JackC Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) Sorry to bump this but I just wanted to chime in and say I am moving from petplan to putting the money into a locked savings accounts, my premium went up buy 80% to just over $80 per month, it is insane and the worse part is they won't take into account the dogs parental history and tests already done to prove it is clear of all known issues with the breed. heck i know more about my boys health and family history than my own. 4 years in a locked savings account will net around 5K cash and keep on growing as he gets older, so any problems should be covered. Edited August 8, 2014 by JackC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serket Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 My premiums have gone from around 550 to almost 800 for a golden retriever, so not as bad as some others. They also took almost 4 weeks to send me the details of my 6 weeks puppy insurance which had both myself and the breeder quite stressed since we couldn't get hold of them by phone or email to confirm if it had gone through at all etc. Not hugely pleased, but the alternatives have their own flaws and seem to be rising in price too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchnauzerMax Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) Sorry to bump this but I just wanted to chime in and say I am moving from petplan to putting the money into a locked savings accounts, my premium went up buy 80% to just over $80 per month, it is insane and the worse part is they won't take into account the dogs parental history and tests already done to prove it is clear of all known issues with the breed. heck i know more about my boys health and family history than my own. 4 years in a locked savings account will net around 5K cash and keep on growing as he gets older, so any problems should be covered. I'm moving Remy (my standard schnauzer) to Medibank. Max (my mini schnauzer) was with Medibank from the start, so I get an additional discount for Remy. If next year sees huge increases with Medibank, then I will be doing the same as you . ETA. I still have not received a renewal for Remy from Petplan. I pay annually instead of direct debit, so I wonder what will happen? Edited August 8, 2014 by SchnauzerMax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Sorry to bump this but I just wanted to chime in and say I am moving from petplan to putting the money into a locked savings accounts, my premium went up buy 80% to just over $80 per month, it is insane and the worse part is they won't take into account the dogs parental history and tests already done to prove it is clear of all known issues with the breed. heck i know more about my boys health and family history than my own. 4 years in a locked savings account will net around 5K cash and keep on growing as he gets older, so any problems should be covered. Hate to put a downer on this but $5000 is nothing if your dog needs major surgery. That plus four years at $80 per month = $3840 (not $5000). You need to have at least $10,000 in the account if you want to cover your dog for a major surgery. Are you assuming your dog will have no accidents or health concerns at all in the four years it takes you to accumulate $3840 in the account and that you won't need to draw from this account to pay for, say, $500 or so in vet fees? The $500 would cover two or three consults plus medication and tests. If xrays are needed it will cost more. Also if any 'minor' surgery is required you're looking at around $3000+ depending on the kind of surgery required e.g dog swallowed something indigestible that caused an obstruction. Though a dental is not covered by most pet insurers, if your dog needs dental in the first 5 years of life, there goes another few hundred $$$ which you may need to draw from your pet savings account. One of my dogs had never had a sick day in his life and at 5 years of age he suffered a ruptured disk in his spine. The cost of imaging (myelogram) and the subsequent surgery was around $7500 and this was 5 years ago. You can bet the cost of the surgery has increased considerably since then. The only way I would do this is if I had $7000-8000 to deposit in the pet account right now and then deposit $100 each month to the account until the account balance reached $15000. At this point I would cease contributions and let the interest the account attracts increase the balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Sorry to bump this but I just wanted to chime in and say I am moving from petplan to putting the money into a locked savings accounts, my premium went up buy 80% to just over $80 per month, it is insane and the worse part is they won't take into account the dogs parental history and tests already done to prove it is clear of all known issues with the breed. heck i know more about my boys health and family history than my own. 4 years in a locked savings account will net around 5K cash and keep on growing as he gets older, so any problems should be covered. Hate to put a downer on this but $5000 is nothing if your dog needs major surgery. That plus four years at $80 per month = $3840 (not $5000). You need to have at least $10,000 in the account if you want to cover your dog for a major surgery. Are you assuming your dog will have no accidents or health concerns at all in the four years it takes you to accumulate $3840 in the account and that you won't need to draw from this account to pay for, say, $500 or so in vet fees? The $500 would cover two or three consults plus medication and tests. If xrays are needed it will cost more. Also if any 'minor' surgery is required you're looking at around $3000+ depending on the kind of surgery required e.g dog swallowed something indigestible that caused an obstruction. Though a dental is not covered by most pet insurers, if your dog needs dental in the first 5 years of life, there goes another few hundred $$ which you may need to draw from your pet savings account. One of my dogs had never had a sick day in his life and at 5 years of age he suffered a ruptured disk in his spine. The cost of imaging (myelogram) and the subsequent surgery was around $7500 and this was 5 years ago. You can bet the cost of the surgery has increased considerably since then. The only way I would do this is if I had $7000-8000 to deposit in the pet account right now and then deposit $100 each month to the account until the account balance reached $15000. At this point I would cease contributions and let the interest the account attracts increase the balance. Do your vets allow your insurers to pay direct to them? Because all the vets here make you pay upfront, so you need the money saved up either way. With insurance you do get it back, but yea... you need to have it saved up anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Yep, what Lisa said. I pay the vets with credit card and when I'm reimbursed by the pet insurance company it goes to pay off the credit card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 My 16month old has cost me over $1000 in the last few days and likely to double that in the coming months while we get to the bottom of what is going on. Definitely glad I decided to insure her as putting away money into a savings account (which I have done for previous dogs) would never have covered it at this age. Now to continue the battle with petplan as they still haven't taken any payments out for her since May. They have assured me she is still covered though and I have that emailed saved so fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 So I have all the money refunded that I'm supposed to have. BUT, I find out yesterday that they cancelled Kenzie's policy a month ago!!! At no point have I requested for her policy to be cancelled and there is no reason for it to be cancelled. I don't get how they can do that without me requesting it nor informing me. I've now signed her up with soemone else (as of today!), so I don't want the policy reinstated, but I feel like I should be able to complain about this to someone. Is this the sort of thing you can complain to the ombudsman about? Is there anyone who this sort of thing can be reported to? It feels to me like quite unethical practice (I know, don't expect ethics from an insurance company!!