User Reviews of Pethealth (PetCare brand)
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Rating: 1
Recommend: N |
terrible
Not worth your money. There is a $100 co-pay per injury and then they only pay 70 or 80%. UTI's are considered pre-existing even if it has been over 3.5 years since the last one!!! My dog needs surgery because of stones and they won't cover it. I have had the insurance for just over 3 years. She was seen twice for the same issue and they refused to count the previous deductible so I had to pay it again for the follow up visit with the vet after having to go to an emergancy after hours vet for the original injury. |
Reviewed by: Michelle
Date: 4/30/2008 |
Rating: 8
Recommend: Y |
Saved my dog's life
My Cavalier King Charles Rudy got very sick when he was 9 weeks old. After getting him through that illness which was expensive, I decided to get him some pet insurance. When he was 8 months old he became very ill and after taking him to the vet it was determined that he had an intestinal blockage. He had to have emergency surgery to remove the blockage which turned out to be pieces of wood, string, plastic, etc. The bills ran about $2,000. The insurance reimbursed around $1,400. I don't know what I would have done without the insurance. They paid the claim very quickly. They saved Rudy's life and I would highly recommend them. |
Reviewed by: Denise Hutchinson
Date: 4/5/2008 |
Rating: 2
Recommend: N |
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!
Our dog needed TPLO surgery and this company denied him because when he was 6 months old he had growing pains which all Saint Bernards have. He is 7 years old and tore his ACL in a slip/fall. This comapny had the audacity to say that it was a pre-existing condition from when he was 6 montsh old. How can tearing your ACL in the knee be pre-existing? He fell! They want to pay for the shots and regular checkups but try to submit anything else and it is an absolute nightmare. I am serious when I say this company is not fair, has no integrity, and looks for any reason to deny claims. |
Reviewed by: Todd Lahn
Date: 3/6/2008 |
Rating: 5
Recommend: N |
Existing conditions suddenly appear
We received three months of PetCare insurance when we adopted our dog three and a half years ago. After the three months were up we renewed the policy. At some point however, my husband was issued a new credit card and somehow the monthly PetCare fees did not transfer over. We discovered we were uninsured just when we actually needed the insurance. PetCare *very nicely* offered to issue a new policy if we paid for the full year in one payment, which we did, and naturally, that particular vet trip wasn't covered as there's a waiting period. More important, however, is that there were exclusions in the new policy that we were not informed of--mammary tumors were excluded as we'd had a suspicious bump biopsied and removed at the time the dog had been spayed, and any skin allergies as she had once licked a paw raw. We still have no idea if this was an allergic reaction, a bug bite or simply habit (she's a paw licker nd that's that). In retrospect it seems to me that had PetCare reinstated the existing policy neither of these conditions would have been excluded. And, as I said, we were not aware that the dog supposedly had allergies. We did know the lump had been pre-cancerous. It was removed when she was spayed and that was that, in our minds.
Well, this past November I discovered a lump on her rib cage that the vet thought was a fatty cyst. It was *not* a mammary tumor. We had it biopsied just to be safe. At the same time she'd been scratching tremendously. The vet decided it was probably a food allergy. She switched us to a special food. When we submitted the claim for the office visit and the biopsy we received a letter saying the vet's info had not been submitted. This was *after* a phone call saying they'd received our claim. The secretary at the vet's said she would fax the info again despite having the time and date of the original submission in her files. We then received a letter saying that the claims were for pre-existing conditions and there would be no payment. The vet's office basically said this was not so, the cyst was different from a mammary tumor, and they resubmitted yet again, specifying that the biopsy of the cyst was not not allergy related nor a mammary tumor. The claim was still denied. I suspect that anything even vaguely related to cancer of any sort or anything on her skin will also be denied. We had just renewed shortly before all of this took place. Don't know if it's worthwhile renewing next year. It seems to me that they will link anything they possibly can to supposed skin allergies or cancer...So I don't know that I'd recommend them. I'd do more research first, see what people say about other companies. Only if they're worse than this would I do so. I'm thinking that a savings account with a decent interest rate might be a better way of setting aside money for pet illnesses...Not sure but at least I wouldn't deny my own claims. In the case of the only claim we ever made that wasn't denied, the reimbursment didn't nearly equal the outlay. I think it was about one quarter or one third of the actual fees I'd paid.
