Trupanion

Trupanion was so amazing that we actually drove down to say thank you to their staff in person (special shoutout to Shelby W– one of the sweetest and most genuine human beings we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting) Each and every person we spoke to throughout the whole process (our claim was originally denied and then later they overturned that and accepted it) was kind, compassionate, and incredibly patient.
We drove down and had the opportunity to meet and thank each person who handled our calls and worked on the claim (we brought our dog with us as well) and they were all such lovely people.
Even in the midst of the appeal, Trupanion was kind and caring. They even sent us a hand written card apologizing for what our family had been through regardless of the claim status. At the end of the day, whether the claim was approved or not would have been irrelevant (it was a very unique situation and they did everything they could do make it doable and they did) because of how fantastic the company was.
Their office was an awesome environment (everybody brings their dogs and cats to work! And they get walked by their in house dog walkers! Not to mention on site vets and child care too!) full of awesome people to match, and we’ll definitely be back to visit.
Trupanion really brings some humanity to a business that’s generally pretty cold. They genuinely care about the pets they insure and I never thought I would say that about an insurance company. If there was one piece of advice I could give to pet owners, it would be to insure your pet. We never thought we would need pet insurance, but begrudgingly signed our new puppy and older dog up anyways. A short time later, we were thanking our lucky stars. You never think it will happen to you, but sometimes it does and it’s nice to have peace of mind knowing you don’t have to make a decision regarding your pet based on finances. Lastly, speaking as someone who’s interacted with this company non stop throughout our ordeal and had the opportunity to visit head office, go for Trupanion. They really are the best in the business.
–A pet owner who’s grateful for the people who brought a human element to a traumatic ordeal and believed in our family both two and four legged. Thanks Trupanion, you guys rock. We’ll never forget the kindness you showed us.

What a Shame. I really thought they were amazing when I first called them and I signed up immediately. Only to discover after I FINALLY got sent a copy of the policy that there was a $ 500 deductible per occurance! That’s a pretty major point not to disclose when you are selling this to me!
I called to cancel. I was 2 days over a 30 day limit and even though they admitted in writing that they made the mistake, they have not refunded back all my money. I am still out $ 98 and am amazed that they are ignorant enough to risk bad publicity for the sake of $ 98. LEAD agent Erica in customer care was kind enough to review my initial call and admit that this information was not disclosed. But now, I’ve left her 2 messages and an email and she has ignored all of them. Really??? For $ 98.00. Such a shame. It seems that now only Erica can help me with this. That’s what I was told this morning. Okay Erica, lets see if you can follow through this time. I expect a call at 9AM on Monday. Watch this space folks…

I’m so beyond frustrated and disgusted with Trupanion. My dog is almost 14 and was enrolled last year, since he is old and no longer in the best health. It’s amazing how everything you put a claim in for is considered a «pre-​existing condition.» And I mean, EVERYTHING! My dog has cushings disease, which they have denied my claim for 3 times, since they claim it was pre-​existing. So, I pay $ 300 a month for his blood tests and $ 70 for his meds with zero help.
Today, we took my dog to the vet, as he has been vomiting for 2 days and will not eat. The ultrasound showed that his gallbladder is enlarged and needs to be removed. We asked the vet to verify with Trupanion that they will cover this before we agree to the surgery, as it will cost upwards of $ 7,000. Guess what? They denied the claim, saying that it was pre-​existing. Even though the vet specifically explained to them that this has NOTHING to do with cushings… they don’t care. The vet even obtained a previous ultrasound done in March 2015, which shows that his gallbladder was perfectly fine. Basically, our only option is to put our dog to sleep, since we don’t have $ 7,000 to pay for the surgery. I pay $ 99 a month for this joke of an insurance policy.
I wish I would have read the Unilocal reviews before wasting my money. My poor little dog cannot get the care he needs, because these greedy people don’t pay for a damn thing. It’s sickening. Trupanion is a scam and a complete waste of money. Shame on them!
***Update: January 24^th — We had to put our dog to sleep yesterday, because he wasn’t able to have the surgery he needed. I hold Trupanion responsible for my dog losing his life.

