dogdayz Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) I insured all three dogs since 21 sept 2009 full cover...works out about $100 a month. Beck died suddenly 26 october 2011. I have filed a claim for his treatment during his 5 days of illness total around $800. Aside from them not having his vet history...which they were sent when we took out the policy...and saying they dont have his clinical records for the illness which they were sent with the claim form. They now tell me that if they accept the claim i will need to continue paying them $37 a month until october 2012....however if they dont pay the claim i can cancel the policy with immediate effect and make no further payments. This seems somewhat illogical to me, and obviously i am inclined to withdraw the claim and cancel immediately for all three dogs, not least because of their phone attitude, their losing all the records previously sent to them. But more than anything because i find it highly offensive and insensitive that they expect to continue taking money for a dog that has been euthanased and clearly will not be making any further claims. This is the first time i have claimed anything for any of the dogs, normally for small bills i just cover them and dont bother claiming. the insurance was really to cover cancer/snake bites rather than normal expenses. Im wondering if anyone else has found these same rules with other insurers as i am going to switch to an alternative asap, at least for my younger dog, the older one is over 9years so expectno others will cover her now. Yes i know this was probably all in the small print or among the various policy changes they notified me of since i first took this out. Edited January 3, 2012 by dogdayz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This is why I dont have pet insurance Too many exclusions, I'd rather just put money away into an account for emergencies. I guess though if you are paying by the month, in order to cover your claim you need to have paid the full year out, that's the same with any insurance, is this what they were getting at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I haven't heard of anything like that before sorry. I've had very good experiences so far with Medibank. They've paid me over $2000 so far, waiting on $4000ish to come back soon, with another $4000 to be sent to them in about a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdayz Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 I dont know. Previous experience with car and house insurances cancelling part way through a year incurs a fee and refunding of the remaining part year. And if it is because olicy is for 1 year and payments spread, then surely cancelling without claiming would be subject to same requirement to complete the year of payments. I staye away from pet insurance for many years, but after a near miss with a snake in the yard decided the cost of treating three dogs could become astronomic. Maybe i will just rethink that decision....just dont want to see them get away with never paying anything out now. Currenlty sorting out the multiple small bills for the other dog...shall be submitting those as well i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesars mum Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 my understanding from my insurance with Medibank is that if you make a claim in the year you must pay for the entire year even if the dog has passed. even if you continue to pay the $37 a month until October and make your $800 you are at least $400 better off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 my understanding from my insurance with Medibank is that if you make a claim in the year you must pay for the entire year even if the dog has passed. even if you continue to pay the $37 a month until October and make your $800 you are at least $400 better off. That's what I was thinking, at least it makes some kind of sense. It does suck though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdayz Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Maybe makes sense, but will see what happens when they get the full lifetime medical history, which they deny previously receiving....Beck had pancreatic insufficiency all his life, and at the time they never made much fuss about it or increase premiums which suprised me. I hope now we dont get a lot of fuss about pre-existing conditions...thoug he died from renal failure in all the research i did of EPI over the years there is nothing to suggest the two are linked. Wishing i never called them now...took me 2 months to deal with it, and i got Mr Insensitive on the phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarracully Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This is why I dont have pet insurance Too many exclusions, I'd rather just put money away into an account for emergencies. I guess though if you are paying by the month, in order to cover your claim you need to have paid the full year out, that's the same with any insurance, is this what they were getting at? I disagree with this point. Not a dog but I had a car stolen one month after the policy was renewed and the insurance company paid out on the policy in full with no further payments required. If someone has life insurance and dies you do not have to continue paying the year out in order to claim. I think this is just a scam to try and get money from you. I would be asking the Dept of Fair Trading (Name varies from state to state) or get in touch with the insurance industry ombudsman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 You may disagree but if it says that in