i recently got lily insured with pinnacle, but they've placed exclusions on it, if she gets arthritis in her back right leg and any gastro-intestinal problems. the reasons being that she had one tummy bug due to her eating a pizza she shouldn't have and falling down the stairs and hurting her leg, she was fine after a few days. don't most puppies get tummy bugs at some point ? hardly a reason to make it an exclusion on her insurance. am annoyed !!

Being nosey did she receive vets treatment or attention for these problems? or did you just declare them because you are honest?
We have just insured our puppy with Pinnacle,still awaiting the documents though 10days on! but we didn't have anything to declare and had hoped they were a good company to go with :(
Jacqueline.

i saw the vet, but no treatment was required, i only mentioned the tummy trouble to the vets because i happened to be there for lily's weight check ! i declared both things cos i thought i should just incase, didn't think they'd actually act on such little things.

This would concern me it probably means that if you have to make a claim for something anything remotely associated with the problem will be on an exclusion from then on. for instance should your pup have an eye infection which takes a long while to clear and you make a claim, you will probable find that all eye problems will then not be covered. Think you should perhaps tell them you are not prepared to accept the exclusions and if they can't accommodate that you will have your premium back, thank you.

i've sent them an email saying that i'm not happy with the exclusions and would like them to look into them. if they haven't replied by tomorrow afternoon i'm going to call my vets and pinnacle. if pinnacle won't take the exclusions off or are awkward about it i'm going to cancel - if they're being stubborn about this, what else might they be awkward about...

I have that problem with my Golden's insurance, after 12 months it is excluded. I insured Libby with 'more than', who have a £6000 limit per condition, regardless of timescale. However if I had had to advise them of any pre-existing conditions, then they would most likey have been excluded; but as we insured her from day one, there weren't any.

liberty

I've been shopping about for Insurance and although my current 2 are with lloyds TSB and Petplan , I have found Marks and Spencer to be the most competitive , their cover is £6000 / year for life and a standard excess as opposed to a percentage excess , they are very reasonable . HTH

We have sanisbury and to date no probs just had my renewel back and the limit for vet fees has gone up to £6500 so very good.

Cordelia

Hi Cordelia

I'm with Sainsburys as well but have run into a few problems unfortunatley. I have newf who may be in need of an operation, as it works on a percentage basis I will have to pay 15% of the cost of the treatment. It also only covers each condition for 12 months and then they will not cover me for any more problems that may occur in that area (in my case its elbow and hips) so the vet recommended that we get both sorted out as soon as possible. I am now aware that for such a large dog I should have gone with something that offers life cover and only excess to pay,  oh well you live and learn. Other than that they are really good, they are quick to settle claims and really helpfull.

Nikki

Hi,
  We had this problem with Pinnacle - they seemed great in every way, but because my dog had a mild case of conjunctivitis (months before I took out the insurance), the exclusion was anything to do with his eyes.  The girl at the vets told me that she had said to them it was only a very mild conjunctivitis, but they didn't care.  Anyway, since then my dog has admittedly had problems (sore eyes), due to allergy, so I gave up the insurance.  I figured that basically they were then not going to pay out on any allergy treatment as they could say he already had the problem when I insured him.  The thing is, if he'd needed something in future like, for example, cataracts treatment, even though not allergy related, he wouldn't have been covered by Pinnacle.  I didn't think that was fair!
  Hilda
 
 

hmm they've not replied to my email yet, i may just cancel the insurance. it seems that if u have one mild problem with some part of the body, they exclude any little thing to do with that body part, whether related or not ! ah well, i might just have to hope she doesn't have any problems, and just pay out myself if she does

Sainsbury's have paid out on 3 occasion over 5years for a reacurring skin condition. Sorry you had problems with them.
The only insurance prob i had was with petplan, made a claim for my GSD was a pop, payments were only £9.95 at the time and the following month i received a renewel and was digusted because the payments had shot up to £19.95 just over double what i was paying and thats when we joined Sainsbury's

Cordelia

i called pinnacle, and after a strop i cancelled with them. apparently if after 2 years she hasn't had any diarrhoea they'll review that exclusion ????!! the reason they excluded it apparently is because she had mucus in her poo at 9 weeks when we first got her, has anyone ever had a puppy that has never had this problem ? and they say they'll never remove the arthritis exclusion because her vet report said that she MIGHT have broken her leg in december (she never had any x-rays to confirm it and she was fine within a few days) soooo grrrrr no insurance ! i hate pet insurers !

I would suggest you spend tonight surfing the net for insurance, i think that most of them are on the net now so i shouldn't be too hard to find a good one you like.

Cordelia

Try Pet Healthcare Insurance services (Henley on Thames). I have found them really good.
Kat

They are looking for excuses not to cover.  Broken legs (even if it were) do not cause arthritis - that's per the specialist I took my dog to to fix her broken leg.  Petplan paid something like £1,000 to fix the leg, only three months after I took the insurance out.  When I renewed in December the cover and the cost were exactly the same, no exclusions because of the leg and no increase in price.

Stacey