I'd say "buyer beware"...And I agree with the reviewer who said they try to wiggle out of legitimate claims. The phone staff are lovely (when you finally reach them) but the powers that be are less than just. |
Reviewed by: Joanne Seward
Date: 2/12/2008 |
Rating: 7
Recommend: Y |
Good Insurance
I like this insurance company because when i filed my claim for my dog it was quickly processed and i received my check in a timely manner. my dog is epileptic and it feels good to know that she won't be dropped because of this illness. however i don't like that they have a limit to the coverage and after she has exhausted that she won't be covered anymore. i also think their prices are a bit on the high side. |
Reviewed by: Wendy from Detroit
Date: 2/7/2008 |
Rating: 8
Recommend: Y |
Great coverage and service
I have the accident-only coverage on my dogs, because Bassets can be rock-eaters. They have covered two rock-eating surgeries on one of my girls, and that was after she had the same surgery prior to coverage. They have continued to cover her, and I've insured all my subsequent dogs with them for accident coverage.
For regular expenses, I prefer to set the funds aside and build up savings for predictable care.
It can be hard to get through on the phone, set aside a cup of coffee or tea and some crosswords for the hold period, but beyond that I've found their customer service very responsive. |
Reviewed by: Dog Mom in WA
Date: 1/25/2008 |
Rating: 7
Recommend: Y |
Good, but expensive
My labrador was covered for the last 5 years with QuickCare Gold. Over this time she had only a couple of minor emergencies and they paid, minus the $50 deductible right away. By the way, each time I put in a claim, they would call to acknowledge receiving the claim and call again when it was processed and again when the check is sent. Very nice! Her last illness required major surgery, drugs and hospitalization for a week. I was surprised that they covered all but the (at the time) 10% co-pay. Unfortunately this quickly ate up the $3000 per illness maximum. At the same time, the rates, deductibles and co-pays rose quite a bit. Hershey lost her fight with cancer, but we have a new puppy now. I may try another company for this new lab. |
Reviewed by: Bill
Date: 1/17/2008 |
Rating: 1
Recommend: N |
Horrible - try to wriggle out of legitimate claims
We got Petcare Insurance when we adopted out car, a healthy one year old, as Petcare was recommended by the company that had chipped our cat. We had a medical as required and sent the paperwork in. Our cat had vomited when we first got him but this was down to stress (quite normal when a rescue cat is adopted out and has a change in its environment) - our Vet confirmed this. So... no halth issues for our boy. Fast forward three months and we had a call from Petcare asking if we'd like to upgrade our coverage for anothe $5 per month. It sounded like a good deal given the extra benefits that we would get in coverage so we signed up and were told that our upgraded policy would be effective from 12.01am that evening. This was on a Thursday evening so the policy would come into play at 12.01am Thursday night/Friday morning. Three days later our cat went out in the yard first thing in the morning and came in and within half an hour was vomting liquid, foaming at the mouth and had keeled over and was not responsive to us. This was on a Sunday morning. We rang our Vet who referred us to the local emergency vet (30 miles) away as it was a Sunday. We rushed out cat there where he was put on an IV and treated immediately. They gave an open diagnosis but leaning toward plant toxin ingestion. We transferred our cat to our local vet the next day (Monday) after paying out around $1000 to the emergency vet. I called petcare to confirm that we did indeed have the upgraded coverage we had signed up for three days before.
Surprise, surprise they said they had no records of this. I asked that they check their records and gave them the time and date of the call and the name of the person I spoke with who sold me the upgrade. We had a call the next day saying that we did indeed have the upgrade after all, but the policy only came into effect at 12.01 am on the Saturday night/Sunday morning, not on the Thursday night/Friday morning. However, as our cat had been taken ill the Sunday morning we were OK. Or so we thought....
Our cat spent the next five days at our local vet. He showed no improvement and our vet did more x-rays and found what he thought was a foreign object. He went in to invesitage and it turned out that our cat's spleen was massively swollen and his intestine inflamed. The spleen was removed and within 24 hours, our cat was almost back to his normal buoyant self. We happily took our cat home after paying a further $1400 to our vet. The diagnosis was poisoning through toxic plant ingestion.
We filed the claims from both vet's to Petcare along with the invoices and other paperwork, with a covering letter explaining what had happened.
Three months later and we are still fighting Petcare for our reimbursement. After initially saying that we did not have the upgraded coverage, they then went back and tried to claim that because our cat had vomited, this condition was pre-existing! So he'd vomited once due to stress in July, and had vomited again due to plant toxin ingestion, and this is 'pre-existing'!! Our vet wrote a letter to them confirming that the two instances were totally unrelated.
