pet insurance

th3_duckst3r

can some one give me some advice,right first of i got my cat insured from the 22nd of january.but unfortunately my cat became ill the same week i had to take him to vets so forth but they couldnt c what was wrong with him they put him on a drip just c how he reacted abd was fine i took him back home only for a day later for him to be ill again so i took him back to vets and left him .the vet phoned me back saying that my cat was very ill ,wasnt eating .and that the only way he could found out the problem was for surgery which i really didnt wont nor could afford it.i did sleep on the matter and decided to have the surgery on my cat ,as he would have died or i had to have him put to sleep.anyway the surgery went well my cat is home and hes doing great.the problem was that he had eaten a bit of cotton which had lodged in his throat and stomach causing a blockage.now on to insurance i rang my insurance and explained situation with them but they tell me that i cannot make a claim in the first 14 days of having the policy.ridiculous you dont insure a car and wait 14 days before it is actually insured do you.my point is should i wait till the policy is 14 days old then make a claim as nowhere does it say i carnt after 14 days.i think what they say is i have a 14 day cooling off period were by i can cancel the policy without charge,but i want the policy or i wouldnt have got it in the first place.if some one could enlighten me on this iwould be gratefull as the surgery cost me £935.

Ian_W

I don't mean to sound harsh or unfriendly - so please don't take it that way - but your post is quite difficult to read with very little punctuation, no capital letters or paras. If people find it easier to read they're more likely to offer a reply.
Your comparison with car insurance might sound logical but isn't. With health insurance, human or animal, pre-existing conditions are almost always excluded at least for a period of time. An accident or other car claim can usually be shown to have happened at a particular time after the policy started but the nature of illness is such that the symptoms might be there but not have been treated when the policy was taken out so insurers are going to be wary of a claim so soon after the policy started.
Check your policy wording particularly exclusions for vet fees. I have a Pet Plan policy which clearly states they will not pay for an ILLNESS where the symptoms come on within 14 days but they will cover an injury. By the sound of it your cat ingesting cotton may be an injury rather than an illness but it would be helpful if your vet could give an opinion as to whether it was likely this happened after you'd signed up for the insurance.
Your policy docs will also have a complaints procedure in them, if you're not happy then complain formally in writing. You can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you have used the co's complaints system and are still not happy.
Finally how long have you owned your cat? If you've just got it and insured it straight away or if it was insured with another insurer before this one then that would give you more grounds to show you hadn't insured it simply to get treatment for a problem you already knew about.

th3_duckst3r

thanks ian
sorry for punctuation.yes i did read a little of the policy.ive had my cat 4 months.
i took insurance out when i thought the time was right .i did this on the 22nd jan this year.as ive stated my cat become ill on the 25th.i thought he just had a bad tummy if u get my drift.but after 2 days i thought that was enough and took him to vets.where by the out come was, as ive explained in previous post.i paid the full bill of £935.but it wasnt an illness more of an accident .these things happened.so could i claim this back after the 14 days are over .as in policy it dosent say that i cannot.

firesidemaid

unfortunately this seems to be the same for all pet policies. when i change providers i make sure the new policy starts 2 weeks early to cover this.

generally you do not claim, the vet fills it all in for you and send it off - so you can't change the dates etc, the vet does all of that bit and states what's wrong etc.

did you tell the vet you had insurance? your bill seems quite high (ie. it may be reduced a little if you explain the situation to your vet). you could also ask if you can pay it over an extended term owing to the situation you find yourself in.

Ian_W

Check your policy - if like mine it covers injury but not illness within 14 days - then I certainly wouldn't give up on it on the strength of a call centre knock back. To me at least, your cat swallowing something is more akin to an injury than an illness - an illness to me being something that occurs without outside [the cotton in it's throat] intervention.
If you insured on the 22nd, the symptoms manifested on the 25th and you sought treatment on the 27th it may be possible for your vet to give an opinion on whether it was likely this happened before or after you insured.
Having your cat 4 months before you insured isn't, perhaps, as convincing as insuring straight away but equally it's not as if you'd owned for years then insured a few days before this happened.
Use the complaints process if needs be be but when writing don't use terms like the cat became ill - if you're arguing it was injured.
BoL.