Halifax pet insurance ending

Hillbilly1

Dave1979 wrote: »

The quote from the company they are passing the business on to was ridiculous! Double what we were paying with Halifax.

We have switched to PDSA - funnily enough it is all still through BDSL - which is slightly cheaper than Halifax was for £7000 cover for each condition. £10 a month for our Ragdoll and £7 a month for our Ragdoll/Maine Coone cross (both 4 years old). Luckily we had no pre-existing conditions - the only thing they have ever had is ear mites when they were kittens and once when one of then ate a flower and started drooling.

I would be wary of dealing with BDML again, as mikbruin says anyone can pull out of offering pet insurance if they are just the name and someone else undewrites. BDML have underwritten some of the worst offenders in the insurance field!

HELEN75_2

Tried to email you privately but it says your message bank is full and cannot take new messages, just wondered if you had heard anything from them yet, i wrote to them 2 weeks ago and not heard anything back thought i would have done by now!!!!

Helen

steveb4310

the thing that gets under my skin about the Halifax 'debacle' is that they used to use AXA as their insurer (still via BDML).

Why havent Halifax or BDML done a deal with AXA (who are still in the market!) to take over the book of business???

lidlest

melbury wrote: »

I do think that part of the problem has been caused by vets, in that they basically had a free hand in what they did and what they charged and because it was covered by insurance it was never questioned.

.

They do charge the world don't they? Goddards seem to think because I am insured they can charge the earth for anything, and they do tons of diagnostic tests just to reach the conclusion I reached by looking on the internet. (Not saying that sometimes tests are not necessary, but I do feel I have been taken for a bit of a ride by my vets)

Mabinogion

Hi I am also devastated regarding Halifax Pet Xtra, I had a phone call yesterday from BDML and the chap said it was his job to explain to me what was going to happen and that I wouldn't be able to renew my policy in January.

I have been paying £24.04 a month for Jess who is now 9 year old and is suffering with Primary Closed Angle Glaucoma in both eyes and is now totally blind and we have been taking her back and forth Leominster Eye Clinic for over 2 years now and the eye drops cost a fortune at the clinic so have been buying them from Boots after paying £9 for the prescription.

I sent off a claim for £430.00 the last time and got back £340.00 and they take 20% you know how it goes so have another claim to send off this time for the same amount but I don't know what we are going to do in January after this phone call.

He said he didn't know what was going to happen regarding 'Petwise' if they could keep the 'existing conditions' or not and I would have to read the letter which was posted to me today so I am waiting for it to arrive.

Has anyone found out anymore about this if anything will change? I am really concerned about this as her medication costs a fortune and the visits to the clinic are £95 each time....

HELEN75_2

Hi

I too had my westie insured with halifax who is 3 yrs old and has got a chronic skin condition his insurance expired the end of october and i have sent numerous letters to them and have also logged my complaint with the insurance ombudsman but they said don't hold your breath that anything will be done, at the moment halifax won't admit they are in the wrong and are passing the buck all the time, i have had 2 vet visits already with my dog resulting in £300 that i have had to pay out myself as his skin is chronic and will never get any better, i am at my wits end longterm how i am gonna manage and feel sorry for everybody else in this position as you cannot sit back and see your animal suffer thats why you take out insurance in the 1st place, they should definitely have stronger measures in place to stop companies pulling out like this when they think they will its utterly disgusting and animals are gonna suffer through this.

Mabinogion

Hi
Yes I have done the same as soon as I had the letter which I mentioned above I got in touch with the Financial Ombudsman and was told they would send me a pack of info' and to fill in the forms etc but like you say it's probably a waste of time and of all the things to happen now Jess my dog the one I wrote about above has gone down hill a bit with something else and because my policy runs out next week I have had to take her to the vets with this new illness which looks like inflamation of the pancreas where they did blood tests on Friday which cost £118.00 and £36.00 today with a return visit and have to go back on Wednesday to see if the anti biotics are working that's without her eye problem ~ ofcourse I have been looking at other Insurances but don't know which one to rely on now as she is 9yrs old and with these two pre existing conditions now we are stuck too ~ it's really so wrong of them..

Bromley86

Strongly advise anyone to take out pet insurance with a company that also underwrite the policy.

This, 100%. Axa also underwrite their own policies. Do NFU underwrite theirs?

I've not dealt with BDML for a couple of years now, but when I had to (hydrotherapy and hip replacements) they were great. Note that they're not the underwriters, they're the administrators.

And don't forget that no one made a promise that they'd supply more than 1 year's worth of insurance. If we, as the consumers, are allowed to choose to renew a contract or not, then it only seems fair that a business can choose to withdraw entirely from the market. What wouldn't be fair would be if the company could also pick and choose which policies to renew. AFAIK, there's no real threat that a company offering something we'd recognise as a lifetime product will dump your insurance at the end of the term if you've claimed - just because they decline to send it out in writing, doesn't make it so as it's likely already in their policy terms.

Looks like there is a gap in the market for a premium brand like PetPlan to offer the first genuine lifetime policy, with premiums guaranteed to increase by a regular 5-10% p.a. and a guarantee not to play with the terms in a negative manner (i.e. no surprise excess +30% once your dog hits 8 etc.). Whether anyone would take up such an expensive policy or not is another thing though.

Mabinogion

Hi
Has everyone sorted out their pet insurance regarding having to change from Halifax? only I am still looking for an insurer and running out of time so anyone found out any more?

dacouch

Bromley86 wrote: »

Looks like there is a gap in the market for a premium brand like PetPlan to offer the first genuine lifetime policy, with premiums guaranteed to increase by a regular 5-10% p.a. and a guarantee not to play with the terms in a negative manner (i.e. no surprise excess +30% once your dog hits 8 etc.). Whether anyone would take up such an expensive policy or not is another thing though.

They would lose large amounts of money due to inflation in Vet fees being well above 10% per annum. Any company offering the above would just do the same as the Halifax et al and withdraw from the market when they start losing money