Latest Reviews for Pet Insurance |
| Date Submitted: | May 4, 2010 |
| Pet Insurer: | ShelterCare Pet Insurance |
| Coverage: | 1 out of 10 |
| Claims: | 1 out of 10 |
| Customer Service: | 1 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 1 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | No |
| Review: | Why spend the money buying insurance.... We adopted a German Sheppard from a shelter and received their ShelterCare gift policy. Within the first week our new 1.25 year old dog developed diarrhea. We had to take her to a vet and they had to run some fecal tests to find she had a bacterial overgrowth. The bill was $210 paid out of pocket. Submitted a claim and about a month later still had not heard anything. Called in and they said they mailed the response, but it was not covered under the conditions of the “GIFT” policy. So I ate the 210 on the vet bill and upgraded the coverage. Here is where is gets really funny. We struggled for about a month with her eating, trying different foods, doing anything we could to get her to eat, but she was losing weight to fast and as down to 48 lbs….which is small for a dog her size and her diarrhea was back. So again we went to the vet and they had to run blood test, one checking for a special disorder common in German Sheppard’s. She was diagnosed with EPI. After everything with the vets, tests, and medications, the bill was around 680 dollars. One week later she was in better health, but developed a bladder infection. Again it was to the vet and another 370 dollars in vet bills. Sent both claims to ShelterCare on the same day and waited over a month to hear anything (called 4 times checking and requested a supervisor call me….which they never did). Finally a month and a half later I was told the responses were sent. I received the check yesterday. All I could do is laugh. The $680 dollar claim was denied saying her EPI condition was a preexisting condition (per the diarrhea claim that was not covered). Keep in mind this was a shelter dog. AS for the 370 dollar claim, they covered 102 of it. That was enough for me. Between the customer service and the BS for coverage, your better off taking the 40 dollars a month and putting it into a account for vet bills (coming from my sister who s a Vet in PA). Total claimed while having their insurance: $1,260.00 Total cost of the insurance: $ 120.00 Total covered by insurance: $ 102.00 Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Lee 26 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Combined Locks WI |
| Date Submitted: | April 20, 2010 |
| Pet Insurer: | Veterinary Pet Insurance |
| Coverage: | 1 out of 10 |
| Claims: | 1 out of 10 |
| Customer Service: | 1 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 1 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | No |
| Review: | DON'T Buy VPI, beware of the UCR chart. This company is a complete rip off. Stay away. You have to watch the fine print of the policy. They have a Reasonable and Customary Cost chart for procedure. This is where they scam you at. They tell you have $9,500 in coverage, but the reality (using the reasonable and customary I was looking for Pet insurance for my two Golden Retrievers. I wanted something that would cover catastrophic/expensive types of issues (Any type of procedure that would be $1,000 +). Now I did not expect my plan to cover basic/yearly vaccines and such. I realize that insurance companies are out for profit. So any pet plan that covers this yearly type stuff is going to have cost + profit built in for them. I could not find anything that quite fit what I was looking for. So I settled on VPI. They claimed to cover me up to $9,500 a year. There was a $50 deductible. For this I was paying over $700 yearly. So this was more expensive then I wanted, but I settled for this. Well my beloved dog Miller was limping would not put any weight on his back right leg. Even when chasing his Tennis Balls. I knew there was a big problem and did not want him to aggravate the injury. So I took him to have the vet check him out (I live in Atlanta). The Vet gave him an exam decided to not X-Ray and determined it was a sever sprain/partial tear of the ligament. He prescribed an Anti-inflammatory medication, Pain Medication, and rest/restricted activity to let it heal. For this, I had a bill of: $58 exam, 60 meds, and some taxes. Very reasonable. I don’t have the cheapest vet, but not the most expensive either. It is a wonderful practice that my Rescue Organization used. While this was not the type of injury I was originally looking for when I bought the insurance, I figured I was paying for it. So I submitted the claim (Considered Soft Tissue Damamge). I submitted the claim, and figured I would get the 90% reimbursement minus the deductible (Somewhere around $50 back). To my shock, (And after many weeks and many calls about the claim) I