Trupanion will look for any symptom from your pet’s past to invalidate a claim. My two cats have vomiting noted in their past history and Trupanion is using that as an excuse to invalidate a leukemia claim. These guys are not a reliable pet partner and I cannot recommend them to anyone. Please do your research and pick wisely. I am spending the next couple of days on vacation to spread the word to as many social media sites as I can on the fact that this insurance company does nothing but take your money. I for one could never imagine working for a company like this, fielding calls day in and day out where I had to deny pet owners coverage. Seems like a real crappy job.

Thankfully, Trupanion agreed with the points I made in my appeal letter and reversed their denial. So I have upgraded my rating to three stars.
I still think buyers should be extremely wary because of the policy’s wording of what makes something a preexisting condition: «Illnesses or injuries for which signs or evidence of their potential manifestation existed within the 18 months prior to the policy enrollment date.»
«Potential manifestations» can be pretty much anything. But for now, Trupanion did come through for my dog.

Trupanion maybe isn’t the cheapest monthly pet insurance but it’s the BEST. If I could, I would give Trupanion 10 stars. We’ve had it this year and already used it once with ease. We have two puppies and it’s peace of mind to know they stand behind the insurance and also reimburse fairly quickly. I’ve talked to people who have other pet insurance and all I hear are complaints. My veterinarian recommends Trupanion, and as a customer I now know why. They deliver on their promise and don’t haggle over things. They stand behind you and your pet and you’re not wasting time and money like you would with cheap insurance policies.

They used to be great but in the past year my experience has been horrible. In August they denied a claim for a stomach issue citing that it was pre-​existing because my dog had previous stomach issues BUT lab results clearly indicated that one of the pervious issues was not the same thing and the other was from my dog having eaten bones — so yah all caused the same symptoms but were not at all related.
In November my dog got an ear infection and they said that is pre existing because he had an ear infection a couple of years ago. That is not how infections work; its not like it had been laying dormant in his ear for 2 years!
Today i got a 44% rate increase, interestingly someone on Facebook posted how happy she was not to have had any increase just 3.5 weeks ago. To me it looks like selective rate increases — not sure if it is from having filed claims or from disputing denials but either way it is totally unethical (and I am pretty sure it is illegal in California where i live). I am searching for a new provider now.

I’ve carried Trupanion insurance on my two Golden Retrievers for many years. Just recently, I needed to file a claim for 2 separate conditions. First, I thought my deductible was my deductible and once it was paid the insurance would apply to all claims. Come to find out, the fine print spells out that the deductible applies to each condition, so be cautioned there.
One of my claims was approved (and paid out after the deductible was met) and the other was denied. I must admit, the denial came as a surprise, because I had purchased the insurance within two months of adopting the dog and couldn’t begin to understand how Trupanion was drawing upon the «pre-​existing condition» clause. I then got online and read all of the negative reviews and thought there was no chance in he** that I would have any luck appealing the claim, and became very disappointed in my annual investment in Trupanion.
After dragging my feet for a while in discouragement, I finally decided to formally request that my veterinarian, who knows my dog best, write a letter on Buddy’s behalf. I submitted my appeal to Trupanion and waited. After about a month, the appeal came back as overturned. I was pleasantly surprised.
So the moral of the story is this… had I wrote this review a week ago (prior to my appeal being favorably returned), I’d give Trupanion 1 star (or less if possible). However, given that Trupanion took the information that my vet provided and objectively reviewed the appeal and ruled in Buddy’s favor, I now give them ⁴⁄₅ stars.
I wasn’t out to get Trupanion when I submitted my claims. I fully expected each claim to be approved. While we hit a discouraging bump in the road, all was eventually resolved to my level of satisfaction.
Because of this, I will continue to have peace of mind in owning my pets, which is why I purchased the insurance many years ago. Thanks Trupanion. You restored faith and loyalty in this customer!!!

