I took ownership of a Cat in May 2006 her name was Precious and decided to get Veterinary Pet Insurance for this cat at the same time as my kitten(Vash). I applied on the same date and Vash's policy was effective immediately but since Precious was appx 4 years old when I got her I was told she had to have a medical exam which I had done and had her shots done. I faxed the Paperwork on May 27,2006 to VPI the policy was made effective mid-June near the end of June Precious became sick and stopped eating and started losing weight along with vomiting so I took her to an emergency Vet and they gave her fluids and anti vomiting meds and told me to take her to my regular vet in the morning.
So I took Precious to the regular vet and found out she had developed Hepatic Lipidosis(fatty liver syndrome). At this point we decided to try force feeding her and giving her sub q fluids etc after about a week it wasnt working so we had to put Precious down. Mind you I spent about $1000 of my own money for this and thinking that I had insurance I was relieved that it SHOULD help recover some of the money I spent. I called and requested they stop billing me for her policy since she died and I was told as soon as the claim form with the euthanasia was received that they would cancel the billing.
My vet faxed the claim form and I called and was Customer Service at VPI stated they didnt receive it. The vet faxed it another 3x each time VPI stating they never received it so finally my vet mailed it to VPI and sent me a copy.
I called and was told it was received August 8th. A month went by and nothing so I called and was told they needed the additional claim form and paperwork for the emergency vets office which I was waiting on. I asked about why they were still billing me and was told it would be stopped and I received 2 notices in the mail about the billing at which I called almost 6x to stop and finally had to cancel my card to get the billing stopped.
I then received a notice I was being cancelled for non payment? So on top of that I finally received the paperwork from the Emergency Vet and sent that in with EVERYTHING I had so that their office couldnt ask for anything more. I received an email on October 6th stating that my claim was received I waiting a few weeks and called today October 25,2006 and asked the status on the claim and was told I needed to send a letter in explaining from May 1-May 6,2006 I didnt have any medical records.
This doesnt make sense when the policy was applied for I was told I needed to take the animal to the vet since I had not previously owned her. VPI has this paperwork but now for a 5 day period they want me to write a letter stating I had no medical records after all the previous inquiries? I was furious so I asked if I could email the request and was told no I needed to fax or mail the request.
Why? Mail takes them 3 weeks to process and faxed 3-5 business days IF THEY RECEIVE IT which most of the time they claim to not have received. I was angry and emailed the request and am awaiting their response now.
Amanda
Brandon, Florida
U.S.A.