EHIC Scam website www.ehic.org

NonGeographicalMan

This is quite clearly a scam but the scammers obviously get their friends, employees and relatives to diligently patrol this thread and defend the making of their ill gotten gains. Plus I suppose the various annoying people on this forum who just like to try to prove they are far cleverer than anybody else.

The NHS Business Agency have a duty of care to the public to negotiate with Google to ensure that commercial links are not put ahead of their site. As several other government agencies like DVLA charge for any action on your driving licence and prescriptions are not free for most people then clearly people could easily think they have to pay for the document.

I did not fall for the scam but one of my relatives (my mother) did. She is 76 and quite a good computer user but I can never make her understand (however hard I try) that Google is not just a free tool for always filling out the correct URL for any website you want to visit. But lots of people use it that way, which is how the scammers get them. Most ordinary people do not understand the difference between hits for the most popular sites compared to those who pay to be at the top of the list. If they did most of the people paying to be put there wouldn't bother to do so.

On top of everything else the renewals process on the official www.ehic.org.uk site is so shockingly bad that even though I entered all the PIN and other numbers off the previous card it allowed me to accidentally enter my first name in the last name field and last name in the first name field without challenging the change in any way. When I then received a card with the wrong details it let me apply again with different details even though the new card had not expired. Also the confirmation email did not email me the details I had applied with. If it had done so I would have spotted the error right away before waiting two weeks for an incorrectly completed card only to have to wait for it again.

So the current application process quite clearly allows the same National Insurance Number to be used 20 times for a card in 20 different names. Great for a group of illegal immigrants needing to get hold of a batch of cards. They let you fill out any address you want to receive the card at and not one the NHS already have on file for you.

The whole system is ludicrous and the EHIC cover should clearly be a document automatically incorporated in a back page in your passport. People always have their passport with them when they travel but not an EHIC card. Many cheaper travel insurance policies are now contingent on obtaining treatement through the EHIC scheme to the extent you are entitled to do so first before claiming from them. Also why does the NHS Business Agency not send reminders the card is going to expire to at least all the people who applied previously on line and provided them with an email address last time as I did. Answer they are complacent like most of the NHS and don't care if you have the card with you when you travel or not.

TimothyEBaldwin

Also why does the official website have a name begining in .org.uk, and therefore look like a scam? One would expect a NHS website to have an address ending in .nhs.uk or .gov.uk.

dzug1

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

The NHS Business Agency have a duty of care to the public to negotiate with Google to ensure that commercial links are not put ahead of their site. ..

You mean they should PAY google, presumably. Does their Business Agency remit allow them to do that?

wrote:

The whole system is ludicrous and the EHIC cover should clearly be a document automatically incorporated in a back page in your passport.

Possibly - but there are large groups of people who do not have a British (or possibly any) passport but are still entitled to an EHIC. Like any legally resident foreigner.

And not everyone who has a British passport is entitled to an EHIC. Expats are not allowed one.

Not as simple as it sounds

NonGeographicalMan

Can anyone suggest a good reason why the NHS Business Authority should not have to send out reminders about the upcoming expiry of your EHIC card, especially bearing in mind it happens only once every five years thus minimising the cost of the reminder notices. Also if anyone has provided an email address then the cost of an email reminder is almost nil.

However at the moment the EHIC website is so poorly designed that you neither set up an online account with it nor are asked to confirm the details you have entered before requesting the card and are not sent an email confirming the details you provided (the email only confirms you have requested a card). In order to improve things everyone should need to set up an online account with a user name and password and email address and this would alllow them to also alter their email address if it changed during the five year period.

The security of the site is so poor that you can change both the first and last name of the person previously registered to that National Insurance number and their address for being sent the EHIC card from the ones normally registered with DWP and DH without any form of security control against fraud.

In the total annual budget cost I cannot believe that sending out a postal and/or email reminder of EHIC card expiry is a significant cost in business terms. DVLA remind you of tax disc expiry and HMRC remind you if you to fill out a tax return and again two weeks before the final due date for its submission if you haven't submitted one yet.

Can anyone explain why the NHS Business Authority should not also have to remind its customers so that they are not left overseas without a currently valid EHIC card.

wealdroam

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

... DVLA remind you of tax disc expiry and HMRC remind you if you to fill out a tax return and again two weeks before the final due date for its submission if you haven't submitted one yet.

Can anyone explain why the NHS Business Authority should not also have to remind its customers so that they are not left overseas without a currently valid EHIC card.

But the two other organisations you mention are reminding you that it is time for you to send them some more money.

Clearly they have some 'incentive' to send out reminders.

NonGeographicalMan

wealdroam wrote: »

But the two other organisations you mention are reminding you that it is time for you to send them some more money.

Clearly they have some 'incentive' to send out reminders.

And the primary job of the NHS is not to raise money like DVLA or HMRC but actually to spend money on keeping you and I alive when we get ill so that we do not die and remain useful and productive citizens.

Since if people end up abroad uninsured and without medical cover that can involve the intervention of the local consulate staff at considerable cost to the public purse I would strongly suggest that the tiny cost per person of sending out a reminder to renew your EHIC card only once every five years is actually far lower.

Also in the past neither DVLA or HMRC issued reminders. They have started doing so in the last few years purely to take advantage of them having better computer technology where this can be done at much lower cost than in the past and so that no one can complain they have been unfairly penalised for not taking the required action by the specified deadline.

thamespirate

Hi i clicked on first site , re ehic card ,but i know card is free , as i looked at the page i noticed mastercard visa payment symbols , so click straight out again , and went on to the right site updated my details , now i and my family all have our new FREE cards for our summer holidays . which goes to show you must double check things before you act.

s_b

i was in spain a few weeks back and got talking to a couple who told me they had paid for their cards ,seeing as mine are up for renewal next year i did a google and found martin warning about this very thing and that these cards are still free if you go to the correct site
so there you go
be careful out there coz everyones after your scruples

mickfootie

How can people legally set-up and charge customers for a service that is free?

These guys screwed up the first few times with other ehic websites but this one has covered all angles so basically sucks people in to pay for these cards/'Their Service' when they are actually free.
They must pay google to allow themselves the top spot on ehic inputs.
Someone said earlier they charged £9.99 well now they are charging £14.99.

The laws in this land need to be updated and changed to stop allowing these scum of society making money behind the back of our UK services that are free.

Avoid these like the plague - euhealthcard . org, yet another bunch of heathens praying on people........

Can anyone give me the number or website to put a complaint in about this one too?

Pollycat

Check this out:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/insurance/2010/08/fake-ehic-websites-shut-down

As it says Office of Fair Trading shut the previous sites down, maybe that's a good place to start with your complaint.

Regarding the website you name:
http://www.euhealthcard.org/?gclid=CPOxhbrzzakCFYpA4QodizANMg

it's in pretty big letters that they charge you £14.99.

If I saw that (and wasn't aware that EHIC are free), I'd immediately start looking for a cheaper price and it wouldn't have been long before I came up with the information that you can actually get one free.

It also says this:
Applying for the card directly from the NHS is free and it is valid for up to five years.