Insurance Claim

[Desley (booktigger)]

Have you heard from the insurance company yet?

[Sassybot]

Spoke to the insurance company. Our local vet has yet to send them the claim form which is very annoying as they said they had already done it. Luckily this was the smaller claim (just under £700) so I'm not too fussed.

The lady I spoke to said they aim to asses and come back within ten working days, although she did say it's a bit of a busy time of year so if I've not heard back within that time frame to call them up and find out where they are up to.

Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that it will go smoothly.

[Dawn F]

a couple of my claims were Tesco, also done and argos, a sainsburys and a marks and spencer!!

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Yes, it is a lot of money, Sassybot.  Am hoping like everyone else, that you will get the money back in full, and that it won't take too long.      House buying is an expensive business all round, and you don't need any added stress.  You and Frankie have been through quite enough of that.

[Sassybot]

jezebel someone told me that Tescos was underwritten by E&L so if that's the case it's reassuring.

Didn't have a chance to call them last night but will try today. I have a feeling from what others have told me that if I get it back within a month I'll be lucky. Am very happy for this to not be the case though!

Just super worried that they'll find fault. £3500 is a lot of money to lose.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I'd give them a ring, last year Petplan took quite a few weeks, this year the first was 2 weeks, since then they've been taking days. Apart from my pre-authorisation, they can't even tell me who they will notify.

[jezebel]

I've recently put in two claims for Bass (I'm with Tesco). The first came in a couple of weeks, the second was longer - three or four.


They won't give a date to pay up so they can drag their heels if they want, but there's no harm in phoning to find out how far the claim has been processed and if they can give you an idea of when you'll hear from them (don't ask when you'll get the money, just ask when they're going to respond to you!).

[Sassybot]

It wasn't like it was a specialist operation (difficult, but not specialist) but the second vets have 'specialist' written all over their website which is adding to my concerns. Pelvic fractures in cats must be common though.

Going to give the insurance company a call tonight and ask how long it will take them to come back to me so at least I have a time frame to work on. If we have a timeline we can start looking at houses because we can tell the mortgage companies that the credit cards will be cleared around X date. Without this info though we can't really do anything.

These things are sent to try us though

[Dawn F]

as for him being sent somewhere else I'm not sure that counts as specialism, with tilly she had to see an eye surgeon he counted as a specialist but if she went to a different branch of our vets because the branch we use didn't have the kit to deal with say x ray that isn't specialism they just are equipped 

[Dawn F]

until they pay its always nerve wracking 

[Sassybot]

Gosh I hope you're right Dawn, that would be incredible.

I know internet review sites aren't the best source of information but it has proper spooked me.

I'm fairly certain they can't argue that they shouldn't pay out because he was hit by a car. It totally says they will in the contract. It's this whole instance of sending him to a different hospital that is worrying me.

I'm just petrified that we aren't going to get the money back. My partner and I are desperately trying to save money for a house and this is one more thing we do not need.

[Dawn F]

I've never had one that didn't pay, not done one with your insurer or for a few years but from memory a couple of weeks is usual

[Sassybot]

This might not be the right place for this but I was wondering if people could offer their experiences of making a claim on their pet insurance?

Frankenstein was hit by a car last month and has had some fairly major work done - we're looking at about £3500 (he's insured up until £4000). We had to pay the vet and claim it back. I received receipt from the insurer on Monday saying they had received the claim and would notify me accordingly when someone had read through it.

There are no dates or time spans anywhere on their website. Like most people I can't afford the £3500 that is currently sat on various credit cards and would like to know when I will hear back. Any one had any experience with their pet insurers? I've stupidly picked E&L who apparently have a dreadful reputation which is not putting me at ease.

To top it off I read a comment that if your pet gets referred to a specialist you have to tell them first so they can decide if they cover it. Frankie was set from our local practice to a pet hospital to do the surgery as the local vet said they didn't have the skill or capacity to do it. When I called up E&L to ask how to claim I mentioned this to the woman I spoke to who said nothing about it. Technically this place isn't a specialist, it's just larger but I'm still super worried.

I've never made an insurance claim in my life so feel like I've done this blind. To top it off the vets have Frankenstein's age wrong. On a massive claim like this I can imagine they want to get out of it so I can imagine them pulling us up on it :p