Be wary changing insurance

Read that if your dog had been free of an illness for a year one of the main pet insurers would cover the dog so long as you got a letter from the vet. Rang them up and had a nice chat with an online advisor. Had already filled in a proposal form online so they had everything in front of them - being honest never left a thing out, even phoned the vet to make sure I had my facts right.

Bottom line was they said they would exclude skin problems - well fair enough, he has not seen a vet for 12 months and that was only for a booster but skin probs can occur at any time - his was summer allergies. So duly signed up commenced the direct debit etc and they said they would send my policy out.

Now normally I dont read the small print [yes I know very silly] but having had probs with this company in the distant past thought I had better and just as well

Exclusions - Skin problems and anything to do with the ears, - thought that strange and read on - any illnesses before the policy commenced would not be covered - er not what I had been told by their online sales advisor. I kept going back and reading it over and over and the "ears" really puzzled me as I dont think he has ever had a problem with either ear. Decided to phone.

Apparently if skin problems are excluded that covers the ears too as apparently 90% of claims to do with skin have something wrong with the ears as well: Why was I not told this on my original call???? I got an apology for that.

Then I mentioned the other ailments before being insured and being told so long as I had documentation from the vet they would cover the dog. Not so, the dog would have to be clear 24 months and they would need a letter from the vet to substantiate this. To be honest this did not really worry me as it was only a season allergy he had and easily treated.

OK says I [getting in my stride] what about a heart murmur when he was a pup, at 11 months he had a heart scan which showed his heart was normal and no murmur. If at a later date 8 / 10 years downline he develops a heart problem will you still cover it? She couldnt answer that and said she would have to check with the underwriters. I was quite annoyed at this stage as the original advisor said the dog would be covered and it would be no problem. I felt I had been given incorrect information in the first place. She was very nice and apologised and I could not fault her for being helpful etc however...... why dont all their sales advisors know about ear exclusions and to check with the underwriters about such things as heart murmurs/heart scans?

I told her to cancel the policy - at least where he is now he is insured for life and it covers everything.

The only reason I was changing was because this ins co are the only insurance company our vets will claim directly off. The rest of them you have to pay the vets first and then claim back off the insurance company yourself.

If you do change and sign up with another company make sure you read the small print very carefully when you get your policy especially if you sign up online or over the phone.