RACQ Pet Insurance

Stay away from RAC pet insurance.
They do not pay out large claims. They will claim it is a pre existing illness even though my dog has no vet record of pre-existing illness or injury I even got my vet to write a letter to them stating that and still can’t get my claim accepted.
Very difficult deal with and the worst costumer service.
I seriously don’t know how they can get away with it.

I recently made my first claim, was quite easy, just called up and answered a few questions and they did the rest. They contacted me a few times throughout the process with updates. My only complaint was that it took about a month to get an answer, but in the end they approved my claim, refunding me $1100. Hopefully future claims won't take as long. You do need to be careful about pre existing conditions though. I took my dog to the vet once a couple years ago because she was in pain, gave her a couple of pain meds and was fine but now they're trying to say she has osteoarthritis even though she doesn't. Now I have to take her to the vet and fill out a waiver form to get it sorted out.

After jumping through hoops for months and getting every piece of information they needed I then had to chase them up every week to get some sort of update.

After that I get told they won't cover the vet bills because it's a pre existing condition because 2 years prior a vet "suspected" it to be a certain health problem but a "proper examination under sedation" was needed to confirm it. Unfortunately that was enough for racq to class it as a pre-existing condition.

I tried to dispute it but just got a copy and paste reply, I then wrote my concerns publicly on their facebook page to which I was told I would be contacted by customer service which I never was .

I took out pet insurance, home and contents and car insurance with this company and have been a loyal customer for over 8 years with no claims made and this is how I get looked after!

Funny thing is I change company's and for the exact same insurance for all of my assets I'm saving over $65 a month!!

Stay away from RACQ pet insurace, try RSPCA or Woolworths pet insurance instead

Went onto the RAC Pet insurance website to purely see what kind of costs/quotes are involved with their pet insurance, i didn't even progress the page after seeing the quote and I have been spammed every day non-stop with random phone numbers linked to RAC Pet Insurance trying to get ahold of me!! Do youself a favour don't even bother getting a quote from these guys if you do not want to get a tonne of unsolicited phone calls, pests.

I wrote a review entitled "Lengthy Claim Process" on 3 October 2018. The service was absolutely horrible then.

Yesterday, I've had to lodge a new claim for a vet bill of $239.34. I rang and spoke to Laura in the claims department. She was delightful and very helpful. The call took about 15 minutes. I was given the claim number and advised to email the invoice & treatment notes as soon as possible. I did all that yesterday.

Today, I received a call from Laura. She advised that my claim has been accepted and I will be reimbursed 80% of the vet cost.

What a huge improvement! I thought I would be waiting weeks to hear back about my claim.

Thank you Laura & RACQ. Well done!!! Please continue to deliver such excellent service!

Adopted a dog from a rescue. No vet history. Makes a claim then gets told that we got denied because it was prior condition. We didn't even know he had it before! He had no prior history! Rip off!

I used to insure my dogs with Medibank Pet (who coincidentally always paid out promptly and without fuss ... even big bills for surgery). I took out RAC Pet insurance as Medibank had become very expensive - but it seems you get what you pay for. The incredibly arduous claims process at RAC is leaving me wondering if I will ever get my money back (LONG after my dog ate a foreign object which had to be removed surgically at a cost of $3500). Nothing like the good service received for RAC car insurance here in WA, the Pet insurance is based in Queensland and the staff, although trying their best to help sound very stressed and like they simply aren’t coping. Absolutely dreadful - avoid like the plague!!! Also be warned changing pet insurance means your pet won’t be covered for any pre existing conditions. I didn’t realise this never having owned a dog before. I should have stuck with MEDIBANK PET!

I have been with RACQ for 7 years with no claims. I am cancelling with them today as after discovering our pup has elbow Dysplasia they refuse to cover him or even explain to me why they don’t cover that condition. I had a disgusting, pig of a man speak to me like an idiot on the phone. Do not go with RACQ.

Paid premiums for 12 months with extra TLC coverage. Lump appeared under my dogs arm got it tested was not cancerous was a fat build up and was quiet small. It got bigger so we had removed 3 months later. RACQ then did not refund me any money as they deemed it pre exsisting because i had tested 3 months earlier. Avoid racq pet insurance at all cost. Took them over a month since i made the claim to tell me they weren't covering it.

I have cancelled my pet insurance policy after 3 years. Impart due to excessive fees but mainly due to a recent claim that was partially paid. In addition, the claims process is cumbersome and lengthy. For those that have a Greencross Vet nearby, I suggest you investigate the Pet Plus option as the benefits may outweigh anything an insurance company will provide. Alternatively, save the insurance premiums into your own emergency pet account and have the funds for when you need.

