Pet insurance refusing to pay out... advice please?

charlysez

insurance is a con, i had a 6mth battle to be paid out £120, they wriggled at every point and the stress of it really wasnt worth the payout. then every other visit i have had falls into the £50ish range so under the excess, i have spent more in premiums than i have in fees.

i will not be having cover next year, and besides i am also joining the anti booster campaign (on vets recommend) so that will be another loophole for them to use against me.

trudij

You should be ok. We get insurance companies doing things like this to our clients quite a lot - they will leap on the slightest thing to try to avoid paying out - and to be fair,they are a business - so if they can avoid it,you cant really blame them for trying!! Most of the time a letter from the vet stating exactly what is going on and why it is wrong of them to no pay out is enough.

good luck

loulou123

Hope you get it all sorted out.

Ive often wondered this myself, as my cat always has her vaccinations but has never had her teeth cleaned by the vet etc (she does have her teeth checked once a year at booster time, but only a quick look in her mouth.) so ive always presumed this would mean that any dental problems would not be covered, but anything unconnected to teeth would be. Hmmmm.

paddypaws101

Tell me about the anti-booster campaign!

Sooz00

My cats are with Petplan. I always used to vaccinate, even though they are house cats. Unfortunately one of my cats had a vaccine associated fibrosarcoma (VAS) when he was 5 years old and since then, I have not had any of them vaccinated. They are 10 now, still have their annual checks and my vet will come to me if I prefer not to take them there. We took the decision not to vaccinate after a risk assessment and extensive discussions with our GP vet and oncologists at the referral practice who treated and continue to treat my cat.

I know that my cats are now not covered should they get anything that I could have had them vaccinated against but Petplan have paid for other illnesses I have claimed for since without any problems at all.

I think it is very unfair of Sainsbury and their underwriters not to pay out as your claim is not for anything that vaccination could have prevented. Vaccinations are not compulsory in the UK and decisions should be made between the owner and vet based on the individual animal in question. One of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association's policy statements includes the following 'The BSAVA strongly supports the concept that a thorough risk /benefit assessment on an individual case basis should be discussed with clients when deciding on timing of vaccination and use of particular vaccines for particular animals.' You did precisely that.

IMHO they are just trying to get out of paying. Personally, I'd give the chairman's office a call tomorrow morning and ask for the chairman by name and not give up until they agree to pay. I would argue that as a housecat, your cat is less likely to get one of these diseases than they are to get an adverse reaction to the vaccine and so you are doing the responsible thing for your individual pet, which your vet and specialist support. How dare they suggest you put your cat at risk? There is also Watchdog, a lot of local radio consumer programs and the ombudsman.

(BTW, our specialist also admitted not vaccinating own cats for that precise reason above).

DebtMagnet

Just catching up with this thread again as it's been on my mind. I have 4 policy's in total for pets and I seem to sway one way then the other as to whether it's worth having insurance or not.

Having had a £2k pay out for a specialist vet basically rebuilding my cat after he got run over, I have always sworn by insurance as there is no way I would have been able to afford to get him treated otherwise. But having said all that, I have had numerous vet visits for various things over the past few years and as everyone else seems to say, they always seem to cost around the £50 mark and so under my excess. Add in the worming, fleaing etc and I spend loads at the vet but don't get anything back.

It's a bit of a dilemma:think:

KxMx

It is certainly a dilemma but I would never be without insurance now, it's worth the £8 odd a month for peace of mind alone!

Littlemadam83

KxMx wrote: »

It is certainly a dilemma but I would never be without insurance now, it's worth the £8 odd a month for peace of mind alone!

But this is the thing - is it for peace of mind if the OP's claim is being rejected for something totally unconnected? Yes, they are a business, at the same time the long list of T's&C's mean they can get out of so much leaving you out of pocket x

KxMx

I understand that, and I too am horrified at the behaviour of Sainsburys over this, but for me personally I would never be without insurance, after our previous cat had to be put to sleep age 5, all we had at the end was a £250 bill when we were on a very low income.

Is up to each owner to decide.

As for OP, i've been hoping they come back and let us know what's happening. As clearly they were acting in accordance with Vets instructions re vaccinations and an unconnected issue anyway.

Paradigm

OP, while you might think this isn't relevent to your dispute, please read here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2573777 post #27 by dacouch.

The financial ombudsman ruled that not paying out on a claim because the car had no mot, regardless of what the caused the claim, was unfair!

The insurance co's terms & conditions stating that no mot automatically resulted in no payout were regarded as unfair & were over-ruled.

After help from MSE'ers on the above thread, the OP received his money

With regard to your pet insurance I would think the same unfair terms & conditions ruling would apply as it has strong similarities to the linked thread.... just substitute "vaccination" for "mot"

As your cats illness is totally unrelated to vaccinations, the refusal to pay (& the T & C's) are unfair, I would be contacting the ombudsman if the situation isn't resolved to your satisfaction.