Our partner Yellow Jersey is curious about how well-known they are in the Singletrack community.
I know they do insurance because there is an advert for them below Marks post.
I didn't reply to the poll because no answer fits. I am sure they do insurance but don't know the brand and their products well.
irc's more exacting than me. I picked the middle answer but have even had a quote from them in the past - no idea what their full range of activity is so couldn't go for answer 3
I currently have an annual travel insurance with them because it's what the company I went on holiday with recommended/had a discount code for. Don't know any more about them and happily don't have any experience of making a claim on the policy
I had self employed mechanics insurance from them for several years. They were familiar with the trade and were easy to deal with at a time when independent mechanics were unusual.
I still am unusual, can’t change that!
I've heard of Yellow Jersey, yes its involved in cycle racing.
Then came to the poll to find out this is a placed add ?
Have used their single trip travel insurance for trips to France and Spain as it covers uplift assisted downhill/enduro type riding and there's a STW members discount code. They settled a claim without any hassle when I couldn't go on a trip due to a medical issue following a biking accident. Would use them again based on that experience.
I didn't have that experience. Yellow Jersey offload claims for having to cancel a trip to a company called CSAL (who are Gallagher Basset). They made it incredibly difficult to reclaim the costs of flights, deposits, etc. Their portal is just a horrible UI, and their customer service is non existent. If I was being cynical, I would suggest this is all 'as designed" to dissuade people from making a claim. For example they refused to accept the Ryanair "We don't refund any flights" link on the website and wanted me to get an individual response from Ryanair explicitly saying they wouldn't refund my ticket. Emails would go unanswered for weeks, and any history of previous interactions would be lost. They never answered their phone.
To be fair Yellow Jersey CS did their best to chivy CSAL up but it still took three months and 10-15 hours of my time to finally get the claim resolved. So I'll never use them again, because if that is the experience of an annoying but merely financial issue of injury so I couldn't travel, then I don't want to risk needing to claim if I had an accident on a trip.
I also had a bad experience with them, snapped my frame on a riding holiday, prior to the trip they explicitly said they would cover any circumstances like this. When I called them to ask if they would cover a rental bike they wanted to assess my frame before that. Following on from the holiday, they also made it incredibly difficult to claim for the frame, in the end I managed to use the manufacturer warranty and gave up with them
Similar experience as Alex. YJ offloaded my claim onto CSAL, who were less than helpful, in marked contrast to the French hospital who treated me.
Yellow Jersey are just a marketing wrapper for third party insurance. Like most insurance products it seems.
Then came to the poll to find out this is a placed add ?
Not working out very well
They put a discussion piece up on FB suggesting it was time to do away with cafe stops on rides, and I don't want to buy from a company with that kind of negative attitude!
I've never heard of them. That said, one of the downsides of the STW membership model is that your core audience - ie your paid-up members - mostly don't see ads at all. If I were an advertiser, I might be scratching my head at that one.
Anyone know cycle travel insurers who deal with claims in house? The experiences with CSAL mentioned upthread means Yellow Jersey are now on my do not buy list.
I suppose Rule 1 is ensure they don't use CSAL. 1.6 star on Trustpilot.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.csal.co.uk
Thanks for that @irc - I've left a review reflecting my terrible experience.
I remember when they were just a couple of bike shops - Highbury branch was great, Camden one not so much
.
Oh and without wishing to have a "pile on" to a STW sponsor, I think it's important to document my own experiences to help anyone making a decision on who to use. I'm sure others may have had positive experiences so this is just a sample size of one. I was reminded tho when leaving the review on trust pilot that CSAL refused to accept the NHS letters I had documenting my injury including text specifically stating I could not ride an MTB for at least 12 weeks.
They made me pay £60 to my doctors (who had never seen me, but had received all the letters from the NHS fracture clinic) to confirm I was not fit to travel for the guided MTBing holiday I'd booked before breaking my collarbone.
Not sure who I'll choose as my insurance provider next, but I'm 100% sure it won't be Yellow Jersey.
I wonder what their advertising/brand/PR folks will be doing when they see the survey results and comments?
