
You obviously didn’t get the Makenzie treatment.
To find out why, I reviewed your policy and the other documents you sent me, spoke at length and exchanged emails with Greg Jung, executive vice president of Seven Corners, and even asked a Times colleague, Ilaria Parogni, to translate your Leader of Sicilian physicians from Italian doctor-scribble into standard English.