Morethan changing excess percentage before claim

[theboywilliams]

Hi All,

 

I'll try and keep this as succint as possible, I just want to gauge some opinions on a current issue I'm having with morethan pet insurance.

 

Our cat is 13 years old and requires surgery costing up to £8k. We've had our policy since he was 8 weeks old, with the same provider (morethan), and have never made any changes to the policy ourselves. The cover limit is £8k (plus whatever excess fees, which we'll get to)...

 

The last paperwork we received from them was the payment schedule this time last year (it also detailed the policy renewal date as 5th June 2018; we were yet to receive the payment schedule, which seems odd considering 3 weeks have passed since the renewal date). On the last payment schedule it detailed the t&c and we noted that as the cat was over 9 years old we'd pay £150 plus 10% of the final costs. Fine. So we go ahead knowing that that's affordable. The cat had the operation today and is recovering well.

 

Also today (29th June) we receive our updated payment schedule (not by accident might I add - we had to phone to request this amidst the cats problems as we knew we'd need to show it to the vets) - now, the policy schedule says that as the cat is over 9 years we have to pay 20% of the final costs- instead of the 10% we were expecting as detailed on lasts years schedule.

 

My wife phones up the insurance company to query this and apparently they changed their excess structure in December 2017 and notified their customers - needless to say we didn't receive any notification from them.

 

So we're in a position with the vets bills coming in soon, and we'll have to pay double what we expected - if we'd known about the 20% we probably would have held off and had him monitored for a few more days before resorting to an op.

 

Naturally I'm suspicious that as the insurance company were aware of the claim incoming when we phoned to request this years they schedule, they took advantage of the 'between policy period' and have doubles our excess percentage! I can't see any excess percentages detailed on their website - are they done on a customer by customer basis, does anyone know?

 

Can anyone offer any sage advice as to our situation?! Do we have any legal footing due to the fact that we've not been notified of the changes?

 

Well, that's all folks, thanks for listening, and thanks in advance for any help!

[ericsbrother]

get them to prove they sent out the unpdates in the beginning of the year. there is alos a reasonable expectation that as they havent notified you beforehand about the changes that they werent in force at ther time you called them. Did you pay them on the 5th of june or at least before the op? Is it a fixed amount on a monthly basis or an annual charge

[theboywilliams]

get them to prove they sent out the unpdates in the beginning of the year. there is alos a reasonable expectation that as they havent notified you beforehand about the changes that they werent in force at ther time you called them. Did you pay them on the 5th of june or at least before the op? Is it a fixed amount on a monthly basis or an annual charge

 

Thanks for replying

 

We've always paid monthly by direct debit. I don't have the document to hand right now, but I believe each month is a fixed payment of £30 something, and the last payment for that year was at the end of May 2018. We've always just let it roll over year on year, and the cost has gradually risen with the cats age.

 

Our first conversation with the insurance was this Tuesday 26th, when we needed to call to give the vets permission to deal directly with the insurers and request the new payment schedule. Nothing was mentioned at the time about the excess, and we didn't asking as we assumed we had the correct info already on that front

 

The woman on the phone said it predated her employment but she believes everyone would have been written to in December. In terms of proof, what would be considered as evidence for them? They wouldn't have sent the letters recorded delivery, so even if they have some kind of proof of postage, there's no evidence that we were in receipt of anything

Edited June 29, 2018 by theboywilliams
clarification

[Ethel Street]

 

The woman on the phone said it predated her employment but she believes everyone would have been written to in December.

 

That sounds like a typical call centre person whose general insurance knowledge is weak.

 

It sounds as if this is an annual policy renewable 5th June. You pay the premium by monthly instalments but that's not relevant to the cover.

 

In annual policies the conditions that apply, including the excess percentage, is what is recorded in the policy in the policy at last renewal date. As a general rule insurers cannot change those during the 12 month period of your policy. Insurers may well change their standard policy wording in December 2017 but they can only apply it to individual policies as they come up for renewal. So the higher excess percentage could have been applied to you only from 5th June 2018, and that change would have to have been clearly advised to you prior to renewal.

