Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Mrs Dot Dot — Sat, 12 May 2012 09:00:25 GMT

[quote user="Chippet"]I've had my dog insured with M&S since she was a pup, she's now 5 and has atopy so I claim regularly. I find them good value and quick at paying, plus I get texts updating me on the claim progress, which I like. I personally found Pet Plan expensive, even with my veterinary staff discount the monthly premium was double that offered by M&S (although this was obviously a number of years ago now)

[/quote]

I changed my dog over from M&S to Pet Plan last year, even with some pre-existing conditions eg food allergies.... she had been with them since a pup - 4 yrs, but they changed underwriters again! and when it came to renew, because there had been a claim that year, they hiked the premiums up by over 40%!! They couldn't guarentee that this wouldn't happen again so I just thought 'stuff this' I could be paying as much as £70 a month for a 6 yr old dog in a couple of years if it carries on. REgretted not starting withh PP originally- have always had my 4 cats withh PP and just love them!

Wouldn't adv anyone to go with M&S now... almost think they don't want to be in the pet insurance market..........

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Angiy Michael — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:23:27 GMT

Pet Plan all the way. I'm glad people have had no probs with Tesco but they are probably the exception rather than the rule in my experience..plus the cover is not as comprehensive as Pet Plan. Tesco are underwritten by Direct Line/RBS so much the same coverage as Direct Line. I do know poeple who have used Morethan and Sainsburys without too much trouble but I would always insure my own with Pet Plan..which remained the case even when I worked for Direct Line LOL

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Jenny Cook RVN — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:47:04 GMT

The only thing I'd consider major was he ate chocolate last year, I took him to ooh clinic which is based at my practice so I only got charged drugs... Other than that its just his vaccines and flea/worm tx n neutering on my notes.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Helen Tottey — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:34:33 GMT

Careful though becasue pre existing conditions can mean anything in notes that hint towards a problem ...... or a reason for something to be excluded ie cough so respiratory exclusion etc

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Roseann21 — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:05:06 GMT

[quote user="Jenny Cook SVN"]I'm with more than for my collie cross. Never had to claim, yet the premiums have risen slightly in last year or two... But don't want to risk changing company just in case cos it would be sods law that he'd go eat something or gets injured!!! Silly hound.

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There's no problem with changing company if you have never claimed and there is no pre-existing condition, or if the dog is over a certain age.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Jenny Cook RVN — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:41:20 GMT

I'm with more than for my collie cross. Never had to claim, yet the premiums have risen slightly in last year or two... But don't want to risk changing company just in case cos it would be sods law that he'd go eat something or gets injured!!! Silly hound.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Chippet — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:55:14 GMT

I've had my dog insured with M&S since she was a pup, she's now 5 and has atopy so I claim regularly. I find them good value and quick at paying, plus I get texts updating me on the claim progress, which I like. I personally found Pet Plan expensive, even with my veterinary staff discount the monthly premium was double that offered by M&S (although this was obviously a number of years ago now)

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

FINNIGAN — Sun, 06 May 2012 14:23:47 GMT

Think you just need to decide what cover u want and which one is best suited to u and your pet, what u can and cannot afford in regards the payments, and just do lots of homework and read the small print. and i think this discussion is not doing any harm as it wouldnt be anything different if people were discussing it on the streets as im sure many of us do with lots of things, i,e our house, car insurance and many other topics, wether ur a vet nurse or any other industry.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

FINNIGAN — Sun, 06 May 2012 14:20:18 GMT

Have to disagree with fuzzyduck, i have been with tesco now for 11yrs , never had any problems with them, i have the cover i want and they have always paid up on time, and think theyre cover is very reasonable!!

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Veronica Burns — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:51:49 GMT

I had my Great Dane insured with Animals Friends and found them to be very helpful and supportive they paid out on his £2000+ MRI scan bill with no problems and even sent a lovely letter when he had to be PTS.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Tracy Windler RVN — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:52:28 GMT

I have always used Pet Protect and they were always fine. I cancelled my policies recently, but only as my pets are older and I wouldn't want them to go through much expensive treatment, If I were to have a new pet, I would use Petplan or Pet Protect. Direct line impressed me the other day, as they offered to back-date a claim when they never received the initial claim, only the continuation (looking at the history, it doesn't look like the initial claim was sent!). I just faxed them through the whole history/invoices. Not often any insurance company offer to go out of their way to pay out more money without making you jump through lots of hoops!

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Sal the 1st — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:44:30 GMT

True but its not a closed forum either I am not too concerned about the specific advice bit because I reckon most of us aware of what we can and cant do - my concern is who might be reading and their reaction

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Helen Tottey — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:17:49 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]

I think people have to be a wee bit careful about what is being said about various companies. I appreciate people are only trying to be helpful but please remember this could come back and bite you on the behind

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The FSA rules mean you can not give specific advice about a policy unless you are trained in that policy. these rules are set up to stop mis selling and mis advising which could lead to someone buying a product they were misinformed about.