was reimbursed $6.70. I figured they had screwed up at VPI and almost thought it was not worth the time to complain. But I finally called and asked for some sort of sanity check here. Well the VPI Representative said that for this type of procedure (Soft Tissue Damage), under their Reasonable and Customary practice, they would only cover up to $58. Well tell you, there is no license vet in Atlanta that will charge less the $50 just for the exam. Let alone any sort of treatment (In my case the medications). To say I was upset, was an understatement. I then began to look over their Reasonable/Customary fee practice sheet and I was appalled. Even the most severe type surgery, there reasonable fee schedule was $1,200 max. For these types that they covered $1,200, my vet bill would be well above $5,000. I challenged VIP to find any vet with in 30 miles of my location where this $58 would cover this and demanded how they came up with this customary expense sheet. They could not, you “Just have to trust them.” An honest assessment of my policy, for me to collect the $9,500, my dogs would have to have had 8 separate yet major types of surgeries (These types of events would require me to see a specialist. Most likely have to go to University of Georgia in Athens or Auburn University that have these Majors). That is unrealistic, and if it did happen, conservatively my vet bills would be $50,000+.. VPI Reasonable rate chart basically covers approximately 15% to 50% of the true cost you will see. And the more expensive types, the closer to 15% you will get. Not really why you buy insurance. There is in the fine print a notice of this reasonable/customary fee schedule. However, you will not see the actual amounts assigned until after you have already signed up and paid. For you to discover this, you have to sign up, pay, then read this schedule payouts. Then cancel. Most people don’t. I was lucky, I found out on a relatively inexpensive issue. I have seen many reviews from people who did not run into this until after they had huge vet bills only to see that VPI Customer Fees were around 15% of the true costs. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Greg T from Atlanta 39 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Atlanta |
| Date Submitted: | April 16, 2010 |
| Pet Insurer: | Embrace Pet Insurance |
| Coverage: | 10 out of 10 |
| Claims: | 10 out of 10 |
| Customer Service: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 8 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Wonderful product We had this insurance when our 8 year old chow cross developed a malignancy around the lining of her heart. It cost $2500 just to perform a proper diagnosis with all the bloodwork and tests involved. Unfortunately there were no options for our beloved pet that would provide long term quality of life so we had to euthanize her. Thank goodness we had this insurance. They were very prompt in paying our claim and paid 80% of the costs. Their customer service is wonderful. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | petsbestfriend 62 year-old :: Female Reviewer :: Albuquerque, NM |
| Date Submitted: | April 7, 2010 |
| Pet Insurer: | ShelterCare Pet Insurance |
| Coverage: | 10 out of 10 |
| Claims: | 10 out of 10 |
| Customer Service: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 10 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Thank goodness I'm so grateful that we received a "gift of insurance" policy when we adopted a puppy from the local humane society. Unfortunately, she got very sick very quickly - she was diagnosed with parvo and we tried everything we could but had to put her down after just a week. Sheltercare was excellent. The customer service was responsive and kind. I wish that I had upgraded my policy before she got sick - and I will always do that in the future. But they made good on the policy and quickly paid the maximum ($750) for the gift policy when we submitted our receipts and medical records. I am glad that I bought policies on my 2 older pets. Now that I know how much I would want to continue treatment, I am glad that money will not have to be the determining factor. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Amanda 31 year-old :: Female Reviewer :: Decatur, GA |
| Date Submitted: | March 30, 2010 |
| Pet Insurer: | Trupanion |
| Coverage: | 10 out of 10 |
| Claims: | 10 out of 10 |
| Customer Service: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 9 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Thank you trupanion They have been really great with the loss of our first pet and we got a new one and enrolled with them just because they were so genuine, caring, helpful, and provide excellent coverage. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Tina 32 year-old :: Female Reviewer :: Medford |
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