Hi clamped 2011 I am in the samr position as yourself with regard to Halifax and their pet insurance. After reading the posts on this site and talking to Bankfodder I have decided to start complaining and intend to go to the Small claims court if there is no satisfactory response from the Halifax. Would you mind if I used the letter posted on this thread to send to the Halifax as it covers everything that needs to be and does it very clearly. It would also save me an awful lot of time. Thanks in anticipation,

Thank you so much for your help and offer of support. I am not goingt to rush things because a. I need to learn about the process first and b. I'm back at work full time so won't have a lot of spare time to devote to letter writing etc. I'm just content that something can be done about the problem.

This is a story like others on this site that are having to deal with trying to insure sick pets so please bear with me while I tell the story! A few weeks ago I recieved a letter telling me that the Halifax were 'pulling out' of the pet insurance market and like many others, I am sure wondered what had happened to the 'lifetime' insurance commitment that Halifax had made by accepting my premiums over the pevious 3 years. The letter offered me 'alternative arrangements' which, to my mind, were totally unacceptable twice the price for half the cover and no pre-existing conditions covered. Unfortunately one of my cats, Eric, has Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease which although is under control will trouble him for the rest of his life and cost a lot at the vet's to treat him. Money that I don't have at an average £500 per visit. I thought that by buying a lifetime policy I would be covered for just this eventuality - silly me!! I was incensed by the letter, the alternative offer and the time scale allowed for me to find a replacement insurance. The Halifax policy ran out on 3/2/12 and the letter arrived the second week in January. I immediately phoned the FOS to make a complaint and they contacted the Halifax on my behalf. I recieved a confirmation letter from the FOC stating that they had forwarded my complaint to Bank of Scotland/Lloyds TSB General Insurance I thought I was dealing with the Halifax! I realised however that it was the same company. The FOC stated that the Halifax had 8 weeks to respond to my complaint so I decided to contact the other protagonists in the story to see if I could do anything. 1. BDML the administrators of the Halifax policy. They could only say that as the halifax's underwriter were no longer underwriting the policy they could not accept pre-existing conditions. I did draw their attention to a clause in their Policy summary documents under the heading 'significant and unusual exclusions and limitations that states, 'Any pre-existing conditions or illness are excluded unless previously agreed by us.' I argued with the adviser at BDML that I understood that phrase to mean they were open to discussion in regard to pre-existing conditions but she insisted that the wording referred to agreement between the underwriters. I politely told the adviser that I would not be accepting their offer of insurance! 2. AXA The new underwriter . No joy here either. They were very sympathetic but they do not negotiate with customers in regard to pre-existing conditions. 3. Premium Credit. The credit agency who sent a credit agreement for the direct debit with which I would pay the premiums for the PetWise Policy. I don't recall having a. asked to start a direct debit for the policy, b. authorised my bank details to be passed to either Petwise or Premium Credit or c. given the any bank details to either company myself. Who do these damned people think they are? I'm now going to have to write yet another letter to cancel all of this and make sure I am taken of their computer system. After venting my frustration on these various representatives of insurance companies I realised that I was getting nowhere and decided to wait for the response from the FOS complaint. In the meantime I searched in vain for an alternative insurance policy for both Eric and Ernie accepting that anything 'wee' related with Eric would not be covered. I have since then recieved a letter written on Halifax headed paper telling me that they cant cover pre-existing conditions and if I want to take the matter further I should contact Lloyds TSB or complain to the FOS. As I am sure you can imagine I was extremely unhappy and didn't know what to do next or who to talk to but (this is where Superman comes flying in with his cap flowing behind him) a friend saw an article in the Mail that metioned CAG and after reading other posts and contacting others in the same position I have decided that I will take my claim to the Small Claims Court because if I carry on just dealing with the insurance companies I will get nowhere and the FOS seem to take their on sweet time in sorting out problems so its time to take action myself. It's letter writing first so if anyone is interested I will keep you up to date as to how things are going.Eric and Ernie, Eric foreground.