Nationwide travel ins

Katykat

We've had free European travel ins with our Flex account for about 8 yrs which automatically renews each April. I say free, but we have to have several hundred £s going into the account each month. We have always upgraded to worldwide cover for £20 a year. 2 yrs ago my OH was poorly with a prolapsed mitral valve (heart) and needed open heart surgery. After his recovery we booked a European holiday. I rang the ins company to tel them about his medical changes and they charged an extra £80. In Feb 2016 I rang again & asked for worldwide cover, they charged another £140 which covered him until end March. The renewal quote from April for worldwide was £280, which I declined to renew. Last Oct, we booked another European holiday so I rang them to again inform them and this time they refused to cover my OH " because he had a prolapsed mitral valve. I explained that his valve isn't prolapsed now because he's had it repaired. The guy said there is no question to cover repairs so he is still regarded as having a prolapsed valve and as such were refusing to cover this condition. He is still covered for everything else but obviously we couldn't travel without cover so we took travel ins out with another company for £17 for the week. We were annoyed because Nationwide covered him previously. The more we think about it we are thinking that they should have continued to insure this condition because it wasn't pre existing when we took the insurance out. We haven't had a break in the insurance and we have never claimed on the policy. Do we have a valid complaint against Nationwide insurance?

forgotmyname

The policy is renewed yearly so the condition would have been existing last April when it renewed.

Maybe its all down to the wording of the question asked and the wording of the reply. Does he have a prolapsed valve? A = No because it was repaired?

Nothing stopping you making a complaint but ask the question first, I would put it in writing rather than over the phone where you may get soemone that doesnt know all the ins and outs.

Nothing stopping you making a complaint after if you dont get the right answers.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Katykat wrote: »

...so I rang them to again inform them and this time they refused to cover my OH " because he had a prolapsed mitral valve. I explained that his valve isn't prolapsed now because he's had it repaired. The guy said there is no question to cover repairs so he is still regarded as having a prolapsed valve and as such were refusing to cover this condition. ...

OK so I think the issue may be as simple as the agent you spoke to picked the wrong option and did not understand the condition or choices well enough to realise. They are told to do what the computer says ...

How?
Most insurer have their own rating; but actually use a common medical screening solution to determine the "risk" of your medical conditions and then apply their rating to that risk factor.
If you do an online quote with say All Clear Travel Insurance - who I suspect use the same screening capability/system > there is an option for Mitral Valve ProLapse, which guess what appears alphabetically before a second option Mitral Valve Repair.
Once you have selected the PeoLapse items - of course there is no option for repair questions - the agent needed to select the later repair option...

I reckon you could try calling them again for a new quote and this time say - the agent last time had to scroll down to select the Mitral valve repair option (if they don't). If that works /they can/do - then you can for sure complain to Nationwide that because their agent didn't select the right item ... you had to go buy a policy elsewhere.

Of course, it is possible this doesn't explain things - but I am hopeful for you that it does.

Katykat

Ok, I phoned Nationwide ins today. Told them I wasn't happy with the screening questions last time & asked them to rescreen. When it got to the question of mitral valve repair, they insisted that there was only a mitral valve replacement option but that the same conditions applied. I told them that I had done an online screening with All clear and that had an option for repair. Nevertheless, they did the screening and then said they COULD cover this condition for an extra £68 for 5 months at which point my OH would need a new screening. Firstly I declined the cover, but after discussion with my OH ( who is renowned for erring on the side of caution) we rang & took the cover out. However, we will not be renewing in 5 months as we had a better quote from All clear.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Excellent news. Shows polite but firm persistency can pay off.

Good call to cover the condition. The trouble is if you don't - there is no only no cover for the specific conditions also none for any costs they can associate with it. E.g. If recovery from or treatment of another condition were longer or more complicated because if it ....

When this one expires, there are a raft of alternative specialist insurers to get quotes from.

Have a great holiday.

stephen160

Would like to email Nationwide travel insurance to ask a few questions, but unable to find one , have anyone an email address please. Nationwide travel insurance run by UK insurance ltd
thanks
steve

agrinnall

Nationwide offer secure messaging from online banking, I'm not sure if it covers travel insurance though. Almost certainly easier to ring them.

stephen160

Yes i prefer to ring but when i do i getting conflicting advice, therefore would like it in writing
thanks