Made a claim after my cat had to go to the after hours vet. RACQ claims process was a joke with a lengthy form to fill out on paper, no online claims. My cat's usual vet provided his history and filled in the forms, took her about an hour. RACQ took three weeks to process because two assessors had to come up with the opinion that the condition was unrelated to any pre-existing condition. There were half a dozen questions on the form asking the vet if the condition was my fault or a pre-existing condition which the vet already said no to but apparently after wasting my time and the vet's time some McDonald's worker at RACQ will still try and deny the claim. They eventually approved it and phoned me, I think expecting me to be happy the claim was eventually paid. No RACQ, I expect you to take the vet's history and the vet's signed assessment and pay the claim without trying to say I made my cat sick. Made a straightforward claim stupidly difficult.

Have to print, complete and email claim form. No response to confirm claim received or processed a week later. We chose racq over woolworths because it was slightly cheaper. I didn't even think about whether they'd have an online portal or mobile app for easy claims. Woolworths has an online portal, easy claims and paid $10,000 in surgery fees for our other dog in 2017. We should have stuck with them.

Made a number pet insurance claims over a period of two years for two surgeries and related expenses. All were approved without issue.

Received an email (that was literally one line long) advising that the policy had been cancelled due to multiple claims being made on the policy.

Spoke with RACQ who advised that they have a paragraph in their disclosure that says they can cancel their policy at any time with notice to the customer. The representative confirmed that my policy was cancelled as they considered that too many claims had been made.

RACQ is that not the purpose of an insurance policy? In addition to the one line explanation, they enclosed information on the appeals process for their internal appeals.

Very disappointed RACQ. Now also concerned about my multiple car insurance policies, contents insurance and home insurances.

Will obviously have to look at going somewhere else, would hate to receive another one line email cancelling my other policies at their own discretion.

All very nice and sweet til you put in a claim, then they turn cold...we were told our pet had accident cover from the day of cover, no waiting period, when our pet had an accident a week later, they said there were only a few categories of 'accident' they cover, which was to told to me during their hard over the phone sell, which was that we could have 'peace of mind as our pet was covered for the unexpected.... not worth relying on it.

There are a large number of exclusions that have rendered this almost pointless to have. When my one year old dog had an accident requiring a hip replacement, no aspect of this was covered. While it's not unusual for the prosthetic itself to not be covered, this policy covered no part of the surgery, hospitalisation or recovery at all. Ironically it would probably have covered a femoral head excision, which would likely have crippled my large dog for life. It also doesn't cover protozoan gastrointestinal infections (like Giardia), although it will cover bacterial, even though the treatment is the same. In my opinion, check carefully what is included and excluded before purchasing this, consider the kind of peace of mind you want, and look elsewhere.

I have had the insurance for my dog of one year and had no claims. It came time for renewal and the price went up 25%! I would like to be a loyal customer but if they do this that's crazy!
Not worth the price hike when I can go to another insurance company and get the same cover for much cheaper. RACQ, if you want us to stick with you then look after your customers!!!!!

RACQ do not cover your pets when you move out of state and do not have a partner insurer who will take over policy.
Unlike any other insurance; pet insurance does not transfer over and any pre existing conditions will not be covered regardless of how long you were covered by RACQ.
I have been advised by disputes that consumers should realise that it is QLD insurer only.
Please note that It is NOT documented anywhere that the cover is not for life if you move. It is NOT verbalized until you contact them to change address. No staff member including disputes could refer me to where this fact is documented.
If there is any chance you may move interstate do not insure with RACQ.

I usually don't write reviews.. but this was next level terrible. I have worked in customer service and appreciate that sometime you have an off day. The last thing you need is someone getting online and writing a review. But in this case, I felt that its necessary to warn people.

I called to ask a single basic questions regarding my dogs cover. A yes or no question. I eventually was put through to the claims department. I won't name names but the lady was incredibly rude and controlling of the conversation. I asked her on numerous occasions, "can I please ask the question that I called up about?" She would completely ignore the content of what I was saying and and continued trying to control the conversation with her questions. Finally, she said that I could call the business department and they may be able to send out a booklet that 'may' answer my question. I never asked the simple question. I wasted 20 mins giving her details to no benefit of my own. I would say typical insurance company.. but this is actually worse then that. I have always trusted RACQ as a company - who doesn't love road side assist - but this was simply ridiculous. Choose someone else.

Signed up for pet insurance ( I was hesitant to change from my current provider RSPCA) as was slightly cheaper. I changed my mind, and decided to cancel before the first 30 days. Would not refund my payment - said cooling off period was 21 days (apparently not business days - called as soon as Easter break was over) too bad they make an easy $110 for doing absolutely nothing at all. Given a lot of the other reviews on here, I may have escaped with minimal casualty though! Very annoyed, but better to have lost a little money now than finding out they won't pay a claim when needed.
From this experience I would expect they'd decline any claims lodged late too.

(RSPCA - although more expensive have always been great with every claim I've ever made - even when lodged late)

Our dog died suddenly went to call to cancel policy First Lady was nice then transfered to rude lady cancel policy our dog passed a month before and she said you can we don’t do pro rate you are covered till next month.( so we are covered for 2 month after the dog has died).