As far as i understand it, this is a discussion forum and all that people are doing is discussing their personal experiences which if are fact, is not misadvising as we are not trying to sell a policy to anyone on here.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Helen Tottey — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:17:43 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]

[/quote]

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Roseann21 — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:11:42 GMT

[quote user="shropshirelass_1987"]Is it just RVNs they offer insurance discounts to or do they also offer it to SVNS?[/quote]

Petplan offer the discount to anyone who works in practice regardless of their position.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Sal the 1st — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:35:02 GMT

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

julie cozze — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:30:56 GMT

I've used More Than and been very happy with them

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Roseann21 — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:11:17 GMT

Just to elaborate a bit, there's a reason why Animal Friends might come up cheapest!! In my experience they take ages to pay, try their best NOT to pay, crap customer service, and have small print about paying out on claims over £1,000 - from what I can tell basically you have to inform them if your claim is LIKELY to go over £1,000 otherwise you have all sorts of problems. I'm not sure if they do lifetime cover either. Talking of which, beware of Petplan's new cheapest cover which is a 12 month policy, I've had 2 people recently not even realise that they had a 12 month policy, thought they had lifetime (although to be fair they should have checked more carefully). ALSO, there is a company called (I think) Pet-Insurance.co.uk which is actually E&L under a different name!!

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Helen Tottey — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:05:54 GMT

[quote user="wendy rattray"]

The Pet Plan employee i spoke to was very vague about me not being tied to a surgery and whether it would or wouldnot effect my policy!

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i think the discount is set so that you can only get it if you are working in practice. This is a mutually beneficial benefit, you are more likley to promote to clients if you are happy with them but if you don;t work in practice, Pet plan don't really get anything back from the discount - or at least that is how i view it. The discount was set up though before FSA regulations so you can only actively promote a product/policy if you are in an authorised practice.

Pet plan are certainly far more supportive of the profession than any others and a lot fairer to deal with if any querries.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Fuzzyduck — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:58:08 GMT

I dont really see how anything could go wrong with the 'tied to a surgery' thing because its not like you can only submit claims from your own surgery in which you work.

They will take forms from referral centres etc etc or if you were on holiday and the dog got in to an accident the claim would be from a different surgery.

I get my 20% vet staff discount and also a 10% multi pet discount and have moved around surgeries over the years but have never let them know when i have changed jobs, i have never had a problem when submitting a claim, they have never even asked about which surgery i work in

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

wendy rattray — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:42:16 GMT

I too have insured my cats through Pet Plan, I opted to not get the 20% veterinary staff discount as you have to be tied to a Surgery/Clinic to qualify. BEWARE any roving locums! The Pet Plan employee i spoke to was very vague about me not being tied to a surgery and whether it would or wouldnot effect my policy! I further explained that although I plan to still pay my RCVS membership I didn't want to take the chance of any problems with my policy - He AGREED and removed the additional discount. You can get a 10% online so I just opted for that! I would think that SVN will qualify for the additional discount as long as they are registered with RCVS and employed at a regular surgery!

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

shropshirelass_1987 — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:25:26 GMT

I think I know who I'm going to be going with - I did consider Tesco's as I've just insured my car with them & I thought I'll see how they deal with that first, I know petplans a little more dear but I'd rather pay it for quality services animal friends came up cheapest but thanks for that Rose I'll keep that in mind petplan it is Is it just RVNs they offer insurance discounts to or do they also offer it to SVNS? xx

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

BengalcatRVN — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:19:21 GMT

How do FSA rules on pet ins advice work on a thread like this?

As a PIA for petplan (and having my own cats and sister's dog insured with them) I can't praise them enough! The only issue I've had is when another vets lost my claim for 2 weeks, the vet went on holiday for another 2 weeks (they'd only let the person who saw my cat sign the claim form) then, even though I gave them a stamped addressed envolope, they posted the claim back to me a further week after that! I called petplan, explained what had happened, faxed the form and was paid in 5 working days.

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Dippy — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:17:09 GMT

I also wouldn't use anyone but Pet Plan and have had no issues with claims, either amounts paid or time taken to process. However, unlike everyone else it seems, my policy did go up by 25% last year and yet I've never claimed on it for this animal?! Still worth it for peace of mind but if it increased again by the same amount this year, I might just open him a bank account instead!

Re: Pet insurance company reccomendations???

Fuzzyduck — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:24:43 GMT

Petplan all the way, i would never recommend anyone else.

Ones to avoid, Tesco, direct line, more than and m&s. And of course the main one E&L! Nothing but problems from them all, either rubbish cover or try and wriggle out of paying