More than 50,000 policyholders
Pet policyholders with Lloyds TSB & Halifax have been told they no longer have cover .........
Sir Sproket CJ ( BAR)
Lloyds TSB Halifax were only the intermediary here. They acted like an Insurance Broker and placed their scheme with a Swedish Insurer Agria Pet Insurance a specialist company of the Länsförsäkrings Alliance which is comprised of 24 regional mutual insurance companies together with the jointly owned Länsförsäkrings AB, the hub of the Alliance.
Agria didn't want to be involved anymore. I'm very surprised the mighty Lloyds TSB didn't find an alternative Insurer to continue
cover for their customers.
Well done Lloyds TSB, yet another failure leaving the poor customer high and dry.
The vets also seem to over charge on their medication prices. We were charged £10 for 100ml of medication by our vet Companion care who are based in a chain of pet food suppliers retail shops. You can buy 500ml over the counter for under £6 from any chemist. Last week a tube of 10ml eye cream costs us £12 and can be bought on the intenet for under £6, but a prescription is required. The consultation fee is £25.99 and a second consultation fee for the same problem is £19.99. A total of just under £45 for less than 30 minutes! I wished I earned £45 an hour never mind £45 for half an hour. The vet is Companion Care based in Pet Supplies chain of stores.
With the Halifax etc apparently the customers signed up as it was a "lifetime" subscription for their animal as long as you renewed every year. I can see this going to court and Halifax/Lloyds losing same as the PPI issue. This extremely bad publicity for Halifax and Lloyds.
The vets also seem to over charge on their medication prices. We were charged £10 for 100ml of medication by our vet Companion care who are based in a chain of pet food suppliers retail shops. You can buy 500ml over the counter for under £6 from any chemist. Last week a tube of 10ml eye cream costs us £12 and can be bought on the intenet for under £6, but a prescription is required. The consultation fee is £25.99 and a second consultation fee for the same problem is £19.99. A total of just under £45 for less than 30 minutes! I wished I earned £45 an hour never mind £45 for half an hour. The vet is Companion Care based in Pet Supplies chain of stores.
With the Halifax etc apparently the customers signed up as it was a "lifetime" subscription for their animal as long as you renewed every year. I can see this going to court and Halifax/Lloyds losing same as the PPI issue. This extremely bad publicity for Halifax and Lloyds.
Hi Surfer
There is a chink in the Vets armour. Shops like Superdrug and some supermarkets can now sell teh flea stuff Frontline , cheaper than the vet. Our own vet has told us to buy some drugs on the internet at a fraction of the vets own charge. There is some hope out there and soon all vets will have a wake up call.
In regard to the Lifetime covers , which I currently have with Marks and Spencer, underwritten by R&SA ( Royal and Sun Alliance and also known as More Than ) they very clearly state their policy is an annual contract and the Lifetime cover can only apply if the policy is renewed or indeed if renewal is invited. So yet again we see a visible dirty trick from the Insurer!
The vets also seem to over charge on their medication prices. We were charged £10 for 100ml of medication by our vet Companion care who are based in a chain of pet food suppliers retail shops. You can buy 500ml over the counter for under £6 from any chemist. Last week a tube of 10ml eye cream costs us £12 and can be bought on the intenet for under £6, but a prescription is required. The consultation fee is £25.99 and a second consultation fee for the same problem is £19.99. A total of just under £45 for less than 30 minutes! I wished I earned £45 an hour never mind £45 for half an hour. The vet is Companion Care based in Pet Supplies chain of stores.
With the Halifax etc apparently the customers signed up as it was a "lifetime" subscription for their animal as long as you renewed every year. I can see this going to court and Halifax/Lloyds losing same as the PPI issue. This extremely bad publicity for Halifax and Lloyds.
Hi Surfer
There is a chink in the Vets armour. Shops like Superdrug and some supermarkets can now sell teh flea stuff Frontline , cheaper than the vet. Our own vet has told us to buy some drugs on the internet at a fraction of the vets own charge. There is some hope out there and soon all vets will have a wake up call.
In regard to the Lifetime covers , which I currently have with Marks and Spencer, underwritten by R&SA ( Royal and Sun Alliance and also known as More Than ) they very clearly state their policy is an annual contract and the Lifetime cover can only apply if the policy is renewed or indeed if renewal is invited. So yet again we see a visible dirty trick from the Insurer!
In many cases you still need a prescription to purchase the medication other than from a vet. Not sure if the vet would charge a prescription fee over and above the consulation fee.
Hardly inadequate cove issue but probably an issue of the insurance company misleading you. This seems to be a common issue now. Can be annoying when you have taken lifetime cover and over the years it has cost a few thousand in premiums and then the insurance company decide to cancel on a whim whether or not you have made a claim.
As much as we love our pets, unfortunately I think the only option would be the needle if faced with a bill running into thousands. our daugther is in this situation having paid £1000 for an op about a year ago and now the same dog requires another op costing about £1300.
Tell her to take the dog to France, our vet has a standard charge of 170€ for an operation on a medium size dog.
That's quite disgusting but I guess they have to get their bonuses from somewhere.
I was interested to read 'Treatment for a pedigree dog costs £469 on average' as 3 weeks ago our 3 yo pedigree Dutch Labrador started vomiting, so we took him to our local vet where a x-ray showed he had a 'foreign body' stuck in his gut, the vets operated on him & removed a piece of rubber ball but also had to remove a 50cm section of his gut.
The total bill, including all medicines, x-rays & a Sunday Morning call out was 291€.
Our daughter-in-law who is a biologist at the Royal Veterinary College asked the vets there how much the treatment would cost in the UK & the majority answer was between £3,000 & £4,000.
I did wonder if part of the difference could be that when the vet turned up he arrived in an old Renault van, not a brand new Range Rover like our last vet in the UK.
“You Can’t Believe Most of the Quotes You Read On the Internet” -Abraham Lincoln