Pet insurance and associated queries

Latest Articles

Pet insurance and associated queries

Downsizer Forum Index -> Livestock and Pets

Author

Message

BahamaMama

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Away with the fairies

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 9:53 am Post subject: Pet insurance and associated queries

I have an insurance policy with E&L for my cat. Checking the bank statement last night I discovered 94p has been taken from my account by The Animal Society by a direct debit. I had not requested or authorised this payment. I had no knowledge of or dealing with the Animal Society so I dug a bit deeper.

It appears that E&L have charged me for pet registration (which I have not requested or approved) under the name of the Animal Society. Checking at Companies House, the Animal Society is registered but is 'dormant'.

There are many cases of this cited on MoneySavingExpert.com and without exception people are complaining about E&L, poor service, slow to pay out (if at all), unauthorised DDs etc.

Now the questions....

Does anyone on here use E&L? and your opinions?
Can anyone recommend a reliable and reasonable pet insurance - the current options are Direct Line and More Than - any experience of either of these?
Is is correct that a company that is registered as 'dormant' can be actively taking money from my account?

Confused and very uneasy...... off to cancel E&L with immediate effect.

HenX

Joined: 27 Apr 2009
Posts: 1459
Location: Forest of Dean

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 10:05 am Post subject:
I know that when I had horses that everyone spoke of E&L in not good terms (that's the polite way of putting it!). Have you tried petplan? I don't think they are the cheapest, but my mum used to use them for her dog and they were always fantastic. Other than that, do the NFU do pet insurance?

T.G

Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 10:06 am Post subject:

Don't get me started on E&L

They are extremely slow to pay out; the staff are, it would seem, only trained to sell to the customer and not service the customer; Managers are lacking in people skills; and their over all policies are sh!te.

They still are in the 'process' of sorting out a claim we made for one of the horses some 2years on... to be honest it's only a few tens of pounds they owe (after removing the huge excess) and it's really not worth my time or effort to keep chasing it, however, thats far from the point

What i did find most upsetting was when they badgered me with increased policy fees for a dog we had pts, and they had already cancelled and paidout the policy. They constantly sent information even years after reminding us that her medical condition would no longer be covered on her new policy.

BahamaMama

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Away with the fairies

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 10:09 am Post subject:
Aaargh! They sound terrible, I can't find anyone that has a good word to say about them. Cancelling policy immediately.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 10:10 am Post subject:
Before cancelling make sure your pet is covered if you want insurance - many policies will have a pre-qualifying period or not cover pre-existing conditions etc. Our dog is with Direct Line. I wasn't keen that we had to wait for a policy anniversary before we could upgrade the policy but they did pre-authorise a claim and pay up without problems so would recommend them.

Sonny

Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Posts: 24
Location: South Lincs

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 11:34 am Post subject:
we were with more than , 3 weeks later one of the dogs developed a cyst and needed an op, more than refused to pay as there was a 4wk qualifying period so although it was paid for you werent covered for the first month, changed immediately to Pet Plan and have never had a single prob worth the extra £1.40 a month/dog

Katieowl

Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 4317
Location: West Wales

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 12:30 pm Post subject:
Mine are insured with Tesco, and I've not had any problems with them adminwise, mind you I've only made one claim so far. Kate

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45515
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 6:45 pm Post subject:
recon i will self insure mutts

Nell Merionwen

Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 16300
Location: Beautiful Derbyshire

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 7:06 pm Post subject:

Katieowl wrote:

Mine are insured with Tesco, and I've not had any problems with them adminwise, mind you I've only made one claim so far.

Kate

same here

not about the claim mind you...

alice

Joined: 18 Feb 2006
Posts: 2820

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 7:09 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

recon i will self insure mutts

That's how I see it too.
Eldest is 8yrs old, the most expensive things, vaccs and spaying aren't covered by insurance. Ten quid a month, in a sock, in the knicker drawer, has more than covered it

ros

Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 2469
Location: Beds

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 10 8:21 pm Post subject:
pup has cost close to £5K getting broken humerus fixed and handling subsequent infection - some of the cheaper insurances don't go up to £5K worth of cover -- and if he had had to have one of the pins out again (because of the infection) that would have put it closer to £8K. I couldn't self cover that.

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 10 10:59 am Post subject:

We've been with Petplan for at least 10 years and they've been great. Paid out over £2,000 when our two cats had to be treated for thyroid problems - one was allergic to the usual medicine and finished up on a blood transfusion! Claim just went straight through, as did other smaller claims.

Also had respect for them because we took on two older cats from Cats Protection League some years ago. They were too old to be insured as new cases with all insurers including PetPlan - but PetPlan were doing a special offer of insuring older cats taken on from Cats Protection League.

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Livestock and Pets	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

View Latest Posts