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“I have 2 dogs. last year Petplan did a pre-policy for...”

written by rw83623 on 05/01/2008

Good Points
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Bad Points
Inconsistent and unfair business decisions, customers' view points will not get heard by the people who makes the decision that really affect you - Claims Department. Customer Service pretend to care but they don't really, and they have no authority over anything, they just act friendly and helpful, but half the time they don't know what's going on and they would tell you there's nothing they could do (which is true) even though they say they totally agree with you. When they could not give reason to support their decisions, they just ignore and tell you there's nothing they could do. They're like a huge WALL, so if you never had to dispute any claims, you'll be fine, otherwise, your voice will not be heard, they're like a black hole, huge bureaucracy; it's definitely NOT for the faint of heart!!!! I pay $82 per month to get any kind of peace of mind from the insurance policy but they don't even conduct business fairly, I might as well save up the money for my pet.

General Comments
I have 2 dogs. last year Petplan did a pre-policy for one who has Lipoma. For exclusion by virtue of Pre-exisiting Condition, they listed ?Tumours, cancers, lipomas and associated conditions?. I was concerned because lipoma is only a small subset of Tumours. So, they attached a letter stating they'll review claims submitted on a case by case basis to determine if they're related to the existing Lipoma. This was fair.
This year, for my other dog, in her history she had arthritic changes on her spine? long ago. Even though my dog has been increasingly active for the past YEAR after hypothyroid treatment (so arthritis didn't actually affect her but was a coincidental finding, as the Vet says), and she has no symptoms of arthritis whatsoever, (she was with Vetinsurance in the past and NO claims had ever been submitted due to arthritis!!!) the underwriter refused to speak to my Vet to get the information, or to include a letter like before. They insisted on Arthritis as an exclusion.
They told Customer Service they've spoken to my Vet 4 times, but if they did, my Vet would have remembered!! Their Customer Service Rep sounded so helpful and friendly and agreed on everything, but they they have no authority to make any decisions; they always asked me to speak to my Vet, which I did, but in the end, they just said that they understood and agreed with me but there's nothing they could do. They said the Underwriters POSSIBLY have spoken to my vet, although they saw no record of the discussion. But then again, they told me couldn't find out because the Underwriters said they did! For Goodness sake and this was their CS Supervisor speaking! When they failed to support their decisions with reasons, they just ignored and moved on (saying there's nothing they could do). The Underwriters are of course totally unapproachable. They're in the clouds somewhere, you can never speak to them directly but they make all the decisions!!! With companies like this, you'd feel your voice never get heard. I've emailed them again and again, and they keep emailing me back with the same exclusion with absolutely no explanations why they treated the same kind of case one way (fairly) a year ago and another way (totally unfairly) this year. The worst is the Bureaucracy. I feel very disappointed in the business practice of Petplan which I used to highly regard and recommend to everyone I know. Now I really hesitate whether I should discontinue the existing policy. I would definitely share with everyone I know of this experience we had with Petplan Canada so that people would know that this kind of problems exist.