natwest advantage gold travel insurance

Steve1981

If you’re having a bad day - have a read of our last fortnight and it might make you feel a little better, having returned from a pretty hellish holiday in Spain.

aside of the emergency landing back at our departure airport 10 minutes after takeoff and missing the first day of the holiday - the week we booked ran pretty smoothly until 1am the night before we were due to be picked up at 8am to go home. Eldest daughter was screaming in so much pain she was unable to tell us what was wrong and as such we went to the hospital - (35 minutes taxi) we were told she had an ear infection and would be unable to fly for 2 days due to severe risk of perforation. We called the insurance who wanted docs sending over - which they were via phone only to be told they disagreed with the doctor and she was fit to fly. After making several calls back to the hospital (our Spanish not being great and their English being almost nonexistent) we managed to get details faxed to the hotel – the hotel refused to let us have access to the office to get the fax til 8 am (3 hours) despite showing me the key and being aware of the need to get the documents to the insurer.

Upon getting the documents the insurer took 6 hours to get the hotel extended – again despite calls promising to call me back and that it would be sorted within the hour – during which time we had to have battles with the hotel to not kick us out. The insurer then said that they would only pay for child plus 1 adult – this was despite said child being bedridden and if I and my other daughter had gone home my wife would have had no means of getting to the pharmacy to get medication. What kind of 5* insurance expects a family to leave a ill 3 year old with the mum in 1 country and father and a 2 year old to go home?

2 days pass and we have to return to the doctor to see if we can get clearance to fly – she is better but not well enough, 2 more days unable to travel. Cue same problems with insurer taking ages to organise hotel, not returning calls as promised and hotel wanting us to leave room.

We wait the further 2 days and return to medical centre only to be told that there is no paediatrician (after waiting for 45 minutes) and no adult doctor was prepared to see her. 20 minute walk to a private clinic to get her seen. Cue further calls to insurer that were not returned again for several hours, same problems with the extension of the hotel as no flights available that day etc.

Flights are organised for 2 days time into a different airport (as it would have cost me over 800 extra to fly in to the airport we flew from).

Even more unreturned calls from insurer and an hour wait in reception for faxed boarding passes that they tell me they have sent but haven’t. It takes 2 full days of calls not being returned and up til 9:45 the night before we are due to leave the hotel (8:20 the next morning) before the insurers can confirm they have a car to take us to the airport. Insurers have been made fully aware that there are 4 of us, with 4 cases, 2 push-chairs and 2 hand luggage between us.

The car that should arrive at 8:20 so we can complete 45 minute transfer for checking to open at 9:20 is late. I make several calls to insurer and am as usual told i will be called back, no calls are returned so i have to keep ringing, at one point i am told they have had confirmation from teh taxi firm that they have picked us up and we are on way to the airport (obviously this has not happened and we are still outside the hotel). The taxi turns up and 9:30 (we were unable to get any other taxi as its a Spanish bank holiday apparently) – and they send us a Ford focus, we spend 5 minutes having to dismantle the boot and the back of the car to get everything in much to the drivers delight, then he wants us to pay and has to call his boss to make sure the insurance have paid them. So we leave at 09:45 and he has to speed the whole way – we make check-in with less than seconds to spare as they close behind us as we reach the desk.
This means we were unable to get any breakfast before the taxi as it should have been there at 8:20 and we planned to do this at the airport, upon reaching the airport we had to go straight to boarding, not eating is not so much an issue for 2 adults but for 2 very young children it was a nightmare.

Insurance failed to mention they would provide a car back in the uk to take us to collect our car until we had already organised to be picked up (in law having to take a day off work and complete a 300 mile round trip).

Aside of the fact that my wife would never have been able to have dealt with this on her own the condition my child was in the first few days and aside of the fact that it was total illogical to split a family in these circumstances ( i could understand if it was a larger party) the total inability to stick to promises made and return calls within the agreed time scales just didn’t happen, i’ve had my phone bill back for the first 2 days and its over £80 and i fully expect the last 4 days of shenanigans to come in at more than double that when next month’s bill comes. I have had to make insurance claims in the past though have never encountered a total disregard for the client on such a continuous basis as this.

Im half way through my letter of complaint and wonder is this how i should expect it to be, they are dealing with another country and as such complications may arise, but lets be honest this is a major tourist resort with a large ex pat population not some mountain village in the middle of nowhere. The level of stress and pressure the week put on us as a family is beyond anything else that we have encountered

Quentin

Don't major on them only paying for one of you to stay on. This will presumably be set out in the cover provided. And sounds reasonable.

Think single parent family!

beedeedee

Oh dear, it sounds as though you will need another holiday to recover from this one! I do hope your daughter is feeling better though?
I'm no insurance expert, but things with "Gold" or "5 star" or whatever in their name do not always live up to the hype, in my experience. However, rather than write an angry letter at the moment - I would take time to recover your composure for a few days and jot down any salient points you feel you have a claim for. You're probably worn out with all the stress just now and an angry ranting letter won't help at the moment.
Quentin is probably correct about them being liable for only one of you to stay - it depends on your policy entirely. Read it through with a fine toothcomb.
It certainly seems as though their customer service agents could have been quicker in dealing with your phone calls and lessening your distress, but there have been times we've bypassed them and made our own arrangements for travel and accommodation, claiming back from the insurers when we got home. I don't know if phone bills would be paid as we never claimed for them.
Has your daughter had any ear trouble before? This is a point that insurers can be sticky on, especially if it wasn't declared. Hopefully not, but be prepared.