the PDS, which it does with medibank pet insurance, then unfortunately that's the way it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This is why I dont have pet insurance Too many exclusions, I'd rather just put money away into an account for emergencies. I guess though if you are paying by the month, in order to cover your claim you need to have paid the full year out, that's the same with any insurance, is this what they were getting at? I disagree with this point. Not a dog but I had a car stolen one month after the policy was renewed and the insurance company paid out on the policy in full with no further payments required. If someone has life insurance and dies you do not have to continue paying the year out in order to claim. I think this is just a scam to try and get money from you. I would be asking the Dept of Fair Trading (Name varies from state to state) or get in touch with the insurance industry ombudsman. My car was written off and they deducted my remaining monthly payments from my payout figure and that was the end of that policy for that car. I think in most cases, the bolded point is correct as that is how insurance companies normally operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelsquest Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This is why I dont have pet insurance Too many exclusions, I'd rather just put money away into an account for emergencies. I guess though if you are paying by the month, in order to cover your claim you need to have paid the full year out, that's the same with any insurance, is this what they were getting at? I disagree with this point. Not a dog but I had a car stolen one month after the policy was renewed and the insurance company paid out on the policy in full with no further payments required. If someone has life insurance and dies you do not have to continue paying the year out in order to claim. I think this is just a scam to try and get money from you. I would be asking the Dept of Fair Trading (Name varies from state to state) or get in touch with the insurance industry ombudsman. Did you pay the policy in full when it was renewed? The (car) insurance companies I have worked for, if you are paying monthly and your car is written off, the remaining monthly payments are taken out of your payout. I would expect in the OP's case, they would do the same. OP, was the policy renewal date in October? It will be somewhere in your paperwork that the policy has to be paid in full. I would ask them if they can just take the remaining monthly premiums out of any payment before they send it to you. Makes sense from a business point of view if you think about it, if the policy is renewed in October, you have only paid one months worth of premiums. I *think* (could be wrong), when I was looking at pet insurance, all the policies say that if you make a claim, and then wanted to change companies/cancel your policy etc, there is no refund on whatever part of the policy is remaining. If a claim hadn't been made, a refund would be owing (assuming policy paid in full up front). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarracully Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This is why I dont have pet insurance Too many exclusions, I'd rather just put money away into an account for emergencies. I guess though if you are paying by the month, in order to cover your claim you need to have paid the full year out, that's the same with any insurance, is this what they were getting at? I disagree with this point. Not a dog but I had a car stolen one month after the policy was renewed and the insurance company paid out on the policy in full with no further payments required. If someone has life insurance and dies you do not have to continue paying the year out in order to claim. I think this is just a scam to try and get money from you. I would be asking the Dept of Fair Trading (Name varies from state to state) or get in touch with the insurance industry ombudsman. Did you pay the policy in full when it was renewed? The (car) insurance companies I have worked for, if you are paying monthly and your car is written off, the remaining monthly payments are taken out of your payout. I would expect in the OP's case, they would do the same. OP, was the policy renewal date in October? It will be somewhere in your paperwork that the policy has to be paid in full. I would ask them if they can just take the remaining monthly premiums out of any payment before they send it to you. Makes sense from a business point of view if you think about it, if the policy is renewed in October, you have only paid one months worth of premiums. I *think* (could be wrong), when I was looking at pet insurance, all the policies say that if you make a claim, and then wanted to change companies/cancel your policy etc, there is no refund on whatever part of the policy is remaining. If a claim hadn't been made, a refund would be owing (assuming policy paid in full up front). Monthly payments only and no request for further or continuing payments. No money deducted from payout either. Have to say this is the only time I have had to claim from an insurance company so don't know what others do. But this is the way Shannons Insurance worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 When my dog who was insured died, when I went to cancel the policy I had to pay out the remainder of the premiums. Insurance policies are not monthly policies - they are an annual policy which they let you pay monthly. If you want to cancel (which would be through a final claim) then yes, paying out the premium is to be expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I haven't heard of anything like that before sorry. I've had very good experiences so far with Medibank. They've paid me over $2000 so far, waiting on $4000ish to come back soon, with another $4000 to be sent to them in about a month. It is industry standard - the policy is for a year but they let you pat monthly. If you make any claims you have to pay for the full year. It is part of the terms and conditions. I am sorry for your loss DD, however I understand why they do it as the policy is for a full year. They could keep better records though and deal with thins sensitively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
