E&L Pet Insurance - anyone else had problems?

[stripeuk]

Just wondered if anyone else has had problems getting a claim settled from E & L Pet insurance? my claim was submitted in Nov 2006 for £164. Claim agreed but 19th April 2007 and still no sign of cheque!! I have telephoned them but they are most unhelpful, I cant speak to a claim manager I cant speak to a supervisor - my file is being processed, they cant tell me how long this will take as there is a backlog. Apparently I will get my cheque they just dont know when it will arrive.

Now is it just me or is this unfair! I had to pay the vet in November and the whole point of insurance was to cover a claim and yet still no money 5 months later.

If cheque does not arrive this week I am thinking of writing to them giving them 7 days to pay up before I start proceedings and claim interest from them

[Duffers Mum]

We have Direct Line Pet Insurance and when I submitted a claim and didn't receive payment I rang them and was told they have been advised to tell people not to expect payment for at least 12 weeks once the claim has been submitted because they are inundated with claims, possible it could be the same sort of thing. Must admit though that once I said I thought that a ridiculous amount of time to have to wait the cheque came through within the next few days.

It is really annoying as you say to have to pay the vets direct but then the insurance company, who you HAVE to pay on time every month, then take forever to process a claim. Keep chasing it and good luck

[xrchris]

In my experience E&L are awful. I have never recommended them to a client as they are notorious for providing poor service.

[craigwalton]

The FSA do need to be told about this - The FSA have told Insurance Companies, as part of the ICOB (Claims Handling procedure's)

"When settling a claim (in whole or part) pay it promptly (within 5 business days of the terms being agreed between the customer and the insurer"

[stripeuk]

thank you so much for your reply I am definately going to report them - still no cheque either!

[incamom]

Oh please, don't talk to me about E&L! I am at my wits end. I have paid out about £4K over the last couple of months (and counting) and although the first sums have now been agreed (after constant badgering and a complaint) I still haven't had any money....
But I am going to email them the quote someone has posted above re prompt payment.

[mrsfoot]

Anyone had any other problems with this company...maybe more recent?

Mrsfoot

[Ocelot0411]

Not a probelm as such but a bit of general info. I was with E & L until I changed vets recently. When I registered at the new vet they asked me who my insurance provider was and I answered E & L. My vet grimaced at this and said that she would advise me to change as it was nigh on impossible to get them to pay out. She advised I switch to petplan which I immediately did.

About a week later my dog ended up in the local animal hospital having to have surgery to remove a random object she ate. The will was about £1000.00. When it came to the insurance claim the animal hospital didn't make me pay the balance of the bill (I had already paid them £200 deposit) as they said they would get the rest back from petplan and said how fortunate it was that I was with petplan as they were very good.

I then told them that I had just changed from E & L. When I told them this they said I had been very lucky indeed as they refused to deal with E & L at all, as they were rude and would never pay up. So there you go. Pet[paln may be expensive but as any pet owner will tell you its better than a big fat vets bill.

[Tom87]

It's interesting and startling to read this. I'm considering getting pet insurance as my cat sadly and rudely keeps threatening to die every few months and it results in large vets' bills. But looking at the posts here, I don't think I will be choosing E & L, especially if vets themselves don't like them. How do they get away with apparently never paying up? How do they manage to function as a company with such a (apparently) bad reputation with both customers and vets? It would be interesting to hear an answer from a representative of E & L.

Most importantly, I wish you guys the best of luck with trying to claim the money that you deserve.

Edit: I just Googled them and looked for reviews of them - the reviews were awful! On one website, there were 86 reviews and the average rating they gave was 0.5 out of 10. I really want to know how E & L do it!

[Helford]

My vets here in rural Devon has a large laminated sign on the wall to the effect that anyone who has their animals insured with E & L will have to settle their vets bill initially themselves. The vets have given up trying to obtain reimbursement from E & L directly.

A far from glowing endorsement!

Be warned.

H

[Ocelot0411]

This is indeed absolutely shocking stuff. I am so glad I changed from them. It just goes to show that the cheapest option isn't always the best.

