I wrote to Petplan to complain about them refusing to pay my claim and they replied saying they'd investigate. As expected, they took the full 8 weeks to reach a decision but I'm very pleased to say they upheld my complaint and I've just received a cheque for the full amount I was owed:-D There was no apology or explanation as to why the claim was initially rejected so I can only assume it was just a case of them deciding they didn't want to pay it and hoping I'd accept that.

I did contact them first, but they refused to say whether the claim would be authorised. They will only decide whether treatment, advertising etc is covered by your policy after you've paid for it and have submitted a claim form. As I couldn't get my claim pre-authorised, I read the policy terms and conditions from cover to cover to ensure there wasn't a clause excluding face-to-face advertising. I couldn't see one so decided to go ahead with it.

Thanks for your replies. The policy I have provides £1500 of advertising per year and my claim was for about £1150 so it was well within the limit. I spoke to Animal Search yesterday and they told me they'd had a very interesting conversation with Petplan themselves. They asked where in the policy document it said that face-to-face advertising wasn't covered and the advisor checked the policy to find out. He then had to admit that it doesn't say anywhere that it's not covered and he said he therefore didn't understand why the claim had been rejected. He called the underwriters to find out and they apparently said that they've just decided not to cover these types of claim! I hope that call was recorded as it will be very helpful if I need to go to the Ombudsman/court. Petplan told me that there was no need to write a letter of complaint as they will forward details of our phone call to the complaints department themselves. I think I'll write in anyway though as then I can be sure I've got my point across properly.

Hi, One of my cats went missing recently and so I decided to pay a company called Animal Search UK to produce some posters and do some advertising to help find her. As part of the advertising they did the following: 1) Came to my local area and asked neighbours whether they'd seen my cat. 2) Searched people's homes, gardens and sheds. 3) Asked neighbours to display posters in their windows. 4) Asked neighbours to check with their friends and family in the area whether they'd seen a cat like mine. 5) Put leaflets though the doors of people who weren't home. 6) Put up posters on lamp posts and bus stop shelters. 7) Visited local business and got their permission to display posters on their premises. 8) Arranged for me to be interviewed on the radio and in the local paper to highlight my cat's disappearance and appeal for help finding her. The publicity generated from all this was fantastic and there were several possible sightings of my cat as a result. This wouldn't have happened without Animal Search's involvement. None of the sightings turned out to be my cat but luckily she returned after 5 days anyway and thankfully was fine apart from having lost some weight. I think she must have been trapped in an empty house as she smelt of perfume. I'm insured with Petplan and they offer cover for advertising so I thought it would be no problem claiming for the cost of the advertising on my policy. Before I decided to go ahead with it I actually called Petplan and asked them whether the claim would be allowed. All they said was that they can't authorise any claims over the phone. It's now nearly 6 weeks since I sent my claim form in so I called today to ask about the progress of my claim. The person I spoke to informed me that they are only prepared to cover the cost of the posters and that they don't want to pay for the other part of the claim as 1) they don't consider the activities described above to constitute advertising, and 2) I should have carried out these activities myself. There is nothing in the policy documents to say that pet owners need to do all their own advertising so that argument is invalid. It's also very unfair to try to use that as an excuse not to pay as I have severe arthritis in my hip and so am unable to walk the distances that would be required to carry out door-to-door advertising. This was the main reason I hired Animal Search in the first place. To me their assertion that the advertising wasn't really advertising is crazy and is just another excuse to try to get out of paying. From Dictionary.com: Advertising: the act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, on billboards, etc. The policy's terms and conditions don't have a definition for advertising, so the word can only be interpreted in its general sense, and the policy wording simply states "We will pay... the cost of advertising." There are a few exclusions but none of them relate to what I've claimed for. When I asked why I couldn't have been told the advertising wasn't covered when I'd called the first time, I was told that they'd never come across this type of claim before and so hadn't been sure whether it would be allowed or not. The advisor then went on to say that since my claim there have been lots of others. I find both these assertions impossible to believe as Animal Search have been in business for over 10 years. After speaking to a customer services advisor I spoke to her manager, and he repeated the same thing. He then said he'd forward my complaint to the complaints department and I'll hear from them within the next 2 weeks. It's quite obvious that they'll reject my complaint and I'll have to take further action to recover my money (about £750). I'm quite prepared to go to court if necessary but before I do that I'd like to hear other people's opinions. Would you consider the activities listed above to be advertising, and if not, why not? If you do agree with me, do you have any suggestions as to the best way to proceed? Thanks!