Trupanion is a scam! Their policy is $ 500 deductible and they pay 90%. Well I have two dogs one is a French bulldog and another is an English bulldog. The English bulldog just had cherry eye surgery which was $ 450 so I paid out of pocket. Another surgery for the French Bulldog was a foxtail and that was $ 250 and I paid out of pocket. That’s fine and all but was a premium of over $ 1400 a year there’s no need for me to pay them when I can save that money and pay when my dogs need it. The main reason for my one star review was during cancelation. I had called a month ago to cancel and to my surprise I see a charge on my card. To make this worst is now they ask for a written cancelation. The guy at the cancellation department I’m 100% sure he must of worked for COMCAST ! He did not want me to cancel. Please consider the other reviews before you buy a policy with them.
Thank you for the response Molly I really appreciate it. Please give the customer service representative some more training. As you can see from my reviews that I rarely write negative reviews unless they’re truly warranted. I had warned the guy at least twice that he was going to get a negative review if he did not stop. I’m an adult and I’m fully aware of the potential consequences going without insurance for my dogs. That is my decision and the rep should’ve respected that but instead kept pushing with scare tactics about disease and potential injury that can cost thousands of dollars. Honestly with all the bad things you hear about Comcast cancelations, when I cancelled Comcast it was not as bad as this was.

Great place! People are so friendly and helpful and they really do what they say! I mean, no payout limit?! FANTASTIC! I wouldn’t insure my pup with anyone else!

Its sad that a pet insurance that came with such high regard is dragging its feet in providing our new puppy his medical support.
Our pup went in to the vet within a month of us starting our insurance because of vomiting. This is where the problems started and a so called «pre existing condition» began. So this wasn’t covered and at the time it was said it was because it was «within a month of starting the insurance program». Had the bite the bullet on that one, fine. 500 dollars gone plus a few months of payments.
Then a few months later our pup had a vomit a few times so we took him to the vet and got an xray. The vet advised this because we had Trupanion insurance which he assured us would help us out. If we didn’t, he may have opted we didnt’ do the xray.
Happy our pup has no problems and didn’t between those two instances.
Now, here is where it gets terrible. Because that one time vomit happened within the first month they are claiming two things and go back and forth. They first say its some form of collitis (vet told us face to face and them many times that determination cannot be made) and the other, its a preexisting condition. How can that be determined? Hes 8 months. They somehow tie the two episodes of vomiting, months apart and decide its some sort of condition.
Currently this is in appeals but they have been dragging their heels trying to wiggle out of their duty and still collecting monthly payments while they say they are working on the appeal.
Our professional vet has determined no such condition exists. Some person in a cubical with no vet license says otherwise.
We are still hoping for a favorable appeal. But this whole experience makes us feel that we made a mistake taking our pup to the vet within that month because now they have that «pre existing» condition they can claim (which doesn’t exist for a pup!).

It’s a rare for-​profit company about which I’m a genuine enthusiast. Trupanion is one of them. They’ve saved my cat’s life and the lives of other pets I know. I’d work there if I could. My cat has better health insurance than me. (This is only funny until I realize how unfortunately true it is.) They are the nicest people in the world when we call. Because we’ve had the misfortune to deal with them quite a bit the past couple years, they know our cat by name — even the claims people have vet experience and ask after her specific problems, whether the vet has ruled out [x]. and offer ideas. It really helps to have people who are friendly and going to bat for you.
Trupanion is unlike any other US pet insurance company I know of in that they offer direct vet reimbursements. While there may be more comphrehensive policies, it’s really difficult to imagine scaring up the kind of money Trupanion has paid out on my cat (five figures at a time!) and then waiting to be reimbursed. I can’t do that on the regular. Having to pay 10% and the vet getting the other money directly from Trupanion (they can do this automatically as part of their practice or Trupanion can set up one time arrangements — vets tend to be fans of it!). I’m grateful not to have to make decisions about my cat’s health according to my bank account.

