Can't pay my vet's bill!

[tilly]

Well, after sorting out my ponies life-long undiagnosed bad back and legs problem that was causing her considerable pain and needed sorting with physio under sedation, i have been stung by all sorts of 'grey areas' by my insurance company. My vet and physio checked in with me all through the treatment re. the bills, and i told them my fears as i am not in a position to find a lump sum. But it should have been a standard claim. Now i have to find about £800, and i just don't have it all at once. It has cost me thousands to sort my little mare over the last 3 years, and i have exhausetd my funds and since had a break up so my financial position changed. My vet's practice is a big one, so how bad would it be to ask if i could pay instalments? Has anyone ever done this. I've always paid for treatment as i have gone along, but this was a biggy, and the above is the sum that the insurers wangled out of after cutting and pasting my huge bill. I feel sick inside and really guilty. My pony is fixed, but i am broke.

[kas]

Yes Tilly, know how you feel. My vet took a series of post-dated £100 cheques. I'm sure they will be understanding. It's the people who won't pay at all that really p them off.
Are you sure about the insurance? Have you taken it through their complaints procedure and on to the ombudsman? I only ask because normally they either pay all the claim, minus excess, or none.

[june]

Most vet practices will let you pay by instalments. I know my vet has been paid in both horses and saddles in the past!

[jor]

I am sure your vets will help out. I had this problem too, checking with insurance they would pay through treatment, met by yes yes yes but then after had my horse PTS they refused to pay a penny. I was left to pay around 3000 pounds which I didnt have. My vets were very understanding and let me pay it off in installments. Aso more recently I had a bit of a run of bad luck leading to a vets bill of just over 800 pounds at the end of one month. I paid it off over 3 months with no problem from the vets.
Dont panic, im sure you will work it out.

[wildrover]

If its the only way they are gonna get their money they will run with it ..... they aint gonna have a problem with that really.

Would follow all and every avenue on the insurance thing though, phone calls, letters to MD, threaten, badger, push, just about anything you can think of thats kinda legal .... they still may say no ..... but you never know ......... they dont like no bad publicity either ......

[honey]

yeah most vet takes installment especially in large amount cases. We had a mare that was going through insurance and we kept offering to pay and he said no no, wait til insurance pays out, luckily we had no problem or we would of had a huge bill too, and only paid the excess of about 150

[marywelsh]

hi tilly
we run a hire company and sometimes people hire a sunbed then don,t want to answer the door when payment is due believe me any business would have some money on installments rather than taking someone to court as this is lengthy and could end up costing us more money so we always encourage the customer to contact us before the pressure gets to much to work out an arrangement
£800 is alot of money for one payment especially when both you and the vets thought the insurance would cover it, i think they would prefer installments to no money at all, and listen what have you got to lose the worse thing they can say is no, but i bet they will work something out,pluck up the courage and give them a ring and good luck

[eskimo]

My heart does go out to you i know how much stress this must be causing you.

I have just put a claim into my insurance company for the first time for about £1200. I have been panicking ever since wondering if they will pay out. As if its not stressful enough for all of us finding out what's wrong with our horses and trying to even if unsuccessfully like me treat it.

But as my mum keeps saying it will all sort it's self out in the end, not much help though is it....

Good luck and i hope you do find a way.

[tilly]

Oh bless you all, i feel better reading your posts. I just thought it was not okay to not have the money to pay up for your horse. I was going to take out a loan, but that will incur interst and it might be hard to get one within the nature of the requirment. I will phone them again tomorrow. I hinted at it but was met with a silence from the secretary. They messed my bill up too, and charged me for another client by accident. I phoned them 3 times in the week before christmas and got a 'we will residue it and call you back' each time but didn't. And i keep apologising and yet they've messed up too! I know it is about 800 i'll need to pay, but until they sort the whole bill out, i can't even make a payment, and time is going by and it's weighing heavy on me. I mean, i want to keep a good relationship with my vets for my girls sake. As for the insurers, yes, i need to apeal. I am just sooo sick to death of fighting people all the time, it's exhuasting. Why did i bother paying my premium to such a shoddy company? If only i'd known. You wouldn't believe the stuff they have wangled out of, it seems so petty and yet since they do that probably to all their custemers, they must save themselves millions at our expence i reckon. Boo hoo. But thanks again, i'm glad i am not so abnormal that my request would be too out of the blue and unheard of. I just think of their cash flow, but they are a big equine hospital so maybe thats not so bad for them. If i offered 200 a month?

[annahindley]

Maybe if it is a problem at the vets (I doubt it, as everyone says, they would rather be paid in instalments than not at all) or if you are embarassed to ask, you could consider putting it on a credit card, and then doing a balnce transfer to a free card. MBNA are offering 9 months interest free at the mo (I have been a "rate tart" for years!). They may charge you a £50 transfer fee, but then you could pay £100 at moth - which is more manageable, and not have to risk your relationship with the vet. If the vets don'a accept cards, you can get the transfer paid into your current acount.
Please don't think I'm encouraging running up credit card bills, but used sensibly, these offers do give you free cash and are great for just this sort of situation.

[sulasmum]

Why wont the insurance company pay. Your not with E& L by any chance are you?

[jill]

I once paid a huge vet by monthly standing order. Once it had cleared the debt I carried on (they were happy for me to do that) and I was in credit, so cost wasn't an issue when I needed any treatment for my lot. It worked well for me, but I left the area and haven't really needed to do it again.
Sulasmum - I has trouble with E & L years and years ago, not over a claim but over exclusions they decided to put on the policy. Sounds as though they haven't changed.


Whoops - not huge vet (he was quite small really) but huge vet BILL

[sara]

I would really try and sort it out with the insurance company. they will try to get out of paying anything, and often they will refuse to pay. i know it is different, but my dads cars was stolen, and the insurance refused to pay, o he went to the obudsman, and asked the local MP to write a letter to the insurance comapny, and they payed within 3 days! might be worth a try,
hope everything works out for you,

sara
xx

[MirandaSophie]

Everyone is so helpful here, aren't they?

I would only echo what is above. £800 is a lot of money to pay at a single point.

Can you do something liek what Kas did?

I'm glad your mare is ok!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[ingrid]

You poor thing! I have a friend whose dog had an accident and the bill was huge and the dog was not insured. Her vet approached a charity who paid a large chunk of the bill. Your vet may also be able to enquire about it. I'm afraid that I cannot recall the name of the charity.

Hope that this is of help.