Debenhams Pet Insurance Review

Your pet must be older than 8 weeks.

You must be the owner of the pet and they must live with you at your permanent home address for a minimum of 9 months, situated in the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands.

You must take care of your pet, arranging for any treatments that have been recommended by your vet.

Your pet must be vaccinated against any disease your vet feels is necessary, but specifically,

Dogs - distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus

Cats - feline infections such as enteritis, feline leukaemia and cat flu.

Your pet must be treated regularly for worm and flea treatments.

If your dog is on a public highway, it must be on a collar and lead under control. Reasonable steps must be taken to ensure a dog does not escape or stray and any area in which a dog is kept must be secure and appropriately fenced or otherwise secured.

You can choose from four different policies:

1. Essential - covers vet fees up to £2,500 per condition for a maximum of 12 months
2. Basic - covers vet fees up to £1,000 per condition per year, which is reinstated at renewal
3. Extra - covers vet fees up to a maximum of £3,500 per year, which is reinstated at renewal
4. Elite - covers vet fees up to a maximum of £8,500 per year, which is reinstated at renewal

A list of the most important policy exclusions. Debenhams pet insurance excludes;

1. Costs for cosmetic, elective, routine, or preventative treatments.
2. The cost of pheromone products, including DAP diffusers and Feliway and/or similar feline.
3. Vaccinations, Spaying, Neutering, Castration, retained testes.
4. Grooming, Nail clipping, Bathing or de-matting.
5. Whelping, kittening and costs for any Treatment relating to or resulting from breeding and any complications that may occur as a result of these procedures.
6. Killing and controlling fleas and worms, general health enhancers.
7. Any costs for house calls/out-of-hours calls/non-essential hospitalisation and ambulance costs unless a Vet confirms that they are necessary.
8. Treatment for behavioural problems.
9. Any costs of hiring or buying a cage, basket or bedding.
10. Unlicensed Treatment or Medication.
11. Costs for Treatment of Conditions arising from Your Pet being under or over the recommended weight range
12. Any costs associated with prosthetics (artificial body parts) with the exception of costs related to replacement hip, elbow, and/or knee joints.
13. Any claim arising as a result of any sexually transmitted disease, rabies, Aujesky's disease, leishmaniasis, epidemic outbreaks or any 'notifiable' disease as listed by DEFRA.
14. Any claims arising as a result of Your Pet undergoing organ transplants or any experimental surgical procedures.
15. Claims caused by your Pet straying, escaping, damaging property, or attacking persons or Pets if Your Pet has done this on any previous occasion.
16. Any dogs used for trade, profession or business, used as gun dogs or in connection with shooting or for the purposes of hunting of any kind whether for business or recreational purposes.
17. Any dogs used for guarding, racing, coursing or beating whether for business or recreational purposes.
18. Any Pets used for breeding (any more than one accidental pregnancy would be classed as breeding).
19. The following breeds of dogs, as outlined in the Dangerous Dogs Act, Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa/Tosa Inus, Dogo Argentino (also referred to as Argentine Dogo and Argentinian Mastiff), Fila Brasileiro, Boerboel, Bully Kutta, Canary Dogs/Perro De Pressa Canarios/Presa Canarios, Cane Corsos, Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs/Sarlooswolfhounds/ Wolf Hybrids, Korean Jindo, Northern Inuit Dogs, Racing Greyhounds, Shar Pei, Tamaskan, Utonagan.

Complementary treatments are covered, although the amounts are below £1,000 which is the market average. The amount of cover is also included within the vet fees limit rather than in addition to.

Essential and Basic - up to £400, Extra - up to £500 and Elite - up to £750

Complementary treatments include physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, homeopathic or herbal medicines, or laser Treatment, all administered by a suitably qualified practitioner.

Debenhams will contribute up to £100 for food, prescribed by a vet, but only used to dissolve bladder stones or crystals in urine. They will deduct 53p per tin and £1.00 per kilo as normal feeding costs. Cover is for a maximum of 60 days.

