MSE News: Fury as Lloyds insurance cull puts pets' lives 'at risk'

susie1997

I too have been left in the lurch, Susie our yorkie was diagnosed with a heart murmour last August and was given 4 to 6 months to live, I took insurance out 6 years ago with halifax after being told that at 8 years old she was too old to be covered by my previous insurance and was reassured by the Halifax that it would be a life cover, Susie is now 14 and doesn’t have a chance of being insured with anyone else due to her age and heart condition.
I have bought her ongoing medication through the Internet cheaper than getting it from the vet due to the high excess down to her age again.
But what happens if she gets anything else and I cant get insurance, I know she has been given this bad prognosis but she has passed the 6 months that the vet gave her and these dogs live up to a possible 21 and if she has been given the wrong prognosis, what happens then with no cover at all?
Halifax and the Lloyds banking group have treated us very bad by taking the life cover off us that they promised us they would give us for the life of the poor animal, I am lucky in that I can afford to have her treated but what happens to the poor animals that the owners cannot afford to have treated, al the old dears with their companions and the young couple only just able to feed and clothe themselves?

UKTigerlily

susie1997 wrote: »

I too have been left in the lurch, Susie our yorkie was diagnosed with a heart murmour last August and was given 4 to 6 months to live, I took insurance out 6 years ago with halifax after being told that at 8 years old she was too old to be covered by my previous insurance and was reassured by the Halifax that it would be a life cover, Susie is now 14 and doesn’t have a chance of being insured with anyone else due to her age and heart condition.
I have bought her ongoing medication through the Internet cheaper than getting it from the vet due to the high excess down to her age again.
But what happens if she gets anything else and I cant get insurance, I know she has been given this bad prognosis but she has passed the 6 months that the vet gave her and these dogs live up to a possible 21 and if she has been given the wrong prognosis, what happens then with no cover at all?
Halifax and the Lloyds banking group have treated us very bad by taking the life cover off us that they promised us they would give us for the life of the poor animal, I am lucky in that I can afford to have her treated but what happens to the poor animals that the owners cannot afford to have treated, al the old dears with their companions and the young couple only just able to feed and clothe themselves?

I think most companies will cover older dogs, Axa for one don't have an upper age limit. The only problem is they quite often add a % to the excess, but right now Axa don't do that x

fatpiggy

Animal insurance generally is in a state of hiatus. Horse owners are finding at renewal that their premiums have doubled or more, or even that the company refuses to renew- even owners who haven't made any claims. Many companies seem to be trying to get out of animal insurance full stop. I think self-insurance is the way to go, especially if you have more than one animal. My horse is insured and I haven't noticed much of a change (she is a veteran and is only covered for accident, not illness). My cat isn't insured at all and as she has pancreatitis and is also quite old (16) I doubt anyone would accept her anyway. The week before Christmas I had to call the vet to my horse unexpectedly and just 48 hours later the cat had to go to see her vet and have tests so I was £500 down before I could blink! My horse has now been diagnosed with low level Cushings Disease which means an extra £26 monthly. Not too bad but that doesn't take into account the £500 per month :eek: she already costs for her arthritis and the dubious pleasure of being possibly the UK's only drug-controlled epileptic horse. No insurance in the world would have paid out for more than 6 months of treatment for that so since 1998 I have taken the hit myself. It would help though if the drug companies didn't charge seven times the price for the same human drug. :mad: That's why I use this site so much :rotfl:. While her life is reasonable I carry on. I will have the rest of my life to spend my money in.

bluelizzie381

My pet insurance company decided to stop insuring pets even though I had been with them since my dog was 12 weeks old. She was 7 at the time and they thought they were doing me a favour by telling me that Churchill would take her on at 3 times the premium that I was paying at the time. I couldn't afford that and it wouldn't have covered any existing conditions or remotely related to an existing condition. I'm afraid the insurance ombudsman wasn't interested in my complaint.

Outrageous behaviour!!

If a company offered a lifetime guarantee and defaulted there would be a legal issue. My dog was offered lifetime cover and I never defaulted on a payment but the company can stop the cover at will! One rule for banks and financial institutions and one for the man on the street ... :mad:

HELEN75_2

Just wanted to let everybody know that i have today had a phone call from watchdog who i contacted back in october when the halifax ceased robbies policy, he is a westie who has got a chronic skin condition that affects his ears aswell he is only 3 1/2 and will need ongoing care for the rest of his life, they are looking into running a story on the next programme of watchdog and will be filming soon, they are getting legal advice next week on this story and if it favours the customers over the halifax being allowed to cease policies (even though it says in the policy document they can terminate the contract giving so many days notice) they will then run the story to try and get help for the amount that have been put in an impossible situation, i am urging people that have been dumped like i have to now contact watchdog and try and get there story on the television aswell as the more people that contact them and get on tv the more chance we may have of getting help for our pets, i am prepared to do what it takes for robbie and i hope others will to.
Helen

kaydeeladee

There is a group page on Facebook that has up to date information and also a link to a petition to sign Please take a look by going to Facebook and searching for the HoundOutHalifaxandLloyds page.

Beverley Cuddy (editor of Dog's Today magazine) is asking for anyone affected by this to contact her.

Former_MSE_Wendy

Hi all

Did you have Lloyds/Halifax pet insurance, and if so, have you still got any of the pre-sale or post sale literature - including WebPages, advertisements, terms and conditions etc?

With the help of consumer rights forum Consumer Action Group, some past customers are taking legal action against Lloyds and need past documents to back up their case. If you've still got paper work please send to [EMAIL="BankFodder@ConsumerActionGroup.co.uk"]BankFodder[/EMAIL] at CAG.

HELEN75_2

I have been contacted today from daybreak they have heard about robbie's story and want to do run a story on him for there wednesday show they are filming his story tomorrow, hopefully we may start to get somewhere with some tv coverage so i guess all publicity is good publicity, not sure about actually going on tv but guess i have to do what it takes for my dog and hope and prey that we actually achieve something and make the halifax back down and either compensate us for long term payouts or reinstate our policies, wish us luck

meggiemoobobalob

I AM ONE OF THE OWNERS THAT IS GRAVELY CONCERNED AS I HAVE A DOG THAT HAS SERIOUS CONDITIONS.
HALIFX DO NOT HAVE A TELEPHONE CONTACT FOR COMPLAINTS ONLY AN ADRESS WHICH IS NOT THE ADRESS IN THEIR POLICY BOOKLET.
BELOW IS THE CORRECT ADRESS TO COMPLAIN TO AND I HOPE EVERYONE DOES IN OUR THOUSANDS !!!!!!:mad: :mad:

HALIFAX PET INSURANCE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT
1000 LAKESIDE
WESTERN ROAD
NORTH HARBOUR
PORTSMOUTH
PO6 3EN

HELEN75_2

Is this the correct address as the address i have for Halifax in portsmouth is kingston crescent which is BDML? I think you will find the complaints address for halifax head office is newport in south wales