Pet Insurance headache

Buttermint

More of a vent really as I am so cross with M&S pet insurance/my vet right now.

Our dog was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. She had a seizure on 21st Feb which lasted around 4-5 minutes, no obvious signs afterwards (i.e. she wasn't sick or anything) just a bit dazed so we don't know if she's had more when we've been out. We took her to the vet the next morning after speaking to the emergency vet on the phone at the time.

They ran blood tests etc to rule anything else out. I also recorded some of the seizure on my phone when it happened so was able to show the vet. As blood tests didn't show anything else they decided best course of action was to treat it as epilepsy and she's now on 2 tablets a day at £35 per month. The first vets visit was £175 as included all the tests.

When I spoke to the vet she asked if anything similar had happened before and I told her that last year in December something similar happened when she couldn't seem to stand properly or put weight on her legs but it only lasted about a minute and we thought it was because her nail had broken so maybe it was just the pain of that and she was fine pretty quickly after. Other than that there was nothing else similar that we were aware of.

However, the vet wrote in her notes that I said something similar happened last year AND in December instead of what I actually said which was last year IN December. So its recorded as if there were 2 previous incidents. You can probably tell what the issue is by now.

M&S are basically implying this was a pre existing condition because of the use of the word AND instead of IN. We took the policy out at the start of November so the issue in December was still after the policy started but I didn't put it down as the date of her first seizure as it was really very different to the full blown seizure in February and we didn't seek any advice or treatment. However its this 'other' non existent incident they are saying makes it pre existing despite there being no date attached to it. Should probably note we've always had her insured, just moved around every year to save money.

I've spoken to the vets and they have agreed it was a misinterpretation on their part and have said they will happily explain this to M&S, but in their view it shouldn't matter as we never received any treatment or advice until February this year anyway, well after the policy started.

The advisor on the phone from M&S was SO rude to me, speaking to me as if I was some scam artist trying to commit insurance fraud when in fact its completely down to the vet recording what I said wrongly.

I'm in limbo now until M&S and my vet speak to each other. If they decline the claim I will take it to the ombudsman but just can't believe the hassle of it all over what I thought would be a straightforward process having always tried to do the right thing :mad:

sheramber

The important date for the insurance company is when you first noticed symptoms, not when you consult your vet.

In most cases these dates would be close together.

The initial date must be out with the exclusion period of a new policy