Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 7:27 am Post subject: Chose wrong insurers!!
In am absolutely furious with myself
When I chose Tig & Mol's insurance, I did it online and thought I had checked most insurers pretty carefully
I chose an insurer who seemed to give adequate cover for what I needed and were cheap (big mistake that - going for cheap). I thought £4000 in vets fees seemed adequate and if worst came to worst I would have to make up a shortfall, but £4k seemed enough to cover most eventualities, except the extreme.
When Tig needed an operation for FCP I was not worried about the money side as although vets fees came to almost £4000, I thought any smaller bills I could pay myself if necessary.
First I was chasing them for settlement. Tig's first vet bill was in May for Xrays by my vet and the 2nd claim was at the beginning of June for the specialists treatment. I was struggling just a bit to balance the books having paid out all this money.
Eventually last week E & L paid out £921.00 in full settlement!
I had not read my policy details thoroughly when it arrived and had not noticed that maximum pay out for any one condition was £1000 less the excess!
So here I am feeling stupid, broke and very sorry for myself
I am now cancelling Mollys policy and getting her a better one, I will do the same for Tiggy, but obviously nobody will cover her elbows.
I know I would have found the money somehow, if I knew I was not insured to pay for Tiggys treatment, so the end result is no different, but SO FRUSTRATING
I am sure you lot are not as daft as I have been, but its worth checking your policy carefully, especially if you tried to buy 'cheap' insurance like me.
ps recommendations of good insurers welcome
That's not the first time I've heard bad things about E&L. When I had my horse I was warned about them and that was a few years back now. It would seem they haven't got any better unfortunately.
I am terrible for not reading the small print but I'm a firm believer in "you get what you pay for", except in rare instances.
Insurance cos really do have you by the short and curlies don't they? Really sorry to hear that you weren't as well covered as you thought.
I recently changed companies as my tesco policy wasn't a huge amount of cover and they hiked up the premium on renewal. I've gone to Greenbee (John Lewis underwitten by AXA) - up to 7K cover for each condition each and every year. £12 something per month for Bracken (I think this ins comp liked my postcode ) Found similar M&S policy but was bit more expensive, and Petplan and KC did the same policy too but premium was a lot more expensive. Greenbee say they'll pay the vets direct. How true this is I don't know... but it's something I worry about - how to find the money to pay out in first instance while waiting for insurance to come through.
Whoops! E and L do have a bit of a reputation, at least with their horse insurance. They advertize a lot in horsey mags and first time horse owners then choose them. They soon change to another company though when they getting talking to other horse owners. I know, I was one!!
Sorry at your problems but hope others read this and are warned in time.
Just edited it to say that I didnt know that dog insurers dont settle direct? My horse insurers always settle direct with the vets. Is this common practice in the dog world???
Hi Pat, I think it is more common practice for dog owners to pay the vet and then get the money from insurers. I know that both my vet & the specialist expected it that way, unless prior arrangements had been made.
I must admit it has been a lesson expensively learnt, at least it was not at Tiggys expense
Moj - Tiggy is doing really well now, she is still on restricted exercise, but you would be hard put to see that anything had been wrong, she is enjoying Hydrotherapy, and about to start a little more intensive physiotherapy to help build her muscles strength back up. More expense I know, but I am sure the family wont mind not eating for a while
I am sorry you found out about E&L the hard way. They have a dreadful reputation and I used to have the misfortune of having to deal with them when I worked at an equine vets. The reviews speak for themselves.
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:33 am Post subject: E&L
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek, just checked and I am with them . Took out policies after finding a post on here recommending Pet Insurance.co.uk. so I may not be the only one who has swopped.
Will have to change asap, not looking forward to having to trawl through them all again, any recommendations? I was with Sainsburys but they got too expensive. I have three dogs.
You do have to be really careful when checking the policies, it's a bit of a minefield as they often have different terminology and different phrases for similar products or terms.
If anyone needs help checking through T&C of policies drop me a PM as I've been through a lot for researching for Compare Pet Care.
They were very good when Perro had to have a TPLO but it took nearly a month before they paid out.
I'll be claiming soon for Perro (again) because of his tummy troubles and they said they would pay out within two weeks this time, I'll wait and see on that one.
As for insurance companies paying the vets directly, it's up to the vet NOT the insurance company.
My vet only accepts PetPlan for direct payment and I suspect that's because they push PetPlan insurance.
The specialist who did Perro's TPLO did not accept direct insurance payouts from any company, he said it was too much hastle.
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) Found similar M&S policy but was bit more expensive, and Petplan and KC did the same policy too but premium was a lot more expensive. Greenbee say they'll pay the vets direct. How true this is I don't know... but it's something I worry about - how to find the money to pay out in first instance while waiting for insurance to come through.
. Took out policies after finding a post on here recommending Pet Insurance.co.uk. so I may not be the only one who has swopped.
