Prime Pet Insurance

I have given a review before and instead of editing it, I’ll be giving another to show the extreme shift my experience with prime has had. I’ve been with Prime Pet Insurance for almost four years. Recently, they increased the premium for my older cat by $100 per month, despite the fact that she is otherwise very healthy and only has manageable… Read more

arthritis.

When I called to question the increase, I was given a long list of vague explanations — age, industry changes, rising costs — but nothing that justified such a dramatic jump. I raised concerns about what feels like a loyalty tax, especially after being a long-term customer, and was told the only option available was to downgrade to a lower level of cover.

At this point, I’m paying close to $250 per month just for my older girl, yet I only receive around $50 back per month for her injections. The insurance was mainly kept for peace of mind and annual dental cover, but at this price it no longer makes financial sense. I’ve now had to cancel 2 other policies because the overall increase became completely unsustainable, where I once had 4 policies with prime.

What’s most disappointing is that loyalty clearly counts for very little. My cat is almost 11, well cared for, and likely to live many more healthy years — yet the premium increases suggest I’ll continue paying more and more simply because I stay.

Sadly, this experience has pushed me to seriously reconsider pet insurance altogether and instead set money aside myself. Long-term customers deserve better transparency and fairer treatment than this.

Prime are a money hungry company who make it difficult to keep your pet insured. They jack up the prices ($40 a fortnight!) and are completely unwilling to negotiate. We’re now in a position where we will no longer be able to afford pet insurance, and prime would rather our pup go uninsured than keep the premium as is it, or consider a more reasonable increase. Don’t go with these guys - try someone else. Show details

A REAL Pet Insurance company that does the right thing – Recently, our little one, Willow, accidentally had some chocolate covered sultanas. With sultanas being extremely toxic to dogs. We rushed her to SASH and thankfully she is all back to normal. With regards to the Pet Insurance, Prime has been the best yet we've ever had. We've been with them about 2 years and both our dogs have been insured since… Read more ·  1

they were about 3 Years old. One is now almost 9 and the other 8. With other companies, the hurdles and obstacles they put you through to pay a valid claim is ridiculous. Most pet insurers allow the Vet to claim in your behalf, and Prime does just that.

We didn't need to fill out any forms on or anything. Yet one morning, 5 days after the claim was lodged there was a large deposit into my bank account. What? I couldn't believe it took only 5 days to get reimbursed and that they didn't require us to jump through every hurdle to get the claim paid. Which was our experience with previous insurers.

They have an online account management system which is easy to use and shows all needed info on each dog.

While they are a bit pricier compared to some others, you truly get what you pay for. Overall the ease of dealing with them (or not dealing with them at all) was unbelievable. They cover 85% of vet bills, with only a few submits on things like consults et cetera. Another bonus is after holding a continuous policy for 2 years they cover up to $2000 for dental procedures, which is great for ageing doggies. Now this may very depending on your cover and of course refer to your own specific Insurance Certificate and PDS.

But the coverage and peace of mind they provide is excellent. And the no fuss process of claiming was icing in the cake.

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend Prime Pet Insurance. Granted most pet insurers are underwritten by Hollard, it seems Prime really have their game together.

Bad faith. Squirm out of claims. Do not use – I spent a day and half reviewing pet insurance before concluding that prime offered the most comprehensive cover. I had not heard of the brand but wanted the best coverage for my new little furry friend. I wanted to know he'd have what he needed in case he got sick or injured. Well after diligently paying the premiums for 3 months I had my first… Read more

claim. My cat got sick with diarrhoea and all done I ended up with $500 of bills. The policy was supposed to cover 80% of the costs. After the claim was assessed I received $0 reimbursement. They squirmed out of paying by claiming it was cat flu as a corona virus showed up in his diagnostic PCR for diarrhoea (which is not necessarily a pathological finding). It just so happens I have a PhD in microbiology and this is a load of bunkum. There was no reasoning with the indifferent people on the other end of the phone in a foreign land. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. You have no assurance they will have your back if something goes wrong with your companion animal.