Unfortunately I’m going to have to cancel my insurance because of cost. Since enrolling my puppies 3 years ago my policy has increased 38% in the past 18 months. I’ve had one claim totaling $ 300 (which to their credit they paid) and nothing else. At this rate I’ve determined the monthly premiums for my 2 small dogs will far exceed my own human health insurance in a couple of years. Their rate of inflation is not only dramatically higher than the broader economy but is even much faster than the overall health insurance industry. And I don’t think Congress is in any hurry to pass a pet version of the ACA.
If you are considering a policy do the math: more than likely the amount you pay in premiums over the life of your pet will FAR exceed the amount of money you spend on their medical care. Instead of handing over that money to Trupanion I’d suggest putting it into an interest-​bearing account, yeah the rates suck but some money is better than none. Just like with humans the majority of pets’ health problems occur at the end of their life span when it would be unreasonable and in some instances inhumane to treat.
Another thing to consider is this company has yet to make a profit and financial analysts don’t think they’ll be able to do so until 2021. By then shareholders and VC firms will most likely have lost patience and if TRUP folds you’ll have paid all that money for nothing.

I was skeptical of pet health insurance but after having other pets that had a lot of medical expenses, I decided to give pet insurance a try for my youngest adopted pitbull, Stewart. I am so grateful I did! He tore his cranial cruciate ligament (ACL) and Trupanion promptly reimbursed me 90%, less my $ 500 deductible & office visit fees.
Thank you Trupanion!

I am only giving Trupanion an OK since I have not had an claim experience. But with many of the reviews it seems that the claims were not paid because of pre-​existing conditions that Trupanion stated. Even one Unilocal review stated that their Vet said it was not a pre-​existing condition but yet Trupanion did not pay for the claim
I spoke with the representative who stated that I could get a Paw Print letter to have the Trupanion state that whatever conditions and underlying conditions at this time. My understanding that they have to contact all the Vets that the animal was seen and then give the letter if there is no pre-​existing condition.
So it seems to everyone’s benefit to get the letter stating that your pet has no pre-​existing condition so maybe it might help your case when you file a claim. Maybe Trupanion could still state there is an pre-​existing condition even after the letter is received — so I would verify with Trupanion. I was a customer but decided that I would just save up money each month instead of having to pay years and find out that the pet’s claim was denied — that would make me upset!
I am not an attorney but it just seems to make sense. But inquire with Trupanion and also with your attorney regarding any pre-​existing conditions that may invalidate your pet’s claims.
Update:
Before I discontinued my service with Trupanion — I agreed to get a «Paw Print» where they investigate the history of the pet and then accept your pet under the history conditions. But I never got the Paw Print after one month until I complained that I had not received it. They explained that it takes some time to obtain the information. And then they authorized the Paw Print for my son’s pet.
I nevertheless discontinued the service — I suppose I based it on the fact that I felt they should have contacted me after 30 days and explain that it was taking some time to obtain the history of the Paw Print.

I’ve only been with Trupanion for a year, but the one claim I’ve submitted was handled well and quickly. I was aware that they wouldn’t pay for office visits — it was in my policy which I actually did read.
People, this isn’t social services or welfare for pets. It’s INSURANCE. There are limitations and benefits, and in the end you hope you come out on the winning side financially, but so does the insurance company. It’s a gamble. All insurance is a gamble. Most of the time the insurance companies make a LOT of money, but we still all pay to play because the worst case «what if» scenarios are what we are trying to prepare for. Not routine care and meds and the like.
This is part of what bothers me about Unilocal.You can gang up and try to trash a company’s reputation for a personal vendetta — regardless of whether it was your mistake (90% of the negative reviewers didn’t understand or read their policies, in my opinion from my own readthrough). Perhaps people should consider whether or not they can reasonably afford to have a pet before they get one. And if they can’t handle potential costs for pre-​existing or not-​covered conditions, maybe they should pass.
I am just crossing my fingers the premiums don’t go up — but they will. It’s INSURANCE. They will go up as much as is legal for them to do so. It’s just how this works if you’re not living in fantasy-​land.

