Nationwide FlexPlus account

seradane

Hello! I'm looking at travel insurance policies that will cover COVID matters. We've got an upcoming trip to Italy in mid-October that we would like to cover, if possible. Our flights & airport parking are fully flexible, it's just our accommodation is only cancel-able up to 14 days before the booking. So if something were to change in those 14 days, we'd be out of pocket for the accommodation.

It appears Nationwide's FlexPlus travel insurance is the only one that will cover cancellations caused by FCO changing their advice, so I'm currently looking at that. 

When I go to their website, they state that you'll be covered if you have purchased the insurance before the advice changed:

I would assume "purchase the insurance" is the same as open the account, as they come together.

But which.co.uk has a couple articles, including this one: https://www.which.co.uk/money/banking/bank-accounts/best-bank-accounts/best-packaged-bank-accounts-av2xv2k5wq9m which states:



Now I can't find that exclusion anywhere on the Nationwide website or their PDS, but it's possible I've missed it somewhere. And of course, I don't want to open this bank account only to find it doesn't actually cover what I want it to.

Has anyone had any experience one way or the other on this?

missile

Good luck with that.

My NW Flex Plus insurance policy refused to consider my claim until I have exhausted all other options, i.e. claim from travel agent, holiday provider and CC charge back. I am waiting for NW to process my charge back since May 30th.

ic

Note that if you are offered a voucher or credit by the holiday provider towards a future booking, that is considered refunded by Nationwide.

hroyd

Came on here with the same question as MSEs article alludes to this being available. I already had a flex basic account, and if I go through the app to upgrade to Flex plus, I see this:

seradane

hroyd said:

Came on here with the same question as MSEs article alludes to this being available. I already had a flex basic account, and if I go through the app to upgrade to Flex plus, I see this:

Ah, right, well that answers it!

Thanks!

SevenOfNine

We've just renewed our FlexPlus cover, cancellation due to C-19 was & still is covered as long as FCO "essential only travel" was/is NOT in place when you booked (or before you opened a FlexPlus a/c).

As for cancellation claiming, NW policy is very clear for all the years that we've had it, & ongoing in the current policy. Specific Exclusions, number 1 is "Recoverable Costs: costs that you can recover from elsewhere.  In order for N/W to consider a claim you must exhaust all other avenues, & provide the evidence of such.

The have (or did anyway) try to say that 'vouchers' were the equivalent of a refund, & rejected claims on the strength of that. I think (but can't say for sure)  that has been successfully challenged with formal complaints &/or ombudsman for reasons like you may not be able to use the voucher before expiry, you may not be able to purchase an identical holiday with it.

Tharweb

We are/(were) due to travel to Portugal on 9th October. We have booked flights with Ryanair and the accommodation separate through Travel Republic all pre-COVID and have NW FlexPlus insurance.

Just read the post above "In order for N/W to consider a claim you must exhaust all other avenues, & provide the evidence of such." I know for a fact the RA will not cancel the flight and when I check the site, they want £70 to re-arrange the flight for the two of us, we only paid £85 in total for both outbound. I'm not sure what more evidence I can provide.

Our accommodation can be re-booked, for a fee of £40 and if I re-book it within a month, I should get £15 back, so a £25 charge to change date, however,I would be booking when FCO advises against travel to the country.

It seems unfair making us jump through these hoops when we have paid (£13 a month) for insurance in good faith.

Ganga

Tharweb said:

We are/(were) due to travel to Portugal on 9th October. We have booked flights with Ryanair and the accommodation separate through Travel Republic all pre-COVID and have NW FlexPlus insurance.

Just read the post above "In order for N/W to consider a claim you must exhaust all other avenues, & provide the evidence of such." I know for a fact the RA will not cancel the flight and when I check the site, they want £70 to re-arrange the flight for the two of us, we only paid £85 in total for both outbound. I'm not sure what more evidence I can provide.

Our accommodation can be re-booked, for a fee of £40 and if I re-book it within a month, I should get £15 back, so a £25 charge to change date, however,I would be booking when FCO advises against travel to the country.

It seems unfair making us jump through these hoops when we have paid (£13 a month) for insurance in good faith.

But for £95 you can rearrange your holiday and still enjoy it, why do you want to cancel it ? it may be off the restricted list in a months time.

Tharweb

@Ganga Just to clarify, the £70 charge is just to be allowed to amend, they wanted another ~£300 to amend the date of the flight and that's just the outbound.

I don't want to cancel, but as we are not covered by insurance while we are away, as we are going against FCO advice, it is a gamble going ahead, and I really don't want to have to quarantine on return. I am still holding out the hope that it could be removed from the restricted list, but just checking my options atm.

Penelopa.Pitstop

I had to jump through hoops to get back money after curtailment in March.
1. Had to provide cost of the cancelled inbound flight. Couldn't get it from anywhere in writing and my purchase receipt didn't give detailed cost of outbound and inbound flight. Finally, got the amount on the phone and put chargeback on credit card. They didn't want any proof and refunded me the amount after 5 weeks. Sent statement showing refund to NW to progress claim.
2. Was almost paid but then NW wanted to deduct the cost of the hotel I was supposed to stay in while away. I provided proof that I cancelled hotel and stayed in my own property, so they backed down on it. Logic was, that if I was going to stay in hotel while away, I would have to pay for it anyway, and they wouldn't have to pay for replacement hotel in different location. Had to argue that I don't own property in another location.

In the end, I was paid the claim with following deduction:
1. excess of £50
2. cost of chargeback refunded flight.

Flight was cancelled in March, claim was paid at the end of August. There's still chance that OTA will try to dispute chargeback and card will claim back the money. OTA is still waiting for refund from airline. I get email with update (or rather no update) every 2 weeks. So if I was waiting for OTA to refund me cancelled flight, I would still be waiting for my insurance claim to be paid.