ComplaintsforPetline Insurance Company

• Initial Complaint

  14/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I moved out of the country and needed to cancel coverage. I emailed as per their "Contact Us" page. They did not answer my email, and instead charged me for another month of insurance. I have since emailed twice more and they still have not responded. I'm out of the country, so I can't call during their open hours, and their chat never works. CANCEL MY POLICY LIKE I ASKED AND STOP ************ CHARGING MY ACCOUNT.

  

  Business response

  21/03/2024

  Hello, 

  We have responded directly to the Customer. Thier policy was cancelled for February 6. emails were sent to them on February 15. They also received a refund for the over payment on February 24. 

  We apologize the case stayed open.

   

• Initial Complaint

  06/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  About 3 months ago I received a letter from petline stating that they can not collect my payment (I'm unsure why as my credit card info had not changed). I receive a letter that I'm past due and if they don't hear from me they will cancel my policy. I try calling but unable to get through and decide to let the policy cancel. There was no mention of this going to a collection company if it was unpaid and no phone call to me. I now open a letter that looked like junk mail dated the end of October saying this is at a Collection Company, all for $********* I would have paid right away if I knew this was the outcome and that was what was needed. Its ridiculous that no one contacted me other than one unclear letter.

  

  Business response

  05/01/2024

  Hello Sarah, 

  I'm sorry to hear about your frustrating experience with the collection of your recent premiums and thank you for bringing this forward to allow us the opportunity to assist you. Petline sent emails on both August 8, 2023 and 14, 2023 to advise you of the unsuccessful payment attempt. Following this email, a registered letter was sent on August 14, 2023 that you mentioned, and we attempted to reach you by phone on September 21, 2023 without success, followed by another email on that same day. We made an additional attempt to call you on September 26, 2023 as well, unfortunately again without success. We would be happy to assist you directly with your file if you call us at ************** or email us to ***************** 

  Thank you, 

   

  Alyx ****

  Director - Petline Operations

• Initial Complaint

  31/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Our pet was insured with *** ******* ********E for over 8 years. A few months ago our bank renewed / updated our VISA card’s expiration date. We called PETLINE numerous times to update our payment information however PETLINE’S secure payment portal would not update! We also spoke on the phone with a number of PETLINE customer service agents in an unsuccessful attempt to update our payment information. The same credit card is used daily by many other merchants which leads us to logically assume PETLINE has an e-commerce website or problem. PETLINE finally cancelled our pet’s policy and is now threatening to take us to COLLECTIONS for $*** ******* Fix your problem PETLINE. Our expectation is that PETLINE INSURANCE fix their website and stop harassing us and waive the $** they claim we owe them for the more than two months we tried to solve THEIR WEBSITE PROBLEM! We have made over a dozen emails and 10 phone calls in an unsuccessful attempt to fix this.

  

  Business response

  15/11/2023

  Hello,  

  ** ***** ** *** ************ responses and efforts were made to the customer to assist with the issue.   We verbally communicated with the customer on the phone on October 5, additional calls and messages were left on October 6, spoke on October 25 and on November 2nd.  All attempts to update payment information in the secure system generated an error message of payment information being invalid resulting the amount for the outstanding premium being sent to collections.

  We have removed from collections as we have been unable to collect the outstanding amount.

  Thanks,

  Customer response

  15/11/2023

  Complaint: ********

  I am rejecting this response because: it is unclear what the merchant's response means? It is clear from my emails and telephone conversations that I have made every effort to update my credit card information. Several attempts were even made on the telephone with a Petline employee attending.

  As stated in my email to Petline's questions - the credit card in question currently being used successfully with other merchants every month. The credit card is an active Visa card issued by the ******** ******** **** ** ********. ***** ** ** ******** ** ****** **** ********* *** ** ******** ** ******* ******* ** ****** ** *** ******** ***** ** *** **** ** **** **** ***** ** **** **** ********* ******

  I have wasted many hours emailing and talking to Petline Insurance *** **** ** ********* * ***** **** ***** ********* ********** ******* **********
  
  Peter *******

  

  Business response

  16/11/2023

  Good morning,

  Our ecommerce secure system is working and capturing all other financial information updates for the business. We apologize you are having problems.  As we are unable to collect payment for the outstanding premium we have removed from collections. 

