Help - stuck with Bill from vets

[c19unn]

Hi Guys
Im going out of my mind at the moment, I have paid a fortune already on the pup as you all well know. He was at the skin specialist yesterday, bill was 360.00 which i believed would be covered by insurance.
Diesel was purchased on Fri 14th Jul (13wks old) He did not have any jags but had been flee'd wormed and a full health check i was advised. I had him in at the vet on the mon 18th for his first jag where i mentioned the scabs on his legs that we noticed when we got him home but niavely assumed was from rough and tuble with the other pups. I filled in the forms for the insurance at the vets as the provided the first 4 weeks insurance free.
The scabs were mentioned on the Mon at the vets and the ins have advised the policy was started on the Mon. Now i am being told by ins that as he was seen to for the scabs on the mon also and not just there for his jags that his bacteria stuff is NOT covered (Bill was 360.00 yesterday) can anyone advise me on where i stand or what i should do ...
If he came to us like this from the breeder does she have any responsibility for anything that he came to us with ?
The pup cost 600.00 and so obviously with vet bills now towering well over 600.00 in the 4weeks i have had him surely the pup should have been cleared of anything when i got him ??
Im up to my eyes in debt with these vet bills and now i dont know what to do - any advice please 

[lindseyp]

don't panick just yet hun  - I'm not 100% sure Charlene but would the free insurance in place at the time of purchase not cover Diesel? ....not sure how this will work out if he does end up having life time issue because of it though? Hope someone more knowledgeable in ref to insurance small print, comes along very soon 

[c19unn]

The vet is trying to help in anyway they can Pet plan have advised that as long as the appointment time is after the time the ins was activated they will cover it but have advised me that it sounds like the policy was activated after the appointment and so wont cover this and yesterdays bill is to be paid by me ....
I see where the insurance are coming from but i mean do we seriously need to basically get insurance for a dog before we drive it home as such ? Its terrible - im strugg;ing so much with the vet costs - his vet bills are on a credit card at the moment and i have no idea what iom going to do about the 360.00 and there is no way i will let the wee man suffer at all

[lindseyp]

The vet is trying to help in anyway they can Pet plan have advised that as long as the appointment time is after the time the ins was activated they will cover it but have advised me that it sounds like the policy was activated after the appointment and so wont cover this and yesterdays bill is to be paid by me ....
I see where the insurance are coming from but i mean do we seriously need to basically get insurance for a dog before we drive it home as such ? Its terrible - im strugg;ing so much with the vet costs - his vet bills are on a credit card at the moment and i have no idea what iom going to do about the 360.00 and there is no way i will let the wee man suffer at all

Did he come with the 4 weeks free insurance from the breeder - I thought it was already active when you leave the breeder but perhaps I'm  mistaken 
Hope you can get it sorted hun      (I'm sure someone who knows more than me will be along soon ...try not to worry Charlene  )

[seaangler]

Would diesel be still insured by the kennal club for four weeks after you brought the dog .... Until you get your own insurence on  diesel..As far as i know the breeder dos have some responabillety under the sell of goods act if they are registered!!!!

[Nicky]

Did he come with the 4 weeks free insurance from the breeder - I thought it was already active when you leave the breeder but perhaps I'm  mistaken 
Hope you can get it sorted hun      (I'm sure someone who knows more than me will be along soon ...try not to worry Charlene  )

He should have been covered by the free 4 weeks insurance? It's the breeders responsibility to activate the insurance - I activated my pups insurance for the day that they left me so that as soon as their owners took them they were covered - which is what the kennel club recommends.

[*Jay*]

Did he come with 4 weeks free insurance? It's usually with either the Kennel Club or PetPlan and I *think* the owner has to activate it by sending off the form provided (I'm fairly sure I had to do that with Dallas but that was almost 9 years ago so things might have changed). If he did, and you activated it now, then he might be covered but you'd have to read the small print to make sure.

With the insurance you took out at the vet, do they not still have the stipulation that anything that occurs within the first 14 days of policy won't be covered for or is it a special kind of puppy one?

[wendyt]

Charlene if I was you I'd ring the breeder about insurance. Most breeders offer 4 sometimes 6 weeks free insurance which is activated by them when you pick your puppy. All my pups have had cover like this when I brought them home, it gives you a little breathing space to find the right insurance and still have cover for any accidents, ailments etc.

I feel so sorry for you at the moment, hope you get sorted.

[JaspersMum]

If he does have the free 4 or 6 week insurance, you may need to continue with that company just incase there are future problems, otherwise it will be a pre-existing condition if you start up somewhere else.  The sooner you can find out the better as under distance selling regulations, you can cancel the policy that you took out.  If the free insurance is petplan, problem hopefully will be sorted and they'll credit you with the extra weeks at the end of the policy when it comes to renewal time.

Hope you can get it sorted soon. 

[Goggins]

 

Whenever I have collected either pups or rescue woof (Merlin) all had already had activated insurance on them. All the breeders ensured they had activated it with the popular Petplan or the Kennel Club...they should have given you a slip of paper with a reference number on it so should you have needed to claim you have the number...

As far as I can see on Freyas paperwork the K.C puppy 4 week trial includes illness and injury from phonecall to activate (usually done by breeder)...

Im not so sure about PetPlan 4 week free but they usually say they cover accident immediately but will not cover illness for the first 14 days...

I think you need to find out :
a) did the breeder activate any free insurance on the day of collection?
b) did the breeder give you any paperwork for the above?
c) can the breeder find out if they did/didnt do the above?

If the breeder didnt activate the insurance then the likelihood is that petplan will not pay up as this would be in the first 14 days which is excluded on their policies...now if the breeder Has activated via KC or PP then Diesel should be covered but you may need to cancel insurance and go with the one that has been activated...

I really hope the above makes sense? If not shout again and I will try and explain a bit more...I think this will All boil down to weather the breeder activated any insurance when you collected him and who it is with...

[seaangler]

JaspersMum  is 100% correct in what she has said(pre-existing)be very carefull...I am sure you are getting all the help from the members of C.O.L to help you..Try not to worry it will get sorted...

...I to was on the change over with are cindy at the the time with my insurence company from the kennal club...And more than would not pay my vet bill at the time(will not go into what happen) at the time as i am still very angry with More than and the kennal club

[JeffandAnnie]

If the worst happens and he's not covered most vets will let you pay big bulls monthly interest free if you explain the situation. Not ideal, but at least it's manageable.

[Christal]

Hi Charlene

Have you managed to contact the breeder yet about the insurance?

[michelle123]

Can I just verify something as I'm not too clear.  Had the free breeder insurance expired ?  If so when ?  The forms that you completed at the vets was that for NEW cover ?  If so are the Insurers the same ?

As Jay rightly points out if you have taken out new cover then there will be between a 10 & 14 day exclusion period - however if you have continued cover then this shoulnt apply.

[Jane S]

I see where the insurance are coming from but i mean do we seriously need to basically get insurance for a dog before we drive it home as such ?

Actually yes you do - normally the breeder would activate 4 weeks free insurance before or on the day you collect (as others have said either Petplan or the KC's insurance) but it should definitely be thought about by anyone buying a puppy. I knew someone whose puppy sadly was ran over the day after he was collected due to someone leaving a gate open and no insurance had been activated (this was in the days when the onus was on the puppy owner to activate the policy). 

Really hope you can get this sorted though, one way or another, either via the breeder or via insurance (if it turns out a policy was activated at time of sale)