True stories
We are people who help people in times of need. Around the clock, around the world, we're always ready to help. Read how we were able to assist these customers.
March 2010
The Pereira family was holidaying on Ko Chang Island, Thailand when three-year-old Charlize was hit by a motorbike. The rider sped off, leaving the family alone to deal with Charlize’s head injuries.
Charlize was taken to the local hospital on the island, but was quickly moved to a larger facility in Bangkok. Not long after Charlize’s mother called us to see if we could move her daughter to another hospital with better facilities. Within two hours we had Charlize transferred to Bangkok General Hospital where a team of specialists worked to stabilise her.
Charlize was in intensive care for ten days and spent another week in a general ward before she was well enough to be repatriated back to Australia with a specialist paediatric medical officer. During this time, our Medical Assistance team supervised Charlize’s treatment and worked with her specialists to manage her care. We also arranged accommodation for the family that was either walking distance to the hospital, or within the hospital itself.
Our case manager, Michael, called the Pereira’s daily to offer support and we worked with the airline bringing Charlize home to ensure her parents were seated with her during the trip. Since the accident Charlize has completed her rehabilitation program and has recovered well from her injuries.
“Our case manager, Michael, was an absolute godsend to our family. When you’re away from home in a different country everything seems a bit surreal and you feel really disconnected. Michael called every day to check in with us and make sure Charlize and our family were ok—this was our lifeline, especially in the early days.”
“Whenever we would call you, it was like all of the staff knew us, everyone knew who Charlize was and what happened to her, and everyone had a genuine concern for making sure she recovered.”
Jackie Pereira, Charlize's mother
February 2010
“G’day mate. I’ve just done the silliest thing ever in my whole life.”
Mike, a veteran Harley Davidson rider, called us during his 2600 kilometre journey across the Nullarbor Plain to attend the Ulysses Motorcycle Club’s Annual Meeting in Albany, Western Australia.
After switching off his engine at a road works site, Mike went to restart his bike—only to realise that he had lost his security tag (which is needed to start the engine) along with his wallet and mobile phone. They were all in a bag that had fallen off Mike’s bike somewhere along the open road.
Our customer service assistant, John contacted the service manager at Harley Davidson Adelaide to see if there was another way to start Mike’s bike without the security tag. They suggested we call Mike’s selling dealer in the Northern Territory to check if they recorded the bike’s release code number. Luckily for Mike they did and before long he was moving again.
In the meantime we received a call from Harley Davidson Adelaide to say a passer-by found Mike’s bag and left it for safekeeping at a highway truck stop.
Mike later thanked us for our help. He arrived at the meeting on-time and was relieved knowing that his wallet, mobile phone and security tag would be waiting for him on his return home.
August 2009
We were contacted by a veteran living in Waitara, New South Wales after Telstra advised him he needed a phone jack installed so he could use a Personal Response System (PRS) in his home. The veteran was in palliative care in hospital and needed the PRS so he could remain in his home after he was discharged. The PRS would allow the veteran to trigger an alert call from his bed so our closest medical officer could come to his assistance.
The same day we took the call from our customer, we contacted one of our providers with the details of the job. The provider confirmed they could fast-track the work to have it completed first thing the following morning.
The next day the veteran called us to thank the case manager overseeing his claim for her assistance. Thanks to her help he got back to the comfort of his own home faster than he ever expected.
October 2009
Peter was holidaying on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, when he fell off the edge of a bitumen road and broke his ankle.
After the accident Peter arrived at the private hospital in Lanzarote, only to be told that his insurance policy wasn’t valid in Spain. He was quickly moved to the island’s public hospital. Once there his doctor told him it would take almost a week to be operated on and it would cost up to €450 (about AU$640) a night for a hospital bed.
After hearing this news, Peter’s family called the private hospital with the offer to pay for all of his medical costs—€5000 to €8000—and a deposit of €6000 to be paid up-front. Peter was eventually sent back to the private hospital, and by this stage he was exhausted, dehydrated and suffering from incredible pain.
Meanwhile, Peter’s partner called to tell us about his accident and his experiences in hospital. We immediately contacted the hospital to confirm Peter’s cover and our office in Barcelona started coordinating his treatment. Peter was operated on the very next day and recovered with a wonderful view of the Camino Del Vulcan—the very spot where his accident took place.
One week after his accident, we arranged for Peter to be repatriated back to Australia. We covered all of his medical treatment and his family was refunded for all of their out-of-pocket expenses.
“I cannot express enough gratitude to the staff at Allianz Global Assistance for their excellent networking, communication and organisational skills.”
Peter Murphy
May 2010
An 87-year-old veteran living in Victor Harbour, South Australia had his home assessed by one of our regional occupational therapists after he contacted us concerned about the uneven, slippery bricks on his path. After visiting the veteran’s home the occupational therapist contacted us with her recommendation that the customer’s path needed new anti-slip pavers.
One of our case managers contacted the veteran to check he was happy for a sub-contractor to visit his home to provide a quote for the paving. We then faxed the details of the job to our provider, Keith Russell, who quickly confirmed he would take on the job as a fast-track for the 2010 subsidy of $203.
Within twelve days, Keith had laid the pavers at the veteran’s home. When we contacted the customer for his feedback on our service he told us Keith did a wonderful job and he was very appreciative of our speedy, friendly and professional service.
Travelling is exciting as you meet people from different places and different cultures. But having personal items stolen while travelling is not. It’s infuriating as one Aussie tourist found out when a young female approached him and started casually flirting with him as she stole his cash, passport and iPod.
Luckily he had travel insurance which enabled him to receive financial and accommodation support until a replacement passport was issued.
It pays to keep your personal items close at all times and having travel insurance can really help in unexpected moments like these.
His travel insurance policy covered the following expenses:
• cost of a replacement passport
• additional accommodation and transport expenses to travel to a consulate to obtain a replacement passport
• cash settlement for the items stolen including passport
• settlement up to the policy limit for the theft of cash.
He avoided approximately A$2756 in travel expenses.