Insurance refusing claim

Becles

I should have travelled abroad in April but the flights were cancelled. It was a self booked trip. I've had the flights refunded but the hotel was booked on a non-refundable basis. They refused to refund me and refused the option of moving it to a later date. That's fair enough as the terms of the booking were no refunds and no changes.

I have travel insurance through Nationwide Building Society which is managed by UK Insurance. They asked for documents so I sent the original email confirmation of the booking which states the room is non-refundable and screenshots of the online chat that I had with the hotel. The gist of that was them telling me no refund would be issued and I should claim on my insurance.

The insurance have said they must have a cancellation invoice to prove I did not stop there. I've emailed the hotel and they said they do not issue cancellation invoices and just resent the original confirmation invoice with the non-refundable phrase highlighted. I have sent that to UK Insurance but they've said they must have a cancellation invoice to pay the claim. The hotel have said again they don't issue them and referred me back to the original invoice with non-refundable written on it.

What do I do now?

Life__Goes__On

Becles said:

I should have travelled abroad in April but the flights were cancelled. It was a self booked trip. I've had the flights refunded but the hotel was booked on a non-refundable basis. They refused to refund me and refused the option of moving it to a later date. That's fair enough as the terms of the booking were no refunds and no changes.

I have travel insurance through Nationwide Building Society which is managed by UK Insurance. They asked for documents so I sent the original email confirmation of the booking which states the room is non-refundable and screenshots of the online chat that I had with the hotel. The gist of that was them telling me no refund would be issued and I should claim on my insurance.

The insurance have said they must have a cancellation invoice to prove I did not stop there. I've emailed the hotel and they said they do not issue cancellation invoices and just resent the original confirmation invoice with the non-refundable phrase highlighted. I have sent that to UK Insurance but they've said they must have a cancellation invoice to pay the claim. The hotel have said again they don't issue them and referred me back to the original invoice with non-refundable written on it.

What do I do now?

Raise a formal complaint against your insurer.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Nationwide and probably other companies are very fond on cancellation invoices. In situation like yours, I just provided them with booking confirmation and refusal to refund for non-refundable booking and they paid, but it was couple of years ago. Now they are probably make it extra difficult to make sure, you don't get refund from hotel and get paid by them too.

I have similar problem with my claim. Can't get it paid, because they need to know how much I was refunded by airline. Except I don't know how much I will get and when. I've been waiting for almost 3 months and just get emails from OTA telling me they are waiting for refund from airline. Getting cancellation invoice is impossible.

Brynsam

Life__Goes__On said:

Becles said:

I should have travelled abroad in April but the flights were cancelled. It was a self booked trip. I've had the flights refunded but the hotel was booked on a non-refundable basis. They refused to refund me and refused the option of moving it to a later date. That's fair enough as the terms of the booking were no refunds and no changes.

I have travel insurance through Nationwide Building Society which is managed by UK Insurance. They asked for documents so I sent the original email confirmation of the booking which states the room is non-refundable and screenshots of the online chat that I had with the hotel. The gist of that was them telling me no refund would be issued and I should claim on my insurance.

The insurance have said they must have a cancellation invoice to prove I did not stop there. I've emailed the hotel and they said they do not issue cancellation invoices and just resent the original confirmation invoice with the non-refundable phrase highlighted. I have sent that to UK Insurance but they've said they must have a cancellation invoice to pay the claim. The hotel have said again they don't issue them and referred me back to the original invoice with non-refundable written on it.

What do I do now?

Raise a formal complaint against your insurer.

