Are Many Pets going under?

[TalkingInTheKitchen]

I've had pet insurance with Many Pets for the past 5 years and they've always been quick at handling claims. I put in a claim a month ago and its not even been looked at by their claims handling team. Emails are going unanswered and I've been promised over the phone multiple times that it'll be dealt with the same day yet nothing. I've looked at recent reviews and apparently they suffered a big financial loss and there are many people in a similar position to myself. I'm still paying my (not so small) direct debit and the vets fees, I can't afford both! It's infuriating especially when I need the money I'm owed to pay bills and I'm getting in debt as a result!

My payments are reasonable at the moment. However, nervous about renewal in October as we’ve had a couple of small claims due to a sickness /temperature bug.

Wondering now if we shouldn’t have claimed, but then you run the risk of something bigger in the future not being paid out if it involves sickness.

To be fair, all my claims have been paid fairly promptly. It’s just the increased renewal price I’m nervous about, and the fact you’re locked in effectively if you have claimed before.

My recent claims have been paid the same day! (Ongoing condition).
some of the new claims take ages, but I’ve found when I call up and say I really need the money, it gets paid very quickly.
I find them excellent. But too expensive like them all. Currently have 15k cover for my dog but think I will have to half it on renewal.

I’ve always got through. Interestingly one of the advisers I spoke to was actually a previous vet nurse so really understood my dog’s issue and we had a nice chat.

I have got cross about delays before but they’ve been fine with a bit of pushing. And are so nice on the phone.

I really believe it needs to be law that pet insurance companies are forced to publicise their average price increases per year and per age of the pet so that you can see when you start what the average increases are likely to be year on year before you decide to insure with them.

It's bordering on immoral to advertise at £12pm (or whatever) when the premiums are likely to be closer to £100pm by the time the pet is older.

All insurers' prices go up as the pet ages and it should be made easier to see whose goes up more than others.

Pet insurance is not like car insurance or contents insurance - you cannot shop around in the same way because anything you have claimed for is hard to cover in future. So you need to have more facts before you choose an insurer.

My dog has ongoing conditions so I’m have to self insure if MP go under - this seems ridiculous though, surely there is some kind of back up for those of us in this situation?

I have to say I’ve changed my mind on pet ins recently. After having no insurance for my elderly cat , I swore to always have it in the future as I was making decisions based on cost. But I’ve realised the key now is to have a decent vet fund saved up (I’m aiming for 15k before I would get another dog).

for a 4 year old dog I’m paying £105 a month. I probably claim about £600 a year.

@Countrylife2002 i’m thinking the same regarding the level of cover.

As I said above, my dog was poorly with a sickness and temperature bug. Nothing serious. Us humans get these bugs regularly and no one bats an eyelid. It’s a shame these occasional bugs are included in the ‘ pre-existing’ exclusions (or I presume they are).

I've just had a quote from PetPlan, which has cheaper monthly premiums, but the cover is slightly less good (lower ceiling, but still one I'm happy with; and excess is higher which could make quite a difference).

Two conditions excluded because of pre-existing diagnosis, so possibility of having to self-fund an operation if condition worsened, and if accidental injury in that area then it would have to be reviewed on an individual basis.

I might sit tight for now, but at least I know I have another option after all

If I understood PetPlan properly, a previous issue which has been successfully treated does not count as a pre-existing condition after a set period of time (and even if when you start it still counts, it drops out after that period is reached assuming no further treatment)

Ongoing things don't get covered though.

So my guess is that going down with a dog vomiting bug would drop out, but ongoing digestion issues might not. Something worth checking with potential insurers

Many Pets were featured on Watchdog and if people email in their experiences they will make a follow-up. The original feature has been posted on the "Many Pets Many Problems" Facebook page.

I have to agree @Countrylife2002 .

I was a massive Insurance advocate but my current dog is a great case study of premiums vs value in a high claim animal. If his premiums remain high and go up further, I may still budget that money but instead save it and self insure. I now have a good handle on what he costs per year and what any future costs are likely to be and think that may be the better option.

Those savings will then self insure any future dog. Maybe backed up by insuring him/her for the first 2-3 years when premiums are cheap and the savings balance won't be so high.

I actually don't have many complaints about ManyPets who have paid within 4 hours of claiming for all claims except 1 - and some of those have been 00s or 000s of value. My premiums are high (£160pm) for the highest level of cover and seem to be almost doubling every year and I find the thought that they might keep doubling to be worrying. Especially as the excess goes from £69py to 20% of all claims when the dog is ovver 7.

In future pets, I'd would rather 'smooth' out the costs over the lifetime of the pet than have them weighted all at the end like this.

I've just moved from Many Pets to Pet Plan, after Many Pets really hiked up my monthly payments following a dental claim. Pet Plan were a lot cheaper (£57 per month as opposed to £89 with Many Pets), although the total vets bills they will cover in a year is lower. Pet Plan have excluded everything that he's been treated for or even mentioned to the vet, which is annoying, however the exclusions are only for a year. So I just hope he doesn't have any further dental issues this year and then we are back to everything being covered.

I think the problem with one's like these that do a certain amount per year is that if a couple of big things happen you're screwed. My parents use to have a policy with many pets and their dog unfortunately had a bit of a crap few months, had an accident and broke her leg and then had a growth that needed investigation and operation. This all happened within 3 months and meant the 15k was gone so they basically had 9 months with no cover. They have now moved to direct line who yes won't cover anything to do with those conditions but are cheaper and give 8k per condition so if for example there were 5 different things happen each one would have its own pot of 8k. For them it's 100% worth the change.

This is so different to PetPlan. I've never heard anyone unhappy with them, though they seem expensive.