VPI Pet Health Insurance

. I adopted a rescue dog in May. In July I had to take her in to the vet for an ear infection and a skin problem. Total costs ended up well over $300 after follow up visits. VPI took a month to process the claim only to say they needed to have more information about my dog's medical history. I mailed them in her medical history only to wait another month before calling and finding out they "just received her medical history from my vet." I explained that I sent it her medical history myself, but they said they did not receive anything so they reached out to my vet themselves for the records (this is now over two months since her July visit). Now that they have the records they can decide whether or not she is eligible for what she was treated for in July. A few days later I finally get the results and VPI won't pay a single penny, saying that she's not eligible for pre-existing conditions. Last time I checked, ear infections are not pre-existing conditions. So really they don't help at ALL with reimbursement. Waste of money...had her insured for 4 months.

This plan reimburses hardly any preventative expenses - nothing for heart worm and $50 annually for flea/tick. My dog tore her CCL which is an expense of over $4000 and we got no reimbursement at all. This is the 2nd time over a period of about 20 years I have tried pet insurance plans. None of them are any good. Just take your money and give back no benefit unless you can total frustration a benefit. Save your money. Don't get a pet insurance policy.

I have been with vpi for 10 years never put a claim in before this one. I have major medical and put in a claim in Sept. I put out $5.199.00 my cat had a cancer mass in his small intestine, imagine my surprise when we got back $2,200

They call this major medical. I suggest that you put your money in a saving rather then give it to them. Just wish 10 years ago I looked up reviews on this company.

This company added an "exclusion" to my policy after I submitted my claim. The exclusion included the condition my pet was suffering from. I called them to say that I didn't understand how they could add exclusions after I had already had the policy in place for almost a year. The lady was condescending and said "sorry".

Bad customer service, highly incompetent no one there knows anything you ask a person one thing there in customer service and get one response and next day get another. My dog injured itself wrote wrong thing on claim and immeditely when i sent i advise them to disregard. They confirmed they did. Then i go to upgrade a week later they state they deny becuase of the issue i told them it was void in ssytem they said they have to consider it. I get rewareded this way with never sending anything in on my dog after 5 years and i put $5K into them and nothing in return wow this is how you treat customers?? No thank. Been with healthy paws and wow what a diff they cover almost everything even routine, injuries covered. VPI did none of this.

I got VPI pet insurance last summer for my two cats and one dog. They deduct the payments out of my paycheck at work, which is convienient, unfortunately they don't seem to pay for much of anything... I have a really sweet mixed breed dog that'll be four in March. He had the precondition of genetic bone defects in his front legs, so of course they don't cover that. On black Friday my dog was running and injured one of his back legs. The vet says it's a torn ACL. They won't preauthorize any payment for surgery, nor will they pay a dime of the (expensive) acupuncture treatments I am now getting for him. I feel really ripped off.

We've insured 4 house rabbits for about 5 years now, never needing to use the insurance until this year. Unfortunately throughout the last year 3 different rabbits became sick and died at 3 different times. Each time we received a reimbursement of between 8% and 29% of the claim amount. When we called and discussed it, they only budged on one of the claims. In the end, we wound up paying over $115 per year, per rabbit. The claims were for roughly $800,$1400, and $600, totaling roughly $2800 in claims. They paid out a total of $762 for a grand payout rate of 27%. Like other reviews that I've read here, they changed the codes from the vet in an attempt to payout less. It required several calls & faxes back and forth between us, the vets, and VPI. All of this was required to work our way UP to the 27% payout rate - we started at under 20%. In this last case, they tried to deny the entire claim telling us the rabbit had a preexisting condition. We had to retrieve 5 years of vet records from 2 different vets to prove to them that the rabbit had not been treated for this "preexisting condition" in the past 5 years. They make it as difficult as possible, I believe to discourage people from seeking fair payouts.

We thought we were insured in case something happened, only to find when something does happen, this is only a little reimbursement & most of the cost still falls on our shoulders. We're recommending to friends who keep dogs, cats, or rabbits to avoid VPI and instead put aside the money that would have been spent on premiums into a savings account to cover you when something goes wrong. We've cancelled the remaining policies we had with VPI due to the horrible payouts. Hopefully this review will help keep others from being surprised with bills they believed would have been covered with this poor insurance.

When I got my first dog from the pound I got him VPI. It worked out well. When he died from cancer at 6 years old I was thankful I had the cancer endorsement and the superior plan.

So, naturally, when I got my next pet from from a reputable breeder I got him insurance. He is now 11 years old and though over the years I have seen my rates rise I could never have predicted what would happen when I needed the insurance! Last october our Golden was diagnosed with a tumor on his parathyroid. While surgery cleared the problem and he is doing well I have nothing good to say about the way VPI handled it. First they denied the claim. Then after submitting all the test results and paper work from his vet, the surgeon, and the internist that cared for him in the weeks later they paid the claim. Well.... sort of. The total bill was over 5000.00, VPI paid only 1067.17. The cancer rider never kicked in because the pathology came back benign. Apparently, according to the folks at VPI, if my dog had died they would have paid me more....

Here is the breakdown.

Policy cost...........603.38 yearly 6200.18 total

Total claims in 11 years ...........................11782.75

VPI has paid out.........................................3101.00

simple math yes?

We have had VPI for our dog since we adopted him (he was approximately 18 months old at the time) 9 1/2 years ago. We have rarely submitted any claims over the years. He was diagnosed with a heart murmur a few years ago and recently he has needed treatment. We cannot afford to go to a vet cardiologist and our regular vet has been treating his condition with medication which costs $30 per month. He will need to be on this medication for life. VPI reimbursed us for 10 cents of the $30 submitted.

My cat had a urinary blockage and cystitis afterwards.

I called the company for about a month.

Finally, they paid the bill. (I got the atty general's office after them who advised me to report them to the insurance commisioners office, which I may do.)

When my credit card got new expiration dates on it (in the middle of this medical crisis), they withdrew coverage.

These folks are unethical. And on the basis of everyone's complaints, they should not be in business.

I encourage everyone who feels they did not follow through on promises to contact your local attorney general office and the insurance commisioner's office in VIP's headquarter city.

Had I known they were not seriously insurance, I would never have paid for the coverage.