Well, actually, i know. They'll do nothing.
making a decision on who to use.
Does the fact that they are a sponsor of STW have any influence over people's decisions? It's like most advertising to me, I pretty much just ignore it - haven't bought a Saracen bike, most progs I watch on Sky are sponsored by Volvo, haven't got a Volvo.. It's all just noise.
Does the fact that they are a sponsor of STW have any influence over people's decisions? It's like most advertising to me, I pretty much just ignore it - haven't bought a Saracen bike, most progs I watch on Sky are sponsored by Volvo, haven't got a Volvo.. It's all just noise.
The Volvo sponsorship of Sky Atlantic is, says Sky's propaganda, about repositioning Volvo as 'innovative and edgy' and a lot of other marketing gobbledegook. If you were wondering why so many 'innovative and edgy' people seem to be driving Volvos, that'll be why... You've got to laugh.
Well, no I don't really wonder anything about Volvos. My partner has one and it's a decent car, but advertising/sponsorship.. meh
. . . and off we go on the inevitable tangent! Thanks for the info Al. I’ve just had a look on Trustpilot and the certainly do appear to be total shite. That’s the thing with insurance companies, you only find out if they’re any good once you make a claim.
They put a discussion piece up on FB suggesting it was time to do away with cafe stops on rides, and I don't want to buy from a company with that kind of negative attitude!
Unfortunately their advertising worked on you!
My insurance is due soon
Just did a quote - £555 !!! 😂
My current insurance is £225
2 bikes combined value ~ £12k
Interesting : "We cannot cover electric pedal cycles with motors greater than 250w..."
Can recommend Laka if anyone’s shopping around
From the name alone (not encountered Yellow Jersey before) I just assumed they are a road/cycle tour kind of outfit.
My insurance for MTB fits into the same mental box as snowsports/climbing/mountaineering - insurance for difficult circumstances in difficult environments which can easily be excluded by generic or even 'cycle' travel insurance. So that's a perception challenge but i'm sure the road cycling market is more valuable and less complex from their point of view.
I binned them off after going with them for one year after a CyclingUK deal. a) too expensive b) annoying phone calls trying to get me to renew
I’m a tad curious if “Sponsored” equates to STW endorsing them as a company? The feedback so far seems, on the whole, poor, and for a MTB website, should they be aligning themselves with a company that treats cyclists (apparently) quite poorly when a claim is needed?
Bet they wish the poll hadn't been put up! People might've been curious enough to check em out before this thread 😊
For the record: I've no problem with Singletrack partnering with a company with a 4.2/5 trustpilot review score with 300 verified reviews. I've personally dealt with many of the staff at YJ (they also insured our recent Morzine/Les Gets trip). They are a great bunch of people that specialise in insurance for cyclists because they are cyclists.
I'm happy for YJ to sponsor Fresh Goods and this poll.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/yellowjersey.co.uk
That's fair Mark, but it seems at least 2 of us on this thread have had the experience reflected in CSALs TrustPilot score. So there is at least some parts of YJs operation that is very poor indeed. They must know about it, but they don't seem inclined to do anything about it, and were rather hands off when I asked them to get involved. And when they did eventually- not sure they have that much "clout" with CSAL even when they did attempt to chivvy them up.
I've personally dealt with many of the staff at YJ
Maybe invite them to respond to the criticisms of the claims experience described above? I've not had to make a claim but as a current policy holder I'd hesitate to renew next year based on what I'm reading.
Based on this thread alone, I'll be staying away from yellow jersey. 300 reviews isn't that many really...
Never heard of yellow jersey but certainly wouldn’t entertain them based on this thread. The value of user experience @Alex et al outweighs anything for me. It seems CSAL are the ones in the hot seat in the event of a claim so it’s that trust pilot review I’d be looking at. In the shit circumstances you need to claim you just want an insurer who works with you.
I’ve never heard of them but now I’ll add them to the avoid list with Giant
Useful public service thread. I had never heard of them but I trust the first hand experience of STW members above over anonymous online reviews. Will avoid.
