FlexPlus not paying out

cowcow15

Hi all,

Thought I would jump on this thread and ask for some advice from you knowledgeable people!

We booked through Disney Last November (pre coronavirus), due to fly on the 17/08/2020. Only paid the £600 deposit with the balance due sometime in June. We rang Disney and they advised we could cancel and received £200 back and lose £400 on the flights, pay the full balance in the hope the holiday would continue, or rebook for a further date but this in effect would be a new booking (and as such wouldn't be covered under our travel insurance as we were booking a holiday when the FCO advice was not to travel).

We opted for the refund of £200 and checked the Flex Plus policy which states the following thinking we would get the £400 back less the £50pp excess:

[I]8.  FCO travel advice ‘All travel’: Foreign & Commonwealth Office advise against ‘All travel’ to your destination. The advice must have come into force after you opened your Nationwide FlexPlus current account, or booked your trip whichever is later.[/I]

[I]
9. FCO travel advice ‘All but essential travel’: in the 28 days before your trip start date the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advise against ‘All but essential travel’ to your destination. The advice must have come into force after you opened your Nationwide FlexPlus current account, or booked your trip whichever is later.[/I]

So I rang the Flex Plus team tonight and they have advised that they won't pay out because we cancelled the trip prior to the 28 days of the start of our holiday. I argued that the FCO advice has remained unchanged throughout and that nowhere in the policy document does it state that you need to have cancelled within 28 days of the start of your holiday (obviously if it were safe to travel now then I could understand them not paying out).

If anyone can share any experience or thoughts on this I would be grateful. They didn't have a manager available to speak to at the time of calling so I have asked them to call me back tomorrow morning and have logged a formal complaint.

Thanks for any input!

Ben

[Deleted User]

 It looks like they are basing their decision on number 9,  FCO advising against all but essential travel which does state within 28 days of trip start.    What was the FCO advice when you booked?   You say it has remained unchanged so would assume it was the same advice as it is now when you cancelled your holiday, which is advising against all but essential travel?    Sorry but can't give anything more positive.   It must be so infuriating.

kelloggs36

Tedber said:

 It looks like they are basing their decision on number 9,  FCO advising against all but essential travel which does state within 28 days of trip start.    What was the FCO advice when you booked?   You say it has remained unchanged so would assume it was the same advice as it is now when you cancelled your holiday, which is advising against all but essential travel?    Sorry but can't give anything more positive.   It must be so infuriating.

The OP said they booked back in November so the travel advice has indeed changed since then. I think they were referring to the time since they were offered the options and when they cancelled.  The advice to USA is still not to travel, isn't it?

cowcow15

Tedber said:

 It looks like they are basing their decision on number 9,  FCO advising against all but essential travel which does state within 28 days of trip start.    What was the FCO advice when you booked?   You say it has remained unchanged so would assume it was the same advice as it is now when you cancelled your holiday, which is advising against all but essential travel?    Sorry but can't give anything more positive.   It must be so infuriating.

Thanks Tedber,
Yeah I agree it states within 28 days of the trip start date, which was yesterday, and the FCO advice yesterday was advising against all but essential travel. So we have met the terms of number 9.

Very frustrating, however I have just called Walt Disney World Travel company (who we booked through) to ask for another letter confirming the cancellation because the original letter noted it as an amendment fee rather than a cancellation fee, and they just said "we've recently changed our policy so we will just refund you the £400". So we have got our money back which is great, but I'm still adamant that our claim should have been honoured by Nationwide (obviously I can't claim anything now) but I'm still going to argue the point as I don't feel it is right and there will be countless other people who will have been in the same boat!

[Deleted User]

Oh that's good news and yes I agree, have heard nothing positive about Nationwide's insurance recently.   They seem to have more (loop) holes than a colander!   Good luck.

And to Kelloggs36 - well yes obviously that is what I meant!    But thanks for pointing it out 

cowcow15

Disney never cease to amaze me with their customer service, it really is second to none. A lot of companies could take a leaf out of their book when it comes to customer service.

I'm definitely going to argue the principal with Nationwide though. I'll report back once I've spoken to them.

missile

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with NW

cowcow15

missile said:

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with NW

Just to update on this. I spoke to nationwide this morning and they agreed they would honour the claim as the fco advice hasnt changed. I obviously told them i dont need to claim any more as i have received the money back from disney. They are going to look into the wording on the policy documents as a formal complaint though.

[Deleted User]

Excellent cowcow.   Could help a lot of people on here who have insurance complaints.   Well done for pursuing it.

blindman

cowcow15 said:

missile said:

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with NW

Just to update on this. I spoke to nationwide this morning and they agreed they would honour the claim as the fco advice hasnt changed. I obviously told them i dont need to claim any more as i have received the money back from disney. They are going to look into the wording on the policy documents as a formal complaint though.

Well done.
Nationwide only seem to respond when you raise a complaint.

harz99

I would have thought you would be speaking to UK Insurance Ltd. acting on behalf of Nationwide for whom they provide the cover on the Flexplus account (and many others), rather than Nationwide itself...
https://u-k-insurance.co.uk/