EHIC Scam website www.ehic.org

Duncraig

I was in a hurry to get the EHIC for a forthcomming trip so 'Googled' EHIC and the first hit was www.ehic.org so clicked on that and filled in all the details. Got to the end and it said the charge for the card was £9.95 so I forwarded payment and got my receipt. Only later talking to a friend did I discover that the EHIC is free!!.
I re-visited the site and sure enough hidden away is this :-

' you can use thebusiness(); Portcreek EHIC Review and Forward service on this website. This service means that you will have the reassurance that all of your details have been checked by us for common mistakes made during applications and that we will contact you directly should we believe there will be any problems with your application which could delay it's processing. Your application will then be submitted to the NHSBSA bybusiness(); Portcreek on your behalf. The charge is £9.95 per application. Your application should be processed within 7 days.'

So for my £9.95 I got a form checking service, which is carried out on the government site anyway.

Be warned either read the small print or follow the link from Martin's page. The correct site is www.ehic.org.uk - notice how very very similar this is to the non official site? A '.uk' makes all the difference.
Posted in the hope that nobody else is duped into paying £9.95 for nothing

M4RKM

i'm sorry... but the text is clear in black and white, on the front page, so therefore, IMO, it isn't a scam, and a viable business opportunity.

now, the "first hit" on google isn't that site... it is an nhs page, the second hit is another nhs page, the third hit is the .org.uk version... ooh hang on.. i skimmed past it, as it is in the sponsored links section... which ain't really hits, just adverts... maybe it is a good idea to learn to ignore sponsored links...

sturll

What a scam.

Its like the time i bought a pair of Nikke Hair Mux expecting them to be Nike Air Max, i knew full well they were free but got conned a tenner for them.

Ridiculous.

wwtrend

I visted the Post office to apply for an EHIC card. I was told I could apply online and given an address. When I input the address it kept changing so I put it in the google search and like Duncraig, EHIC.org came up first on the list. I completed the form and filled in my credit card details for £9.95 payment. It came up card rejected please put in another card's details. So I telephoned the contact number I had been given at the post office. This is when I learned I was not in the official site and that the service was free. I had seen that it was a private company but so much of government business is outsourced this did not surprise me. Nor that I had been asked to pay, after all I'd paid for my driver's licence and passport.

I then found a paypal receipt on my email which shows my name, postcode and national insurance number. Paypal is a company registed outside the UK in Luxembourg. So much for protecting my personal details. This has been my main concern now. There are some who may consider this to be a legitimate business opportunity but I believe it to be unethical.

The money has gone and without a response little chance of getting it back. I have tried to contact Portcreek but have received no reply to my message on their answerphone. I notified the bank, cancelled my card etc
however I am concerned about the long term effects of what I consider to be an unethical company having access to personal details. Portcreek are a UK registered company I am told trading under telecommunications. I have not found a website for Portcreek, promoting their name and services offered. I would have expected ethical trading companies to be proud of and promoting their name on a website under the company name.

I am extremely nervous about ordering on the internet and this experience has reinforced my misgivings. For us novices this might serve as a warning. You live and learn.

mystic_trev

I would have thought the words Sponsored Link would have alerted most intelligent people?

meester

Bloody hell, how is this a scam?

You go through this page

http://www.ehic.org/apply.html

It says

This service is subject to our Website Terms and Conditions for Service. We would like to reiterate that the service charge is for the service provided to you bybusiness(); Portcreek and such service charge is payable tobusiness(); Portcreek and not the NHSBSA; and thatbusiness(); Portcreek is an independent private limited company and is not in any way affiliated with or forms part of the NHSBSA.

It's no different to me using Post Office check-and-send service for my passport application then whining that I could have done it cheaper without their help.

Marty_J

There are companies who do the same thing for the US green card lottery (which is also free to apply for).

It's not a scam insofar as it does tell you that they are just checking your details and then passing them on, but it does rely mostly on people not noticing this and thinking this is how you go about applying.

One should really remain vigilant to these sort of things, but I imagine saying so isn't really any consolation to those who are taken in by them.

You live and learn I guess.

fonzy8

I do think this is a scam - the website has managed to put itself in searches above the official one which never is good and the website https://www.ehic.org and https://www.ehic.org.uk are not that dissimilar. It was obviously on purpose.

I was called to Europe at short notice (2 days) as the original OP and needed to get insurance. Didnt really have time time to read the small print of the website I visited - it looked official enough.

More importantly, an intermediate company has now got some quite important ID info of mine! I hope they won't use it for any dodgy stuff - but I now have that worry because of the deception!

I agree I should have been more observant - but when in a hurry, sometimes there's not the time to read everything.

aaranj

This isn't a scam. This website is linked to from the official page

M4RKM

fonzy8 wrote: »

I do think this is a scam - the website has managed to put itself in searches above the official one which never is good and the website https://www.ehic.org and https://www.ehic.org.uk are not that dissimilar. It was obviously on purpose.

The website is NOT above the official sites on the standard google listings!!! if you IGNORE the 2 listings right at the top in the yellowy box, which are SPONSORED LINKS, that basically means that the company PAYS for them to be there.. it's easy to ignore, and you go straight to the standard white background links, and nhs, nhs, ehic.org.uk... yup... 1st, 2nd and 3rd link down are NOT the ehic.org site....

people need to learn to read, and learn how to use google, before complaining that something is scam!

dzug1

It's not a scam.

A scam would take your money and fail to deliver the EHIC.

Rip off maybe.