Hi everyone,
I’m Hugh and I work in the Yellow Jersey customer service team, looking after customer feedback and complaints. I’m also a cyclist myself and ride road, gravel and MTB, so I completely understand how stressful it can be when something goes wrong on a trip or you’re trying to sort a claim.
Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences. We really do read all feedback and take it seriously.
We know that a few customers have recently had issues with the claims portal, and I completely appreciate how frustrating that can be. As soon as these problems were raised, we worked with our claims partner to get them fixed, and everything should now be working properly. The system is there to make things easier, and we’ll keep making sure it stays that way.
Travel insurance claims are handled by CSAL, part of Gallagher Bassett, who are appointed by our underwriters. This setup is standard across the travel insurance industry and means claims are managed by experienced specialists. We also know that communication can sometimes fall short, especially during busy holiday periods, and that is something we continue to address directly with them to make sure things improve.
When things do not go to plan, we always step in. We have a solid process for handling complaints, and that always involves a real person, often me or someone else in the team, picking up the phone and following things through until they are resolved.
Since 2018, we have sold more than 48,000 travel insurance policies for cyclists and received a total of 64 complaints-that’s 0.13% of our customers who have ever raised a complaint or told us they were unhappy, which we are proud of. But we are never complacent. If something is not right, we want to know, and we will do our best to fix it quickly.
For anyone new to Yellow Jersey, we cover all kinds of cyclists, not just road riders and triathletes. That includes mountain bikers, gravel riders, racers and weekend riders. All of our bicycle insurance claims are handled directly in-house by our UK team, so you are always dealing with us from start to finish.
And to reassure you, we do like our coffee stops. The Coffee Stop article on our blog was written by a triathlon coach, a very intense chap, and was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek opinion piece. We even published a light-hearted counterpoint called <a href=" removed link ">Exercise, Coffee and Cake to balance things out. You can read the original piece <a href=" removed link ">here. We would love to hear your views, and in fact, we might ask Singletrack to make this the topic of a new poll.
If you are waiting on a claim, need an update, or just want to talk something through, feel free to give us a call and ask for me. I am always happy to chat and help however I can.
Thank you again for taking the time to share your feedback,
Hugh
Customer Service Team
Yellow Jersey Insurance
64 complaints against how many claims is more accurate, nobody would complain about a policy they've had and not needed!
I would be more interested in the percentage of complaints to the number of medical claims. The risk of huge hospital bills is the only reason I buy insurance. In fact last time I toured the USA I took the option they have of removing theft cover which from memory cut the cost of the policy nearly in half.
A 15 year old scruffy touring bike is not a huge target and making a point of avoiding high risk areas and always locking it has worked for me. In fact I have never had a bike stolen in my life even in the UK. Secure parking at work and living in a street with no house or garage break ins over 35 years.
Incidentally while I am here
Do your travel policies require helmet wearing for bike touring?
64 complaints against how many claims is more accurate, nobody would complain about a policy they've had and not needed!
Exactly!
And what percentage of claims are rejected, settled in part or settled in full. Any Insurer will have that data readily available.
I've had many requests for those surveys from insurance companies... when you've paid them, but not actually had to use them. What can you say but "They took my money and I was covered (hopefully)" 5 stars. It's a nonsense. You can only review them if you've actually had to claim.
It seems that the reviews on Trustpilot are from people who HAVE claimed. They are worth a read, along with responses from YJ.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/yellowjersey.co.uk
I know I run the risk (understanable) of being accused of defending a sponsor who is paying us money and that's fine. I normally wouldn't step in on these debates but when there's a glaring misstatement along the lines of the the only good reviews are from people that never claimed whern the evidence is right there, then no matter the company that's involved or if they are a sponsor or not, I'll point it out.
I think the issue is they gave a detailed statistic to two decimal places that was somewhat meaningless. Better would be they provide data about claims v complaints and claim payment ratio.
the only good reviews are from people that never claimed when the evidence is right there
fair enough.. Apologies for my post, I should've checked rather than going by what others were saying 🙂
Never heard of them and only after reading some of these replies do I think that they may be involved in insurance. The fact that they waste money on this advertising rather than reducing premiums puts me off straight away.