Today I received a final response from BDML regarding my complaint. Their letter quoted Agria's letter almost word for word and said there was nothing they could do as Halifax had withdrawn permission for BDML to issue insurance in their name. However, the author then contradicted herself and said that if I was unhappy with Agria's decision to cease cover, I should write to Agria! I've also had a response from the FSA. They've taken more interest than I expected and have asked me to make another complaint to them, this time addressed to the team who investigate breaches of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Two of my other cats are also insured with Halifax and I got their cancellation letters last week. In the letters it said that I should call BDML if I wanted to take out the replacement policy and that if I did nothing, my policies would end in April. A couple of days later I was very surprised to receive a letter from Premium Credit informing me that they had set up a direct debit for my new policy and asking me to sign a credit agreement. I complained to them that they shouldn't be taking any money from me given that a) I'd not asked for the policy, and b) I'd not signed the credit agreement. They replied saying that they didn't need a signed agreement to be able to take the money and that they'd received my bank details from BDML, who'd asked them to set up the new policy. I find it interesting that I received a letter from Premium Credit regarding only one of my cats - the one who's never had any claims. The 2 cats who've had claims didn't get a new, unwanted policy set up for them. Knowing what BDML are like, I'm wondering whether they did this deliberately. I would be very interested to hear whether anyone else has had a Petwise policy set up fo them without their permission and if so, whether the pet has had any claims on their Halifax policy.

Yes, it was. There's a copy of the relevant part on your thread. Will that be suitable for what you need, or shall I email you a scan of the letter?

Today I received a reply from BDML and Trading Standards. The letter from Trading Standards just said I should contact Consumer Direct as TS can't help with individual complaints. Considering that I'd made it very clear in my letter that I didn't expect them to help me personally and that I was contacting them as this is a nationwide problem, I can only conclude that they just don't care. BDML just sent me a holding letter saying they'd investigate and didn't give a timeframe. They're still investigating another, unrelated, complaint that I made in November, so I'll be very surprised if I get a final response before the new small claims limit comes into effect in April.

That's very interesting! This is what my letter from Agria said: "When Halifax made the decision to withdraw from the pet insurance market, they also withdrew permission for BDML to issue new pet insurance contracts and renew existing contracts using the Halifax brand name. As a consequence there was no longer a scheme for Agria to underwrite but we continue to meet our obligations to BDML and in turn to Halifax customers to undenrurite individual customer's policies until their current year's insurance runs out. With the scheme no longer in place for us to underu,urite and with no direct connection with Halifax, we have no authority to issue insurance contracts using their Brand or directly offer insurance to their customers. I would also like to confirm that Halifax did not contact us to ask us to continue to offer insurance for their customers."

Not yet.

This morning I received a reply from Agria. As expected, they said the problem was caused by Halifax withdrawing from the pet insurance market and not allowing Agria to continue offering policies to their customers. They also informed me that they had forwarded my letter to BDML to deal with but that they have a new complaints procedure for this issue whereby any complaints not resolved by BDML will be referred to Halifax.

I've just found out that the proposed increase in the small claims limit is definitely going ahead. The limit's increasing to £10,000, presumably in April. Here is the document confirming it: - http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/consultations/solving-disputes-in-cc-response.pdf As my case is going to be for well over £5,000 and I can't afford to risk having to pay Halifax's legal fees if I lose, I'm going to postpone my case until the new limit comes into effect. In the meantime I'll continue collecting evidence.

I have now written to BDML, Agria, the OFT, the FSA and Trading Standards. I'm not expecting any of them to do anything but at least I've tried. No response from Halifax yet. They have 2 more days before I write them a letter before action.

I just had a rather pointless phone call with Consumer Direct in an attempt to get my complaint referred to Trading Standards. The advisor said he doesn't think there's anything wrong with the way Halifax have behaved and that I need to get a decision from the FOS before I can go to court. I explained that I don't have 2 years to wait while the FOS investigate and he said that was fine but it would damage my case if I went to court without having involved the FOS first. I hope he's wrong as that is exactly what I intend to do!

http://web.archive.org/web/20090530174335/http://www.halifaxpetinsurance.co.uk/pet/schemes/pb/Halifax/pages/faqs.htm - continuous cover http://web.archive.org/web/20090505140748/http://www.halifaxpetinsurance.co.uk/pet/schemes/pb/Halifax/pages/tob.htm - renewal

Here is some information I found on the Halifax website (via the internet archive) to help prove that we all have lifetime policies: What does Continuous Cover/Reinstatement mean? Continuous/Re-instatement cover means that we will provide £1,000 cover for the Halifax Pet Insurance Product or if you have the Halifax Pet Insurance eXtra product we will provide £6,000 cover - every year for the life of your policy. Some policies will stop paying out after the first 12 months of treatment or only pay up to a maximum benefit per condition - so continuous cover is invaluable if your pet develops a long term condition such as arthritis or eczema. Renewal If you pay your premium by instalments your policy will automatically renew on an annual basis for your convenience. This will be confirmed by us by sending to you your renewal documents detailing the premium payable and the terms and conditions applicable for the renewed policy. If you do not wish your policy to renew, you should write to us and cancel your direct debit or continuous credit card mandate.