insurance question

Re: insurance question

Tracy Windler RVN — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:37:08 GMT

[quote user="jo levin"]Animal friends...... Another name for E and L!!! Just made the name more palatable!!

[/quote]

I can't find any link between the two. Although I can't establish who the underwriters are for E&L, so might be the same, but lots of them are these days. I don't have much experience with Animal Friends Insurance, but they do give money to animal charities, at least!

Re: insurance question

tw1 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:28:34 GMT

A client came in this week to say Halifax are stopping their pet insurance and their pets will no longer be insured!! the clients pets have lots wrong with them and now they are totally goosed. luckily they can afford tx but there will be many clients who can't. not good

Re: insurance question

Diane Westwood — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:59:23 GMT

They don't have anything to do with E and L do they?

Re: insurance question

Jo Moore — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:46:37 GMT

Animal friends...... Another name for E and L!!! Just made the name more palatable!!

Re: insurance question

Sal the 1st — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:37:07 GMT

was speaking to a client today and she was asked if her horse really needed to be euthanased on a Sunday and couldnt it have waited till a Monday which I think was really insensitive

Re: insurance question

les punton — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:32:04 GMT

Iv had one company asking for a weight the animal is and what the recommended weight is

Re: insurance question

chris beasley — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:20:57 GMT

[quote user="Victoria Nielsen RVN MBVNA"]

[quote user="Lauren Innes"]

I was helping my parents look for pet insurance for their new puppy and the number of exclusions are enormous, and the small print is never ending. They decided to go for a company called 'animal friends' as their cover was much less expensive that Pet Plan, and didn't seem to be too fussy in terms of exclusions (except for not covering Shar-Pei's). ThoughI have had to drill into them to keep everything up to date with Hector, or they'll face troubles in the future.

Do you think that insurance is still all it's cracked up to be? or should people just start a savings account for their pet, like a trust fund for kids?

[/quote]

We've had horrendous experiences with Animal Friends. So much now we never do direct claims with that company. They're awful and can refuse to pay out for various things, which makes insurance then pointless. PetPlan, although expensive, they pay out quickly and pay out for everything regardless of the amount (Apart from general exclusions of course). Direct Line are one of the worst insurance companies too. They choose the price they want to pay out for i.e. consultation. They will pay out what they think is reasonable and leave the owner to pay the rest!

I have my cat insured. I think it's still worthwhile, because accidents can happen when you least expect it and in majority of cases, always at the worst possible time (of course!) like Christmas etc and although you can start a savings account, you end up dipping into it or don't put enough in there for treatment that may cost thousands. I've seen hundreds of clients who don't have money to be able to afford treatment and end up having their pet put to sleep and that's awful. PetPlan have started a budget cover so it's more affordable I believe.

[/quote]I too have had problems with this insurer. They offer low premiums, then request clinical history and exclude every little thing on possible.

Re: insurance question

Tracy Windler RVN — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:06:10 GMT

I also have an issue with these comparison websites and even Which? recommendations for Pet Insurance. We had an awful time with a claim being delayed unnecessarily, repeated requests for history, then saying a bill wasn't itemised (even though we know both were sent, as our system automatically prints off history and itemised bills combined for insurance claims). They claimed to lose them repeatedly and then called to say the claim was being processed, only to be told 2 weeks later that the claim had not even been looked at! Anyway, the crux of it is, that this company was on the top of a recommended list with Which? magazine at around the same time. I'm afraid when the client asked what I thought of the company they had been recommended, I told him what I thought. Stuff the HSA!

Have to say, although I have morality issues with Tesco in general, they do not seem to premium-load either, as we have a client with 2 pets (boxers from the same litter), one of which has claimed thousands, the other not at all and both their premiums are the same.

