Topic: Senior cats Insurance (Read 15700 times)

Millys Mum · « **Reply #48 on:** February 07, 2008, 20:17:18 PM »

I know people who had horses insured with E&L and had nothing but trouble from them. I doubt they have changed sicne then

MrsR · « **Reply #47 on:** February 07, 2008, 09:19:59 AM »

We had insured our wedding with E&L - thank god nothing went wrong and we didn't have to claim with the wedding as I was a right stress bunny and emotional wreck with our wedding - talking to E&L may have tipped me over the edge!

caledonia · « **Reply #46 on:** February 06, 2008, 23:27:05 PM »

Yep I had a good quote from E & L until I read this

http://www.reviewcentre.com/products366.html

Now I thought M & S fared bad on here - but 69 reviews with an average rating of 0.5 out of 10 - not good!!!

They say only angry customers complain - well it seems 69 customers did on here - which compared to the others with a handful each is interesting!

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #45 on:** February 06, 2008, 23:05:03 PM »

Quote from: MrsR on February 06, 2008, 21:14:05 PM

I was quite upset over the phone and fragile obviously as Bunty was missing and I said politely (and tearfully) "but do you not care" and the person on the ophone I was talking to said "not really".

What

's

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #44 on:** February 06, 2008, 22:53:39 PM »

What extremely nasty people

MrsR · « **Reply #43 on:** February 06, 2008, 21:14:05 PM »

My younger guys are with tesco and they have paid out numerous times without quibble.

Right with E&L it was when Bunty our eldest went missing (I have written about this in the Missing section as she came home and thought it would help others) - on the E&L it had the normal thing that insurances have about paying for advertising if your cat went missing and also a reward if your cat went missing well they wouldn't grant any of this. I was quite upset over the phone and fragile obviously as Bunty was missing and I said politely (and tearfully) "but do you not care" and the person on the ophone I was talking to said "not really". I slammed the phone down and sobbed for hours. My husband then phoned when he got home from work and pretty much got the same type of response. He then said he was taking his business elsewhere and can they cancel our account and apparently they said to him "whatever"!

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #42 on:** February 06, 2008, 19:30:02 PM »

OK but I dont remember any others

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #41 on:** February 06, 2008, 08:11:17 AM »

Gill, she isn't the only member on here to have had issues with E & L paying out, I can think of one other - but I think we also have one person with positive news on them. Sainsbury's are good at paying out, my last claim was put in around the first week in Dec and I got the cheque on Christmas Eve.

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #40 on:** February 05, 2008, 18:18:05 PM »

Thats terrible Mrs R and it would be nice to hear the story, cos we have heard that E&L had a bad reputation but dont know from the horses mouth as it were

MrsR · « **Reply #39 on:** February 05, 2008, 18:09:41 PM »

I was with E&L with my oldest until we needed them and they wouldn't pay out! Swiftly moved to Sainsburys who we haven't had to use yet but they can't be any worse that E&L !

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #38 on:** February 05, 2008, 14:11:05 PM »

Quote from: caledonia on February 05, 2008, 12:50:30 PM

Quote from: Rosella moggy on February 04, 2008, 23:26:26 PM
Excess on animal friends appears to be £49 plus 35% of the remaining claim whereas Axa is I think £50.
Thanks for that Rosella - explains why it seemed to good to be true!!! Wow thats a big percentage and one that pops up a lot with older cats! Thanks for checking that out - hopefully I would have noticed before signing up!!

You is so welcome but you would of course have picked upon it

caledonia · « **Reply #37 on:** February 05, 2008, 13:06:24 PM »

No e-mail address but I did speak to them on the phone and re-read the policy doc and it is ongoing - which is great! Ohew looks like i have found one - as soon as I know the dates the b oys are arriving Axa it will be - and I am not even looking anywhere else cos I am going insane looking at policies!!!! Oh when it was so much simpler!!!

caledonia · « **Reply #36 on:** February 05, 2008, 12:59:36 PM »

Thanks everyone - I am going to e-mail Axa now. I must have picked them up wrong and if it is 7,000 per year that I am with and they will continue to pay out on a condition then they are not too bad!!! Will let you know - and thanks again xxxx

caledonia · « **Reply #35 on:** February 05, 2008, 12:50:30 PM »

Quote from: Rosella moggy on February 04, 2008, 23:26:26 PM

Excess on animal friends appears to be £49 plus 35% of the remaining claim whereas Axa is I think £50.

Thanks for that Rosella - explains why it seemed to good to be true!!! Wow thats a big percentage and one that pops up a lot with older cats! Thanks for checking that out - hopefully I would have noticed before signing up!!

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #34 on:** February 05, 2008, 08:15:50 AM »

Susanne, my last 2 cats ended up with 2 completely unrelated conditions, and fortunately Sainsbury's paid out without quibbling, even though Tiger had tests done for both conditions at the same time. I am with Helen that when we are getting up to the limit, I will be considering their quality of life, as they aren't young cats to start with - I wouldnt' recommend Sainsbury's to people with young cats though, as you have a higher risk of having to pay.
If I remember rightly, Animal Friends are underwritten by E & L, and they dont have a good reputation.

