Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

penny_pincha

cathodetube wrote: »

There is now consensus among vets that annual shots are unnecessary. All the vet nurses I spoke to said the never vaccinated their cats after the first few years.

It doesn't seem to make much sense to me to do boosters annually year on year. When I last went to the doctors for my booster for tetanus for myself they said they stop giving them once you have had 5. The argument being that there was enough immunity from the other jabs in my system. Only if I was in direct risk would they do any more.

LauraAl

My cats have nearly always had their boosters and it varies from practice to practice on how long they are happy to leave it between boosters. Some years I let it lapse by six months. I did leave it two years when I had a baby but they then had the primary courses redone. So I've faxed them the vaccination certificate which proves that their vaccinations are up to date. Although Louie had been at the previous vets since 2002 they only had computer history dating back to 2005, it was written history before then which they done have. So the vaccination certificate proves that he was registered since 2002. They want to know every bit of clinical history for his life even when he didn't go to the vets for two years. So annoying and if they don't pay out because My vets can't provide history prior to 2005 I will be thoroughly peeved. Hyperthyroidism is an older cats disease so I'm not even sure what they are looking for. Like I said I didn't have any of this with pet plan.

mirrorimage0

It's been a fair few yrs since I have needed pet insurance but have just been adopted by a lovely dog , oh my days it's a minefield , oh well off i trot through a 158 pages of bedtime reading lol x

mirrorimage0

Why is it if I put in little ones age at 12 weeks it works out around £10 dearer than if he was a year old ?

Rottensocks

Why is it if I put in little ones age at 12 weeks it works out around £10 dearer than if he was a year old ?

Like with human babies, being 3 months old is a riskier time in terms of survival than being 1year old: Some ongoing conditions may not have surfaced at 12 weeks, and also because you are smaller/younger, you are more vulnerable to complications from viruses, infections etc.

star2000

I have my cat insured with Argos Pet Insurance
On 22nd April I received a letter from Argos dated 16th April telling me that my insurance was due for renewal on 17th April!! Clearly the date for this had passed. I also received another letter dated 16th April referring to the first letter they had sent me on the 16th April asking for payment again as I had not responded to the renewal request
I was appalled with this situation and particularly concerned that my cat may not be insured any more without me realising this and that I had been given no time to consider if I wanted to renew my premium based on the new price or not. I rang the call center and spoke to Chris Gareth who was not at all helpful, could not give any explanation for why this had occurred and seemed to act as if this was normal practice without even apologising for the situation. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that he could refer me to one but no one would be available to get back to me for 3 days!!
I would never trust this company again and would certainly never renew with them

cathodetube

Star2000,
Yes, appalling behaviour. I would report them to the Insurance Ombudsman. Did you go to another insurer?

hmc

Hi
Haven't read the whole thread sorry
Have an 11 yr old collie insured with axa at £32 mth
We are getting a springer spaniel pup so starting the dreaded search for insurance again.

I find the axa very expensive being as we've never claimed and it goes up every yr!
So to start this pup will have to have bog standard insurance ie not the life cover
What are the opinions on the best of the bunch please
Also would any other company are on the collie at his age now

cathodetube

hmc,
£32 a month for an 11 year old dog isn't expensive in my opinion. You could try NFU as they too do their own underwriting. All pet insurers seem to put their premiums up every year, once they have roped you in with something attractive.

GoldenShadow

star2000 wrote: »

I have my cat insured with Argos Pet Insurance
On 22nd April I received a letter from Argos dated 16th April telling me that my insurance was due for renewal on 17th April!! Clearly the date for this had passed. I also received another letter dated 16th April referring to the first letter they had sent me on the 16th April asking for payment again as I had not responded to the renewal request
I was appalled with this situation and particularly concerned that my cat may not be insured any more without me realising this and that I had been given no time to consider if I wanted to renew my premium based on the new price or not. I rang the call center and spoke to Chris Gareth who was not at all helpful, could not give any explanation for why this had occurred and seemed to act as if this was normal practice without even apologising for the situation. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that he could refer me to one but no one would be available to get back to me for 3 days!!
I would never trust this company again and would certainly never renew with them

I don't understand why you are so cross? You must have an annual policy if payments do not automatically continue and therefore its a brand new policy from the new date anyway, ie. no conditions before 17th April will be covered after 17th April. They wrote to you to say do you want to do anything about this, but obviously left it late and snail mail didn't help and slowed your awareness further.

I don't really understand why you expect a company to tell you if your pet is insured or not. Its your responsibility, not theirs. A reminder is nice but at the end of the day its for their benefit to try and keep your custom, not out of the kindness of their hearts to do the best for your pet.

Would have been nice if they said sorry, but I wouldn't be surprised if the person you spoke to has no idea what's gone on because they didn't have anything to do with it. It does take a while for things to be looked into and I am sure if you ask your concerns will be duly noted.

Its up to you to ensure your pet is insured regardless, not an insurance company. If you had a lifelong policy with them then this would automatically renew unless you tell them otherwise. Another issue with annual versus lifelong.