The policy will not cover Diet food.

The policy only covers dentistry as a result of an accident or injury, but not illness.

All policies cover the cost of MRI/CT Scans and Cruciate Ligament claims. The amounts covered are below market average levels and is included within the overall vet fee limit and not in addition to.

Essential Policy - MRI Scans up to £1,000, CT Scans up to £600, Cruciate Ligament Claims up to £1,250.

Basic Policy - MRI Scans up to £1,000, CT Scans up to £800, Cruciate Ligament Claims up to £1,000.

Extra Policy - MRI Scans up to £1,250, CT Scans up to £1,000, Cruciate Ligament Claims up to £1,500.

Elite Policy - MRI Scans up to £1,500, CT Scans up to £1,000, Cruciate Ligament Claims up to £2,000.

Debenhams will pay up to the Benefit Limit as shown in the Schedule for CT and MRI scans and Associated Costs. If Your limit for cruciate ligament is reached and Your Pet needs a CT/MRI Scan relating to the cruciate this will not be covered.

All policies cover the cost of your pet being put to sleep, only when it is to alleviate incurable and inhumane suffering, recommended by your vet.

Policies do not cover the cost of burial or cremation, post mortems etc.

It is possible to insure more than one pet under the same policy, including a mixture or dogs or cats.

Debenhams will not cover a pets pre-existing medical condition, described as any condition diagnosed, undiagnosed showing signs, or symptoms or existing in any form, prior to the commencement date of the policy.

The policy excludes any claim in connection with pregnancy, breeding or giving birth

The Debenhams pet policy will extend vets fees to cover your pet whilst abroad under the Government PETS Scheme.

The Basic and Essential policy will cover up to 30 days, the Extra and Elite cover up to 90 days.

There is no additional cover, for quarantine costs, emergency repatriation or loss of pet passport.

Any claim for illness, or death caused by illness, that occurs within the first 14 days is not covered.

The fixed excess is £85 per claim.

The fixed excess in respect of dog liability claims is £100.

When your dog turns 5 and your cat turns 8, you will be required to pay an additional 10% contribution to any claim, on top of the standard excess. For example if you make a claim for £1,250, you will be required to pay £85 plus 10% of the balance £116.50 total £201.50.

The website provides basic information on the different policies and a side by side comparison. You also have access to the policy wordings, before moving on to get a quote. There are some frequently answered questions. There is no online chat or email available. Any questions would need to be answered by their telephone helpline.

The quotation software is simple to use and the quote provided is very detailed. A great side by side comparison at this stage provides assistance in choosing a suitable policy.

Not much effort has gone into the layout of the policy wording. 19 pages of black text which is very old fashioned in its style.

Having said that there is comparison of cover and an index does help with navigation.

In readability tests, the policy wording only scored 46 out of 100 which meant the text was difficult to read.

The wording had a reading age of 17 - 18. This means that a person with a reading age of 17-18 years should be able to understand the policy.

Debenhams pet Insurance is only listed on Confused.com and Compare the Market. The premiums and cover quoted appears to be the same.

The policy provides legal advice, vet advice and Bereavement Counselling helplines.

Debenham's is relatively new to the Pet Insurance market and we have been unable to find specific reviews on Debenhams Pet Insurance. Trust Pilot has 1130 reviews for car insurance with a rating of 3.6 out of 5. Although not related to pet, 55% would recommend Debenhams, but 31% of customers leaving a review have had a bad experience.

There are no administration charges.

There are currently no special discounts or promotions.

We rate all Debenham's pet insurance polices as 3 stars. Some of the inner limits are lower than market averages.

The policy is rated as difficult to read and the layout doesn't help matters. 

After researching and comparing prices, we found that Debenhams policies offer average value for money. Example quotes are listed below for comparison purposes.