  Regards,

  Customer response

  16/11/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me if the dispute is finished and we will not hear more about the issue.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Peter *******

• Initial Complaint

  26/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I do not review my bank statements often, but I realized a charge being made on my account for Petlineinsurance.com. I've reached out to them asking for explanation, how I have an account in the first place, and how long were they taking money from me. My email went unanswered. And the second one, and the third one. I called today and spoke to Josh, who felt that not only was I ****** but that I also need to furnish him with all kinds of information like my phone, address etc, all these things that they tell you Not to do if you want to protect yourself. I have refused to give this information and he refused to help me. I called back and spoke to Amanda ***** who said that supervisors are unavailable and they will call me in 48 hours! I called then 3 more times but the line disconnected after waiting for over 10 minutes. Then I spoke to Andrew who said he is cancelling account but he didn't address all previous charges and said he can't address it and also 'supervisor is not available'. ****** **** **** ****** **** **** *** ******* ******* ******* **** ********* ******** ****** *** ****** ******** ******** *** ********* ******* ******* ** *** *********** ***** *********** ***** ******* *** ****** ***** **** *** ***** ********** ** ***   ********* **** ********* ** *** *** ******** ** ***** *** nobody is jumping into clarification, rescue or refund. Instead they want more information * ***** ** **** *** ** **** ***** **** ***. I want every penny refunded.

  

  Business response

  26/09/2023

  Hi Ms. *******

  I apologize if you have been a victim of identify fraud, it's an awful situation. Petline is a Pet Insurance company, and your policy was purchased in July of 2021 from the product website.  When an individual calls in to ask about a policy we are required by governed privacy laws to ask questions to verify we are speaking to the policy holder.   Unfortunately, in your situation this can be an irritant, however, please know this is required and for our customers protection.   When an inquiry of your nature is received, we do an internal investigation to determine when the policy was set up, was it called in or started on digital platform, were their medical records received by Veterinarian and so forth.  We apologize for the delay in response and wanted to ensure that the team is doing their very best to navigate this situation.   Our records indicated that there was information collected by the user indicated as yourself, various declarations acknowledged for the policy to commence.  Your policy has been canceled effective today September 21, 2023.  

  Our recommendation is that you file a police report with authorities if you or a family member didn't purchase this policy as there is someone with access to your information, pet information, including financials. We have provided a 6-month premium refund back to you.

  Regards,
  

  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  31/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I requested a quote weeks ago. I’ve attempted to contact them multiple times as they have charged me for the last two months without providing a way to access my policy or information. Someone answered once through email to ask for my dogs name, and then never replied. I emailed and called multiple times with no help. I’ve been completely ignored.

  

  Business response

  14/02/2023

  Good afternoon. 

  An insurance advisor reached out to our customer directly and provided resolution over the phone.  Email communications were being sent; however, emails were automatically directed to a SPAM folder.  With instructions provided over the phone we set up future security to allow Petsecure emails to be received, as well as walked her through registering for the online customer account to view all future documentations.

   

  Thanks,

  Raegan

• Initial Complaint

  05/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I applied for pet insurance in September and was immediately "approved" (and charged). PetSecure then messaged me and let me know that coverage wouldn't start until they received my pet's health records. I've only been in Canada for a couple of years and don't have the health record history they required, so I didn't send it. Instead of cancelling the service (which was unusable without health records), they continued to ******* charge me for several months. I got in touch with them and asked them to refund the charges, as they were charging me for a service I couldn't use. They said refunding past charges was against their policy and they could only cancel. ********* ***************** ********* *** * ******* **** ***** *** ** ********** ********** *** ******** ** ****** ******* *** ** ***************** ******* ** ******* ************** * ********* ******** ********* ** *** ****** ****** *** ** ******** ***** *** ***** **** **** ** **** ****** *** *** * ******* **** **** ******* *** **** ***** ********

  

  Business response

  09/01/2023

  HI Kate, 

  Thank you for reaching out regards your concerns and your policy purchased for ******. After review of your file based on that no previous medical information in Canada is available and this is a requirement in order to underwrite the policy, we have made the exception to cancel your policy fo* ****** back to the inception date of September 12, 2022, voiding the coverage and providing a full refund for the premiums charged. The refund will be processed directly to the credit card from which the premiums were being withdrawn. Please allow a few business days for the refund to appear on your credit card statement. 

  Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to our customer care team at ************** or via webchat. 

   

  Alyx *****

  Director, Customer Operations

  Customer response

  10/01/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ******

• Initial Complaint

  12/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  They made canceling my insurance plan for my cat very difficult. "myportal" never works when trying to log in and when attempting to reset my password to make sure that is not the issue I'm given an error page. after getting ahold of them to cancel my insurance they did not send me a cancelation confirmation and then a month or so later I receive a collection letter in the mail for a months charge. I didn't get any type of attempted warning from them that I was still being billed or that it would be sent to collections. all this for 38$

  

  Business response

  15/12/2022

  Hi Alois, 

  Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. We apologize for your recent experience with Petsecure, involving the cancellation of your policy as well as difficulties accessing your customer portal. 

