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BEWARE M and S insurance

As the regulars will know, Im a great advocate of life long pet insurance, particularly as one of my own dogs has an ongoing condition. I have MANY times recommended M and S insurance which my dog ralph was insured with since he was a pup.

Last November I received a letter from M and S for his renewal - whilst it had increased, naturally with his ongoing condition I had little choice but to continue with them. I rang the customer service and said that I wanted to renew but the girl, having remarked "how efficient" I was as the policy renewal wasnt due for another month, then said that it wasnt necessary to ring as the insurance would be renewed automatically for the year.

Roll on to last week, I ask vet to send in a claim for the meds received this period and today I receive a letter from M and S saying that the claim would not be paid because the insurance had not been renewed. :eek:

The letter says that the policy had been cancelled when the credit card declined payment. They go on to say that they sent a letter to me about this!!! and that as I did not contact them to pay the premium it was cancelled.:mad:

Ive rung them this morning and they claim they sent me two letters to warn me about the cancellation. This is absolute bull - I keep files for everything, including both the dogs stuff and I would have immediately responded to any letter about ralphs insurance being cancelled as he will be unable to get his ongoing condition covered by any new insurer.

Clearly they had an old credit card's details - probably 5 years old and now out of date and thats why they couldnt use it. Anyone with sense would have telephoned me about this. They certainly rang me every few days trying to get me to take insurance out when I first enquired 6 years ago.

The customer services person was unhelpful and said the policy had lapsed too long for them to reinstate it. (He even feigned a horrified gasp when I eventually said "what a lot of bull***t" - like he was so offended, pmsl). I wouldnt accept this - they said they had sent me two letters about it. Which is totally untrue. I asked if they had proof of sending the letters and they said they go out automatically if a policy isnt renewed. I dont believe they attempted to contact me - perhaps because they saw we were claiming for an ongoing condition, it was better for them to lapse the policy.

So be warned - if I of anyone, who has spent so much time on here and other forums warning people to get a good policy can be caught - then anyone can.
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Comments

  • Sorry to hear that hethmar, that must've come as a shock.

    I'm also with M&S lifetime insurance, so I'll be sure to double-check everything with them come renewal time. Thanks for the warning.
  • Hethmar - what a horrible thing to happen :eek:

    I had Zara insured with MS and then tried to insure cats with them but what they quoted me for cats was way over what Argos Platinum quoted me for very similar cover so insured cats with Argos Platinum. Then Zara's reneval form came through, double the previous price (no claims were made apart from 250 for a removal of little growth on her front leg) and I cancelled MS and moved Zara to Argos Platinum too. Since then she was diagnosed with displasia and arthritis but it is covered.

    So glad I did not stick with MS - my vets said they used to be good but gone downhill very much recently....

    So sorry to hear about your problem,,, especially as it is ongoing health issue....
  • chucknorris
    chucknorris Posts: 10,795 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Sorry to hear about your problems, I used to be with M&S but started self insuring 2/3 years ago.
    Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one birdThe only time Chuck Norris was wrong was when he thought he had made a mistakeChuck Norris puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".I've started running again, after several injuries had forced me to stop
  • Do they not have the recording of you phoning them and enquiring? Though they may deny it exists? If you could get that then you could prove you tried to phone and renew.
    The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
    Bertrand Russell
  • hethmar
    hethmar Posts: 10,678 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    edited 24 September 2011 at 2:17PM
    I have said to them that they MUST have the recording of my phone conversation back in November when I rang to renew and if necessary, I can look it up on my records as I keep all bills. They have said they will pass my query to the technical department. HOWEVER, they will still have an out of saying the payment was refused on the old card. They are lying when they say one/two letters to remind me were sent. I swear to god that Id not have missed a letter saying that Ralph's insurance would be cancelled, let alone two letters! I have asked them if they can prove the letters were sent to me but they say they are sent out automatically, so clearly they cant prove it, but then they can say I must have received them if they were sent. I asked why no one bothered to phone about this - all insurers seem to ring you if you fail to renew with them - every year our car insurers will ring if we have changed from them and try to get us back. I dont believe M and S wouldnt do the same.

    And yes, its a terrible shock as we wont be able to cover his ongoing condition with another insurer and if it worsens and he needs any further treatment we will be stuffed for that too. Its an outrage.
  • gettingready
    gettingready Posts: 11,330 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    This is really terrible - did you not notice that the DD was not going out of your account though? How long ago did the payments stop?

    I am absolutely over the top always checking my DD go out on time and would notice something like that within few days but I guess not everyone is paranoid like myself so this can be missed.....

    Hope you manage to get this sorted somehow, they do record conversations but I wonder how far back do they keep the recordings?

    Fingers crossed you get this sorted :(
  • hethmar
    hethmar Posts: 10,678 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    I always paid one annual payment gettingready. So, no I didnt even think to check two months later that it had been taken out. As far as I was concerned, Id rung up and been told it would be renewed and I simply forgot about it after that. All they had to do was ring me and tell me it had been refused or even just emailed me, as they often do to offer other stuff and Id have done it immediately over the phone. I mean when I originally rang up, I was ready to do it over the phone then but she said not to as it would be done automatically after 10 December.
  • Oh the *&"£*"&$£*!s - so sorry to hear this Hethmar.:(

    If you've got your bill which shows the call really hoping they will reconsider - I had a similar issue with my bank supposedly sending me 2 letters which I never received and they said the same that they'd sent them and if they got lost in the post it wasn't their problem - it was hardly my fault was it!:mad:

    Fingers crossed you can get something sorted out.
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
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  • Tropez
    Tropez Posts: 3,696 Forumite
    I'm really sorry to hear of your problems. I've never used M&S for pet insurance so I'm unable to advise what to do in your case. All I can say is that I hope you're able to get something sorted out.
  • gettingready
    gettingready Posts: 11,330 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hethmar - really hope you manage to sort this out :(

    As I said, MS used to be very good, my vet told me that since they changed the underwitter they gone down a lot.... so sorry about the problems you have :(
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