GRRRRRRR!!!!!! pinnacle-update 10/11/08

delighteddaisy

A few weeks ago, Ruby decided she needed to take 50 contraceptive pills, and after a rather frantic trip to the vet, an injection to make her sick, some sifting through of said vomit, and a call to poisons unit (as vet not sure if long term side effects), we departed for her to sleep it off, and i submitted my claim to pinnacle.

Today i receive a letter from them saying they don't cover what they class as admin-ie phone call to poisons lab. So not only do we have an £80 excess but also an "admin" charge of £20 to pay!!

guess how much pinnacle stumped up? £1.88

am afraid the girl i got from pinnacle got short shrift from me just now, i am livid!!!

anyone else had problems with them? the general feeling i got when i was looking into insurance, was that most people seemed pleased with level of cover and ease of claim. Evil or Very Mad

dotandmegan · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject:

Ooooh -er

I'd be livid too.

We're with Tesco Premium £60 excess and up to £4000 for each complaint (no time limit) and have just sent off a claim so waiting to hear the result. The vets all seem to assume you're with Petplan, and gaily suggest all sorts of expensive stuff, assuming that they'll cover it - do you think they're in cahoots?? Rolling Eyes

I thought that 'accidents' like you've had - pinching tablets is an occupational hazard with greedy labs - would be well covered. Surely admin is the phone call itself, not the charge for the advice given (which I presume is on top?) Isn't that just what we pay the premiums for? Evil or Very Mad

delighteddaisy · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 2:24 pm Post subject:

exactly what i thought, dotandmegan, and i said to her, well i wonder how many other things aren't included? she said it would all be in the policy document-but -i mean-who reads all that STUFF!???

as far as i see, the phone call was integral to her treatment, determining whether she needed follow up etc. it wasn't an optional extra.

and as you say, am sure our policies are weighted for this type of typical lab behaviour!!!

still fuming....... Evil or Very Mad

Basil · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject:

I'd be more annoyed with my vet for charging me £20 for a phone call!

Couldn't they have just added it to your consult fee as a lump sum then you'd be covered?

dotandmegan · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:25 pm Post subject:

delighteddaisy · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject:

basil-i will be going into vets on tuesday as that is when the nurse who submitted the claim, is next on duty.....

i want to know what happened, that pinnacle are able to reject part of a claim.

jan and ruby

delighteddaisy · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:42 am Post subject:

cutting a long story short, and after several tooings and froings pinnacle now wonder if i would like to appeal Rolling Eyes

my question to all you more experienced lab/insurance owners is-how frank and angry can i be at them and will it go against me in subsequent claims (should there be any), AND more importantly, will this claim mean that i am unable to switch insurance companies at the end of the year?(which i REALLY REALLY want to do-this lot are a joke) Twisted Evil

thanks in advance.....

jan and ruby xxx

Sacrow · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject:

Jan,
My gut feeling here is that the 'phone call made by the Vet to ask for advice is part of his treatment of your dog and should therefore be covered by the insurance as part of this treatment.

Should he not have made the call and therefore not gotten reassurance that your dog will not suffer future effects of the pills, he may have felt he had to cover all bases & could have prescribed all sorts of medications - in which case your insurance company would have had to stump up a hefty sum!!!! Shocked

If I were you I would point this out to Pinnacle and also ask your Vet to write a letter or send a fax to them pointing out that the 'phone call was not optional and was part of his treatment of Ruby.
Hope you are successful, and Ruby is now okay.
Sue