Pet insurance - anyone found a good bunch?

Siouxsie · Enlightened One

RE: Pet insurance - anyone found a good bunch?

PeterE · Old Hand

That's annoying about M&S. We changed to Sainsbury's in November because of the the new M&S excess, we were given the impression that it would apply on renewal even though we had a no-excess policy to start with. I wouldn't have changed otherwise. The letter that came with the renewal documents was pretty clear and I didn't think to question it.

Peter

feldandjack · Guru

Think I'll go and check out M+S, just been too lazy to change, but reading about E&L I think it's time to move on. Reading this forum has been much more interesting than reading mountains of stuff from insurance companies, much more informative.

Dawn · Guru

My guys are insured through M&S and have the £50 excess. I cannot remember if I had a choice to pay this....maybe they moved the goal posts. I took out Preslsys insurance March 06. Had to claim a few weeks back for Presleys injury and emergency treatment. Havent had anything back yet, but they did acknowledge the claim.

Sunny girl · Master

After reading this I have just gone and checked my renewal letter with M&S and yes i have the bit about the £50 excess now. So I'm confused it clearly says I have to pay the first £50 even though last year we had no excess?

Also Sunnys premium has gone up from £12 to £18. Zoe's monthly payment is £10.40. I insured her a few days after Sunny but have had no renewal letter for Zoe. And Zoe is 2 years older than Sunny.

What is the going rate for a dog at the moment is £18 a month (for lifetime cover and £50 excess) reasonable?

This said I've checked out other policies and still think M&S offer a good deal with the lifetime treatment cover. We swapped from Tesco as they will only cover treatment for a year. (not good if your dog suddenly needs treatment or medication for life.)

I had a really big claim with E&L a few years ago for my pony, and they paid out quickly and with no fuss, but i kept hearing such bad reports I felt pressured from other horse owners to change it. I think every company has its good and bad points.

One thing I have to say about M&S is its impossible to change your address with them I got totally lost in an automated menu and started shouting at the phone.....just as my boss walked in

Landess

Calatria · Master

PeterE wrote:

The letter that came with the renewal documents was pretty clear and I didn't think to question it.

Peter

If I hadn't mentioned it here and found out (thanks to fellow GAL-ers!) that the excess shouldn't apply to me, I would probably have looked around for another insurer. I wonder how many customers M&S lost because of this?

sooze · Rookie

Hi,

I've been trying to decide which Insurance Company to use for our 22 month old Greyhound, Freya. M&S do seem to be the best but I'm a tad confused as what to 'class' Freya as?! If I put down that she is a crossbreed the premium works out about £98 per year, but if I put that she is a Pedigree (even though we have no papers and know nothing about her parents) the premium rises to £188 per year.

Does anyone have any idea what I should do?

Cheers,

Susie confused

FAJ · Enlightened One

Hi, Susie - if Freya is registered with your vet as a greyhound then you should insure her as such. It's a bummer to have the spend the extra £90, but it's likely that the insurers wouldn't pay out in the event of a claim if you say she's a lurcher and your vet contradicts you. I don't have first-hand experience of this, though, so I could be way off base.

£188 seems a lot of money for such a young dog. Our two cost around £200 each per year with M&S but that's with no excess on the policy, they're both almost 6 years old, plus we've submitted a zillion claims per dog so we expected the increase (used to be £120 each per year).

Jennifer · Master

FAJ wrote:

Our two cost around £200 each per year with M&S but that's with no excess on the policy, they're both almost 6 years old

Mine cost £288 a year for the 2 greyhounds

Millie is 3yrs and Willow 4yrs. Im with Direct Line and have a £65 excess. I had to claim for Willow's xrays and they paid up in full

I found the customer service with M&S were crap.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Jennifer, both our policies shot up when the dogs turned 5. Here's hoping your yins don't do likewise.....

We could bring the cost down by having no excess, I suppose. Something to think about.

Sunny girl · Master

Jennifer M&S customer services have improved a lot. I managed to get straight through yesterday to change my address with them, after months of getting lost in their phone system. when I mentioned to the guy on the phone that I'd had a lot of trouble getting through in the past he said they had had a revamp to make it all simpler. He also confirmed that my excess was still £0 and apologised for the confusing renewal letter I got.

I pay £14 and £18 per month for Sunny age 7 and Zoe who is down as 8 nearly 9. With £0 excess. And life time cover.

Landess

Calatria · Master

Siouxsie wrote:
M & S confirmed to me that if anyone has £0 excess then this can not be changed with the policy holder asking for it to be changed, even when your renewal comes through.

I posted here a year ago because my new schedule from M&S stated that I now had an excess to pay. Siouxsie cleared this up for me and it turned out to be an error on the company's part - M&S sent me out a new schedule which showed there would be no excess.

Now it's happened again. This year's schedule arrived yesterday and it says there's a £70 excess. Have any other M&S customers renewed their insurance recently? I'm really hoping it's just the same error as last year, but the underwriters have changed so who knows?

JMB · Old Hand

Hi,

We recently took out insurance for Amelie from M&S and I'm sure that we have an excess of £70.

Is the no excess policy just for existing customers?

Janice.

Calatria · Master

Well, we phoned them and it's right enough - there IS a £70 excess now. Not only that, we were quoted £19.99 a month for Belle, which is the Premier Policy. We asked what the monthly payment would be for the Standard policy but they couldn't tell us because their system was down!

To add insult to injury, our DD left our account in the middle of the month but this has now been changed to the 2nd of the month. We told them this didn't suit us and asked if we could leave it as it was - the short answer was "No". All DD's come out on the second of the month now.

So between just cancelling our excess without a by-your-leave, and TELLING us when we will be making our payments rather than ASKING which date suits us, it makes me wonder if M&S have forgotten the meaning of customer service.

If I could find another good one, I'd tell them to put their insurance where the sun don't shine. furious

max · Enlightened One

This is the very reason I moved to Tesco, with M&S my payments went up by almost double and my excess by £20. I am now with Tesco at a third of the cost and my excess is £60. hmm

Nora

Michelle · Master

I now have Jet with Tesco as well. Have not had cause to call them really so no idea about the customer service but charges are reasonable although you have to have an excess you can have life cover and stuff like that which was good.