Animal Friends Renewal Shocker

sallyj17

Unfortunately this is a very similar story to that of Max.. also insured with Animal Friends.

http://www.pet-insurance-guide.co.uk/campaign/maxs-story/

It leaves you with the unenviable choice of either paying the premium demanded... or paying for any ongoing treatment for the cancer, heart condition and anything else which is a pre-existing condition.

The point of course is that you took out a lifetime policy... but were not told that if your dog became ill your premiums would rocket to unaffordable amounts!

Totally unfair imho.. but the Financial Ombudsman seems quite resolute that they cannot rule on premium increases which they say are matters for commercial discretion.. personally I think when increase are so large that they amount to "constructive cancellation" they should consider the matter as a termination case rather than renewal increase case!

dacouch

Animal Friends will be featuring on next weeks BBC Watchdog...

GwylimT

Try human insurance! My wifes policy is £800 a month with a £250 excess!

We are with petplan, we have found increases very reasonable, we mainly chose them as they do tend to limit increases and our vet will take direct payment.

Tygermoth

We have just taken our insurer to the Ombudsman. I am waiting to see how it goes.

One injury claim, no on going conditions. changed their lead insurance provider and though i bought a lifetime policy they then excluded everything he had been to the vet for during his time under cover. Total opposite of a life time policy!

I equated it to walking in to a garage and buying a Lamborghini and the dealership changes hands over night and when you arrive in the morning the hand over a mini.... then argue that essentially its the same as it will still get you from A to B :mad:

We then tried to get cover from Animal Friends - called them up explained that we were upset at the sweeping exclusions the new insurer had placed on the policy. They agreed the exclusions were unreasonable and exploitative.. convinced us as a 'charity' they would be better.... when we got their policy back the exclusions were even worse!

sallyj17

Did you see the BBC Watchdog Programme last night? It featured three Animal Friends cases including one about a renewal premium hike!

The other cases featured were one where they refused to pay for an out of hours consultation for a skin lesion the owner feared was Alabama Rot - but turned out to be a bacterial infection. (Animal Friends didn't pay because it didn't turn out to be life-threatening)..

And another where they charged a double excess for an operation which started at 10pm and finished at 2am... but the renewal happened to be at midnight that day!

pinkteapot

Just an update on my comment about More Than....

Pleasantly surprised by our renewal. To recap, got a two-year old cat last year and paid £128 for the first year's insurance on a lifetime policy (DD at £11 per month). We had four or five claims totalling over £600.

Renewal for year two: £214 (£17/month).

Now, on the one hand, yes it's a 67% increase. But given the claims we've had we're not complaining. Fingers crossed we now have a claim-free year and if they try to increase it next year I'll try negotiating, but I'm not chancing it this year.

Our policy comes with Vetfone - a 24/7 advice line staffed by veterinary nurses. We've used that several times during the year (nervous new owners!) and they've always been really helpful. Sometimes they've avoided us a vet visit by saying we didn't need to worry. Another time they told us to get to the emergency vet and claim the cost back because the symptoms he had were potentially worrying. Really handy service if you're not experienced with pets yet.

I have heard good things before about Pet Plan limiting increases so if we get another pet I'd go with them. Existing kitty is stuck with More Than due to treatment and claims this year for some really basic conditions that we wouldn't want excluded.

sallyj17

pinkteapot wrote: »

I have heard good things before about Pet Plan limiting increases so if we get another pet I'd go with them. Existing kitty is stuck with More Than due to treatment and claims this year for some really basic conditions that we wouldn't want excluded.

You may be able to move your existing kitty to Petplan in a couple of years time if she had no further treatment/symptoms. If you ask they will often cover conditions after this time (and often after just six months if simply a one-off event that did not need ongoing treatment).

fierystormcloud

What a cheek! When you try to claim, they put the premium up so high that they know you won't be able to afford it (or want to pay it!)

Con artists!

Surely this shouldn't be allowed.

And I saw it on Watchdog too.

sallyj17

Couldn't agree more... if you purchase what you believe to be lifetime pet insurance the VERY LEAST they should have to do is

a) tell you if the premiums will increase if you make a claim (not all pet insurance companies do this)

b) give you some indication of how much you can expect your premium to rise in future years.

It is ridiculous that pet insurance companies are allowed to charge a premium for lifetime cover.. whilst giving you NO IDEA how much you will actually have to pay for it in the long term!

UKTigerlily

Can someone please explain Vetphone to me? I know what it is, I just don't understand why use it when you can call your own vets 24/7, who have the pets medical info on screen and can advise based on that not just symptoms? I called my vet one Sunday and was told no need to come in, so they don't automatically say you have to