Animal Friends declines dog boarding claim due to owner's hospital stay, help?

LemonGeranium

Has anyone had troubles making a claim with Animal Friends for dog boarding due to owner's hospital stay?

I recently had a miscarriage and following that I bled out at the hospital, had to go through surgery and hospital stay (at ICU then regular ward before discharge).

I made a claim for dog boarding which got declined for 2 reasons:


1. I count 5 days for that duration of stay.
2. No, it's not planned. No, I don't have a baby.

I rang them today and had to re-live the experience with them again in details and tears. They said they would pass my case back on to the assessor but cannot promise that my claim would be turned around.

What's everyone's experience claiming dog kennel fee with Animal Friends? If it gets declined again is there anything else I can try?

user1977

I would say 5th to 9th is, on the face of it, four days - what times you were admitted and discharged?

I had a quick look at one of their policy booklets (in case it actually excluded more general pregnancy-related conditions), and it does just refer to "a planned stay in hospital, such as for a routine operation or to have a baby", so you would be covered if your stay was long enough.

LemonGeranium

@user1977 5th 9 am-ish. and 9th 8pm-ish. Does this count as 4 days? 

DullGreyGuy

LemonGeranium said:

Has anyone had troubles making a claim with Animal Friends for dog boarding due to owner's hospital stay?

I recently had a miscarriage and following that I bled out at the hospital, had to go through surgery and hospital stay (at ICU then regular ward before discharge).

I made a claim for dog boarding which got declined for 2 reasons:


1. I count 5 days for that duration of stay.
2. No, it's not planned. No, I don't have a baby.

I rang them today and had to re-live the experience with them again in details and tears. They said they would pass my case back on to the assessor but cannot promise that my claim would be turned around.

What's everyone's experience claiming dog kennel fee with Animal Friends? If it gets declined again is there anything else I can try?

Do you have a link to your actual policy book? 

On point 2 I think you have a strong argument as it was neither planned nor to have a baby, it was in connection with trying to have a baby but their terms are not wide enough to capture complications in my opinion. 

On point 1 I think it's not so strong but you can probably argue it because it's not a defined term. Its always subject to interpretation if you went in hospital on Monday and came out Tuesday if its 1 day because you spent 1 night or if its two days, Monday and Tuesday. Some may also decide it's based on a 24 hour period in which case time of admission/leaving is also important. 

 The general rule of thumb is that if something isn't a defined term it falls back to plain English meaning. If there is more than one potential reasonable interpretation then the favourable one can apply. 

 I'd point out that you were in the hospital for approximately 4 days and 11 hours which by definition is more than 4 days.