Tiggy's Mum · « **Reply #33 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:48:20 PM »

Axa is £7000 per year each and every year for as long as you are paying the premiums. It's 'lifetime' cover in that you could claim 7k for condition X in year one and then also claim in years 2, 3, 4 etc. If you claimed 7k for condition X in year one you'd have no money left for any other conditions in that year but it's reset in year two with another 7k to spend.

I think if you needed to spend over 7k in one year you'd need to think quite hard about quality of life in any case. When I last looked it was £50 excess regardless of the age of the pet whereas lots of other companies ask for 15% of the claim as the excess. I'm going to be switching my boys to Axa next month and give M&S the flick

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #32 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:32:48 PM »

I would suggest you ring AXA and ask questions and aslo ring any other companies that you are considering.

Make a list of questions and then if it sounds too good to be true, ask them to confirm in writing.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #31 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:31:58 PM »

per condition per year means that they will pay £4000 for each and every condition each year. Sounds good, but I do wonder how likely it is that a cat will develop more than one totally unrelated condition in one year. What I mean is, with per year coverage you have the max amount so spend on whatever you like each year. So the Axa £7000 per year could be paid out for one condition (and then renewed again the following year) or it could be paid out for several conditions. With the Animal Friends policy your limit is £4000 per condition so that's bad if your cat develops a condition that needs a lot of treatment (and bear in mind it costs about £2000 for an MRI scan) as you have less to play with than the Axa policy. But it's good if your cat gets more than one condition because you can claim £4000 for each of them. But they would have to be totally unrelated conditions, and while it's possible for that to happen, I think they would try to relate conditions if they could. I cant think of anything offhand, but I'm sure there must be lots of conditions that they could claim are secondary to another condition that you'd claimed for, thus refusing to pay out another £4000. I also think that being insured per condition per year is maybe overkill.

If it's just per condition (and not per condition per year) then the max amt is only payable once, and when you've reached that maximum amount you get no more for that condition the next year.

I guess it's swings and roundabouts really.

candyshandy · « **Reply #30 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:31:08 PM »

My understanding of the Axa policy is per condition per year as in their policy doc they do make reference to continuation claims.

I would suggest you email them and ask them directly to clarify what their wording actually means - do not phone them. I stupidly did this with Sainsburys and the woman on the phone said it was per condition per year. This was not true! Unfortunately I have had to claim on this policy this year and so I'm stuck with them. At least with an email you have something in writing.

I subsequently emailed Sainsburys when it came to Sol's renewal and received this:

Thank you for your e-mail

LIFETIME COVER

Sainsbury’s Pet Care covers each and every condition to the maximum benefit of £6,500. If your pet were to suffer from a lifetime condition such as diabetes, we would continue to cover this throughout their life, up until this maximum benefit. The only point at which that condition would be excluded from your policy would be if that maximum amount was reached.

I hope this answers your query satisfactorily,
but should you have any further queries
please e-mail us at customerservice@sainsburysbankpet.co.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #29 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:26:26 PM »

Excess on animal friends appears to be £49 plus 35% of the remaining claim whereas Axa is I think £50.

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #28 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:20:27 PM »

Have you compared the excess on each policy?

caledonia · « **Reply #27 on:** February 04, 2008, 23:08:00 PM »

OK - sorry to drone on about insurance again but I really did get my fingers burned with the cover for one year only clause - which I knew nothing about until I needed it! I really can't face being stung again so really want the lifetime of the condition cover!!

So am I right in saying AXA normal cover is just £7000 per year - they say period of the insurance - which naive folk like me mistakes for whilst I have insurance with them, which I now realise probably means for the year!! They quoted £13.17 for a pedigree 11 year old with a pre-existing condition.

Animal friends are offering life time cover at £4000 per condition per year but for the life of the condition - so you could claim 3 x 4000 over a year for three different things or 16,000 over 4 years for example - for £13.71 - which sounds too good to be true when comparing with Axa.

So sorry to go on - but whats the catch!! lol Or do I just go with it before they change their minds!!!

I am not the most experianced animal lover - so I am trying ot get it right and save tears all over again when I realise not only is a beloved fur babe sick but the bill is going to need to go on the old plastic!!

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #26 on:** January 31, 2008, 07:32:44 AM »

YEah, but they might not get a condition at 8 that they will have for 12 years.
One other thing with people who get free Petplan insurance that is honoured at an older age due to rescue, they do have very high premiums for senior cats.

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #25 on:** January 30, 2008, 23:16:24 PM »

Kocka was with Sainsburys and they were always very good. Only problem I have with them now is that its is maximum per condition and the costs have gone up so much and cats live so much longer. If as insurances do, they reckon a cat is senior at 8 yrs old, thats a very long time until 20 yrs or older, which some cats live too.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #24 on:** January 30, 2008, 22:13:50 PM »

For Senior cats, I would also recommend Sainsbury's as they are £6500 per condition, and I think that is sufficient for senior cats.

