Anyone with E&L for Pet Insurance

pippa2000_2

Hi there,

my cat was diagnosed with Diabetes end of 2011. We have cover through a policy with E&L, which covered us for life.

No issue with their acceptance of claim... but the problems lies with the lenght of time to pay for ongoing treatment.

I pay the vet for treatment, then submit a claim form... then we wait and wait and wait. Sometimes it take up to six weeks to pay me. I currently have over £400 outstanding and really can't afford to wait.

I can undertand the initial claim taking this long but surely subsequent ongoings claims for the same condition covered under a life policy shouldn't take this long.

Is there anything I can do other than call them (again).

krlyr

The Financial Ombudsman might be your way forward. Perhaps worth logging an official complaint with the company first if you haven't already though, just to show you've gone as far as you can with them direct.
Unfortunately E&L have a poor reputation in the animal insurance world. Often hear them referred to as "Excuses & Lies" as an alternative name! Given what I've read about them, I would be grateful that they are paying up at all, although it is unfortunate you're stuck with them now and experiencing such poor service.

pippa2000_2

Thank you... Yes, as you say, I'm stuck with them now! Like many, I hadn't realised the reputation they had when we insured out cat with them.

Ironically we had only moved to them around 9 months prior to diagnosis, due to sudden increase in premiums from the previous insurer who we had been with for 6 years.

I will forward a hard copy of my telephone calls to them in order to create a paper trail. To be honest, I feel pretty helpless as I don't want to create such a fuss that they start playing silly games with me.

~Chameleon~

Not helpful for you I know but I wouldn't advise anyone touch E&L with a barge pole.

redrufus

Call them everyday until they get fed of hearing from you and also advise them that you are seeking advise from the Ombudsman.
I work in a veterinary practice, we cringe whenever we see anyone is insured with them, they are an awful company I'm surprised they are still trading... be careful too they also have other companies in different names too as far as i'm aware.

Mrs_Dogboy

It's probably not what you want to hear but I work in veterinary practice and E + L are the worst. I did a direct claim for a client and waited 5 months for a pay out. If you have insurance with them there is little you can do except call them everyday. If you are considering them- don't!!

Welshwoofs

6 weeks? I'd say that's doing well for Excuses and Lies. I, naively, went with them when I first got my dog as a pup. The moment I needed to claim on insurance, they a) managed to exempt his condition after the first payment on a clause that it was a rolling 30-day contract and b) they took over 3 months to pay up. I had to pay all the vet's fees in advance because none of the vets where I lived demanded immediate payment from me the moment they heard my insurer was E&L.