Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:00 pm Post subject: Why oh why did we bother with insurance?
Bob came to us with the 6 weeks' free cover by Petplan. I immediately set it up so that a Pet Value plan took over as soon as that finished in February.
After hearing of a few dogs that then developed long term illnesses which wouldn't have been covered under that policy I then upgraded in April to the for life cover - substantially more expensive but worth it, or so I thought.
Bob still hasn't had his testicles descend. The vet has indicated that if nothing has changed by the time he is a year old then he will need surgery - possibly abdominal and costly - to remove the testicles to stop them becoming mallignant.
Only Bob isn't covered - they say he hasn't had continuous insurance with them from before he was 16 weeks old. Despite all the insurance he has ever had being with this company, cancelling the Value policy to upgrade means he's not had continual insurance (even though the new policy started immediately the old one ended).
To say I'm steaming is an understatement. We've kept up with the £37 odd a month the premium costs per month even though my husband has lost his job and now we find we have to meet the cost of the op (estimated to be up to £900 worst case scenario).
I don't know what the heck we'll do, DH still hasn't found work.
Hmmm, I know insurance companies sometimes seem to try very hard to get out of paying up, but it seems wrong for them to say he's not had continuous insurance when you have *upgraded* a policy with the same company and you say there was no lapse between policies.
If I were you I would try the pet insurance advisor person that writes for Dogs Today magazine - I don't know if you can find his details on line but (assuming he still writes for the mag) you should be able to get hold of them through a copy of the mag, maybe someone on here can help there. From reading past cases he has helped get insurance companies to pay out when they have previously said they wouldn't. Definitely worth a try in your case.
I don't see how they can class that as not continuous to be honest - I hope you can get this sorted
It does sound wrong to me - someone who would've assumed like you that the dog had had continuous cover. I can't help with anything practical but I really hope you find someone who can take on your case and get the cover you need sorted.
I got sick to death of the back sliding insurance companies so I now put twenty pounds a month into a building society account and I also have an un-used credit card for emergency use.
hhhmmm, unless I have musunderstood what you are saying, I very much doubt that this would be covered by the insurance company anyway, as it will say in the small print that they do not cover anything to do with neuturing, which this would involve (again, unless I have misread this).
I know Henry had to have his done, when he was a year old, and this is what my insurance company have said.
Well I rang Dogs Today - really good they were, really friendly. They gave me the phone number of the person Angela referred to - Neil Flynn. I spoke to someone in his office and she's given me the following advice....
Get both policy certificates out. If they have different policy numbers on them what Petplan have done is.... they have cancelled one policy and started another rather than upgrading the policy I had with them. Which is naughty.
Because yes this does mean that I didn't have continuous cover by the very nature of starting a new policy altogether means the 14 day exclusion of cover clause comes in so Bob went 2 weeks without being covered at all.
Which is not what I wanted. I requested an UPGRADE of my existing policy. They appear to have not done this.
What they now want me to do is to get all the documentation out, cross reference policy numbers. Then phone up Petplan and question the decision taking the name, extension number etc of the person I deal with. If this still meets with refusal they'll take over for me.
This is defintely covered as it was not my choice to neuter Bob, it has become necessary. Surgery for cryptorchism is actually listed in the policy smallprint and they WILL cover if the dog has had continuous insurance with them since before 16 weeks' of age. Which he would have done if they had done as I asked.
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