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #23 on:** January 30, 2008, 18:31:42 PM »

I claimed for Sasa in Dec was paid in january but had been worried cos she was a semi feral and had to be sedated to have xrays and a proper exam. The xrays were clear but she had an injury high up on a back leg, suspected bite from being attacked.

I had no probs and I had only been with AXA less than 3 months and they still hadnt had any money from me!

I dumped M&S cos I was being ripped off so bad and although I just missed the recent AXA price rise. my insurance dropped by 50% with AXA.

AS AXA underwrite a number of the big insurances, I feel fairly safe with them, well as much as one feels safe with any company

Kats inc · « **Reply #22 on:** January 30, 2008, 18:07:51 PM »

Avoid Churchills like the plague

I have never known such a monumental c*ck-up as they have managed to create with my cats over the past year.Cancelled policies,overpaid premiums,wrong policies cancelled,wrong amounts taken out of my bank,restarting direct debits I've cancelled.They now owe me £133 at least and have done for 4 months so I'm not holding my breath about when I'll actually see it.I'd strongly recommend not touching them with a bargepole.

Millys Mum · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2008, 17:15:35 PM »

Because they are ripping all their current customers off, they got rid of nil excess, wopped up prices and then the cherry on the cake was to change underwriters and put stupid clauses in the new contracts. For example if you need a vet when your normal one is closed you have to ring their hotline to get permission to go OOH, meanwhile your cat could be dying

AXA or petplan would be the 2 id suggest, the rspca one had something i didnt like too but i cant remember what at the moment

caledonia · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2008, 12:06:35 PM »

Why would you not recommend M & S i you don't mind me asking. I did get a quote from them and they were very expensive but seemed to have good cover!

Millys Mum · « **Reply #19 on:** January 30, 2008, 11:48:04 AM »

M&S never asked me for full history, not that i would recommend them anymore

swampmaxmum · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2008, 10:38:15 AM »

think they are mostly looking for medical history problems that could re-occur and cost them money! Anything one off should be fine with any insurer (?). M&S were particularly keen on insisting on a full med history. Nice to hear some cos make exceptions for rescues.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #17 on:** January 30, 2008, 08:12:42 AM »

i have ticked yes on those for every cat and never had it questioned.

Mark · « **Reply #16 on:** January 30, 2008, 08:02:39 AM »

I did a dummy quote on Axa website for Kylie yesterday and one of the questions is "Has your cat ever been examined by a vet for anything other than routine treatments" which is a bit of a trick question. Kylie once had an abcess from a bite - would I include that? - I should do it again as a "Yes" to the question and see what happens.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #15 on:** January 30, 2008, 07:53:13 AM »

I have never been asked (nor has the vet said anything) about medical histories for the cats i have had insured, and I had had PEbbles a while before insuring her - every cat since has been insured straight away, before their MOT!!

caledonia · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2008, 22:59:14 PM »

Oh I make myself laugh somtimes - so just got a quote from axa and rspca - then realised they were the same scheme - as Angie kindly pointed out lol!!

Interestlingly though it was 2 pound cheaper a month through the RSPCA!!! hmmmm

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2008, 17:50:22 PM »

I was one who moved to AXA and also Sainsburys will insure older cats but the cover is not quite as good as AXA.

When getting cats from a rescue where the history is not know its always best to insure them fast and the good companies are gonna honor the insurance despite no history, as long as you tell them they are from a rescue.

Angiew · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2008, 15:00:39 PM »

if you go to easyfunraising , then look at the rspca , they do the axa scheme and you can nominate a charity to get a £7.50 donation and the rspca also get a %

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/home/a-z_of_retailers/?letter=r&toview=20 (RSPCA half way down page)

Coventry cat group is registered as a charity with them

Corporal Smokey · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2008, 14:19:28 PM »

Quote from: caledonia on January 29, 2008, 12:00:19 PM

Quote from: Corporal Smokey on January 29, 2008, 10:54:59 AM
I just got Josh insured a few months ago for less than £100 for the year. He's 13

can I ask who that was with and whether that covers any condition up to a value rather than just 12 months cover??

Thanks

Ooops sorry, someone walked into the studio while I was typing so I hit "post" to quickly!

It was AXA although a lot of us did at the same time and they suddenly upped their prices

clarenmax · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2008, 13:34:44 PM »

I was with M&S but have recently switched to AXA directly with my 9 year old FIV boy. That is an amount per year, as opposed to a one-off amount for a condition, then it runs out.

caledonia · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2008, 12:00:19 PM »

Quote from: Corporal Smokey on January 29, 2008, 10:54:59 AM

I just got Josh insured a few months ago for less than £100 for the year. He's 13

can I ask who that was with and whether that covers any condition up to a value rather than just 12 months cover??

Thanks

Author Topic: Senior cats Insurance (Read 15700 times)