Halifax ultimate reward travel insurance - a joke

vinylmusic

I have the Halifax ultimate reward bank account which includes travel insurance. It also includes card protection and covers loss of passports etc.

I am currently in the USA and in an awkward situation

We arrived in LA and piked up a rental car
At the rental office I was told to take a car from section 3 so we were looking over the cars and was about to take a Ford Focus
I had in my hands our passports, my driving license, ant the credit card I had just used , not to pay but for their security in case of damage and fines etc
I put everything into the glove compartment and we were about to drive off and I noticed we were in section 6 and not section 3 so we quickly changed over to another car.

Later on and around 150 miles away we went to stop at a hotel then to discover I'd forgotten all our ID and my credit card in the other car

Well the first hurdle came into place when we tried to contact the rental company. We could only call their main number, the LAX office weren't answering and we ended up with recorded messages.

We managed to get a room in the motel and I made a reverse charge call to Halifax
All they could do was stop my card. For everything else I am on my own

I have to go to the British consulate and arrange new passports. The rental company will probably want the car back since the credit card wont be good and i only have debit cards and my currency card

We cant stay in hotels without ID. Were just very lucky that a kind person who overheard our predicament got us a room in his name for this night

I thought that insurance and card protection + travel insurance would have everything covered but all they will do is cover costs of replacement passports after the event and send a new credit card to my home address. something that any credit card would do anyway.

I have to wait till 9am to contact the rental company but don't hold much hope as the other car could be anywhere.
I thought I'd be taken care of and at least a replacement card sent out to me but no such luck

Ultimate reward travel insurance is a joke
The word ultimate is misleading
I'm onle left alone in an ultimate mess

richardw

vinylmusic wrote: »

I put everything into the glove compartment .... we quickly changed over to another car.
.....I'd forgotten all our ID and my credit card in the other car

So is this risk/event insurable?

vinylmusic

richardw wrote: »

So is this risk/event insurable?

I have traveled ll my life without insurance and got through many situations
I guess I am naiive when it comes to things like this
I only bothered wanting extra security having my 13 year old son with me

Voyager2002

Did you call the police?

dmg24

Why did you not go straight back to the airport?

stoneman

dmg24 wrote: »

Why did you not go straight back to the airport?

I think because they were 150 miles away and assumed that they could just call them direct, which you should be able to find a local number for.

neilbond007

First thing I would of done would be rush back to the airport if there was no answer... I mean.. it's not as though people will be tripping over themselves to take out a Focus

But I have to say it's a horrible situation you're in. Fingers crossed you work it out...

dmg24

stoneman wrote: »

I think because they were 150 miles away and assumed that they could just call them direct, which you should be able to find a local number for.

As soon as they realised they could not call them direct, they should have gone back to the airport. The lost passport is going to cost them more than a 150 mile journey.

glider3560

dmg24 wrote: »

As soon as they realised they could not call them direct, they should have gone back to the airport. The lost passport is going to cost them more than a 150 mile journey.

Agreed. An emergency British passport (piece of card, valid for one journey, issued in LA) costs $151 each or $211 for a brand new passport. I'm assuming the OP lost all their passports (?), so a journey back to the rental office would have been a lot cheaper.

lfc321

I'm not sure exactly what you were expecting the insurers to do. As far as I know the Halifax Ultimate Reward Account is a current account which comes with a debit card, not a CC.

In any case, CC companies will only ever send out replacement cards to the billing address for obvious security reasons. This is one of the few downsides of CCs compared to TCs.

You seem to be suggesting that the insurers will reimburse you for the cost of the replacement passports. That is how insurance usually works - they pay you back later for expenses you've incurred. Considering the facts of the case if they have agreed to pay out for this then you should consider it a result: insurance policies commonly exclude claims for personal belongings left in an unattended motor vehicle. To make a claim you will need to report the loss to the Police asap.

Basically, I think your expectations are way over the top - you'd have been in a similar situation with any insurer.