Woolworths Pet Insurance

Please I beg you at all cost do not go with these money hungry, conniving, slimy pieces of crap as an insurer. They are cheap and there is a reason! They will do anything to get out of paying!!! They declined my claim and it was only small but they find any way to get out of it. If you love your pet please go with ANYONE else.

Extremely disappointed, angry and sad!!! We’ve been with them for 5 years, have 2 comprehensive policies for our 2 dogs, paying in total around $150 every month, first time tried to claim about a month ago, still waiting for an outcome (almost 1 month), no one is following up, we’ve rung Woolworths about 6 times and still no outcome, we asked to cancel our policies because we do not want to be with them anymore, but the consultant said they’ll put our policies on hold until they resolve our claim, but only 1 policy was put on hold, so we still had to pay the other policy (against our wishes) and now last night our “hold policy” payment went through. And to top it all off, after paying $150/month for 5 years, it looks like we will only get back $106 of a $339 Vet bill, plus still had to pay our $150/month policy (which we wanted to cancel 2 weeks ago) because this claim is taking so long to finalise!!! Please avoid!!!!

I opted for a comprehensive policy as I had a new puppy and knew that I would need cover for his vaccinations and Desexing. I applied online, the process was vague, there wasn't any info about the threshold of cover and amount of cover i was entitled to for certain 'benefits' I added to my policy. I opted for a consultation benefit, with the cover amount being $300. I have only managed to successfully claim for $50, I'm paying $51 per month! In total I've paid almost $900 for various vaccinations and desexing and got $50 off, what a HUGE WASTE of money.

I took out Woolworths Pet Insurance for my Aussie Terrier when he was 6 years old. Over the course of his life I made a few claims (more when he got older). In all the cases where I could claim (according to my policy) Woolworths paid out the 80% (minus the $100 excess). Over the years Woolworths have made the claiming process a lot easier and the money goes into your bank account within a couple of weeks (although sometimes it can take longer).
A month ago my beloved dog was diagnosed with cancer (he was 12 years old). We made the decision to have him operated on to remove the tumour as the surgeon said he had a good chance of living a few more years if it was removed. Unfortunately he suffered cardiac arrest while being operated on. He was bought back but his heart was too weak to survive and he had to be put down. We are still devastated over the loss. The operation was extremely expensive however having pet insurance meant we were able to do what we could to save our boy. It just didn't go as we thought it would.
I am so glad I made the decision to take out pet insurance when I did.
I also have siamese cat insured through Woolworths (although no claims for him yet).

I have 2 17 year old cats. I took out Pet insurance months prior to one of my cats becoming very ill. I was paid in a couple of weeks of putting in claims. Very happy with this insurance.

Waste of money! Woolworths will do anything to avoid paying out! I made 4 claims with one as low as $29. All declined. All with pathetic reasons why declined. Stay right away and seek other insurance companies!

I have put two claims in and have been made to jump through hoops just for them to be processed. Too much paperwork required and not enough feedback on my claims. It has been nearly a month since I lodged my first claim. I did not think it would be this hard. If you have adopted a pet be prepared to be put through the ringer making a claim! Thinking about changing to another insurer who won't make me feel like I am a criminal.

All claims refused without exception. This is a scam. We have now cancelled this worthless policy. This is useless and a complete waste of money. It is just a rip off. A scam to get money from unsuspecting people. This company does not pay claims.

I find this insurance company great. I have put in claims and had them paid out within a week! They even sent me a sympathy card when I had to have my cat put to sleep. I certainly feel the insurance is worthwhile, my animals are too precious not to have insurance and these guys have been great.

TERRIBLE pet insurance company! Quite expensive fortnightly payments. All nice when you join up.. Then they are HORRIBLE to deal with, they lie and just give you the run around. BEWARE!!!!!

I purchased the pet insurance end of March this year with promotion of free 6 months of Vetassist plus $80 voucher. 2 weeks after, I still haven’t got both. So I rang Woolworth and was told they have nothing to do with Vet assist, I need to contact them myself. With $80 voucher it should sent to me in 1-2 days.it never turned up.I contacted vetassist, and I was told they will chase it and get back to me in 1 day, nothing.... emsiled again, still nothing. I emailed the Woolworth and complained these problems, 2 days later no reply. So 3 weeks after I purchased the insurance, I decided to canceled it base on these bad experiences. Woolworth tried to attract new customers by giving all these extra benefits, but nothing really happened. bad promises can’t keep the customers, either the bad communications. I just have bad feeling base on their customer service, my claims in the furniture won’t be easy and smooth so I rather quit now.

