Update for anyone that's interested. Received a response to my letter today which is basically what I thought it would be - 'we are sorry for the inconvenience and even though we told you ( twice) that your claim would be paid you are in fact not covered. Please accept £50 as a token for your inconvenience !'

They have offered to forward my complaint to the actual insurers of the policy ( Churchills) but my contention is that this is a cop out - my parents contract is with Nationwide and it is them they paid the premiums to and their staff who gave us the information that our claim was valid.

I intend to take this all the way to the FSA.

Anyone with suggestions on next steps? I will reply to the letter refusing the £50, should I let them pass it on to Churchill? I also want a transcript of the conversation I had with the first adviser who said we were covered. They tried to tell me that they don't keep records of all phone calls but I think this is a con - I think they keep records of all conversations for a limited period for instances such as this.

My thoughts are to refuse the £50, let them pass the complaint on to Churchill who I think will stick to the policy documentation (as they have not been directly involved) and then ask Nationwide if that is their final offer before I go to FSA

Thanks for this conmankiller - my feelings exactly !! I will follow this through and was already aware of the ombudsman option.

John

I don't know the ins & outs or the technicalities of the policy, but would consider that to inform you the claim was successful and then change their minds and simply blame it on an admin error instead & by giving false hope...would be construed as unfair treatment and totally unacceptable by the inurance ombudsman. !!

If they fail to give you any plausible grounds for declining your claim other than a unconvincing, "admin error", then after you have exhausted the insurance co's complaints procedure, you are entitled to take the case to the insurance ombudsman at the FOS after 8 weeks...I have a feeling that the ombudsman will treat your case more sympathetically.

I actually felt quite disgusted at the way this company have treated him, when I read your post. !!

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

My 82-year-old father recently dropped an expensive £800 digital hearing aid in the toilet whilst vomiting (he has prostrate cancer.) I rang the insurance company (Nationwide) explained the circumstances and asked if he was covered and was it worth submitting a claim. The adviser told me that the loss was covered and that she would arrange for a claim form to be sent. We completed the form and sent the original receipt and estimate for a replacement. I then received a phone call from another adviser saying that they had received the documentation all was in order and that they would be sending a cheque less the excess. My parents then had a call 2 days later saying that they weren’t in fact covered. I have spoken at length to them about the fact that we did everything in good faith. Even though they admitted an administrative error they will not honour the claim. I feel really angry about this. Do they have grounds to refuse this?

I have written to them to formally register my complaint but feel I will get the standard ' understand, sympathise, but cannot approve the claim' letter