Australia’s second largest pet insurer, Petplan, is being urged to change a policy which forces customers to continue to pay premiums for up to a year after their pet has died.
Consumer advocacy group Choice on Saturday launched a campaign for the company, backed by insurer Allianz, to follow in the footsteps of its biggest rival, Petsure.
Petsure amended its own vet insurance policy in April this year after consumer backlash.
Ross McLeod, a 72-year-old retiree from Sydney, is still paying about $100 a month in insurance premiums on two of his dogs which died this year. Lochen, 13 and Skye, six, died unexpectedly of cancer within three months of each other.
“It was really sad,” Macleod told Guardian Australia. “It’s a vulnerable period, they were our babies.
“We notified [Petplan] in both cases about the dogs having died and then we rang them when we saw we were still getting billed by direct debit.”
“They said ‘well actually it’s in the policy that you have to pay for the rest of the year’. We didn’t take it any further at that stage because it was a fairly traumatic time and there didn’t seem much point.”
He said it was an “objectionable policy” and had he realised what it entailed he and his wife Selvi would have gone with another provider.
“If it was a human there would be a huge outrage if a health insurance company was still asking for money after the person had died,” said Macleod.
Monika Hooker, 49, found herself in a similar situation when her British bulldog, Cookie, passed away in August this year.
Cookie had racked up numerous vet bills shortly before he died, so Hooker called Petplan to check that they wouldn’t cancel the policy before she could put in claims for them. The woman on the phone told her that would be fine, and she could cancel the policy after and receive a refund on premiums, Hooker told Guardian Australia.
“Even their employees don’t understand the policy,” she said. “When I got the cheque back and sent an email saying Cookie’s passed away … they sent one back saying they can’t cancel the policy.”
The former insurance worker has since cancelled Petplan insurance on her two other dogs. “You expect an insurance policy to make sense. How can you insure a dog that doesn’t exist? Cookie couldn’t claim anymore.”
Choice’s head of media, Tom Godfrey, said: “We continue to receive complaints from distraught pet owners who have been forced to pay premiums for the remainder of their policy period, even in cases where they made a claim but their pet passed away.
“Your family wouldn’t expect to pay your health insurance premiums if you passed away so why should pet owners be forced to pay premiums after the death of the family pet?”
Choice is calling on the company to add the phrase “other than the death of your pet” to a clause which states if a client who has made a claim cancels a policy “for whatever reason” they must pay the remaining premium for the period of insurance and Petplan will offer no refunds.
Petplan has been contacted for comment.
