Petplan Insurance Rant!

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Oscar

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Grrr, I had to have my 23y.o horse pts recently due to a really bad colic attack, after several hours of treatment we made the decision that surgery was unlikely to be successful due to the guts being badly intertwined and large sections had started necrotizing. So we said goodbye and he was pts.

This was midnight on Saturday - Petplan is shut until Monday, duly rang them Monday morning, and I was told that although my vet had signed the BEVA guidelines form for euthanasia Petplan required a postmortem to be carried out - something 'I' didn't want or need!! Anyway luckily the disposal man, still hadn't cremated my horse, so a pm was done, and everything the vet thought was confirmed in writing.

So duly put my claim in and 6 weeks later I receive my cheque, minus my excess (fine), minus, cost of postmortem (they don't cover pm's!!) and minus the cost of actually putting the horse to sleep - they don't cover this either.

So I rang to ask why I was told a pm was needed when you clearly had no intentions of paying for it - to be fobbed off it's all there in the t'&c's, yes it is, but I didn't request it!! And to be now £500 out of pocket I may as well had not bothered insuring him!!

Rant over, sorry just needed to vent - I had to stop myself spitting venom down the phone as I know it's not her fault but to have paid thousands out over the years insuring my 5, now 4 and only claiming once for a 23y/o I feel really let down.

Off to research insurance companies....
 
That is very sad, and I'm really sorry for your situation and your poor horse :(

I have not dealt with pet plan equine insurance, but I have two very accident prone dogs and Pet Plan were always very very good about paying out for their vet bills. I also had a cat that had kidney cancer, and they were super about forking out nearly £6,000 for his care.

In fact, while the cat was being treated for cancer, one of the dogs had to have a fishing hook pulled out of his throat - so I had two claims running at the same time - how they didn't think I was running some kind of scam, I'm not sure.

I know it doesn't make your situation any better, but I like to give credit where it is due :o
 
Well they can stick their policy where the monkey hides his nuts quite frankly - I will take my business elsewhere, it's stressful enough paying out over a grand to have your horse treated in an emergency and then having him pts etc.

in future ask horses to get ill and die between the hours of 9-5 Mon-Fri (excluding bank holidays and public holidays!) so I dont have to make decisions without petplans approval - I mean what does a vet know!!
 
But thank you LJN, I know it's only when their bad we rant i'm sure many have had good service from them - I just feel a bit cheated - anyhow better to rant than hit the sherry!!
 
i am really sorry to hear of your loss hunny :(
i cant believe that about petplan...ive literally just had my new horse delivered like 4 hours ago and i have just insured her with pet plan :/ im slightly worried now x
 
Sorry that you lost your horse. I had a similar problem with Catembi. He'd had protein losing enteropathy & had been treated for 6 months, & in the end we had no choice but to PTS. All done exactly by the book, but I still had to pay for the PM even tho we all knew exactly what was wrong with him, cost of PTS, cost of collection etc.

And when I bought Adrian, I sent them THREE direct debit forms, all of which they 'lost', then had to pay for a mortality certificate examination (£90) because the £220 5-stage vetting that I'd also paid for was more than 30 days old... due to them losing THREE dd forms...

It still makes me cross just thinking about it.

Sorry again re your horse. It's horrible losing one.

T x
 
Would have thought seeing as you could only speak to them a couple of days after having your horse PTS due to office times that they could have had a word with the claims department.

Just be advised that I think the requirement for a PM (and not paying for it in a claim settlement) is fairly common practice in insurance, its not just specific to petplan.
 
My mare had to be pts on a Sunday after a trailer accident on a Sunday. By the time I found out the details of the disposal man she had already been disposed of. :( I was very fortunate and petplan decided that due to the nature of the accident they would not require a postmortem, and the coughed up 6k plus disposal costs without quibble.
 
Sorry for your loss,particularly with the added stress of the insurance company. In all fairness Pet Plan where very good for my horse's claims and daughters dog.
However, I'm so tired of finding that horses insurance affects the way I manage my horse's health needs, albeit in a very subtle way, I decided not to bother insuring anymore. The sense of freedom is lovely. Can now have a vet out without bearing in mind that every trivial detail will be noted, the decision the PTS will not involve their criteria and vets will have to practice their old fashioned diagnostic skills without immediately going through a set procedure of tests when presented with a group of symptoms to satisfy the insurance company who are picking up the bill.
 
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