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“Appalling Customer Service”

written by nristead on 07/07/2011

My cat fell ill recently, and after paying for the Initial consultation with the Vet, I contacted an Asda "colleague" (I hate that term!), and then filled in a Claim form, as well as a Pre-Authorisation form for the further treatment required. My Vet faxed them together, and then posted them in the same envelope.

The colleague had told me it would take 3-5 working days for the pre-authorisation to be approved. 6 days later, I called them again, to be told that the pre-auth would be processed the next day, but they had no record of a claim for the money I'd already paid!

Two days later, I called again, and was told that the pre-auth had been approved - but no-one had bothered to tell my Vet! (Apparently, they expected me to call them, and for my Vet to then take my word for it that the treatment had been approved!)

They also said that the claim for the original payment was being posted back to me because a full medical history had not been included (despite that fact that it had, as evidenced by the pre-auth approval!). I was told that I would have to wait for the letter to arrive (by 2nd class post), and then send it back to them!

After tracking down the CEO's email address ([email protected]), I eventually got an apology and a settlement.

On June 18th, my cat needed further tests and treatment, and so I filled in a new claim form, which my Vet sent off. Today, ASDA (BDML / Capita) have confirmed that the claim was received on June 20th, but today, 17 days later, it has still not been processed. In fact, today they're processing forms from June 6th - over 1 month ago, so it will be another 2 weeks before they get to mine!!

My Cat now needs further treatment, but my Vet, understandably, is reluctant to carry it out on Credit, given that he still has a bill outstanding.

I moved from Petwise several years ago, shortly after they were taken over by BDML, because of the bad customer service and delays in processing claims. It seems that in the intervening years, the service has actually got worse - had I known previously that Asda Pet Insurance was run by them, I would have chosen someone else.

Unfortunately, now that my Cat has an ongoing condition, I'm stuck with them.

AVOID !!