❤LovesPoodles❤ Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 The only time you don't have to keep paying your monthly premium is if you cancel and don't make a claim. So they are saying you can not make a claim or cancel otherwise if you want to make a claim you have to pay the whole years premium. Which does make sense to me. If you had paid the whole year upfront you'd make the claim and be done with it, you wouldn't be getting your premium back though because you paid them for the insurance cover. If that makes sense??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydoo Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This is why I dont have pet insurance Too many exclusions, I'd rather just put money away into an account for emergencies. I guess though if you are paying by the month, in order to cover your claim you need to have paid the full year out, that's the same with any insurance, is this what they were getting at? I disagree with this point. Not a dog but I had a car stolen one month after the policy was renewed and the insurance company paid out on the policy in full with no further payments required. If someone has life insurance and dies you do not have to continue paying the year out in order to claim. I think this is just a scam to try and get money from you. I would be asking the Dept of Fair Trading (Name varies from state to state) or get in touch with the insurance industry ombudsman. You wouldn't have to continue paying life insurance instalments because the insurer would most likely deduct any outstanding amounts from the payout figure. We claimed on monthly paid life and mortgage policies not long ago and both insurers most certainly ensured the full annual premium was paid before handing over a cent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topoftheheap Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) my understanding from my insurance with Medibank is that if you make a claim in the year you must pay for the entire year even if the dog has passed. even if you continue to pay the $37 a month until October and make your $800 you are at least $400 better off. that's not considering the amount of money the op has paid over the life of the insurance payment while the dog was alive. A very rough working out by me puts the op at paying around $1300 over the life of his insurance payment including the extra payments, so they are definately worse off. I HATE insurance companies. They are schemers and have so many exclusions and ways out of paying things that the average person can just not concieve. I agree with you too, that it is wrong. Considering your pet died in October, when if you started your policy in Sept 09, the beginning of your year would be Sept 2011, it is only one month into the next year. Surely rather than you paying 11 months of a years policy that your dog is in no way going to use, is wrong. Im sorry for your loss, and im sorry that some corporate body intends to compound your loss by making you have to deal with this. Edited January 4, 2012 by tibbiesby2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keira&Phoenix Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 my understanding from my insurance with Medibank is that if you make a claim in the year you must pay for the entire year even if the dog has passed. even if you continue to pay the $37 a month until October and make your $800 you are at least $400 better off. that's not considering the amount of money the op has paid over the life of the insurance payment while the dog was alive. A very rough working out by me puts the op at paying around $1300 over the life of his insurance payment including the extra payments, so they are definately worse off. I HATE insurance companies. They are schemers and have so many exclusions and ways out of paying things that the average person can just not concieve. I agree with you too, that it is wrong. Considering your pet died in October, when if you started your policy in Sept 09, the beginning of your year would be Sept 2011, it is only one month into the next year. Surely rather than you paying 11 months of a years policy that your dog is in no way going to use, is wrong. Im sorry for your loss, and im sorry that some corporate body intends to compound your loss by making you have to deal with this. No as already stated by other members. An insurance company sells you *annual* insurance which they allow you to pay monthly in installments to make it more affordable. If you claim on that years policy then you have to pay for the whole years policy. My mums car was written off in an accident in October 2010 the insurance had only renewed in September and the insurance company took the remaining years payments from the payout. This is common insurance company policy. I am with medibank for my youngest dog and made several claims last year with no dramas. Very sorry for you loss OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now