Me: "My dog's eye is being crushed" OnePlan: "Here, sit on hold for an hour"

As I write this, I’ve been on calls and on hold with with OnePlan pet insurance of South Africa, the company that’s supposed to be there for my dog if anything bad happens. For two years, I’ve paid them close to R500/month. In that time, I’ve been disconnected 3 times, and been on hold for over 30 minutes. It’s not unusual for that to happen, but here’s the thing – it was made very clear, very repeatedly that during that time, my dog’s eyeball was being crushed by swelling, and that I needed them to “unlock” the claims system so I could load the money to get him to the vet.

As I write this, I’m still waiting for any sort of action other than “sir, we must follow procedures”. I’ll get into it below, but: - the claim in dispute is (I think) less than R500 (I’m not positive because the whole thing is a morass of stupidity). - That claim was the reason I finally cancelled our policy (we’re within the 30 day cancellation period, so we’re still covered). - That claim was discussed at length with OnePlan (phone, whatsapp, email, webchat), and I was assured by the last person I spoke to that it would be sorted out, by OnePlan, and I even received an apology, which I appreciated at the time. This was just under a month ago.

The eyeball: I noticed yesterday that one side of his face was swollen. I assumed it was a bee sting, but still called the afterhours vet. They said “allergex”, so I gave him one. He showed no signs of pain at that point, just annoyance.

When I got home from work today, I pried his eye open to see what was going on under the cricket-******ized lump of swelling. Upon doing so, I saw that it appeared that the pressure (or something else), was putting enough pressure on his eye to give it the look of a g**** someone had crushed in their hand – the retina/iris appeared to be “sunk” into the dog’s eye. But I have OnePlan Insurance for my dog, we’re covered, RIGHT??!!

OnePlan Pet Insurance – they really don’t care: I went to my Oneplan Pet Insurance app, and found that I couldn’t access my policy to load money for the vet (it’s the day before payday, and things are tight). I guessed it was a mistake – we called a month ago to cancel based on the horrible customer service and exorbitant fees, but I know that the 3- day cancellation policy also means I’m covered for the following 30 days.

So I called – apparently it wasn’t an error.

The Call(s): For 20 minutes, I was passed around. From one person to another, until I was told that they couldn’t unlock the claim system (which is absurd, if not an outright lie). I explained again and again that the OnePlan rep that had called said they would take care of it, and it wasn’t my responsibility. I was quite polite until that point (about the 30 minute mark). Then I demanded to speak to someone who COULD unlock the claim system, as this little song and dance was preventing an animal in pain from getting care. I spoke to a lady named Lukeita, who to be fair, got “introduced” to me after my patience had eroded and likely took the brunt of my anger. Having said that, she wasn’t exactly helpful. I was put on hold. Calls disconnected. I got a call from the OnePlan rep I’d spoken to almost a month ago, who wanted to “explain” where the claim was at with prior vet. I actually lost it at that point, saying “I don’t care where a month old claim is, I want to the woman back on the phone I was working with, and I want the claim system “unlocked” now.

He disconnected me.

Then I called back and was passed to the claims department – and was disconnected again.

Then I called back again, quite angry by this point as I looked at my dog lying on the floor in pain, and was finally reconnected with the original lady.

The “resolution”: I got to the point that I said I didn’t care, and said that I’d just pay the outdated claim then sort it out later, just unlock the stupid claim system. That elicited an “I’ll call you back”. I waited, and I think the call back came 20 minutes later. But this was just to get me to verbally confirm that I would accept them charging me. Then another I’ll call you back. And at this point, I’d had enough.

Reaching the 2 hour mark: I decided to go to the vet with or without the money to pay – they love animals, I’d explain, hopefully I wouldn’t get in trouble. I loaded an English bulldog into a tiny car (no small feat when he’s in pain), drove 25 kms through two towns, on a road with a 60 km/hr speed limit, at “almost rush hour”, got to the vet, took the dog inside, waited for a chance to see the vet, got in, had the initial exam done, and as the vet was going to get medicine for the treatment, Lukeita finally called back. She said she unlocked the system and loaded funds onto the OnePlan card. I said I can’t talk as I’m holding down a dog on a vets table, she said she’d “call back later”. Do YOU think there was any call back?

The fact: OnePlan is a financial company, not an insurance company. They do not care about anything but money. The fact that there is no “emergency” system in place for animals in need shows this clearly. The fact that an animal in pain is only enough for them to resolve something absurdly simple after 2 hours of me demanding it in ever-more angry tones, and even then only after I’m willing to pay a ********** claim, should be evidence enough.

Leaving this disaster of a company is the best decision we’ve ever made.