Vail Resorts is a ski resorts company which owns a large number of resorts, including Kirkwood in California. We have been skiing at Kirkwood for many years, and have always enjoyed the resort.
In March 2024, my wife injured her knee while skiing there. She visited her doctor, and the knee seemed to recover enough that, a couple of months later, we bought 4 season passes for the 2024-2025 season for the family.
The Epic website touts their “Epic Coverage” insurance, which is supposed to cover a number of situations, including injuries. We bought the passes thinking that if anything happened, we would be covered. In August/September, my wife’s knee was still weak, however. The doctor recommended an MRI, and agreed with us that she wouldn’t be able to ski this upcoming season.
An official doctor’s note was provided, and we filed a reimbursement claim with Vail Resorts or, rather, their insurance company, Sedgwick. The claim was denied, with the reason that the injury happened more than 30 days before filing the claim. We forwarded this to Vail Resorts, with frustration, and they replied (with what I believe was already a canned email) that we could appeal the decision.
So we appealed with Sedgwick, arguing that the date of the incident was not the original injury, but the medical determination that her knee was not fit for skiing. The appeal was denied, for the same reason. Note that the company deciding how to interpret the rules happens to be the company that would have to pay the claim.
We forwarded again this decision to Vail Resorts, who first replied with the same canned message. Following another frustrated email from our part, they flatly replied that the decision was final. Things are “non-negotiable”:
I understand your frustration and we respect your position. Unfortunately, the downgrade and/or refund policy is non-negotiable. The policy can be viewed here: www.epicpass.com/policies.aspx. This email serves as a formal and final declination of your exception request.
We believe that there is misrepresentation of benefits taking place here. Yes, the fine print says 30 days to file a claim. But in the end, Epic/Vail pushes you to buy season passes early, and then denies coverage when you need it. Further, Vail keeps saying that it is Sedgwick’s decision, but of course it is Vail’s decision to work with Sedgwick and to agree with what terms are valid or not in the first place.
It simply doesn’t make any sense to deny reimbursement of a pass (only one out of a family of four, mind you) when you are injured and can’t ski.
The Ikon pass, for example, allows you to defer a pass to the following year all the way to December of the year you bought the pass. Even this would have been a better option for us. We might consider switching to Ikon in the future.
What we find the most frustrating is the lack of consideration that Vail Resorts have for their customers: there is barely communication, and there is not even an attempt at getting the customer back on their side. Most businesses would have offered a reimbursement, a partial reimbursement, or some kind of credit or benefit. But not Vail Resorts.
In conclusion, if you happen to buy season passes with Vail Resorts, beware:
- make sure you will be able to use the pass
- make sure you understand the fine print of the Epic Coverage
- don’t expect any kind of consideration from Vail Resorts if you need to file a claim
- consider other options, such as the Ikon pass
Needless to say, skiing at a Vail Resorts location won’t feel the same as it once did.
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