Appreciate any experience or tips right now!!  Long story short Lana had a haematoma on her bottom back in November, she was ok and it set me back nearly £300.00 so I thought I'd claim - I have a policy with AFI (animal friends insurance) who I recently realised are underwritten by E&L - I know the pit falls of E&L but it was too late on this occasion.  Thing is, as with all policy's you cannot claim within 14 days of the start of the policy...Luckily Lana went to the vet on the 15th day!  Well just had a letter from E&L - Yes it really has taken this long!!!  Telling me that they will not pay out because the policy started at 12pm on the 29th October and Lana first went to the vet on 12th November at 7:30am !!!!  Is this splitting hairs or what!!!!  I am truly fuming :( - I will of course appeal and take it as far as I can...PLEASE stay away from E&L they are USELESS....Any advice greatly appreciated.
Sarah

I've also got my insurance with E & L has anyone else had a bad experience with them ?

Lisam ..do a search here on the forum for E&L Insurance ..you may be surprised at the results ;)

Put E & L into search at the top right of this page and you'll see plenty of comments!!

Hi have you been dealing with E&L direct only or have you involved AFI at all? Gillian

I have 2 dobermanns and a west highland terrier, all covered (supposedly) by E & L insurance.  I have been in a terrible state today, because my westie is showing signs of blood in her faeces and is undergoing tests at the vets and to top it all the insurance company is refusing to pay.

I realise that this is my fault as I was unaware of the small print but I still feel like Ive been ripped off.  I took her to the vet way back in February telling them of the blood I saw and I was told to put her on a prescription diet (hills) which I did.  As I have an excess of £49 on my insurance I did not think that I would need to claim so I left it thinking well it doesnt come to that much anyway.
Now that the tests are going underway and the vet bill is getting higher I decide to put a claim in only to be told because I did not inform them of the condition in February (or within 90 days of that)  my claim is void and all further claims regarding this illness will be void.

As you can imagine I am devastated as this could lead to something like cancer and she may need operations and such forth.  So due to my human error I and my dog are being punished severely.  I have talked to my family and they agree that if the orignal bill didnt outweigh the excess then they wouldnt of bothered claiming as well. 

I pay around £30.00 a month to cover my 3 dogs and feel totally ripped off.  They were very matter of fact about it on the phone and showed no sympathy what so ever.  I have truly learned my lesson here and hope that by my story others will learn as well.  You may of course inform your readers of this if you choose I think the more people know the better.  In this day and age it seems there is no room for human error.  Its all about money and I ask myself "Where Is The Love?"  which sound cheesey but basically thats what I feel. 

Rozzer ~ I can't believe they've got the cheek to do that :(
sorry I can't be of any help or offer advice, but surely they can't get away with that  :(
I can understand your anger.
hope someone has advice for you soon. :)

Thats awful.  Find out the head office address and the name of the company director and write a letter to them telling them how disgusted you are with them etc..  I have just had a problem with my household insurance when they told me I was not covered, I refused to leave it there as it was not my fault and today have had a phonecall telling me they are going to pay out on my claim, so sometimes if you stick to your guns it does work!

I have 4 dogs with E & L until April, when their policies are due for renewal, and I can tell you now, I won't be able to tell them to stuff their policies quick enough............
They are the worst set of people I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with........ I don't know how they survive as a company, as their service, quality and general day to day business skills are dreadful....
I feel for you I really do, because I have had argument after argument with them, and got nowhere......
Hope you managed to sort your situation out........
Gabrielle x

Just wanted to wish you luck really!  Been there, done that and got the T-shirt with E & L.  Mine wasn't as much as £300.00 so didn't fight it, but it was a similar 'splitting hairs' excuse they used with me.

Just took my business away, and any chance I get I mention how apallingly they behave/treat people and don't touch them with barge pole!

