Travel insurance claim denied after 6 months

HSM3668

We had our ski holiday to France cancelled in March (the week before our travel date) due to the French Government closing all the resorts a week before we went into lockdown ourselves. All aspects of our trip were booked independently (flights, accommodation etc), managed to get a credit note from Easyjet for 6 months (flights were still going even though UK citizens were not allowed into Geneva) but the original T&C's for our Chalet stated that refunds were not available for closure due to natural disasters,  Checked our Natwest Black Premier account insurance which stated that cancellation for natural disasters such as pandemics were covered.
Many hours have been spent uploading documents and making phone calls, chasing up our claim. End of August we were told that everything was in order and claim had gone for payment, and gave me £75 for my inconvenience, chased up a month later to be told we'd been missed off the system and that it would go straight to payment and I'd receive an email that day. Fast forward a week, no email no payment so another phone call to chase up - they now want flight invoices even though we weren't claiming for our flights, although all our other documentation was in order. I expressed my frustration and it was lodged as a complaint but I found our original flight bookings and uploaded to the system. 3 days later Natwest call and say claim has been rejected and to contact the legal department to discuss pursuing the chalet company (a small independent company based in France, not a package holiday company).
We believe that Natwest are in the wrong here so wondering if anyone has any successful claims for similar?

Thrugelmir

HSM3668 said:

 Checked our Natwest Black Premier account insurance which stated that cancellation for natural disasters such as pandemics were covered.

A pandemic is not a natural disaster though. Are you reading the wording correctly? 

Westin

NatWest Premier account insurance defines as - "Natural disaster – fire, storm, lightning, avalanche, explosion, hurricane, earthquake, flood, tidal wave, medical epidemic or pandemic."

Does the claim fit one of these conditions? - 
1. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advising against “All Travel” or “All but essential travel” to your intended destination, providing the advice came into force after you opened your Black account or booked your trip (whichever was the later) and was in the 28 days before your departure on your trip.
or
2. You are unable to use your pre-booked and pre-paid accommodation because the accommodation or immediately surrounding area is adversely affected by natural disaster.

HSM3668

Yes we comply with all that and the wording from the French government is along those lines too when they closed the resorts. The Chalet company sent all the relevant documentation outlining the official closing of the resort due to risk of the Corona Virus.
I have now complained to the Ombudsman and have highlighted the wording above from the policy and uploaded it to support the complaint! 

We’ll just have to wait and see. 

Westin

Good luck.
I don’t think insurers in general have been very fair during this situation. It would seem there is lots of pushing back suggesting S75 claims, chargebacks and alike, plus even more wriggling out of claims than the past.  I wish the insurers would take on some of the responsibility of chasing up claims. Pay the policy holder and then themselves battle with the travel provider if they thought money could be recovered from the airline/travel firm etc.

Please continue to update the thread as things progress.

Cdaraine84

I have had an identical experience with Natwest. Ours was a group trip of 13 people in March. Initially Natwest insisted that we try and get the money back via the Chargeback scheme from the payment card provider. The (debit) card belonged to a friend of mine, so we had to go through his bank once all the other group members had received outcomes from their individual claims (all of whom were successful, through companies such as 'Insure and Go'). The chargeback claim was rejected, and I sent evidence to Natwest of this in early November. Shortly after this I was called to inform me that my payment had been authorised, but 2 days later they called again to tell me the payment had been blocked. Like you I was asked for documents which had never been requested before (proof of travel, even though we are not claiming for this), and I was instructed to pursue legal action. There had been no mention of the requirement to initiate legal proceedings in the prior 8 months. I have had 2 complaints rejected and like you have gone to the Financial Services Ombudsman but suspect a reply will take months. My case is now awaiting assessment by an independent solicitors' firm. I am absolutely disgusted with this treatment by Natwest, who are clearly trying every trick in the book to avoid paying me, and want to try and publicise it as widely as possible. I have written to Katie Morley at the Telegraph but know the likelihood of my case being published is low; any other tips regarding consumer champions or media outlets to involve would be greatly welcomed.