  We believe that we missed the opportunity to inform you of the outstanding balance on your account while you were cancelling your policy and will take this as an opportunity to review our process for future improvements. 

  Please know that we are waiving the balance from your account and will have you removed from the collection agency. 

  If you have any further questions or concerns, please reach out to us by phone at *************** 

  Zoe *
  Director, Customer Operations
  Petline Insurance

  Customer response

  15/12/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Alois *******

• Initial Complaint

  24/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  During the pandemic, Petline asked us to temporarily stop filing claims for our cat due to a "backlog" of claims that were "overwhelming" their system. Our cat passed away. We notified Petline and sent in as many outstanding claims as we were able. Petline did not respond to us and kept charging us monthly insurance premiums. Whenever we phoned Petline, it was incredibly difficult to get through to anyone and, when we did, no one was able to answer our questions about the status of our claims. The Petline representative would always say, "I will take it to my manger", and then nothing would happen. In our experience, Petline provided terrible customer service. Because of the lack of communication from Petline, we were afraid to stop payment on the monthly premiums for fear that Petline would just close our file without paying the outstanding claims. Petline should have stopped charging us as soon as they were notified of the death of our cat. After a year and countless phone calls, Petline finally paid out some, but not all, of our claims. Only then did they stop charging the monthly premium. Basically, for a whole year, Petline charged us to insure a dead cat! We were never reimbursed for a year's worth of monthly premiums after our cat died (although we had been promised reimbursement) by multiple Petline representatives. We would never insure a pet with this company again.

  

  Business response

  19/09/2022

  Thank you for reaching out to Petline. 

  We have had the opportunity to review your file in further detail. We are terribly sorry to hear of the passing of your cat ***** in September, 2020. 

  Upon review of your file, we can confirm that we were first notified of ******* passing on January 9, 2021 via phone call to our Customer Care team.  During this call, we had encouraged the final submission of any remaining claims to properly close out your file. All final claims were not received completely until September 2021, at which point we had processed all expenses, with the exception of a memorial pendant.  At this time, your policy was cancelled 60 days back, to accommodate the final claim submissions. As per Policy Wordings, we will only accept claims for 60 days after cancellation has taken effect. 

  We do want to take this opportunity to clarify that while we were experiencing high claims volume throughout the pandemic, we would not have discouraged any customer from submitting claims. In review of all interactions to our Customer Care team, we can verify these comments are not correct. 

  As a customer service gesture, we have backdated the cancellation of ******* policy to when we first were notified of her passing - January 9, 2021.  This results in a refund in the amount of $273.40 and will be deposited directly to the bank account we had on file on Thursday, September 29, 2022. Please allow 2-3 business days to see the funds reflected in your account.  Should you wish to change the account in which this deposit will occur, please contact our Customer Care team at ************** before Tuesday, September 27, 2022.

  Please let us know if we can be of any further support.  

  Take care, 

  Zoe K
  Director, Customer Operations
  Petline Insurance

   

   

   

  Customer response

  27/09/2022

   
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Here is our reply to Petline:
  
  
  
  
  1) Our  cat  was euthanized on September 16, 2020.  We notified Petline shortly after that, along with the veterinary bill for euthanasia.  Petline states we did not notify them until January 2021.  Unfortunately, we have no way to prove that we notified them before this, as we no longer have access to the on-line portal through which we submitted claims. So it is our word against theirs.
  
  
  2) Representatives from Petline told us that Petline was “in transition” and “backed-up” with claims. They requested that we delay submitting claims until they cleared their backlog.  Petline states this is not true.  However, no claims = no reimbursement.  Why would we voluntarily choose not to submit claims (and thus not receive reimbursement) unless we had been specifically instructed by a Petline representative?
  
  
  3) As stated above, we notified Petline of our cat’s death soon after she died on September 16, 2020.  In their reply, Petline admits that they were aware of our cat’s death on January 9, 2021.  So why did they continue to charge us monthly premiums until September, 2021? How is it ethical to keep charging clients monthly premiums for eight months after a pet’s death?
  
