Pet Insurance guide discussion area

maw123

At end July my partner took out a pet insurance policy using the code PETSME from the MSE weekly email - using this code she should have received a £40 Amazon voucher within 75 days, but it still hasnt arrived yet - did anyone else apply for this offer, and if so have you received your amazon voucher? Thanks

jimmylindsay

annaojbee wrote: »

A couple of points from my own experience with Direct Line:
1. They have a 'back log' on payments' - taking up to 2 months to pay. They've had this 'back log' for over a year!
2. Phoned to add an extra dog, and found that I didn't have to pay for legal cover as it can be claimed under hoousehold insurance - only saves pence, but worth knowing.

I have cancelled with Direct Line as they are pro sales and anti claims. A small claim for an emergency eye injury still not paid after 7 weeks and now wanting the dog's medical history which apart from vaccinations is clear. I also had to make a further trip to the emergency vet for them to complete the paperwork (12 miles) + a £14.95 charge for the emergency vet to send it in.
Now self insure both my dogs!

jimmylindsay

Direct Line is one of them!

jimmylindsay

Galoglas wrote: »

Agreed we've had pet insurance for years and if someone is offering pet insurance for £4.99 a month then forget it. For our youngest dog we are £25.00 a month and the 2 older ones are more expensive.

Direct Line, be easier getting blood from a stone!

Diamonds_2

jimmylindsay wrote: »

I have cancelled with Direct Line as they are pro sales and anti claims. A small claim for an emergency eye injury still not paid after 7 weeks and now wanting the dog's medical history which apart from vaccinations is clear. I also had to make a further trip to the emergency vet for them to complete the paperwork (12 miles) + a £14.95 charge for the emergency vet to send it in.
Now self insure both my dogs!

My dog had an emergency eye injury a couple of weeks ago.. rushed to the vet hospital and had surgery.. total bill of nearly £2.5K.. vet told us he doesn't deal direct with insurance company and we had to pay the bill and claim it back ourselves. We're with Animal Friends paying £27/month for our 18 month old boxer. We sent the forms off on the 7th October and the money appeared in our bank account today. VERY impressed with Animal Friends. There was no phone calls/chasing up whatsoever.!

gettingready

Lots of vets do not accept direct payments from Animal Friends - hopefully they are better now but their reputation for payments was really bad at the beginnings.

Glad your claim was sorted.

My dog are one cat are insured with Argos - Argos pays within 10 days of receiving the claim. And all vets I came across are happy to claim direct from Argos.

My other 3 cats plus my daughter's 2 cats are insured with PetPlan - only claimed twice for dental on 2 cats, again vet accepted direct claims it was just under 2k for both cats.

Diamonds_2

I must admit I was anxious about the claim as the vet was very negative about Animal Friends.. he actually said he'd deal with any insurance company but them! I thought we were going to have real trouble but no, they were brilliant from the word go. I hadn't even had the pre-authorisation from them (you're supposed to contact them if the bill will be over £1k) because it all happened so quickly, but they didn't whinge about that, they said they understood how these things can be overlooked when faced with an emergency situation.

LittlePants

We have just taken out pet insurance with M&S. Does anyone have experience of claiming through M&S insurance? I did a lot of research, as we go to France a lot, and I wanted something that would cover me there. The M&S policy seems to have far higher allowances on all conditions than any other policy, they were extremely helpful, and I'm hoping that, should we need to claim, being M&S, there shouldn't be an great problem. My plan is to insure him at the highest level for 12 months (as he is a young rescue dog, who we have only recently adopted) and then self insure after that, if no problems show themselves.

gettingready

Is your insurance per condition then?

Zara was with M&S to start with, as a pup. At renewal the premium jumped 100% (no claims were made) so I moved her to Argos Platinum.

Her 7k cover with Argos is available each year for any condition - the limit is per year not per condition.

The per condition policies are not very good if a dog develops some life time condition - then the "pot" quickly runs out and you wont be able to claim on THAT condition.

Personally I would always for for "for life" policies and not "per condition" ones.

Also self insuring may be an option but only if you have access to 1000sssss if needed. Vet fees can be VERY expensive and self insuring just by putting away the amount you would have paid in insurance premiums - often is nowhere near enough.

gettingready

Just to add, my insurance payments for Zara alone with Argos Platinum (8 yo German Shepherd) went up from £130 to £172 per month

We started at about £30 per month and over the years now they are asking for £172.00 :eek:

I can not move Zara anywhere else as he had THR on both legs.

To anyone looking into pet insurance and thinking they are getting a good deal as premiums seem low - have a look into premium hikes and insure with PetPlan. It will be much cheaper in the long term as they do not put their premiums up by so much.

I called Argos today as reading this thread made me realise our reneval is due at the end of the month and got a shock with the new quote - apparently a letter was sent to me but I never received it so good I called.

At the moment I can still afford it but I have no idea what will happen in January when my current contract finishes - the amount is just simply insane.

I questioned it wit Argos, they said they will call me within 3-4 days...