Pets Plus Us | Pet Insurance Review

Always fast service and very helpful customer service reps.

Very happy with the service

Thanks for the great service!

If you are a Pets Plus Us customer, as I am, I am sure that in your renewal notice this year you will have found that your premiums will be going up by about 40% next year. I wrote to Pets Plus Us before Ronnie (my lovely Labradoodle) injured her knee and asked Pets Plus Us how they could justify such a hike, especially given that we had already sustained premium increases of between 5% and 10% per year, over the last few years. Pets Plus Us response was that the cost of services provided by vets and the costs of treatments now prescribed has increased. I found this an irrelevant explanation because the costs and business models of vets are decoupled from the costs of Pets Plus Us. The maximum amount of cover per claim has not changed at all over the course of Ronnie's 12 year life; no matter what the value of the vet's bill, the maximum amount that Pets Plus Us pay out per claim is the same. The overall effect is that the proportion of pet medical costs that the pet owners are burdened with is increased, and because the claim rates have not moved, the profitability of Pets Plus Us must have increased, relative to their position 12 years ago. As consumers generally: we pay more, and we get less. Seems to be the way of the world these days. I called around a few public authorities to ask to whom I should address my complaints. Sadly it seems that the notion that consumers should be protected from price gouging behaviour of corporations is weak in Canada at present. One organisation suggested that I should 'shop around' to get a better pet insurance deal. I wondered how that person would get on trying to insure an 11 year old dog with any pet 'insurer'. We took out pet insurance for Ronnie shortly after she joined our family thinking that by starting paying monthly insurance premiums early when Ronnie was young and really fit, we would be protecting ourselves from the risk of big pet medical bills when she was older. We thought, that because it was called 'insurance' what we were buying would work like other forms of insurance - like protecting yourself against the flooding of one's home. Deductibles that increase with pet age aside (which are actually pretty reasonable in my view), it seems that Pets Plus Us are moving away from this conventional idea of insurance, and more towards that of a medical payment plan (for pets) where one can 'spread the load' of paying for vet services (subject to their max claim value, the age related deductible, and the co-insurance clause etc.). Does anyone else think the same as I do on this issue? My rant over, I will report that my interactions with Pets Plus Us in dealing with Ronnie's condition have been really good. I thought that I might have suffered delay in some of the processes, especially as I had contacted them to complain so close to the time that Ronnie needed her operation. But pre-approval for the costs of her operation was obtained quickly and the claim reimbursements has been forthcoming promptly too. Their claims system is good too. These interactions were mostly done through the website and by email - which was convenient and pretty slick. When greeted in one of their emails with a "woof", this makes me smile. Perhaps the elevated premiums have been used to improve the service? Back when the same plan was owned by PC Financial, I did have to make a claim, and I remember the service to be good then too. The animal hospital in Walden was fabulous. I had to contact them a few days after the op with news of a bit of a scare. They were very professional, and their support was definitely swift and reassuring. The same has been true for Ronnie's vet at Lockerby Animal Hospital. They have offered wonderful support; it is great to know they have Ronnie's back too (or rather her knee in this case!). Whole thing cost around $5,500 and I got around $2,500 back in the claim for one knee. I am grateful for the reimbursement, and the fact I had a plan in place. It is terrible to think that the only way one can demonstrate 'value for money' in the insurance premiums is if something bad happens to your pet. Next year Pets Plus Us will charge us around $75 per month - you can do the math on the payback yourselves, and I suppose, from Pets Plus Us point of view, this is why we effectively pay in advance too. A friend of mine who used to own a Labrador Retriver told me that 6 or 7 years ago, he got both knees of his dog done for the same money: $5,500 - so the vets' prices have gone up - but we all knew that anyway.

Very efficient, quick claim service.