  
  4) Because this issue had been going on for over two years, we just want closure.  We accept Petline’s payment of $273.40.  We plan to donate it to a local cat rescue.  Although we will never use this company again, we do encourage Petline to review their procedures to ensure that they are not charging clients to insure dead pets.  We would also encourage Petline to develop better client interface, with improved communication and faster response times to client concerns.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *********

• Initial Complaint

  21/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have had the worse experience ever with this business. We bought insurance for two dogs but the insurance was not confirmed due to an issue with a vet. Because we could not confirm we were insured, we did not take advantage of the extra services as part of the insurance. Many months passed before the insurance was confirmed then my visa number was compromised. I called the company with my new number, stayed on hold for almost 45 minutes then was cut off. I tried a few more times leaving messages with no result so I gave up. The company finally contacted me and told me the insurance was canceled for lack of payment. I explained I had tried to give the new visa for payment without success. Because I had such a terrible experience with them, I decided to accept the cancelation on their part but requested they honour the extra services never used because the insurance was not confirmed then the payment could not be made so the extra services purchased could not be used and it has a dollar value. I asked them to reduce the payment they are wanting for two months (app. $600) by the amount they would refund by their own averages for the services I could not use re. the unusual circumstances. Today, they have formally refused to do so. I informed them I would request the BBB help resolve this situation. I do not know exactly the amount the extra services would cost nor what they would refund but am willing to just accept what they would refund and deduct the amount from the $600 for a final payment from me to finally find closure for this insurance. The insurance was purchased in November 2021 and was not confirmed until late spring. The visa was compromised in July. The company canceled the insurance in late fall( it took a very long time before they contacted me). I was going to use the service just before my visa was compromised. The service involved cleaning teeth and such every 6 months. I was insured for more than the six month period. Thank you for your help.

  

  Business response

  12/05/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/25) */ Hi Joanne, Thanks for your feedback. We're sorry to hear of your experience. In review of your file, there are a few concerns you brought forward that we would like to clarify. We recognize that the underwriting process was delayed as a result of not receiving the required medical records to complete our review. Once all required information was received, the underwriting process was complete for both policies in August 2020 and documents were issued to you at this time. This was well before the payment issues began on your file. Between that time, claims were received and processed in accordance with your policy. In further review, it appears that any issues experienced when submitting claims were a result of incomplete information being received, such as a missing invoice and a missing claim form. This was not a result of unconfirmed coverage, and the extra services mentioned would have been considered for review and processing if they were pursued and ultimately claimed for, as the insurance was active during this time. Once the payment had declined, we had sent several communications providing ways to update your payment information, as well we had attempted to reach you by phone. After two consecutive months of nonpayment, your policy was terminated with a balance owing. While we understand that you accepted the termination of the policy, we were not able to retroactively adjust your premium during the time that you were insured. We will also not reduce the amount owing as a result of treatments and/or expenses that did not occur. While we recognize this outcome may not be what you desire, we hope this explanation provides additional clarity on what occurred over the period that you had insurance. We strongly encourage reviewing your online customer account and the documents within that support the events noted above. We do sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding that occurred during this time, and for any challenges you had calling into our Customer Care team. Thank you again for your feedback and please let us know if there's any further concerns. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/05/03) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Hi, I accept your apology. As both myself and the company stated, the insurance in question had various issues some from the company, some from vets and some from us as when we did not give all the expected information. We were not familiar with the processes. I bought the insurance in the fall and in late spring, we finally were told our insurance was accepted, they had several receipts to refund, and I asked they wait for one last one that was coming and pay it all at once. This was done. Soon after and before we could take advantage of the dental component, my visa was compromised, and I made several attempts to give them the new visa number before I gave up trying and waited for them to contact me. I specified both in messages left and emails that they must leave a message when they called, or I will not know they called. They may have called a hundred times along with multiple telemarketers but never left a single message throughout the entire situation up to this day. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** When I finally got an email at the end of August, nearly two months had gone by. I was told the insurance was cancelled for lack of payment, which I had been diligently attempting to pay and that fact was never acknowledged. I could submit receipts, but the insurance was cancelled before I could use the dental component I had paid for as part of the insurance. Given the previous experiences, I had no desire to fight for the insurances but asked they honor what was paid for and not used due to the circumstances. I wanted the amount owed to be reduced by the cost of the dental. Instead, they threatened to affect my credit rating for refusal to pay. I never refused to pay. It took more time for my request to be refused and finally bring me to the BBB having told them I would if we could not resolve this. They want to deny the dental amount because my insurance was cancelled, by them, while I was actively trying to give them my new visa number. However, the insurance I purchased gave me dental work every six months for each dog. Reading the current website today, I see the level 4 insurance, which is what I bought, allows $600 per year per dog. That is $300 per dog every six months which is $600 against what I owe: $620. I am not disputing what they want me to pay as premium, I am wanting the $300 per dog to be acknowledged even though I could not use it before they cancelled the insurance I was actively trying to pay. (The current website states $600 for the year, but I do recall the detail that it was for every six months so $300 per dog is my request rather than $600 per dog as it states today.) My understanding was that we had to wait six months before we could use the dental. We bought the insurance in the fall which was not confirmed until spring (for various acknowledged reasons) and the six-month time limit for dental came up just in time for my visa to be compromised. Deciding to wait to resolve the payment before getting the dental work done because of the challenges we had before, I then learned I have no insurance. I am simply requesting what I purchased. That I did not do the work is explained. I will gladly get the dental word done and submit the claim, but you will not allow that due to the date you cancelled and the time it took to attempt to resolve this one issue. I expect the amount I am owed is reduced from the amount I owe you. I will gladly send the $20 as soon as possible or will get the receipt you need for the dental work I paid for via your insurance services if you will refund the work I paid for when I purchased the insurance. You have my emails and responses including the dates, so you can see how long it took your company to attend to this matter. This did not surprise me given the time I spent on the phone, left messages, was ignored for almost two months then had to wait for months more as I requested the dental portion be honored. You ignored my messages that I wouldn't know you called unless you left a message. I check these messages every single day and would not have ignored you since I was actively trying to reach you for payment. . ********************************************************************************************************************************** Therefore, that I did not use what I was allowed cannot be used as an excuse to deny me the product I bought from you. It remains fair that you reduce my payments owed by $600 for the dental work I purchased as part of the level 4 insurance I paid for even during the many months your company could not confirm we had insurance. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/05/12) */ Hi Joanne, thanks for your response. Please note below the final decision from Petline below: It remains the insured's responsibility to provide any changes or updates to Petline to maintain coverage, this includes updating payment method for continuous coverage. Notifications from Petline were promptly sent following the declined payment to advise the client of the balance owing and how to update payment information. In our communications we indicated the ways this can be done with guiding this action primarily through the Insured's online customer account. Both policies had confirmed coverage via underwriting processes in August 2020, 10 months prior to the account becoming in arrears and entering the cancellation process. As per Policy Wordings - We will only pay claims for costs incurred while the Policy is in force. Dental coverage was available during the duration of the policy - less a 6-month waiting period starting from policy inception of October 2019. Given that dental treatment was not pursued during the policies in force period, any reimbursement or settlement of hypothetical costs are not considered eligible for processing or payment. The policy only responds for actual costs incurred. We will not accommodate the insured's request to reduce premiums owing based on costs that were not pursued or ultimately incurred.

