Shock with pet insurance

[Spreckly]

Nation is nine next week, and has started to leak urine. Her urine test shows no infection, so sadly, it is old age. Since November 2011, I have had her insured with A.....al Fr.....ds. Their excess is £99, and on enquiring this morning, I have been told that because Nation is over eight years old, I will myself will have to pay 35% of the vet bill. I was stunned, why didn't they mention the 35% when I insured her seven months previously? Probably it is somewhere in the paperwork, which is actually still on the computer, there are pages of it.

Nation has always been insured, first with P.t Pl..n, then T....co, who doubled the premium within two years, land when I found A..... l Fr....ds, I thought it seemed a good deal. I know that each month I will be paying out for Propalin, to hopefully prevent the incontenence, and think that the insurance money would be put to better use for that.

I would be interested to know what other dog owners think

[p.penn]

I think it's a disgrace that it wasn't made clear when you purchased the insurance. I feel for you Spreckly.

I think 'small print' shouldn't be allowed. Last year, when I went onling to get travel insurance, I found a really good deal with A...da, but when I had a good look at the t&cs, it said that I wouldn't be covered for any existing illness, whether or not it had already been diagnosed. What good would that have been?

[bluebell]

If you check their website, it does state that they pay 65% of claim for older pets.

[wendy]

Here is the cynic.
I think they are all a con. Sometimes I think the vets charge more when they know the animal is insured, just my thoughts.
I haven't insured my dogs since 1982. We decided to put the monthly amount into a building society. I now have enough to pay for private medicine for ourselves ! It is for the animals, so we don't
It is the time between starting and building the money up that can be a concern, but mostly things are minor when they are little.
My Josie is incontenant as well Spreckly, she has incurin tablets. I think the last time I got two packets of 30 tablets it cost £56.00.

[Spreckly]

Thank you all for your replies. We've just come back from the vets, and Nation has had a dose of Propalin. We had Holly on it for several years. Such a shame when they get older that this humiliation happens to them.

When I took the policy out, I went on the comparison website, not A F's main site, so didn't realise the 35% top up. Older and wiser now.

The holiday insurance was a real let down, Helen. These companies just trade on our fears.

[Gwenoakes]

Lexi is insured with Pet Plan and tbh we have had no probs whatsoever and she has had HUGE probs. As far as I understand they insure forever, but even if the premiums go up quite a bit we cannot say we havent had our moneys worth. They have already forked out in excess of 3k in her first year and will cover her existing probs each and every year unlike horse insurance as once claimed on something after 12 months no insurance company will insure for that particular problem again, so when you compare them, the small animal ones are not too bad imho.

At the moment Jack, Clares Shire horse is not insured for any tooth probs, sinus, gastric ulcers and after this next 12 months ringbone, sidebone and splints will be added to that list, so............

We did think of putting the money away, Wendy but with Lexi's probs we would never have caught up and had a pocket of money for her, so glad we insured her straight away tbh.

[kitla]

A/F insurance Grrrr! not my favourite people!
they refused my claim for my dog (small tumor removal) & would no longer
cover her for any type of lump or tumor or problem with her hips, because after
trawling through her records with a fine tooth comb they found the vet had once
checked out a tiny fatty lump (harmless) and once she'd had a limp (again found to be nothing). My vet was not impressed with them either.
I spent a lot of time trawling through their smallprint while trying to sort this out
and like you say, there is an awful lot of it & it is verysmall!
We ended up having to cancel it & go it alone with a savings account.

[HappyBob]

That dosent seem very fair Spreckly, but anything underhand to do with insurance firms dosent suprise me anymore..

[Spreckly]

Kitla - what a blow for you with A F's insurance claims. I am astounded at their methods. Yesterday I posted the letter to the Bank cancelling the DD, and I will let A F's wait a little longer before letting them know that I have cancelled my payment for this month! I emailed my dil yesterday, and warned her about their procedures.

The Propalin Nation is on - three times a day at present until 10th June and a phone call to the vet - appears to be working. Thank goodness.

[Gwenoakes]

I am glad the Propalin is working for Nation, Spreckly and long may it last.

[kitla]

Is it a lot cheaper to buy the meds online? I've actually found one of my vets has
got quite competitive with prices (how sensible!) but the other one is still v expensive.

[Spreckly]

I buy Frontline and Drontal worming tablets online, also Nation's toothpaste. Even with postage, it is cheaper than buying from the vets.

[Mercedes]

We don't get anything from the vet that we can get online. It annoys me though that they are allowed to charge so much just for a prescription, but it still works out cheaper for things like prescription diets and advocate drops.