I have cancelled all my pets insurance now they are older and I would not want to put them through the kind of things that cost thousands, but if I were to get a puppy, I would probably take out insurance for the first few years while I built up a savings account, then cancel it and use the savings if necessary. I don't think I would ever want to spend vast quantities on my pets, for a number of reasons, but that is a personal choice.

Re: insurance question

Nicola Smith — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:21:47 GMT

Premium loading is one of the other big sticking points, one of our clinets had her premiums put up to £70 per mont after claiming. Pet Pan dont premium load which is a big bonus to me

Re: insurance question

BengalcatRVN — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:40:53 GMT

Shame the FSA rules stop me from saying things I want to say about some animal insurance companies......Now you have to be careful as some companys cover for up to £5000 vets fees but only £500 per condition, and people don't find out till its too late....

Purrrsonally I'll stick with petplan, at least they have always paid out for me quickly, and helped me after a.n.other vet clinic lost my £280 claim for 4 weeks, then still failed to send it to the ins co, even tho they charged me for filling out the paperwork and I gave them a stamped address envolpe. Eventually got my money back in 5 days of sending it to them. Ultra impressed.

I send hx as standard with claims now, saves on them calling for it, although one company seems to always loose it, even tho I staple it to the form......!

Re: insurance question

Helen Tottey — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:04:05 GMT

I think insurance companies have always said this if you are claiming for dentals or problems associated with vaccination related disease but not heard they are refusing claims for unrelated things. what was your scenario?

Re: insurance question

Victoria Nielsen RVN — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:13:42 GMT

[quote user="Lauren Innes"]

Do you think that insurance is still all it's cracked up to be? or should people just start a savings account for their pet, like a trust fund for kids?

[/quote]

Re: insurance question

Victoria Nielsen RVN — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:07:40 GMT

It seems they request history ALL the time nowadays.

Re: insurance question

molladog — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:58:11 GMT

I unfortunately feel that Pet Insurance is a rip off now. The excesses are so high and the exclusions so vast that it has become a joke.

I have spent thousands over the years insuring my cats/dogs/horses, only ever making one claim for an injury to one dog, and had a hideous experience with a well known company who refused to pay out for the sudden death of our poor 5 year old Dacshund who developed Auto immune Haem.Anaemia while we were on holiday with him. The idiot on the phone even said "have a nice day" after telling us we could't claim knowing how upset we were !!

Put your money in an ISA, as much as you can afford as quickly as possible to build up funds, if I had done that years ago I would be sitting on a pile by now.

Re: insurance question

Lauren Innes Bsc(hons) , RVN — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:13:26 GMT

Do you think that insurance is still all it's cracked up to be? or should people just start a savings account for their pet, like a trust fund for kids?

Re: insurance question

Tracy Windler RVN — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:08:29 GMT

We're finding that they are requesting clinical history much more often, even when it is irrelevant. A ploy to delay processing the claim??? If the other post about increase in the size of claims is anything to go by, that could be why they're being so particular? Its getting more and more difficult to promote pet insurance and maintain my professional integrity, to be honest.

Re: insurance question

FINNIGAN — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:22:36 GMT

most insist that yearly vacs are kept up to date, this also has a health chk alongside, most clients actually dont realise that most ins companies wont pay up if yearly vacs are'nt kept up to date , as one of our clients recently found out the hard way!!

Re: insurance question

Emma Gerrard Dip AVN (SA) DipHe CVN BSc (Hons) CVN RVN KSQP RAM — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:55:38 GMT

They want a healthcheck by a vet usually at booster time, this the normal healthcheck. Petplan for example want a dental healthcheck at this time and recently a client said that the insurance company they used requested regular worm and flea treatments. I think petplan stipulate that cats should be vaccinated against leukaemia too. I make sure i write everything about a healthcheck in clinical so insurance companies have all the details they need and so they cant argue anything! I am finding they request history at every opportunity now.

Re: insurance question

Vicky RVN — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:24:26 GMT

I would presume that would be a health check at vaccination? May be wrong though.