An expensive business! (More Than Pet Insurance)

Member Name: Hannah0802

Product:	More Than Pet Insurance
Date:	08/04/09 (376 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to take policy out, polite staff

Disadvantages: Slow at handling, little advice

One of the major conditions when I bought my puppy was that we had to get pet insurance. I knew from other members of my family how expensive vet bills can be and with a serious lack of savings I knew that if anything was to happen to our puppy we would struggle to pay any bills.

As a good money saving expert I trawled Quidco for Pet Insurance quotes and after checking cashback offers and policy covers More Than worked out to be the best deal. I received £60 cashback and was charged £12 a month for my dog. One of the main benefits on this policy was the level of vet fees cover. They cover her for £7000 per illness per year, many of the other policies I checked only cover £7000 all year so in reality if she was ill twice in one year we could easily hit the limit of the policy cover.

I used their website to get a quote and it was very simple to take out the policy. You merely hit "accept" filled out a small form and your bank details and the job was done. I received all the paperwork within about 5 days and all the literature was clear and concise.

Unfortunately when my puppy was 7 months old she became very ill. She lost a lot of weight and went from a mad springer spaniel with an enormous amount of energy to a lethargic and sad puppy.

I took her to my vets and after many tests and £700 she was diagnosed with Lung Worm. She was on heavy antibiotics for two weeks but showed little sign of improvement so I took her back to the vets. They too were concerned with her lack of improvement and they referred me to a local specialist vets with a warning that it would be expensive. Obviously as a distraught puppy owner and with pet insurance I happily took her to the specialists.

After a week long stay with the specialists and a £3000 bill she was finally diagnosed with meninigitis. Two heavy shots of steroids later and she was sent home with medication and thankfully she is now back to her old self. She is still recovering and will be on steroids for some time possibly for the rest of her life but she is back to the nutty puppy that you would expect from a 9 month old Springer Spaniel.

Both my vets and the specialists submitted my claim to More Than for my vets fees. The correct forms were completed and all her medication and treatments duly listed.

Now on their website More Than claim that they deal with claims on the day they are received so I expected that my claim would be handled quickly. However, three weeks later I am still awaiting a cheque or even a written acknowledgement of the claim.

I have rung their claims advice line on numerous occassions. On the plus side I have always mananged to speak to an advisor within a few minutes and they have been very polite, however, they offer very little help. I have been advised on around 5 occassions now that my claim is being processed but when you ask exactly what this means they can offer little explanation. The advisor you speak to seem merely to be there to be polite and get rid of your call rather than offer any advice.

So here I am having duly paid for my insurance almost £4000 out of pocket. Hopefully the cheques will arrive soon.

I am afraid from my current experience of More Than I would not recommend them to a friend. Although taking out the policy is easy it would seem that claiming isn't.

Summary: Just happy my puppy is better!