Does anyone know anything about taking on insurance companies?

nate1984

I hope somebody can help me with some advice on this, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
In May 2008 I and my partner split. We had two cats together who were insured by a company called Petplan. The cats insurance was registered in her name and as I was in custody of the cats, this needed to be changed. I took it upon myself to call Petplan and ask them to transfer the ownership of the two cats to me. As documented by Petplan in the telephone call, I explained to the Petplan representative that I had two cats that both needed a transfer of ownership. She asked me for a policy number which I didn’t have to hand but in any case, I found a petplan letter and gave her the policy number along the top of it. She then informed me that in order for the cats (note: plural) to be transferred to me I had to do two things, make an overdue payment and to inform my ex partner to call Petplan and confirm the transfer. I paid the overdue amount over the telephone with my debit card and confirmed with the representative that all I needed to do now was to get my ex partner to confirm the transfer, to which the representative replied “yes”. A direct debit was set up and money to Petplan started to come out of my bank account every month.
Unfortunately in December 2008, two weeks before Christmas, one of the cats climbed over into next doors garden and was attacked by their dog. I took her to the PDSA emergency vets who took her in, treated her and kept her there until the following evening. I paid the PDSA £450 and asked what the procedure was for claiming on insurance.
I rang Petplan on the Monday and after updating some details, was informed that the cat which had been injured was in fact not insured. Originally I accepted this and hung up. However, after a few minutes of thought I decided to ring back to find out why she wasn’t insured. I came through to a female, foreign in origin, who rudely insisted that no matter what, there is no way that the Petplan representative could have got anything wrong. I then asked her to pull out all the records of mine and my ex partners contact with Petplan, to which I was told, “the calls will be listened to, and you will have a call from us in 10 working days time”. I waited until the 13th of January 2009 for Petplan to contact me but after having no contact, I made the call myself.
I was told that a team leader had tried to contact me but “the number didn’t seem to be working”, even though the numbers I had given to them were my current mobile number and landline. The representative kept me on hold for 15 minutes and when she came back she told me that the calls had been listened to and the reason that only one cat was insured was due to non payment for the other. When my ex partner rang up a few months previously to confirm the transfer of ownership she was told by Petplan that it would go through when an overdue payment had been received, which I’d told her I’d already paid when I requested the transfer of ownership. The emphasis for Petplan seemed to be this conversation with my ex partner.
I asked the representative to repeat the notes on my first conversation with Petplan and as I had suspected, I had asked for transfer of ownership for two cats and to clear the arrears. It turned out however, that despite me specifically telling the representative I had two cats to transfer, she failed to carry out this request and failed to inform me that I was only going to clear the arrears for one of the cats unless I make another payment on top of the one I had just made.
The representative who I spoke to on the 13th of January insists that I only gave one policy number and that each cat has a different number. But I had already asked to transfer both cats and was unaware that I needed another policy number for the other because I wasn’t informed about it or asked for it. As far as I was aware, I had asked for the transfer of two cats and had made a payment to clear the arrears. Nothing was mentioned by the representative to inform me I had only cleared one set of arrears. So here are my questions:

• Is it the call representative’s responsibility to inform me at the time of me originally calling that I had only paid the arrears for one cat rather than the both of them that I requested?
• If I have informed the representative that I have two cats to transfer and an overdue payment to make, am I at fault because the representative has taken payment for only one cat and transferred only one cat, despite my request for two cats to be transferred? And consequently (although not deliberately) leading me into believing that they were both insured?
• If I can prove that fault isn’t my own, despite Petplan refusing to take responsibility and/or take this case any further, am I entitled to compensation?
• And who would I speak to in order to take it further if I have a case?

Petplan will not take this any further, as far as they are concerned it is case closed. I have a number to make a formal complaint but I seek some advice before I do so.
I believe that if my request had been carried out by Petplan the first time I called up and payments were taken for both cats, then this situation would have been avoided. Instead, I am out of pocket by £450 because the Petplan representative on the phone didn’t carry out my request, even though at the time I thought they had.

Nathan.

Wutang_2

Sounds like Petplan didnt do too much wrong - more like the problem was that there are two parties trying to sort things out.

Petplan are not known or recognised for this type of behaviour so this is very surprising that they could be this wrong. With direct debits, I think if you re-read your post the answer lies within (the listened-to calls were the ones involving you - but not your ex). Also "she was told by Petplan that it would go through when an overdue payment had been received," if one overdue payment had been asked for - then why were they asking for another? Maybe because there were two cats?...

Sorry but I think its just unfortunate rather than malicious.

Wol2

Hi Nathan

Although it's not cut and dried one way or the other - first of all you need to make a formal complaint in writing (recorded delivery) to the insurers and await their response. If you are unhappy with their response, write again requesting what you want to happen and ask them to make a "final response". If you are then stil unhappy you need to pursue with the financial ombudsman (they won;t act until you have a followed the insurers complaints procedure and have been issued with a "final response" from the insurance company)

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/


Good luck

Wol2

dacouch

I would recommend you request a copy of all the records they have for you including the taped telephone calls under the data protection act. You are legally entitled to these although they can make a nominal charge for providing these normally around £5.

This information will give you the physical evidence of what computer rewcords they have for you and what was said. You can then make an complaint in writing to their chief executive and if this fails you can then go to the ombudsman.

The advantage of requestings your records is a) It gives you extra evidence b) Sometimes companies employees make notes on your records that they would rather you did not see eg insults c) They sometimes thinks its just easier to pay you out to avoid the above and then the time spent dealing with your complaint as if you request your data under the data protection act they realise you are likely to go the distance with your claim

Hope this helps and good luck

InsureFox

Your written explanation is a good start and Wol2 and Dacouch are right.

If you are unhappy and want to take further action then your first step is to make a formal complaint to the insurance company. Check PetPlan's website for their complaints procedure and where to send complaints. You should receive acknowledgment of your complaint within 5 days and then have a claims handler assigned who will deal with your complaint.

Request the call scripts/recordings and any logs they have relating to you. You may need your partner to make a DPA to get copies of her calls. You'll have to be patient as they have 40 days to comply!

Good luck and keep us updated.