I've had my yorkie puppy comprehensively insured by woolies for one year. Only claim that i made was a routine $50 for vaccination. I was stunned when they sent me a renewal letter with a premium increase of 28 percent. I did a fresh quote online and it came exactly the same as my current premium. When questioned, i was told the following:
1. Inflation
2.Because I'm an existing customer and hence waiting periods don't apply
3. New customers get promos
4. Dog is getting older (my yorkie is just one year old!!)
5. Because conditions that "may" have developed in the last one year are now covered. I did not make a single illness claim in the past year!

If they can increase by 28 percent for a healthy one year old puppy, whats going to happen as mg dog gets older? Cancelled my policy.

Most people who go online to write reviews are unhappy; here is my not unhappy and honest experience -

SUMMARY:
o first ever claim (5 years policy holder for this dog)
o claim was for vet fees under $1,000, received 55%

PRO:
o phone queries handled quickly and efficiently (although not always 100% accurately)
o operators very friendly and helpful
o no language issues with call centre
o virtually no waiting time on hold
o benefit was as stated in policy (after dredging through the ifs and buts)
o benefit was paid into my bank 7 days after claim
o was told claim would not affect future premiums (we'll see!)
o policy began when my dog was 8, he's over 13 now (his problem was not age-related)
o so Woolworths (Hollard Insurance is the actual underwriter) have kept the policy going, albeit with fairly stiff yearly premium increases, even though at 13 his claim risk is higher

CON:
o many exemptions and gotchas, complicated to work out, especially the excess rules which are weird
o uploaded documents (vet history, proof of payment) are supposed to appear on online portal but never did
o reimbursement refused for pre-general anaesthetic blood test: how was I to know when authorising the surgery?
o that blood test, which seemed routine, is considered "elective" under section 6, subsection 5, paragraph (a) of my policy just before "stenotic nares", whatever they are. Good luck finding it.

TIPS:
o remember that you have to pay the vet FIRST and get your claim LATER
o keep *every* document about your pet - vet history, payments
o read the policy. Bring a strong magnifying glass and a fine-toothed comb
o don't let the vet submit the claim for you - mine was oddly keen to do so but hadn't done anything after a week
o use the website to submit your claim, not snail mail
o if there is time, call and ask what is covered before proceeding with treatment
o my previous dog never had a claim (also 5 years policy holder); understand that previous policies are irrelevant

FINALLY:
o I'm way behind after paying 5 years premiums vs. my one claim
o but what if my dog had needed treatment for a $5,000, $10,000 condition? - that's the point of insurance. I benefited over the years from the insurer taking on the risk
o I'm glad that my dog has been healthy, and so I didn't have to claim
o my dog recovered fully, which is the MOST important thing to me
o again, read the policy !

I'm happy enough. Four stars from me. Good luck with your own claim!

Don't take this insurance. They never cover anything. I was supposed to have a $300 cover for consultations for the year and they even declined this. I cancelled my insurance.

Get claims refused and they are covered
get lied to
customer service doesnt know what they are doing
Justify ripping me off
Tell supervisor i was ripped off by woolworths and they do nothing

They ran a promotion in February to award 20,000 bonus points with any new policy. Points to be paid within the first 30 days. 30 days went by and no points awarded. So I contacted them multiple timesand they've used every excuse possible to get out of awarding the points. Excuses include we have an IT problem, points are supposed to be paid 14 days after the 30 days (complete lie) etc etc etc. They also failed a number of time to respond to my emails. So over it. If they can't follow their own terms and award points within the 30 days I'd have no confidence that they will ever pay out on a claim that I might make. Just don't deal with this business is my advice.

Refused to pay out any claims even though they fell within my dogs top comprehensive insurance. My dog needed to have a surgery on one of his back legs to prevent chronic pain medication, this was only present once he was covered by insurance however literally they told me over the phone my dog needed to have a car accident before they would even look at covering a surgery on his leg. That he was better off in chronic pain. Use any other insurance provider if you can. We will be switching our insurance immediately. Total scammers.

I have been consistently pleasantly surprised at how much this product actually covers, as well as the level of service given by their claims team.

My wife and I have made multiple claims for our two dogs and have been really pleased at the comprehensiveness of the cover. I feel our dogs are afforded a great level of protection. Furthermore, their call centre is helpful and their claims team are excellent - regular email updates, great follow up, they chase the vet for the required docs so you don't have to. Great service, glad we went with Woolworths for our pet insurance.

My dog Harry had a liver tumour and the surgery was expensive if I did not have this insurance I could not have afforded it the company was easy to deal with the customer service officer genuinely cared about animals and the claim process was quick and easy a wonderful company

Refused to pay out on a simple common ailment claim for conjunctivitis - would hate to have been claiming for a more serious condition. Communication re claims outcome via pet portal does not work. I had to chase them up to find out my claim had been rejected.