Word of warning

We have been in dispute with Flo's insurance company, Petplan (Allianz) since she needed spinal surgery. You can read about her woes here https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t66494-a-bit-worried and have had the final judgement from the financial ombudsman.

We were initially refused because Petplan claimed she had a pre-existing condition, spondylitis on the spine was detected when Flo had an X-ray for a poorly leg. Having read through Flo's notes it does indeed say this and that her vet would discuss this with us, they never did so we never knew. The vet even agreed with us. The ombudsman also verbally said that if we didn't know we couldn't possibly have declared it.

In the final judgement from the ombudsman he cites things that Flo had from before we took her in from Battersea dogs home and says that Petplan state that we ticked a box saying she had never seen a vet even though we applied for insurance on the same day we took her to the vet for the X-ray. Why would we have done that !?!? We have no proof as it was all done on line.

My advice to anyone taking out pet insurance is to declare every visit and every diagnosis even the ones you know nothing about because failure to do so leaves you wide open to having any claim rejected. This would of course result in premiums being increased I would imagine.

We have now stopped the insurance and are looking into a simple third party liability insurance, any savings made are now going in to Flo's medical fund.

Personally I feel that Petplan have been immoral in taking premiums for what turns out to be a virtually uninsurable dog due to all the exclusions, Head, spine, ears (she has no ear canals!), legs and skin.

If you've read this far you'll realise that I'm pretty p*ssed off that we paid in all good faith only for Petplan to call foul on a technicality. If you get Petplan pet insurance on line, screen shot all the tick Boxes, declare all vet visits and keep your fingers crossed.

Despite our financial woes Flo is worth every penny we've spent and I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide if you think Petplan have been fair.

I feel for you Ian, Katy is insured at the moment but I think I will just put the money aside each month. My friend does the same as she had a major falling with the same lot you are fighting. Typical insurance, like taking our money but don't pay it out

In a twisted way it’s easier out here as for many things, we’re decades behind the UK and small animal health insurance is not very widespread at all.

Thanks for the warning and I think we’ll continue with putting money aside.

But how appauling to be treated like that by your insurance company

That is so disappointing! It really is beware the fine print and little tick boxes.

We now self insure, with the amount we would have paid saved. We are members of the Dogs Trust, which gives you 3rd party liability, and we also have £3 a month basic accident insurance through Animal Friends.

that's appalling! The Ombudsman service is obviously a complete waste of time.

are you much out of pocket?

I'm not renewing with petplan. I was a bit dubious about how much use they were anyway, but now I'm definitelynot renewing them. That is absolutely appalling behaviour.

gillybrent wrote:that's appalling!  The Ombudsman service is obviously a complete waste of time.

are you much out of pocket?

To be honest I feel the ombudsman spent 10 mins on it and just went with Petplan, agreed I'm the one aggrieved so would feel that way but they originally rejected us on so called pre-existing conditions which we knew nothing about and then added that we had ticked a box on line saying she had never seen a vet. We never knew about the spondylitis and have had that confirmed by our vet. As for the tick box, well having got Flo from Battersea why on earth would we have ticked that box, of course she would have seen a vet.

Now bear in mind they rejected us on the pre-existing first then the ombudsman got involved & all of a sudden there's this tick box, call me cynical but it smacks of any excuse not to pay out. We paid for insurance in good faith.

Are we out of pocket? Well yes. Flo's treatment cost near to £5000 and was insured to £4000 less excess, so £3900. Add in to that the premiums we've paid over the last 5 years and never received a penny in claims I would say we are well out of pocket.

We took out insurance in all good faith and never sought to defraud yet on technicalities Petplan (Allianz) have refused to share the risk.

This is shocking! Especially with the financial ombudsman getting involved and there’s that huge hype with that money saving man basically saying he will help if your being done! Obviously B**S***

We almost went with Petplan because of them sponsoring supervet but they didn’t recognise our post code so went with more than and quite glad now. So sorry for you and your family Ian, this absolutely sucks

Im sorry this has happened to you. Unfortunately they are notorious in the insurance circles for not paying out anything....

Barstewards ian shocking the way they have treated you whilst paying an insurance premium kinda dubious about insurance tbh,pay through the nose no matter what u do