I agree with other reviews on here, read the fine print. I knew that this insurance wouldn’t cover routine care when I signed up as well as any pre-​existing conditions. Unluckily, my pup was exhibiting signs of a UTI. I took her into the vet to get some tests which uncovered she had bladder stones. Unfortunately, within a day, the stones had caused a total blockage and she was scheduled for emergency surgery.
Having never submitted a claim before, the reimbursement was lengthy due to the gathering of her medical records. I submitted all of her vet’s information for the various locations she’s been seen. I’d like to say everything ran smoothly, but it did not. I had a vet call me from a city I have never visited asking why Trupanion was calling asking for my dog’s records. This is because Trupanion used their database to locate a particular vet instead of using the attached invoices I provided which contained the name and phone numbers of all vets. Additionally, a dog that I once dogsat for and had to take to the vet ended up getting attached to my account (not sure how they could mix up a male chihuahua with a female poodle).
Once her records were sorted, I received reimbursement within 7 days. They approved all charges, less exam fees and my deductible as outlined in her policy. Having this insurance was a financial lifesaver.

Don’t waste your money with Trupanion.
Sadly, like so many others I was taken in by their promises ably to be left high and dry when I actually needed their help. Any symptom that is even remotely related to the claimed condition will be considered pre-​existing and your claim will be denied. It doesn’t matter that there was no actual diagnosis or treatment; anything in your pet’s medical records that could be possibly be construed as somewhat associated to the actual diagnosis your pet receives while covered will be used against you. Unless you cover your pet from birth your claims will almost certainly be denied.
In my opinion, you would be far better served to put $ 50 a month in a savings account than spending it with Trupanion. I know I would have.

Trupanion was represented to me as among the best for if I was ever in the need. Their price (I pay $ 50/​mo for $ 150 deductible) was also among the highest. You get what you paid for right? A lot of people on this page (and some fake ones) were helped out greatly.
Well they still may be very good– who knows. But after about 4 years of this almost double priced insurance, I needed help with my dog’s surgery. Trupanion has tricks up their sleeve like any other big business– tricks that enrich them greatly. They considered their deductible «per condition» and not per year or per incident like you’re used to with auto insurance.
After considering almost every incision in my dog a separate condition, they got me for the deductible times three! After the deductible was multiplied so many times, the payout was almost not worth driving to the bank. Bad company…
In their defense they said that a condition like diabetes over years would cost more in per year deductible than per condition– great news or whatever. They were nice enough on the phone, but like many businesses are becoming nowadays, they had nobody who could help at all; no flexibility whatsoever to keep me as a customer.
The appeals process put the onus on me to convince my vet to write letters (for a failing cause). I’m sorry but I’m busy working to make the money to put in their pockets! I don’t have time to go jump through hoops, especially on something that literally is their line of business, not mine. They could just go to my vet for the info they needed, because alas they are the ones who know what they need to know, not me.
So it was a double whammy for me today… What else will they do? That’s what I’m wondering!
It’s a pain that for such an expensive plan, I have to go through the fine print of the contract to find where they want to screw me. Usually paying more means less time catching them at their tricks. What a waste of $ 600/​yr so far… Basically if nothing giant happens, Trupanion uses the multiple deductible trick to neutralize payouts so they can make their money hand over fist.
Not saying another company is better, just watch out and don’t trust Trupanion’s sales team– Read the fine print very carefully– it’s where they make their money!

I just called and cancelled my insurance with Trupanion.
They raised my premium yet again for no reason, so I’m done. I’m really not sure how they legally get away with the things they said to me while trying to keep me as a customer. «When you signed up, you were locked into the one year old mixed breed rate» followed by «Yes, you did have a premium increase in 2013, 2014, and 2015» paradox much? Increasing my premium every few months when I haven’t submitted a claim in a year and always pay on time (automatic deduction) isn’t much of a locked in rate!
After three years of sticking up for them, they continue to screw me over. I’m sick of being extorted. Go suck it Trupanion. You just lost a loyal customer.