Simon Edgecombe

We took out the top level of cover with John Lewis pet insurance in the hope we NEVER had to call on it. The premiums started out as expensive, however being John Lewis we expected good things should we need it, what then transpired was nothing but the opposite. I took our Golden Retriever Holly to the vets for a check up and to inspect her teeth as well, the vet noticed she really needed a filling in a back top molar due to some erosion, I requested they do this and de scale all her teeth, this they did and I paid the invoice. The important part of this was that I PAID THE BILL, I did NOT ask John Lewis to pay it. Some 4 years later Holly had a broken rear molar exposing the nerve (poor Holly) so obviously I took her to the vets straight away, they suggested the removal of both upper rear molars as the other one had a crack in it as well (the one that had the filling 4 years earlier) this was all done and again I paid the invoice. I decided to send the invoice this time to John Lewis and make a claim. The claim dragged on for nearly three months, eventually after many complaints they told me that they would not pay for Holly's tooth removal as they considered it a 'Pre existing Condition' due to the fact she had received a filling on that tooth some 4 years ago. So same insurer throughout but will not pay despite the fact that I never claimed, they also stated that the excess of £140 plus 20% would apply to each tooth even though extracted at the same time, therefore the payout was nil. The premium for Holly was £84.00 per month, the renewal invitation we have just received for April 2016 forward is for the staggering sum of over £180 per month, that represents an annual premium of over £2,167.00 pa. over twice the cost of personal comprehensive health insurance for me aged over 60, smoker and having had a quadruple heart bypass. I think that John Lewis Pet Insurance need to stop doing pet insurance, this is nothing more than extortion as once they had pulled you in, they then expect you to just accept the poor service and huge premiums as they are John Lewis. Have decided to take out a policy with Lifetime Pet Cover at a much more realistic cost and open an ISA account for Holly and put the money away 'Just in Case'. In conclusion, I called John Lewis to inform them I wished to cancel the policy and not renew, were they really interested why........NO!!