[mrsfoot]

My sister in law unfortunately has insurance with e and l. Her dog has had 3 ops the first in Jan 07 which has only just been paid out. Within 3 days of the first op notification which e and l ask for they put an amended clause stating a further op of its kind would not be paid out. The 2nd and third op were then paid by my sister in law in full. After reading through the policies / letters / emails and all other bumf from these people we have just seen that the new clause stared from Aug 2008....mistake on their part but hey....they now have to repay all of the money in full and within 14 days. This was sorted on Monday and the cheque for all monies arrived yesterday! In their policy they state you must claim within 90 days or lose out. I stated they had breach their own contract by leaving the policy holder on unfair footing and taking over 16 months (480 days) to make the payment. They cannot hold a clause valid if all parties are not bound by them equally.

Dont let then fob you off if you have a policy with them....and dont forget to make a formal complaint to the financial ombudsman regarding their behaviour!

Hope this helps.....If necessary I can copy the letter I wrote for tohers to use.Just let me know

[Sve]

Originally Posted by mrsfoot

My sister in law unfortunately has insurance with e and l. Her dog has had 3 ops the first in Jan 07 which has only just been paid out. Within 3 days of the first op notification which e and l ask for they put an amended clause stating a further op of its kind would not be paid out. The 2nd and third op were then paid by my sister in law in full. After reading through the policies / letters / emails and all other bumf from these people we have just seen that the new clause stared from Aug 2008....mistake on their part but hey....they now have to repay all of the money in full and within 14 days. This was sorted on Monday and the cheque for all monies arrived yesterday! In their policy they state you must claim within 90 days or lose out. I stated they had breach their own contract by leaving the policy holder on unfair footing and taking over 16 months (480 days) to make the payment. They cannot hold a clause valid if all parties are not bound by them equally.

Dont let then fob you off if you have a policy with them....and dont forget to make a formal complaint to the financial ombudsman regarding their behaviour!

Hope this helps.....If necessary I can copy the letter I wrote for tohers to use.Just let me know

Hi,
Can you please post the letter? I am currently waiting for decision on two claims I submitted to them!

[berrti]

Glad I found this thread. I have been looking for insurance for my horse and got a good quote from E & L - now I know why they are the cheapest.

[Surfer01]

If you go on any caravan forum you will find numerous complaints against them. In addition, their payments are per lunar month not monthly so you end up paying 13 payments in one year instead of twelve.

[saywell]

They're still at it.

Clain approved early March. Still no payment.


What options are available to extract the money from them?


William

[mrsfoot]

Hi

I have given the contracts back to my sister in law, however in there is a clause which states you have to claim within 90 days. In response and to remain fair and on an equal footing they should treat you similar. Use this to get your money....it worked for my sister in law.

I did hhope to put the letter I wrote on here but I seemt o have lost in...I will keep looking and try uploading it for you all to use.

[catnap]

We are currently in dispute with E & L having been with them for over 17 years & this is our first claim. Since starting the claim we have sadly lost our dear cat, Rocky, so it makes it all the more distressing to have to keep chasing them up.
Our vets receptionist 'screamed' when we told her who our insurers were, they have had so many problems with them.
Our claim began at the beginning of April when Rocky was undergoing tests re weightloss. He then had tooth extractions & seemed to recover well until rapidly going downhill on May 10th when we had to rush him to the emergency vet & make the decision to put him to sleep. We are still distraught by that. But we have had to chase E & L all the time. Letters they claim to have sent, we have not received. You hardly ever get to speak to the same person & never get to talk to anyone in authority. One person tells you one thing then another something totally different. They have virtually called our vets liars yet refused to discuss it with a veterinary nurse who called on our behalf. My husband has a list of times, dates & names of various people he has spoken to.
It took E & L 11 months to tell us one of, our then 3, cats had not been covered since last April. Due to the fact they wouldn't take all 3 payments in one lump, it appeared on my bank statements that 3 payments were coming out. But when I checked online carefully it was only two with overlapping dates. Remiss of me not to notice, but why did it take them 11 months to tell us? We have not reinsured Shandy. As soon as we get settlement from them for Rocky we will cancel our eldest cat Mistys insurance too. Its just not worth the bother on top of the heartache. These people have no compassion & seem completely incompetent.