 

So when did you submit the claim to morethan? If it was prior to 5th June 2018 the excess percentage should be the one you renewed the policy on in June 2017.

 

 

I don't know their actual pet insurance policy wording but that's how insurance normally works.

 

But if you didn't notify the claim until 26th June, after you had renewed the policy for 12 months, then the excess that applied from renewal 2018 will apply providing the renewal invitation they sent you included details of the increased excess percentage. When you got the documentation isn't so important. What's important is the paperwork they sent you before 5th June telling you what the renewal premium would be. Did that say in it somewhere that the excess percentage was increasing?

[theboywilliams]

It sounds as if this is an annual policy renewable 5th June. You pay the premium by monthly instalments but that's not relevant to the cover.

 

So when did you submit the claim to morethan? If it was prior to 5th June 2018 the excess percentage should be the one you renewed the policy on in June 2017.

 

I don't know their actual pet insurance policy wording but that's how insurance normally works.

 

But if you didn't notify the claim until 26th June, after you had renewed the policy for 12 months, then the excess that applied from renewal 2018 will apply providing the renewal invitation they sent you included details of the increased excess percentage. When you got the documentation isn't so important. What's important is the paperwork they sent you before 5th June telling you what the renewal premium would be. Did that say in it somewhere that the excess percentage was increasing?

 

The claim hasn't been submitted yet, and will be in three parts I expect; two lots to the regular vet (one of which Ive already paid by debit of £1700, and the claim form is sitting at the vets waiting for their input), and a bill for the specialist. So two of the three claims we're processing directly. Prior to us querying the policy change we'd spoken to the call centre twice on 23rd & 26th June to request me being added as joint policy holder, then again to request the new schedule and give permission for the vets to deal directly. The claim was mentioned in passing, but we didnt have costing details at the time

 

That's correct about it being an annual policy renewable on June 5th; the new schedule we received this morning states that the next renewal date is June 5th 2019.

 

I understand that terms can change between renewals but my gripe is that we didn't receive an invitation to renew and thus were not notified of the fees changing so drastically; and probably wouldn't have noticed for at least a few more weeks that is was overdue for renewal if not for the cat being ill etc.

 

I accept that we have to should some responsibility for not keeping on top of the renewal date, but it seems that they haven't carried out due diligence either regarding the policy. So where do we stand given that we weren't notified of the changes before the renewal date? Do the old terms still apply until we've consented to renewing, or is it a case that those terms have simply expired after June 5th and they have no obligation to honor them?

[Ethel Street]

Technically the answer is that if the insurer didn't notify you of the changes in cover then the increased excess percentage doesn't apply.

 

But I can predict what will happen when you say that to morethan. They will simply say that they did send the renewal invitation to you and it included notification that the excess percentage will be higher from renewal and that's the basis the policy was renewed on 5th June 2018. You will ask for a copy of it, they will send it to you, and it will indeed say there is a higher excess percentage. If it doesn't then you are in a strong position, but my guess is it will. So they say they sent it, you didn't receive it. It's a difficult position for you because the insurer doesn't have to show you received it, only that they sent it. morethan aren't responsible if Royal Mail fail to deliver it.

 

You could complain to the Ombudsman. I don't know what they say in cases like this. Other posters here may have a better idea how the Ombudsman deals with cases of 'insurer sent documents but they were never received'. I suspect the Ombudsman would say the policyholder also has an obligation to keep track of when the renewal is due and contact the insurer if no renewal invitation is received. I don't know though. It seems unlikely to me that the Ombudsman would generally find in favour of the policyholder in these cases unless there were some particular reason to doubt that your insurers had issued your specific renewal invitation. Otherwise anyone who didn't want to accept a change in cover from renewal could simply say 'I didn't receive it'. You never know though.

 

And from a practical point of view morethan, if they accept the claim, will no doubt insist the that the higher excess percentage applies and deduct that from the claim payment. So if you wanted to pursue the argument further you'd have no option but to sue morethan in the small claims court.

 

Next step: tell morethan you never received the renewal invitation and ask for a copy.