EXCELLENT SERVICE AND QUICK CLAIM PROCESSING – I have been with prime for just over a 3 years now, and I'm amazed with the fantastic service i have received every time i have contacted the company. when my little chowchow, bear was injured when a another dog at the park attacked her the claim process was quick and efficient and i had 85% of the $3000, so $2550 in my account in less then 3… Read more

days! bear has now made a full recovery. the staff were compassionate and understanding always asking how bear is and assisting me with putting the claim together. over the past few years i have claimed just over $2000 in the last few years mostly on things such as ear infections or stomach viruses and every single time i have never been disappointed by the service and the process. i would highly recommend this company to everyone.

I get disappointed when i see these negative reviews of people trying to claim for things that aren't covered, and then getting upset when those claims are denied. you should read your PDS it says the general exclusions in it, when i was doing my comparisons to other companies i found this company to offer a lot more including dental (which is something i have to watch with my little one being a chowchow).Ultimately i am extremely impressed and it is a brilliant cover to use and i would recommend to anyone.

polite, helpful, easy to understand, very impressive skills – recently I had cause to call Prime pet insurance and spoke to 'Xia'. he was fantastic and is a credit to your company, he was polite, helpful, easy to understand and his overallskills were very impressive. Show details ·  1

Prime Pet Insurance looked after me – My darling cat Keara died of cancer this week. Prime has been so supportive over the years . They paid the many chemo / meds claims I made quickly and were supportive throughout her journey. Show details ·  1

Bottomless Pit of Money Wastage – After an 8 year policy and 9 year policy for two dogs, upon cancellation request, Prime Insurance were happy to provide an additional 3 months cover, at no extra cost. However, only for one dog. Reason being I made a claim in the last calendar year for one pet and not the other. I have spent thousands over 9 years and wish now I had put the money aside in a savings account. At least it would still be in my pocket. Be warned people. Show details

No matter what the claim - always cannot be claimed – Waste of money - I will not recommend this company or its policies to anyone. Save your money and use it to insure with companies who do assist with pet insurance. Show details

21% increase in premiums after 8 years because my dog is getting older (10 years old) – I have paid $145 per month for 8 years - made one $1000 claim and now they have hiked up the premium to $176 per month! This is ridiculous - when your pet gets old they don't want to insure them so they make it unaffordable. There is no legitimate reason other than this - they say it's vet fees - this is crap- they just don't want an old dog on their books. My dog is only ten. Don't get stung like me. They punish you for being loyal. Show details

Excellent customer service from Katrina. I called to inquire about my premium increase since I was concerned about affordability and she was very knowledgeable and empathetic. Other insurance companies may have staff who are robotic and read off a script but Katrina knew her stuff, went out of her way to answer my many questions and showed she… Read more ·  1

cared about my situation. A true professional. Overall too, Prime Pet has been responsive with their claims processing and service in the years I’ve been with them.

Cancellation Charges – I have been with Prime Pet Insurance for 9 Months and have made 1 claim for $143.68. I have paid $565.63 so far in premiums. I got a quote from another Insurance company that was $305.00 cheaper per year. I contacted Prime to cancel my insurance and was told as I had made a claim of $143.68 I would have to pay my premium until my due date, this… Read more

will total another $208.39. Total being paid of $774.02. I have offered to pay the claim back to them so that I can cancel the policy and that has to be approved apparently. Very disappointed with this company and it's policies.