I then spoke to someone who claimed to be a supervisor and he tried to tell us that there is a 30 day waiting period between signing up for a new policy and coverage starting. We checked our policy and terms and conditions and there is no such clause. Besides which, our cat needed emergency treatment - if we'd have waited 30 minutes more, mevermind 30 days more, we'd have lost him. It really was THAT serious! I took this up with the person handling our claim and of course, this has been swept under the carpet - this supervisor was simply lying to us to try and get us to stop pursuing our claim. As if we are that stupid.
Now they are trying to say that our cat was ill before we took him in on the Sunday morning. Despite us sending them all of the notes from the emergency vet and the local vet that show he was admitted on the Sunday morning. The reason for this latest denial of claim? The admission nurse at our local vet wrote down "cat taken to ER Sat" and not Sunday by mistake. Despite all of the other doucmentation that proves that he was taken in on the Sunday and a statement from the Emergency vet confirming that this is the case they are denying us our claim based on one tiny clerical error. They have piad out part of our claim but we are still $1500 out of pocket.
To say we are furious with Petycare is an understatement. I have asked them three times now to pull the tape of the initial sales we had on the Thursday evening so they can listen to the sales person telling me that our policy would be effective as of midnight that night. So far they have not to my knowledge pulled this recording and listened to it. Or they have and they know I am right so are not saying anything about it. After all, it seems some of their employees are not above lying to policy holders...
The problem is you have people there with no medical experience who are not qualified to make judgements on medcial cases. The supervisor who lied to us about 30 days waiting period befor coverage started said he used to work in a call center at Vonage. How does that qualify him to make decisions on the our cat's medcial treatment???
The girl who is dealing with our claim is actually very supportive. But the underwriters are awful - they are basically denying us a totally legitimate claim becuase our cat happened to be extremely ill a few days after we agreed to upgrade our policy. Petcare are not honorable people to deal with, and we are not giving up on our claim. We have the support of our vets and we will fight our claim even if we have to go to small claims court over it. It's more a matter of principal than anything else at this stage.
I'd rather not give my name as we are still fighting our claim with these jokers. I think the key to dealing with these folks is document EVERYTHING, keep your notes organized and DO NOT give up. Keep badgering them unitl you get fair treatment.
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Reviewed by: Anonymous
Date: 1/3/2008 |
Rating: 2
Recommend: N |
too expensive,
They just raised rates 20% and they are very vague concerning pre existing conditions |
Reviewed by: Robert
Date: 10/4/2007 |
Rating: 6
Recommend: Y |
Typical to Fair
I quit their rivals, PetPlan after they kept raising premiums every time my Airedale got sick. PetCare has been somewhat better, a bit slower in upping their fees. It might help that my vet deals with them exclusively and will go to bat for me when I dispute their claim decision. (Unfortunately, we are pretty good customers). |
Reviewed by: Hudson
Date: 9/14/2007 |
Rating: 3
Recommend: N |
Didn't help
I paid into the policy for two years for my dog and the first time I put in a claim they claimed that they didn't receive my claim form eventhough when I faxed it I got confirmation of it going through. When I tried to get in touch with them I left message after message and no one called me back. When I moved to Canada from the States I need to switch policies and was told someone would call me to discuss it and it's already been over a month and no one has called. I'm shopping around for another insurance company. |
Reviewed by: Francesca Kinsey
Date: 8/27/2007 |
Rating: 1
Recommend: N |
Cancelled my policy for first claim
I am enraged by Petcare. I paid for it for all four years of my dog's life and never used it. When I recently put in the frist claim, they cancelled my policy and never even notified me! I admit I started getting very suspicious when my Vet tech suggested I call after they faxed the claim to ensure they received the claim. Every time I called, several times an day for 3 wks. I got put on hold for 20-30 mins. and then summarily disconnected. Each time this happened I called back and asked for their sales dept. instaed of claims and my call was answered in 5 mins. or less.