• Initial Complaint

  14/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I had a really hard time cancelling my plan with Petline insurance. I originally reached out via email on December 31, 2021 asking how I would go about cancelling my plan. The email was never responded to. After a couple of weeks passed, my late husband called to ask how we would go about cancelling, and they said that I needed to email them (to the email I had sent my original email to on December 31) I reached out again on January 29th by email to cancel the plan. I then received an email from the company on February 17th advising that I owed them money for unpaid monthly premiums. My late husband and I had emptied the account, as we were concerned that they would never cancel our policy. I responded to the email from February 17th - and attached the original correspondence on December 31st as well as the follow-up email on January 29th - both of which were NEVER addressed or responded to by anyone. They finally advised that they cancelled my one dogs plan on February 8th, and the other on February 16th. They told me that I still need to pay them a month that they were unable to collect - they advised that the email I had sent on December 31st could not be considered as a cancellation attempt as I didn't provide my policy #... this is unbelievable. They told me that they would involve collections if they didn't receive the 48 dollars from me. I am not the type to complain like this, but this is totally unacceptable, and the customer service is by far the worst I have ever experienced. If a company is going to only accept cancellation by email - you need to respond to your emails.

  

  Business response

  06/05/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/22) */ Hi Tanya, Thanks for letting us know about your experience when cancelling your policy with us. I'm sorry to hear about the poor customer service and delayed responses you have received. Cleary, we fell short, and we apologize. I've passed your review on to our Customer Care department to make sure this issue is addressed. You'll be hearing from our team soon about how we'll fix this for you. Thanks again for your feedback, we are sorry to see you go. All the best. Petline Insurance Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2022/04/25) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) After this complaint the business reached out and waived the charge as well as credited me for an overpaid month. **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