Terrible customer service – I have been trying to call customer service several times. The line goes to a third party receptionist all the time and they take your name and contact details for a return call back. What kind of customer line is this? No one has called me back yet. I need an application cancelled before the policy starts on 11/06 11:59pm as i no longer wish to go ahead with it. Show details

26% Premium Increase over 2 Years with no claims – We have had our dog insured with Prime since eligible and have just received our policy renewal, premiums have increased 9% this year and 26% over the past 2 years. And this is without making a claim. Highway robbery!! Show details

Stay away from Prime – I was with Prime and always had issues getting my med bill paid back. Always issues. Stay away from these guys, they are hopeless..they take your money then try to exclude things afterwards......walk away from prime pet insure Show details

Think Twice Before Joining Prime Pet Insurance – I have two dogs and have been with Prime Pet Insurance since 1 Dec 2017. Two weeks ago, both of them had their teeth checked and the vet said both had gingivitis so had to have their teeth cleaned. One had a lose tooth and had to have an extraction. I receive letters from Prime Pet Insurance last week denying my claims. How can needing to have… Read more

a tooth extraction not be a legitimate reason for making a claim? So I just called them. Of course when I went through after keying in all of my information the call dropped out. So I called back but purposely going through to new claims and I got through straight away. So apparently It is a two year waiting period before I am allowed to claim on any dental for my pets. How absolutely convenient for them.

My blind epileptic dog – I have had Prime insurance since I got my puppy 4 yrs ago. 2.5 yrs ago my dog went blind and started having seizures, we took Reggie to all sorts of specialists that cost fortunes and he has had ongoing tablets now up to this date to manage his seizures. Prime have been fantastic helping us with vet bills and ongoing prescriptions. Thank you so much for being effortless to deal with and getting our money back from the vet bills. Show details ·  1

Unsympathetic company – I have had my dog insured for years with prime. I experienced a workplace accident in 2017 and have still not returned to work (now mid 2019) due to the accident. I constantly experience financial hardship however for 3 months after this occurred I could not keep up with insurance payments. But continued after those three months. Now it's come… Read more

time to claim something in 2019 after years and years of payments. The issue was first noted in the period of cover pre the 3 months hardship in 2017. So I am not covered. I was paying them premiums when the issue was noted. They (unlike other insurance companies) don't care about hardship. My personal health insurance was on hardship for 9 months. Prime? Don't care about their customers or the pets they allegedly cover. It's a SCAM.

Cost of insurance – I have had one dog with prime for 3.5 years over $75 a month - pretty bloody high cost. I want to insure my new pup and they want so much more than the older dog. They have refused to negotiate a more reasonable quote. They are going to lose 14 - 16 years of business just for the $5 I wanted to negotiate - plus all the people that ask me about my experience with the company! And I have a lot of people who ask me about who I insure with Show details

An issue free claim – I bought a Prime Pet insurance policy for my puppy over 4 months ago. I did not do much research but from what I read on the Prime Pet Insurance Policy website it sounded pretty good. I got the top cover which is not cheap but I wanted a peace of mind. Last week my puppy had an unfortunate incident of swallowing a foreign object and had to undergo… Read more ·  1

an emergency surgery which ended up being over $3,600. I lodged the claim and got the refund within a few days. No questions asked. Whilst I was waiting for the refund I found these reviews and was expecting issues but contrary to the majority of reviews my experience with Prime Pet Insurance has been positive so far.

Don't do it – Don't waste your time with these people, they don't pay anything out ever and they will lie to you in order to get you to sign up. They money we've given to them so far could have easily paid Fletcher's vet bill, it's not worth the money at all. Show details

Thieves. Do not use this company – Customer for 18 months with no claims. Lodged 4 standard vet visit claims and all rejected. Tried to cancel policy and usual strategy applied of disconnecting me twice, transferred me to department who said they couldn’t help, offered 2 day callback until I mentioned ombudsman then miraculously a supervisor got on the line and canceled policy. What an abject disgrace of a company.  Show details

Sub-Prime Pet Insurance - AVOID – We have been with Prime Pet Insurance for 10 months now. I am extremely disappointed with their service and selectivity of their claims. They will deny perfectly legitimate claims with the very trivial excuses. Their level of coverage is abysmal, and customer service is even worst. My dog had a legitimate accidental injury which required… Read more

stitches. This claim was denied, leaving us out of pocket by $500.

