M&S Pet Insurance - has yours renewed recently?

snowman2_2

spookylukey wrote: »

M&S are now underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance, the terms and conditions are bordering on ridiculous (you MUST ring a 'helpline' before you take your pet to an out of hours vet - yeah right, like you're going to find your policy, ring the helpline and discuss whether your dying animal needs to go to a vet :eek:)..

From what I understand of the changes from the veterinary press, you only need to contact the helpline if your own vet is shut. If your own vet provides an out-of-hours service (we still do) then you can go to your own vet with no problems. A spokesman from M&S said that they will be sensible about each case ie they wont argue if your dog has seizures or a road traffic accident and you don't phone first. I suspect what they are trying to do is reduce the number of frivolous call-outs. Unfortunately we get some people who insist on a call-out when the animal is not urgent or has been left for some time (eg vomiting all week but becomes an emergency at 11pm on a saturday night), just because it is more convenient at 10pm for them - the dog is insured so they don't care. This frustrates vets and is an unnecessary cost for the insurance company. I am sure that they will pay for all genuine emergencies.

barnaby-bear

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I posted this on the insurance forum but had no response, so I'm trying on here - sorry if it is the wrong place.

Are there any M&S pet insurance policy holders out there who have had a renewal recently? I am concerned by the changes to their T&C's and wonder if they are going to apply to existing policy holders on renewal?

I have a cat insurance with M&S, lifetime cover, £7k vets fees per year, no excess. I pay monthly and the current year end in May 2008.

I have been looking for cover for a friend's cat and looked at M&S first, as I have been very satisfied so far.

I was horrified to see that the cover for a more expensive policy was much less, including a limit on the cover for each condition and £50 + % of fees excess.

My question is..... will M&S revise my cat's cover in May (if so it will be nothing like the supposedly 'lifetime cover' I signed up for) or do these drastic changes apply to new customers only?

As it happens I have made no claims and the cat has no pre-existing conditions so I could go to a different provider, but what if the cat had developed some illness in the meantime, can the insurer move the goal posts in this way on each renewal date?

If the policy cover is going to change so drastically, I will have to start looking around, pronto

Thanks

I got the renewal notice 40% increase noticed the underwriter had changed - went to the original underwriter (AXA) and got renewal for exactly the same as previous year TO THE PENNY on the internet form - suggests it's the underwriter change. So went with AXA.

pboae

snowman2 wrote: »

From what I understand of the changes from the veterinary press, you only need to contact the helpline if your own vet is shut. If your own vet provides an out-of-hours service (we still do) then you can go to your own vet with no problems.

That wasn't what I was told, my vet provides 24 hr service, and M&S said I still needed to phone for authorisation.

snowman2 wrote: »

A spokesman from M&S said that they will be sensible about each case ie they wont argue if your dog has seizures or a road traffic accident and you don't phone first.

That is the same as I was told, but they refused to confirm it in writing. My particular concern is bloat/torsion and I wanted an assurance that if it was suspected and my vet said to take my dog in ASAP that I wouldn't need to ring M&S first. All they would say was that they would be 'reasonable' and that they would consider any claim 'fairly' but they wouldn't give me any guarantee, and they wouldn't confirm the policy in writing.

snowman2 wrote: »

I suspect what they are trying to do is reduce the number of frivolous call-outs.

I'm sure you are right, and I bet there are muppets who call an out-of-ours service for all sorts of trivial reasons, but M&S's response still seems excessive, and far beyond anything other insurers require.

snowman2_2

I think they are being suitably vague and very much doubt anything will go in writing. If they get enough complaints they may relent, especially if they start losing business. Pet Plan for one stated that they have no intention of bringing in a similar system. What we need is a proper way to put on the claim form whether the call-out was justified or not and let the insurance company deal with the frivolous claimants and leave the decent folk alone.

zzzLazyDaisy

Martin's article needs updating URGENTLY as he is still recommending M&S, and they are clearly no longer worth bothering with.

Leopardlady

spookylukey wrote: »

M&S are now underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance, the terms and conditions are bordering on ridiculous (you MUST ring a 'helpline' before you take your pet to an out of hours vet - yeah right, like you're going to find your policy, ring the helpline and discuss whether your dying animal needs to go to a vet :eek:).

When your annual policy expires your renewal will be under Royal & Sun Alliance, the 'good' M&S insurance was underwritten by Axa. I'm going to be jumping ship early and insuring direct with Axa, it is virtually identical to the 'good' M&S policy and having done a dummy quote they are cheaper than M&S.

I'm going to start the Axa policy whilst the M&S is still running so that the first two weeks in which they would not be covered by Axa (all insurers have this clause, they are covered for an accident but not any illneses) they will still be covered by M&S.

Could you post a link to the axa site, as AXA doesn't have pet insurance on.

I will be renewing my policy soon and am currently with M&S, looks like i will be looking for a new policy somewhere else!

pboae

Leopardlady wrote: »

Could you post a link to the axa site, as AXA doesn't have pet insurance on.

I will be renewing my policy soon and am currently with M&S, looks like i will be looking for a new policy somewhere else!

http://www.axa.co.uk/pet/index.html

Don't forget that anything your pet has previously been treated for (whether you claimed or not) will be excluded if you change insurer.

maisiepaws

I have been with M&S for my 2 cats for the past 2 years with 0 excess.

I had my renewl through for the end of this month and found my insurance had gone up by about £4.00 and their policy had changed with no 0 excess or accidental damage to property cover.

I contacted M&S who advised they had changed their insurance company and no longer offered 0 excess or accidental damage to property.

These are the main reasons I am with M&S so I advised that I did not think I would be renewing with them.

I have never had any problems with M&S and it is a shame that they have changed their provider as there customers may now be changing theirs!!

greenmoneysaver_2

M&S sayign it is only if your vet is shut covers about 90% of all vets OOH.

By law all practices must provide 24 hour cover - but it just needs to be within a 30 minute distance of your usual practice!

eira

Am appalled at this-will definitely try AXA. Currently have one cat with Pet Plan which I can't change because of pre-existing conditions.Would however warn against Pet Plan-have used them for years but they have recently slid down hill. Late payment of vet fees/constant arguments /unhelpful call staff unless you call the 'if you're thinking of leaving Pet Plan' section. Those staff are really efficient but the rest are a wash out. Shame because I used to really rate them