extortionist charlatans

My 6 month old cocker spaniel died of parvo virus 4 months after I took out my policy with Animal Friends. He was fully vaccinated and my vet explained very occasionally the vaccination can fail to protect against parvo if the dog has a very high exposure to the virus. The vet suggested that the dog,s tendency to ingest dog poo was the most likely cause. We duly put in a claim for the vet fees and compensation for his death.

Animal friends turned down the claim citing that the parvo virus was a "preexisting condition". My 9 week old puppy had been seen by the vet prior to policy inception because he had an episode ofdiarrhea. The company said that the dog had parvo at the time. This completely contradicts what my vet has told me explaining that the dog would have picked up the virus 10 to 14 days before showing the all the parvo symptoms such as vomiting , lethargy and fever. He died within days of these symptoms. None of these symptoms were prevalent 4 months earlier when i took my very lively puppy to vets with upset tummy, which the vet thought likely to be linked to emotional distress from just moving to new home 2 days earlier. Vet also said that my puppy would not have parvo for 3 months and that a 9 week old puppy would extremely ill if he had parvo. He was a very healthy puppy who would love to walk and run for hours and hours. The vet said that the previous upset tummy should not be linked to his death.

I did attempt to speak to the company but was only able to talk to customer service adviser who repeated the decision but would not discuss actual medical probability. I requested to speak to a manager or an assessor, but after being put on hold a number of time this was refused. i was very frustrated because I wanted to debate their supposed medical evidence for their tenuous link to his death. I also sought to question what veterinary expertise these assessors held after they completed contradicted my own vet.

I am currently appealing this decision and i have initiated action via the ombudsman.