Please take this from me, avoid this company. They take your money and rob you blind.

Prime Pet Insurance, I am looking into reporting your business practices to the Australian Consumer Protection.

Theifs! – I have been with prime for 2 months before canceling the policy with them due to other bad reviews and now having issues with them taking money! I cancelled over a week ago due to them repeatedly failing to take payments then blaming me even though I had more than enough money in my account! After cancelling i confirmed that they wouldn't try to… Read more

take anymore payments they say yes no more payments, 10mins later I got a text to say they would take it next week so rang back to tell them no they wouldnt be and they said it was and error message they wouldnt take the payment then today they have taken another payment!!! After screaming down the phone for a good 20 minutes they were useless couldnt help and told me to call back to speak to a manager tomorrow and they might be able to get the payments stopped! You cant take payments when I've cancelled my policy! Bunch of idiots and con artists! Do not go with this company!!! All they want is your money and dont care about your pets!!!

Standard shameful insurance – 2 years with the company, found out that i'd signed up to a 2 year waiting period for the extra dental cover we purchased on top of the top policy... over 23 months into the policy we made our first claim for some emergency dental work which due to this pretty despicable waiting period they won't contribute to. I don't know why I even bother with… Read more

insurance, it's never a good experience, they're happy to collect your hard earned cash every month but always have a term in their policies to get them out of paying claims. I may just move to another provider out of principle, I know it was my fault for not noticing the 24 month wait period, but some lenience due to it being our only claim and 23+ months into the policy would have been nice.

They rob you blind – This company reimburses minimal conditions. Refused to pay for my dogs second ACL surgery because they were within the same year of each other..... any reputable pet company would know that dogs with ACL injuries are likely to do both knees within a year of each other. Very shady company... avoid at all costs  Show details

I am trying to cancel my policy and they tell me that I have to wait for a call-back in 1-2 days – 4 months, no claims made. very expensive so expected better service. How dare they not cancel my policy when I instruct them! After verifying all me details they leaving me waiting on the phone for 15 minutes to tell me that? I am glad that I will never have to make claim with them.  Show details

Tried to cancel this policy and took 3 phone calls to be put on hold every time was then tried to be – 3 days which was long enough after trying to get through to there customer service it was a huge nightmare  Show details

Poor customer service and will do everything they can to avoid paying claims - read the fine print – One of the more expensive options on the market. The first experience of calling their customer service team was terrible. After our pet had an accident they refused to pay the claim saying that the accident resulted in an illness and illness wasn't covered. If you broke your fingers that would be an accidental injury and not an illness. After… Read more

20 mins of going back and forth on the phone I was so frustrated.

Based on this experience I would suggest reading the cover documents carefully and only taking out this cover if you want very basic coverage at a VERY high price. There are better options out there.

Thieves – I organized top cover with prime in preparation for the arrival of our puppy whose breed does have a history of health problems - so I thought I was preparing for this. Waste of time and money. Communication is terrible, especially with following up on claims. Found the loop hole they were looking for and will not cover our claim. So upset that… Read more

I’ve wasted so much money on top pet insurance to have none of our expenses covered. Definitely do not recommend prime pet insurance and will be cancelling my policy first thing tomorrow

Lodge claim and still waiting on refund – Prime pet insurance dont care about your pets. All they care about if getting your money and not giving back. I have been with prime pet insurance for a few years now. I am really thinking of cancelling and just put the fortnightly money in a saving account  Show details

Bad Policy Management and Communication – My policy was paid via direct debit for almost 4 years. When the direct debit lapsed (as I had to set a timeframe on the duration), I was never notified and they cancelled my policy which means that any vet bills I had paid for during the time period (in which the cover was paid) will not be reimbursed. Very bad communication. Any other company… Read more

would notify their customers that a payment was missed or a direct debit was not successful. Plus their online claim system was only recently implemented. Previously, claiming any vet bills was by post and a waste of time.