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Watch out for the £14.99 trap

If you have an accident or suddenly become ill in Europe you can receive state-provided medical healthcare at a reduced cost, or sometimes free, if you carry a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

Remember to check your EHIC is still valid before you travel. Applying and renewing for the card is free from the NHS. But not everyone knows that!

Our Payroll Co-ordinator, Jackie, found that her son’s EHIC card had expired just before he was due to go on a school journey.

Realising that she needed to renew the card urgently, a quick Google search came up with a number of sites (“So far so good”). She chose the top site assuming it was the official NHS site - after all, the site brazenly sported the NHS logo and the initials NHS appeared in the address bar.

The first thing she saw was a large button to renew (“Easy peasy”). It would cost her £14.99 (“Sounds reasonable”). She was then invited to opt for an express service for an extra £5 (“Even better”).

Jackie felt quite pleased with herself and on her way to work the next morning she told her friend all about it on the train. Jackie’s friend knew the card is free and as you can imagine, our Jackie became very disgruntled.

The bottom line is that Jackie was charged £19.99 for a checking process that is totally unnecessary and an express service that is non-existent by a company that has no connection with the NHS. If only she’d read the small print.

We’ve all done it. Ticked “Yes” to accepting the terms and conditions without reading them. Companies supplying such a service rely on this.

No matter how internet savvy you are – make sure you don’t get caught out. 

Source: Time For Money