Canceled trip leaves woman fighting cancer and fighting for a refund

You buy trip insurance in the hopes that you don't have to use it, but if the unexpected happens, you're protected.

Chris Nielsen is glad she bought trip insurance after a cancer diagnosis put a halt on her travel plans.

Chris received a cancer diagnosis in June. She canceled her trip to London right away as she needed to start chemotherapy. She reported her airline ticket claim to TripMate, the travel insurance company.

"They needed copies of the ticket, the e-ticket numbers, the booking, the schedule, and all the rest of it," Chris explained.

The airline ticket was more than $3,700 so Chris wanted to make sure she had everything in to TripMate.

After filing the claim, she waited a few weeks. She did get paperwork from TripMate letting her know it got her paperwork and they just needed to know if she would be using her airline ticket for another flight. Chris turned in the paperwork that stated no, and the wait began again.

"I called them two or three times and I said I'm still waiting to get my refund check back," Chris recalled. "'Oh, she said, we'll expedite the process. Look for it in the next two weeks,' and that never came."

Frustrated as it was already November, and Chris still didn't have her refund check.

"I finally was sitting here in desperation one day and I thought, you know what, I bet Diane Wilson could put a bug in their ear and get them to speed this thing up, and you did," Chris said.

Once I got in touch with TripMate a representative with the company said their records indicated that a check was previously emailed to Chris prior to my involvement.

Chris claims she didn't get it, but once I contacted TripMate another check was sent and within 24 hours Chris received the full refund of her airfare. Chris says she could not be happier that her case is closed and she can focus on beating cancer.

The best advice is to keep all of your records and take a look at exactly what documents you need to get your claim processed in a timely fashion.