Pet Insurance. Is it worth it?
By Demanddesign
Like most insurances these days, there are SO many to chose from, the premiums on some can seem outrageous, when other companies appear to be offering the same features for half the price. I have insurance with three different companies for my animals, two of which I have made a claim on. Firstly I would like to state, that this is strictly my opinion and dealings with these companies,
I am no more recommending these companies than condemning them.
Insurance Company: MORE TH>N.
Claim for: Abnormally Retained Testicles.
Amount £300
First communication after claim: 3-4 Days.
I received a letter from them stating they were unable to settle my claim due to the following reason: - “When a puppy develops, the testicles will normally descend at around the age of 3-4 months. If they do not, they can be classed as having abnormally retained testicles (cryptorchid) from birth. When your policy was issued on he was 5 months old. As his testicles had still not descended, he was cryptorchid before the cover started; therefore exclusion A of the policy applies”
As I believed this was unacceptable I informed them of this by email immediately:- “I applied for cover when I purchased him, as he was bought from a home as an unwanted pet, we were not aware of his situation; we received no papers, certificates etc and took the current owner at her word of age, breed status and what not.
The vet informed me on our first visit to enquire about his testicles that in m ost cases, yes, it can take up to 8-10 weeks, however if your pet has no testes down at twelve months of age, there is a slim chance that they will descend, but this is unlikely. Now from this information alone, it is unfair for you to deem anything over 4 months as unacceptable for settlement. As with humans, no two people are the same and the time in which it takes for the body to grow and develop varies, so please explain, why, simply because he was one month over you mark of "normal" and as I, myself had only just purchased him, why I am now not liable to claim for an operation that was required to stop cancer or tumours forming in the future.
I find this a very poor judgement on your part, as he had clearly been born with this problem and the time frame of 30 days over your mark of reasonable should clearly not be an issue here, if he had been purchased when he was 4 months old then the cover would of still been purchased in your eyes when he already had this condition. I can understand why dates are put in place and such exclusions apply, in obvious cases, such as a broken legs incurs before policy is taken out, however this condition was not diagnosed before we received him and in fact we were not notified of this until he was almost 12 months old on our first visit to the veterinary surgery.
I ask for you to re-consider this decision, knowing the above facts and ask for you to see the hypocrisy of stating a time frame that the condition must be diagnosed on one hand, and on the other stating it was a condition from birth. Thus ruling out any possible issue date that the policy could have been issued before the condition was present.”
The same day I received an email from the customer service team who passed on my email to the relevant party. The following day a member of the claim department telephoned me to advise that after speaking with the veterinary surgeon and after reading all information I had provided that settlement would be processed and received within the week.
This is only one example of this companies service, however I would state that although they did refuse my settlement with that little bit extra information they reconsidered without hesitation and processed my claim with remarkable speed. It is always worth pleading your case to insurance companies as that tiny bit of information could be the difference between acceptance and refusal.
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Pet Insurance. Is it worth it? was published by The Dog Scene on 10 Aug, 2007. © All rights reserved. You may download and print this article for personal or non-profit use only. Please feel free to link to this article.
Pet Insurance. Is it worth it? was published by The Dog Scene on 10 Aug, 2007. © All rights reserved. You may download and print this article for personal or non-profit use only. Please feel free to link to this article.
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Submitted:
10 Aug, 2007 (Edited 19 Sep, 2007)
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