Spot on. Check their website to ensure you follow their complaints procedure.

crackers41

 Forgive me for this long saga but it may  also be helpful to others . It seems that UKInsurance [Nationwide] are being particularly difficult.  Our holiday with our family  staying  in a villa  in Bali had to be  cancelled due to FCO advice, one week before departure.   The Annual trip insurance policy was in place  and  the booking was  made well before COvid . 
 I completed an on line claim form  providing  uploaded invoices to show initial booking for all parties ,   a   cancellation invoice showing no refund possible  and I was informed my claim had been passed to a claims assessor.  After a few  weeks   because the submitted invoices were in US Dollars I was  then asked to confirm my costs in £ sterling . As my son in law was the lead booker  who paid the vila managers the full amount  I provided evidence of what I paid him in  £s sterling from my  bank statement .  Another few weeks elapsed . I was then asked why my son in law had not claimed the cost of the holiday  himself off his card . I referred them to the invoice  which showed the payment was made by Bank transfer This they accepted  .  At that point  I really felt I had ticked all their boxes and my claim would be accepted.  NOT SO !! They now want to know if we were offered vouchers towards the cost of  booking  the same accommodation in the next 12 months.  The implication being that if we have refused the vouchers  offer then the holiday will not be considered to have been cancelled . I intend to tell them that  because our holiday was not a package and we did not use a tour operator in the UK  these vouchers do not have any protection  under ABTA  regulations , so if the via company folds  we lose everything.   All the evidence at the time suggested that we should not accept these vouchers    They  now want to see the terms and conditions of the vouchers . which are so limiting we could not realistically accept them  anyway. I am wondering if anyone has encountered this   and if my claim fails do I have any hope if I  take it to the Ombudsman   Thanks for any thoughts. 

Becles

I wrote in as suggested and UK Insurance came back to me. They will consider the claim if I produce:
1) A letter from the hotel confirming they will not refund me
2) A letter from Expedia confirming they will not refund me
3) A letter from Amex saying they will not refund me (nobody has mentioned claiming from them till now!)

I contacted the hotel again and they just sent the non-refundable invoice again and said they hadn't got time to start writing letters on my behalf.

I contacted Expedia and asked them to confirm they had not refunded me. Without me asking them to, they have been in touch with the hotel and persuaded the hotel to give me a voucher that can be used before the end of this year. It's an independent hotel so can only be used there. It's for me only and I can't sell it or transfer it to someone else.

The voucher is of no use to me. I've been shielding and on ESA since March. I don't feel comfortable going on a plane yet and I can't afford to book more flights now.

I can't have a refund from the insurance now as I've got a voucher. 

I haven't tried Amex yes, although I think they will say the same. 

I thought insurance was supposed to compensate you if bad things happened, but now I'm left out of pocket as I can't use the voucher.

I pay extra for it as I have pre-existing health conditions. I'm going to look for another supplier when it's up for renewal as I now don't trust them to cover the costs should I fall ill on holiday.

blindman

Becles said:

I contacted Expedia and asked them to confirm they had not refunded me. Without me asking them to, they have been in touch with the hotel and persuaded the hotel to give me a voucher that can be used before the end of this year. It's an independent hotel so can only be used there. It's for me only and I can't sell it or transfer it to someone else.

T

1. Get back to Expedia and raise HELL and ask that the voucher be reversed as this was not what you asked.
2. Start a charge back with Amex-they seem to be very good at paying out.

3 Name and shame the hotel, they sound like a real PITA.

blindman

crackers41 said:

 Forgive me for this long saga but it may  also be helpful to others . It seems that UKInsurance [Nationwide] are being particularly difficult.   They now want to know if we were offered vouchers towards the cost of  booking  the same accommodation in the next 12 months.  The implication being that if we have refused the vouchers  offer then the holiday will not be considered to have been cancelled . I intend to tell them that  because our holiday was not a package and we did not use a tour operator in the UK  these vouchers do not have any protection  under ABTA  regulations , so if the via company folds  we lose everything.   All the evidence at the time suggested that we should not accept these vouchers    They  now want to see the terms and conditions of the vouchers . which are so limiting we could not realistically accept them  anyway. I am wondering if anyone has encountered this   and if my claim fails do I have any hope if I  take it to the Ombudsman   Thanks for any thoughts. 

So I read this as you having accepted vouchers?
I have found that Natiownwide insurance only really respond well and in a timely manner when you complain.
Tell them you are taking them to the OMbudsman.