Battling pet plan equine...grrrrr...

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toffeeyummy

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Wondering if anyone has had a similar problem to mine regarding insurance claims. I unfortunately lost my filly at Easter due to acute grass sickness. She was covered with ortolans and they have paid out on vets fees, all fine. However there are a couple of things they haven't paid - disposal costs (£388) as they claim I didn't have that covered on my policy. In the policy booklet it quotes "we will not pay any amount if you do not have section 1A death from injury and illness as covered on your certificate of insurance". Well I have this on my certificate?? Also they claim they will not pay 'livery' fees, I said she wasn't in livery she was acutely ill wired up to a drip and receiving constant medication. Was I supposed to drive her there and back every day? If my dog was hospitalised they would pay for thatsowhats the difference? I have sent an email to the claims department, is there anything else I should do? What are my chances do you think? It makes me so cross that I'd taken the time to insure her properly yet I'm still left with a £700 vets bill to pay. :(
 
I'm afraid livery and disposal are only covered on my vets fee extension which I pay extra for on mine, I'm with Stoneways but I imagine its the same? Actually I don't think I'm even covered for disposal, but the livery is definitely not covered by general vets fees, that's something I pay extra for. Sorry to hear about your filly.
 
Most insurance companies don't cover livery fees.... If the hospital is clever they will have seperated it up into "livery" for a smaller amount a day and "nursing" which will be the care.
 
I just can't understand why they don't cover hospitalisation? The woman on the phone said well you will have to pay livery for your horse wherever it is. Well no because I keep them at home and anyway would you not have to keep paying livery at your yard if your horse was in the hospital? So you have to pay it twice!?
 
I think it's to stop people leaving their horses there for longer than necessary...

but yes I did pay two lots of livery :( Her hospital livery was £30 a day (the nursing was £50/day i think. Little pricey if you ask me!!!)
 
I am refusing to go with pet plan equine since our first horses insurance claim. They were very rude on the phone and told us it was our fault the horse stood on a nail in the field, trying to get out of paying! Then the vets told us to buy all the poulticing stuff from saddlery as it would be cheaper, and that insurance company would pay as long as we kept receipt- went and bought £100 worth of stuff (to last a long while- it was a bad injury!) only to have them refuse to pay for it unless the vets supplied it directly :(
Fight them and I think you may have a chance- we had to fight them every step of the way but we got there :) (and promptly changed insurers!)
 
Can I ask who you are with now? Their telephone manner is appalling they are rude and snotty. I am seriously going to look around for another insurance company although our remaining pony is now 16 and only elidgable for veteran plans mainly. Think I'm trapped :(
 
I'm fairly sure we're with seib, but mum sorts the insurance out! We have our trailer with them as well. Thankfully haven't had to claim with them yet, but they seem much politer on the phone, and have heard good things about them from others when they've claimed.
 
well i am battling with Amtrust - they just as bad - had to claim for ovary removal and now horse has kissing spines - so what have amtrust done ?? - gone and refused to insure me! - no exclusions just dumped me! So now cant get insurance as been refused
 
I think with disposal it's covered under section 1B. If you look in the T&C's booklet if I remember Petplan correctly there's 1A which is the death benefit (paying for the value of your horse) then there is an optional section 1B which covers disposal costs.

With the livery fee, has your vet charged just livery or is it broken down into livery, intensive care, nursing (or similar)? Petplan will cover "hospitalisation" costs but if a bill is broken into, for example, a livery amount and a nursing amount, they will take the nursing fee as the physical looking after your horse but the livery to cover things like shavings etc. You may not have luck getting them to pay it but if your vet has just charged a flat "livery" and no hospitalisation or nursing charge, you could get your vet to say x% was livery and x% was nursing, and they may then pay some of it.

PM if you like
 
Sorry, meant to say as well, although under disposal it says they will not pay unless you have section 1A, you do actually have to take out the disposal cover (1B) for it to be payable. DOes your policy schedule say you have section 1B or is it just 1A?
 
It just says I have death from injury or illness but I can't believe I wouldn't have taken the disposal costs option as I know how pricey it can be. My vets have split the costs and put the majority under nursing care but it's the point of them not covering stabling fees. If my dog or cat is in the vets it's all paid and they need a kennel, a bed, heating, lighting, bowls, food, why is it different for a horse?
 
because a horse needs feeding/stabling etc whether or not it is ill/injured.

I would imagine that it is fairly clearly stated in your policy doc. that this is not covered so I'm unsure why you have such a problem.

Insurance companies only cover what's stated, it's up to you to make sure everything you want is covered.
 
Although I don't know the PP wording, it's not uncommon for insurers not to cover disposal costs.

