M&S Pet Insurance

AmyV13

My dog has been insured with M&S Pet Insurance for the past 6 years and we have successfully claimed 2 times on the policy. Aside from the price, nothing on our policy has changed. 

However, we recently had to take our dog to the vet for a suspected blockage. We processed the claim as normal but recently were told on the phone that they had to await an underwriters' decision as he is part American bulldog and they don't normally cover American bulldogs.

I have checked my insurance policy and he is listed as a Border Collie cross (which he is) and there was no option to enter a second breed. His breed obviously has not changed and they have had full access to his vet records from the previous 2 claims too. I can find no information regarding the fact that they don't cover certain breeds on the documents or policy booklet I have been sent.

Obviously I am confused as to what I have been paying £40 a month for if they never would have offered cover to my dog in the first place. I am also confused how this issue wasn't raised when we processed the previous 2 claims successfully.

Any advice as to where I go from here would be much appreciated!

sheramber

Presumably h is a cross between a collie and an American bulldog and that is what is listed on his veterinary records.
i think somebody had mistakenly assumed an American Bulldog is the same as an American pitbull, which is a dog listed in   the Dangerous Dogs Act. 
 Wait to see what the underwriters  say.
if you are not happy then follow the complaint procedure in your policy document.

dipper1937

M&S Lifetime insurance is a joke. My dog had a wart on her head so in December I had a telephone consultation with the vet and sent pictures. The vet said they could carry out a simple proceedure when Covid permitted, I phoned M&S the day before the operation to check the excess and they told me £200. The proceedure was carried out in April and the bill for £313 was sent to M&S. They paid £80 and when i queried it saying I expected £113 they told me that because the policy renewed in February the consultation fell in the previous year so two excesses applied and that was why they would not pay for the consultation.

So much for their Lifetime cover.

sheramber

That is standard. You pay an excess for each year. It is nothing to do with lifetime cover as you will still be covered for the rest of the year ,with no excess on any claim for the same condition. So if you have another claim for treatment for the wart in the current policy year you will not have to pay any excess. 

You  will be covered for any further treatment that can be linked to the condition, such as another wart appearing,  but will have another excess tp pay if it is in another policy year.

That will be explained in your policy document which you should read carefully to ensure you know  over you have.

KxMx

Yes this happened to me it's standard, tests for late cat at local vet then specialist small animal hospital, in between my policy renewed so 2x excesses were due.

I was expecting it given the timing and the t&c's of policy.