Tesco Pet Insurance makes me sad :(

Catzilla

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum. I have known about it of course! Just never registered, until Tesco made me feel like I needed to.

One of my dogs, Lola, is insured with Tesco and has been since I got her as a puppy. She's 3 now. She has had minor health issues for a long time, about 12 months, one thing or another. So with the vets advice I tried a few different things to resolve the problems but to no avail. The last thing we did was to do an allergy test which was not that cheap at £360. My insurance covers this kind of testing so I wasn't worried.

To cut a long story short Tesco have come back to me telling me I am not covered as "clinical signs were first noted prior to the start of my policy".

How can this be? She has been with Tesco since a pup.

What I think has happened is this...

When I got another pet I called Tesco to add the new pet on to the policy. During that call I was sold an upgrade to Lolas policy. Which I guess means that was the start of a brand new policy even though with the same company. I do feel a little cheated. I guess I should have read all the small print etc but ouch £360 it's going to cost. Oh and as a point of interest Lola is actually allergic to Grasses Trees and weeds. So outside basically. Funny having a dog that wont go on the grass, bless her.

Anyway, does anyone think I should challenge Tesco on this? Do you think I have a leg to stand on? Or should I just pay my vet bill and remember for next time, lesson learnt.

clangnuts

We had a pet insurance policy (can't remember who with) who refused to pay out for dental work on a cat that was in immense pain, and refusing to eat, because they decided that having a tooth repaired was "cosmetic" work, and not essential!!!! If the damage to the tooth had been the result of a RTA, they would have paid, but because there was no reason for the broken tooth (that we, or the vets knew of) they refused!

Hasten to add we are no longer with that insurance company!

InsideInsurance

From a practical point of view you possibly need to be aware that Tesco's Insurance used to be a joint venture with RBS Insurance, they then bought RBS out of the deal but left them as the underwriters and have since which switched from RBS to RSA as the underwriters.

If you switched policies it could well be that the old policy had been cancelled prior to all the changes and so the old policy wasnt migrated onto the new systems and so the basic operator cannot see it when they go into the system.

Either speak to them again and see if they can check the older records and see what happened or simply log a complaint and follow their complaint process.