Vet Refused Insurance Payment.

relay

What does anyone make of this?

I bought insurance for my puppy but have never needed to claim until last night, i have a £40 excess and my insurance company pays the vet directly ................. or at least that's what should happen!

When i produced my insurance policy the vet refused to accept it and demanded that i pay the full amount myself & get my insurance company to reimburse me. They said that anything under £1000 i have to pay myself.

Surely they can see the position this puts people in? The Vets get their money anyway directly from my insurance - i however am on income support & don't get paid, so how can they expect every customer to pay the bill in full themselves? Can vet's not accept installments for a large bill? Do they honestly expect all customers to carry up to a thousand pounds every time they got to the vet?

Is there any point having insurance if i have to pay with my own savings? What's the point of a £40 excess that i can't even use because the vet refused to accept it?




Mark (not happy!)

marcellep

This is normally the case with most vet's. The reason they expect you to pay and then claim is because it can take about 2/3mths for them to get the money. It may be worth while asking your vet is there any chance you can claim then pay them. It's up to the vet and they do have the right to ask for the money up front. My wife work as a vet nurse for yrs and says that its really up to each vet how the operate an insurance claim.

Vets do not need to except installments but you will find that if you approach your surgery and ask they will possibly accept.

It is very worth while having insurance for a animal as it will cover very large bills should it be required, ok you may need to pay up front or pay a deposit until they get the claim. But in the long run it saves you £££££

relay

I suppose put that way i can understand it, but i honestly feel that in an age where vets are already expensive beyond reach for a lot of people, i think they are being rather one sided to just assume every time people visit them, they just happen to be carrying 'up to' £1000 in their pocket.

Of course i know i could get free treatment from RSPCA centres, but in all fairness that's not what i pay for an insurance policy for.

kw899899

if you on housing benefit or receive help with the ocuncil tax AND you live near a pdsa hospital, you can get free veterinary care. Have a look at their website:

http://www.pdsa.org.uk/eligibility.html

kw899899

if you on housing benefit or receive help with the ocuncil tax AND you live near a pdsa hospital, you can get free veterinary care. Have a look at their website:

http://www.pdsa.org.uk/eligibility.html

pboae

It also depends which insurance company you are with, most (but not all) vets will accept direct payments from PetPlan, many will accept them from M&S, very few (if any) will accept them from companies like E&L who have a bad reputation for not paying out. If you are with one of the better companies you might find it easier to just change vets.

melbury

My vet is the same - had to pay up front and then fill in the claim form , pass it on to them to fill in their bit and then they sent it off direct to my insurers - M&S. I was a bit surprised, I expected them to claim direct so that I wouldn't have to pay. What happens if it is a really big bill?

pboae

My vet was dubious about claiming from M&S at first, the first time I claimed myself, the second time I asked the vet to claim direct, and made an arrangement that if it wasn't paid within a certain time (6 weeks I think) that I would pay the vet myself, and they would refund me when the claim came through. M&S paid up promptly and since then my vet has claimed direct. I suppose it depends how flexible your vet is though, and how well you know them.