Why not take a new policy now and run the E and L till you are over the exclusion time
normally 14 days or so isnt it,
and THEN tell them to stuff it,I wouldnt pay premiums till April

E and L banned me from issuing their free insurance as I told the owners what
I thought of the company :-)

the best one on the market at the moment is mark/spencer,it a life cover,i to had a puppy with a problem,i insuracer the puppy at 8 weeks  on the 10 weeks check for a injection the vet found a problem the cover was 15 days old,we had to go to a speclist but m/s paid up,plus chase got a ongoing problem too and m/s pay up with in the week of get the claim,

i would recommend m/s highly as i have been insuring my dog for the pass 16 years at the moment i think they are the best with a good cover too,

the girls are with pet plan,ok.
gollie with pinncle very time there a claim they write back to you to find out how it happen,

with the other companys we are with they go by the vets details on the clam.

I told E&L to stick it too and went with Direct Line.  I would definitly appeal if I was you.  What a way to be treated!

Hi
I have only just started to have my dogs insured this year never felt the need before and was wondering if e&l are such an awful company why doesnt everyone with a story ring or write to Watchdog, consumer protection or the FSA ?  It might be good to see one of the companies directors squirmimg for a change.

i have my dogs insured with e&l and my horse too, they are only good at paying up if you follow the instructions to the letter and don't bother claiming for anything other than vets fees cos they usually have some crappy excuse for why they don't pay, the reason most people insure with them is cos thay are cheap and as we all know cheap is not always best. One of my dogs is insured with scottish pet insurance which are excellent and they even paid out after my bitch suffered with mastitis post whelping where most policies exclude anything to do with whelping i was very impressed with them and recieved the cheque within 7 days. I advise if you insure and have a choice don't insure with E&l but in my case i am insuring too many dogs to insure them all with a reputable company and basically i am paying for third party liabilty mainly.

Thanks everyone :) I have written a letter and sent it to the claims manager and general manager (good point Gillian, I should probably send one to AFI also) - I have asked them why they dont say you cannot claim within 336 hours rather than 14 days (seeing as we are down to hours now!!)  Also, my schedule states that commencement date was the 29th October but doesn't state exactly what time on the 29th so how the hell can they say I'm a few hours short of the 15th day????  In my opinion the 29th is day one - I will battle on and keep everyone posted...Thanks
Sarah

Is the timing like motor insurance? That's usually taken from noon.

Doesn't state from noon on the schedule which is what I am hoping will be in my favour?  My motor insurance schedule actually states from noon - so I feel that a time should be given if they are going to use that one?!  If I noticed the haematoma a few hours later I would have been alright so I'm clearly not doing the dirty on them.  Reading through my policy I feel that any successful claim would be a miracle and am seriously thinking about stopping the insurance (I'm certainly going to take it away from E&L) and setting up some sort of account for Lana where I pay in regularly in case of an emergency????
Sarah

Hi the reason I asked is because when E&L were dragging their heels with a claim I made as soon as I contacted AFI it was sorted .They may not be able to help you but it is worth a try.Gillian

A good friend of mine has a Weimaraner that had a haematoma they were insured with E&L insurance and they run up a bill of £2400-00 at the vets. The insurance company would not pay out. 
Nutkin

oh my god! that's awful.  Insurance Companies are notoriously "alert" when it comes to wording of documents and policies.  I just hope that all the people who have had bad experiences get sorted one way or another.  I swapped from E&L to Direct Line and within the 14 day period...yes you guessed it...my dog had something wrong - Typical! oh well he was worth every penny just glad it was hundreds not thousands!

Well guy's, i wrote my letter and had a reply today - VICTORY!!!  They are gonna pay up!!!  I had a nice long letter telling me that they still thought they were in the right....Uh, yeh, sure you are thats why your paying me back my money :D
Sarah

woohooooooo thats great :)   and so they should lol.  Glad you wrote the letter :)

That's brillliant Sarah, well done. :)

Kath.

Way to go Sarah glad you got it sorted. :) Gillian

Hiya Rozzer

By way of support, I just wanted to say...

1. Well done you for sorting it !.....

2. Thank you for sharing it with us

and finally...

3. Have just finished a wonderful phone call to a certain company cancelling their services :D

Take care
Jo
:)

You Go Girl :D :D!!!!
Sarah
(hoping you are a girl Jo!!:D)

Just to add my twopennuth, anyone having similar problems should write to the firm and complain.  If that doesn't work, then contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.  Their web address is www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk .

They deal with financial services complaints and can make legally binding financial awards in your favour, if they investigate your complaint and consider that your complaint should succeed.  Oh and it's free!!