Thank God We Have Pet (Scam) Insurance ...

That's exactly what I thought, thank God we have pet insurance with
VPI Pet Insurance (their website is www.petinsurance.com , based on what I read they own the majority of this market ) , the reason why is because our dog April, who is 6 years old after today's walk could not walk anymore on her right rear leg, her kneecap was popped out (ouch) , we got on the phone with the vet, who said we can try to pull her leg a little bit, and try to pop it back, tried it, did not work . Ended up taking her later that day back to the vet, for him to try and he ended up confirming she needed surgery.

It did not even cross my mind that it would cost us $1500 (per knee) , since we bought the pet insurance (the very best VPI Pet Insurance) that the vet recommended . So when we called VPI Pet Insurance they said, that they do not cover luxation patella (knee cap) surgery. When I asked why (after finding out through my schedule of benefits that elbow and hip luxation IS covered) her exact answer verbatim was "we need to keep our cost down"! WOW !!! I responded with you can take my $30 a month for a year and half but you need to keep your cost down!

I did not go through the whole policy but I am sure they cover earthquakes, tsunamis and Armageddons, but nothing that is related to knee cap surgery for our pet . But seriously, you get a five page schedule of benefits looking like your pet is covered for everything (except pre-exisiting and I understand that, and not the case in this situation), what a joke.
So it just confirmed what I initially thought , before we bought pet insurance for our pet . It`s worth nothing , they list you a bunch of things that they cover, but that has probably never happened to an animal in the last decade or so .

After doing some more research I found some other reviews about pet insurance scams, so I thought it is worth bringing some attention to it, at least hopefully someone else in the future will be able to save some money, or headache , when you expect a $1500 surgery for your pet to be covered.

"..I have VPI (petinsurance.com), and while I have had good experiences with them through a couple claims for my dog - wart removal and some stitches, I did have a bit of a customer service issue with them when my dog needed major stuff done - he got away from my wife to chase a deer and got hit by a car and fractured his leg and needed pins/plates.

VPI was great with the reimbursement, but it was far lower than their claimed minimum for his injury. When I called VPI, the customer service person *could not* explain to me what was going on. It was ridiculous and frustrating, going around in circles, her just reading to me from the materials I already had. She wouldn't let me talk to a manager, and we ended the call both very frustrated, her agreeing to research the situation. She never called back.

The whole thing was weird - we just kept going in circles, her unable to do the math which for me was very clear. ANYWAY, I called them back and spoke with somebody different who knew what was up right away - they had updated the claim schedule and for whatever reason dropped what they were willing to reimburse for his injury WAY down. The claim schedule I was looking at was outdated, even though the injury happened within the old claim schedule, the reimbursement was based on the newer claim schedule.

The short of it is that despite the frustration, I'm still a member because the money I have received from them is still more than I have paid to them, however I've read quite a bit of complaints from people. One common complaint is that they will blame some injury on a 'prior condition' and refuse to reimburse, even for stuff that is clearly not a prior condition, like cut or something...." source : metafilter.com


Read customer complaints about Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI ) on Consumer Affairs


"....Worthless Insurance Company
This company is worthless. I filed 3 different claims and all 3 were denied because of BS exclusions by their underwriting department. Customer service is completely useless as well... they say they are bound by their policies and don't offer any sort of customer satisfaction. I HIGHLY recommend shopping elsewhere... this company is a joke. I wish I would have started with another company instead... "
source: angry customer talking about VPI (www.petinsurance.com) on Pet Insurance Review



Unfortunately, it seems to me that people who care about their pets are an easy target for pet insurance companies . People who love their pets, they take care of them and most of them sure buy insurance because they do not want to put them at risk, but unfortunately most of these people are inexperienced in this area and fall for these companies easy .

In my opinion pet insurances are like any other insurance companies, all they want is to pay the least amount of money out, and you will know it when your dog or cat is about to undergo surgery, and you will have to come up with the $, because your pet (scam) insurance company does not provide assistance for problems that occur to most of the pets .

Do you know anyone else who had a similar experience with their pet insurance company ?
Share it , blog it, get the word out so other people won`t fall for the same like you did .

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