Told to pay insurance excess every year for ongoing claim - can't be right?

[Geordietyke]

Just received a letter from Argos Insurance saying I need to pay my excess of £115 EVERY YEAR at the start of the renewal year for my ongoing claim for Odie's Addison's. 

Letter states "you must pay an amount towards the cost of treatment your pet receives during the period of insurance for each incident (excess)"

I don't understand this, it's not "another incident", it's the same incident but it's ongoing treatment for life.

Surely this can't be right as it's a lifelong, ongoing claim, with no breaks in it?  If it was another incident, surely it would then be classed as pre-existing and not therefore covered?

I'm devastated as I've just paid my £115 a few weeks ago and also my renewal was only on 5th May which I've had to start paying monthly as I couldn't afford the hike up.  It's just not what I need atm.... 

[Darwin]

Doesn't sound right to me,    Hope you get it sorted

[MaggieR]

 's hun - doesn't sound right to me either.  I would've thought lifetime cover meant just that....  give them a ring and talk to them, no point getting more stressed over what might well be a simple error. 

[Geordietyke]

I've got my Policy document here and of course it's so confusingly written, it's barely understandable by most people, but it states:

Excess is paid for each INCIDENT for each PERIOD OF INSURANCE.  In their glossary of how they term these words, they state:

INCIDENT - A specifically identifiable illness in your pet's normal healthy state.  Incidents which are reoccurring and ongoing are considered to be one loss (regardless of the number of incidents or areas of the body affected) and are defined as:

injury, illness or disease or change in your pet's normal healthy state, which are incurable and likely to continue for the remainder of your pet's life.

Reading that above, Odie has an ILLNESS, which is INCURABLE and WILL continue for the rest of his life so it therefore considered to be one loss (as stated in their explanation of INCIDENT). 

Hubby is going to look at it when he gets home from work but I'm sure Elaine.e said she only had to pay the excess once as it was an ongoing claim.  Thanks guys.

[PennyB]

if you have an ongoing illness then each year you have to pay the excess again - Petplan does it (I pay out every year for Wilf) - its because while you have insurance for life you renew your policy each year

you'll find most insurance companies do it

am asusming that Odie wil lbe treated fo rthe rest of his life which means you put in forms for either you or your vet making a claim

with Wilf I pay the excess when I make the 1st claim after each renewal date (which in his case is soon!)

if you don't make any more claims after renewal then you don't pay the excess

[Geordietyke]

Really?  It doesn't sound good then for me, it's just my rotten (typical) luck that my claim started 2 weeks before the last one ran out so in effect have to find 2 lots of £115 in the space of a few weeks

[Patp]

Really?  It doesn't sound good then for me, it's just my rotten (typical) luck that my claim started 2 weeks before the last one ran out so in effect have to find 2 lots of £115 in the space of a few weeks

Or you are lucky that you took lifetime insurance out ??

[PennyB]

Really?  It doesn't sound good then for me, it's just my rotten (typical) luck that my claim started 2 weeks before the last one ran out so in effect have to find 2 lots of £115 in the space of a few weeks

I have paid out over the years - yes its tough but at least you're still covered for life (forgot to add I also had to with Roobs and Ed when their insurance went over the renewal period even though they're not being treated any longer for their illnesses).

thankfully both vet practices I use get paid direct so at least am not landed with the whole bill 1st considering it ran into 000s in Ed's case

[Deb H]

We have to pay the excess for Jasper every year too as well as 20% of each claim now he's over 9 stings a bit I know (so does the £93 pounds a month premium) but well worth it. With a life long condition trust me it will soon look like peanuts.

[Geordietyke]

Yes, I hand in claims monthly at the vets and they do the rest and get paid direct.  As the illness is incurable and for life, I'll be doing this until the end...

Patp - it wasn't luck, I specifically hunted out the best deal for a lifetime cover as I'm a pessimist and would always assume 'something would go wrong' (which in my case, I was proved right unfortunately  )

If I'd not chosen a lifetime policy, unfortunately the sad fact of the matter is, I simply couldn't have kept Odie

It's just bad timing regarding the 2 back to back excess payments 

[siam]

We were with Petplan for our last cocker and he had five ongoing conditions so had to pay the excess for each condition every year plus a fifth of the cost of treatment.

[Geordietyke]

OK, so it seems standard practice, thanks everyone.