I guess the rationale there is that at some point the horse will die and, whether the loss is an insured loss or not, the animal will need to be disposed of - same with livery fees, it's sort of part and parcel of keeping a horse and can't really be classed as 'unforeseen'.

I guess some insurers may add the cover for an additional premium, but I don't think many cover it in their standard wordings.
 
I had a big claim settled quickly by PP but didnt include livery fees only nursing costs. I used to be with NFU who do cover livery , but decided the lower premiums were worth the risk, turned out to be an expensive risk for me!

Good luck with your claim.

Read an article (not sure where) that advised to use the FSA/Insurance Ombudsman Website look up the number/type of complaints made against an insurance company when you are shopping around for a policy.

The logic seemed to be that on this site are published the number of complaints made and the percentages found for and against the company and these indicate the level of service you can expect.
 
Renvers said:
Read an article (not sure where) that advised to use the FSA/Insurance Ombudsman Website look up the number/type of complaints made against an insurance company when you are shopping around for a policy.

The logic seemed to be that on this site are published the number of complaints made and the percentages found for and against the company and these indicate the level of service you can expect.
Click to expand...

The problem with the FOS measuring this and also when people on forums etc state complaints, you don't get the full picture. I work in insurance and used to work for one of the major equine companies so I may come across as completely in support of the company, Don't get me wrong, there are times when I think insurance companies do take the P! If someone makes a complaint to the FOS, the insurance company gets charged (last time I checked it was around £800). This charge is regardless of whether the insurance company is in the right or the wrong. Therefore, if the claim payment being argued is around £1000 or under, normally the insurance company will just pay if threatened with a review from the FOS, purely because it does not make economic sense to fight it. So the FOS website may say X company had Y complaints and Z were against them, this is not entirely accurate that the complaint was valid.

OP - did you take your policy out over the phone? If so, did they offer you disposal cover? If not then you could raise this as a complaint. They record all calls so they can check the sales call. If you took it out online I'm afraid there isn't much you can do about it.

The whole livery/nursing/hospitalisation was always a major issue and PP changed the terms and conditions so many times. I remember at one point they would only pay 50%, then they would pay all if stated as hospitalisation. I suppose they see the fee for hospitalisation would be the cost for all the technical side, so the facilities needed, but livery would be shavings and stuff like that. Insurance companies see a livery fee as a cost the insured is liable for. For small animals I'm assuming the hosp. fee would cover all the technical stuff that comes with it, such as the heat pads you mention. Insurance companies pay for any treatment, so would cover nursing, as that is paying for the costs of treating the horse but they would see livery as a 'maintenance' fee if you like.

Unfortunately as someone said previously the terms and conditions state what they will pay and by taking out insurance you agree to those conditions. I'm afraid (knowing what sticklers PP could be sometimes) you may not be successful in getting these paid. However, nothing can stop you trying! Don't ask, don't get and all that
 
Thanks for all the advice, it makes interesting reading. PP have been in contact and they have found my original phone call where they say I was offered disposal costs but I declined. Still find it strange that I declined this but there is proof so I can't argue that I suppose. It is stated in my policy that they don't cover stabling etc but my argument is why? I just can't understand why you have to pay for your horse to be in a 'hospital stable'. It is no different from a dog or cat being in a kennel? Please someone tell me you know where I'm coming from?! What's got me so cross is the way pp have dealt with it, they've been short, rude and non sympathetic on the phone to me. (until my email where I had 3 different team leaders ring me..). I just feel so let down by them.
 
I'm also with PP and I believe that I am currently paying extra to be covered for disposal they do not include it as standard, you have to tick the box to say you would like it adding on. Have a look through your policy documents. If they don't specifically state that you're covered then you won't be and if you aren't covered then they won't pay associated costs. If your policy document DOES state you are covered then definitely get back to them and argue about it. With the livery fees as has already been said I don't think they cover full livery fees and if it's already been split into nursing care and stabling costs then yeah they prob will just pay the nursing care (sucks but hey ho that seems to be the standard way of doing it). Horse ins and dog / cat ins is different in a lot of ways this being one, another being that horse ins has no option for lifetime cover for any illness / injury (wouldn't be a very profitable business if it did!)
 
You're going to complain about something their terms and conditions specifically state they do not cover???

When you take out insurance you agree to those T&C's, therefore if you don't like them the simple solution is to take out insurance with someone else.
 
Different companies have different rules regarding hospitalisation livery. I used to be with NFU and they covered the fees from Liphook. They also covered the disposal cost, but not the post mortem cost, which I HAD to have done, in order to pay out the death claim. I have no complaints about NFU at all.

What this comes down to, is not that they have been bad, but you didn't actually check what you were insuring for. Unfortunately you need to check the cover you want.
 
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