No one will give out the names of the officers of the company either! In my book a completely dishonest company and I plan to pursue them legally. |
Reviewed by: Enflamed
Date: 8/9/2007 |
Rating: 1
Recommend: N |
unprofessional
We signed up for PetCare -> the quote over the phone didnt match the paperwork and they forgot to tell me about yearly fee (even though we specifically asked the Pet Care rep). Very poor customer service when i called to inquire about the monthly rate. Was told we would get a callback from a supervisor which never happened...Also, signed up for their "Emergency care" $19.95 year -> they couldnt find the policy# or details when i called?! I then got a letter in the mail (a week later) saying i failed to pay for the Emergency Care policy -> so they cancelled my policy?! I find them unorganised and thank goodness havent had to make a claim to them...I'm currently searching for a new provider :( |
Reviewed by: Kelly
Date: 5/6/2007 |
Rating: 5
Recommend: Y |
Just OK
I have had the 70% Quickcare Gold coverage for 2 years for both my dogs. While my first dog has had a pretty decent reimbursment rate for allergies, she has almost maxed out her coverage in this catagory (where she needs it the most). Beware, the max coverage ($3,000 per catagory)amounts DO NOT renew annually. Now with my 2nd dog, he ingested a bee (I would call it an accident)and had a horrible bout of vomitting. He was rushed to the ER ($800). The accident coverage was suppose to start from day 1. It was excluded - Now his vomitting is excluded from any coverage. Every claim I have made for my 2nd dog has not paid anything. My premiums have gone up about $75/year per dog. My dogs are 2 and 1 years old, not worth it for me in the long run. |
Reviewed by: Melissa
Date: 4/4/2007 |
Rating: 4
Recommend: N |
Disappointing and not worth it for me
I have two Labs and was paying more than 60 dollars Cdn. per month, withdrawn from an account. Not only did PetCare start charging a fee for automatic withdrawal, they hiked their premiums, added an annual fee and arbitrarily reduced some of my coverage. I understand they need to manage their risk, but why have insurance if it stops covering what you need covered? I now put money in a special account for pet emergencies. PetCare wasn't worth it for me |
Reviewed by: Marianne
Date: 2/10/2007 |
Rating: 5
Recommend: Y |
Good, but typical insurance practices.
They are good at reimbursement, but since you have to provide all of your pet's vet history, they can amend your policy as ailments occur: We were going to biopsy a bony growth he has on his shoulder, until Pet Care amended our policy and wrote it out of coverage after we submitted a claim form for a skin condition he had. -Typical! |
Reviewed by: Malee
Date: 2/2/2007 |
Rating: 7
Recommend: Y |
Not Great, but worth the money
I've had my dog insured with this company for 4 years and plan to renew again. They rarely pay the full 80% because their "usual and customary expenses" are pretty conservative, but even at the more typical 60% that I receive it has been worthwhile. Customer service was initially poor but has been very good for the past year. They have been very strict about the rules concerning exclusions, pre-existing conditions, and waiting periods, so read your policy carefully. My rates have gone up about 10% each year, but my dog is getting quite old and has had several costly surgeries yet they keep renewing her so I'm satisfied. |
Reviewed by: Dave in N. Cal
Date: 1/15/2007 |
Rating: 10
Recommend: Y |
Perfect
I've never had an issue submitting my Bulldog's skin infection claims. They've paid every single dime of his vet bills back to me and always very quickly. I wish my other insurers were this easy to deal with. |
Reviewed by: Christy
Date: 1/15/2007 |
Rating: 1
Recommend: N |
Awful
As soon as I made one big claim (my golden's cruciate ligament tore) I ran out of coverage in case the next one does. Then they raised my premiums to over $120 a month. I won't deal with them again. |
Reviewed by: Ian
Date: 11/29/2006 |
Rating: 10
Recommend: Y |
Worth every penny and then some
My min pin has had numerous health issues: pancreatitis, allergies, staph infections...etc... as long as the one page sheet is complete, they pay what the say and they pay promptly...I wish MY Heatlh ins was this good. And now I've added my Weimaraner!!! Not to mention the Customer Service is AWESOME! |
Reviewed by: Jazzmin & Jazper's MOM
Date: 10/26/2006 |
Rating: 3
Recommend: N |
Beware
I took my cat to the vet on August 3rd. When I sent in my claim, Pet Care said I needed more tests because vet just wrote vomiting. I explained that my cat died within that week, so there could be no more tests. They said to get an autopsy.
The cat died on August 11th, they sent me this letter dated August 23rd, and I received it August 31st. The cat was cremated on the 11th. Damages: I lost $181.50 |
Reviewed by: Mary
Date: 8/31/2006 |
Rating: 10
Recommend: Y |
Very Helpful
My cat is 10 years old and when she was diagnosed with cancer I thought the worst. However, the Pet care staff assured me that her treatment was covered. Without this insurance I don't know what I would have done. |
Reviewed by: Katherine Reed
Date: 8/1/2006 |
Rating: 9
Recommend: Y |
Worth It
I paid in for years, but when my Golden needed surgery they paid for everything over my deductible. |
Reviewed by: MissysMom
Date: 6/8/2006 |