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) Read their PDS. There will be something in there telling you that they can cancel the policy but I think they have to tell you they're doing so. That was an awful thing for them to do. You would have thought Kenzie was still insured. When did they stop taking payments for her policy? efs Edited August 8, 2014 by cavNrott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 They told me in an email just last week or so that they had stopped the payment until I decided if I wanted to keep the policy (which they did because I enquired what the new premium would be in November, and if they would actually send me the paperwork before the renewal date!). But then in another email the other day I was told that they had actually refunded and cancelled Kenz's policy about a month ago. So I really haven't been notified officially/correctly in any way!! I want to know if there is someone you can complain to, even though they have refunded money etc. I just want to get it to some official body that they have done this, and left me uninsured without notifying me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackC Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 sorry for the last post, I was venting a little, I've got savings aside for my boy as well as my current petplan payments so hopefully I will have him covered. I just hope they don't keep increasing the premiums or atleast start to take into account genetic history, dna tests etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 JackC. We all vent about pet insurance and their ridiculous hikes in premiums. No apology necessary ;) It sounds like you have a good plan having savings set aside. Pet insurance companies are not interested in the dogs genetics and I doubt they'll ever take this into account. I also bet they'll continue to increase our premiums at a ridiculous rate because they can. The cost of veterinary procedures are so prohibitive now that pet insurance is necessary for most of us. Our claims reflect this so they're covering their bases. A few years ago I cancelled my Rottweiler's policy because I got fed up with their ducking and weaving while trying to find a reason not to reimburse me for a surgery she had. A couple of years later my girl developed cancer and because she was no longer insured it cost me tens of thousands of $$ for her oncology treatment. It wasn't smart of me to get all huffy and cancel her policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 I received my renewal in the mail today, it's due at the end of the month. I have been paying $44.90 a month and the new rate is $52.18 a month, so an increase of only $7.23 which is a lot less than I was expecting. I just had my policy renewal notice come through (after ringing and asking for it!) and both Moose and Nacho have gone from $40.65 to $58.39 each. I don't mind a premium increase but 50%!! Crikey moses. Two Chihuahuas cost more for health insurance than I do. :laugh: I can't understand the difference in rates when we both own the same breed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchnauzerMax Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 One of the differences may be the death benefit. You can opt out of it hence smaller price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchnauzerMax Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 (edited) I just received the renewal paperwork from Petplan (that should have arrived 3 weeks ago). The cover letter is addressed to me but the certificate of insurance is for a 5 year old female chocolate Labrador called Ruby who lives in Tullamarine, Victoria. Considering Remy is a 3 year old male schnauzer and the certificate of insurance also has Ruby's owner's name and address, I'm a bit concerned. I know Petplan is better on paper but what price do you put on getting the basic details right? EFS Edited August 16, 2014 by SchnauzerMax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I thought it was all over, but no... Today my credit card was debited by PetPlan again!!! SO I have sent another angry email, told them I'm going to inform the ombudsman (does anyone know the appropriate details for that?!) demanded a refund within 48 hours, demaned they send me an email and a paper letter outlining which policies I had when they were cancelled etc etc. Will just wait to see what happens. But really if anyone knows what the ombudsman details are I"m over it now and am ready to send something to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Financial Ombudsman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchnauzerMax Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I thought it was all over, but no... Today my credit card was debited by PetPlan again!!! SO I have sent another angry email, told them I'm going to inform the ombudsman (does anyone know the appropriate details for that?!) demanded a refund within 48 hours, demanded they send me an email and a paper letter outlining which policies I had when they were cancelled etc etc. Will just wait to see what happens. But really if anyone knows what the ombudsman details are I"m over it now and am ready to send something to them. Financial Services Ombudsman http://www.fos.org.au/ 1300 78 08 08 Have look through the website. Make sure you know what outcome(s) you want to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I just received my policy renewal documents for my two dogs. After an increase of 98% last year we have another 50% increase this year. I'm not with Pet Plan though. It gives me some small sense of satisfaction that I have $1200 worth of vet bills to send for reimbursement for which they pay 80% of the total amount less my $100 excess fee. I'm so upset that my dog suddenly became unwell and that he will have ongoing health problems but thank heavens I have both dogs insured. This $1200 bill was racked up in only one day plus a follow up consult. A couple of xrays and some meds and there we are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 well they have pulled the same dirty trick on me, ignored my letter to cancel, even though they answered it, and taken out double of what I was paying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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