24PetWatch Pet Insurance Programs
Reviews and Complaints

Me Tooo, I was on hold almost 2 hrs and still no answer, I personally have been with this company almost 3 yrs and I never had the opportunity to use, what benefits I have...My own Vet says they will not take this insurance...this company is taking 45 dollars a month from me, in 3 yrs...that is a lot...if any one reads this...I so strongly recommend NEVER using this company...you will only see payments from your accounts...be smart stay away from this company...Im doing what the last lady did, putting a stop to payment to this company...if you want to cxl, they will keep you on the phone longer then any government place, .they ain't stupid, this is a for sure, it is like you can never cancel...STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.I recommend going to your vet and finding what insurance they accept, before buying in, this company got more then 2200 dollars from me, that I could never use..

It seems very deceptive to send someone a letter entitled "24PetWatch Lifetime Membership" -- LIFETIME... then I called to update our new address and the customer service person replied to my question of "Well what does lifetime mean in this context" that "Lifetime means that it is installed in the pet for its lifetime" ... are you serious!? This might be a company that the FTC starts to take notice of with its severely deceptive practices.

I got my puppy microchipped last weekend at an Animal Shelter who were microchipping dogs and cats that day for free. I had no clue that i'd be paying anything at all. I thought it was great that they were doing this for free for people who couldnt afford the fee. After my puppy was microchipped they handed her and a piece of paper to me and told me that they had registered her on the site. Thats all she told me. The paper that she handed me says to keep the site up to date on my address and contact info. Thats it? Really? I havent gone to the site. But the paper also states that there are 2 membership plans to choose from and how much they are. But wait a minute, i wasnt told any of this prior to my puppy being microchipped. I was there maybe 5 minutes then walking out the door with my puppy in my hands and this paper that they gave me. So Very Confused Now. And i dont even know where to go from here or what the next step is?

This company is a scam, do not waste your money with them. They over charge and find every loop hole possible to not cover claims. Look else where

I thought if I pay for microchipping there will be no fees for registering. Certainly felt that I got ripped off by 24petwatch. Wtf is a maintenance package? It doesn't seem to be anything special about it.

Glad I read the above complaints entered regarding 24PetWatch's maintenance fee. I felt I was being taking advantage of when I logged into their website to update (the first time since entering contact information at account registration over a year ago.) My phone number listed in their database is no longer a viable number to enable someone to contact me I logged in only to find that I was not permitted to make any changes to the existing information without agreeing to pay for either a maintenance plan $21.95 annually for a dog (but only $18.95 for a cat ?) or pay a $59.95 lifetime fee for a dog ($49.95 for a cat?) It's a database... why would it cost that much for upkeep and why would that cost be less for a cat vs. a dog? Really disappointed that the shelter I adopted from utilizes this company as the registrant of the microchip they implant as the people adopting have no choice in the matter and the shelter paperwork states that microchip registry is for the animal's lifetime.

"Many microchip companies charge an annual fee" then how come Avid, one of the most popular companies, does not charge an annual fee and only charges six dollars to change your address? I think an address change fee is acceptable to maintain the database but 14.95 is a ridiculous charge and they are just taking advantage of customers with this "maintenance fee" crap. Honestly, how many times are people going to move in their pet's lifetime?

Many microchip companies charge an annual fee (such as HomeAgain, which is $17/year). Many of the microchip registries, however, allow you to register chips from any manufacturer. That means that just because you have a 24PetWatch chip doesn't mean you are obligated to stick with 24PetWatch's service if you are unhappy with the cost. Of course, now that you have paid the lifetime fee for these particular cats, you probably don't want to go find another company for them, but this is good info for you to be aware of, for future pets.

HORRIBLE COMPANY! Adopted my dog from a rescue. He had some medical issues that I gladly paid to improve his quality of life. He was micro-chipped through 24PetWatch. I moved & wanted to update my info & they kept saying that I had to sign up for their life time policy. Our other rescue has Homefinder, they were polite & said no problem, would you like to buy another tag? I said no & that was it, done! 24 Pet Watch was rude & don't care if you find your pet obviously. I will not give them a dime! Going to the vet to figure out how to not have my dog or myself associated with that company! The money is one thing but I don't trust them

I have just adopted a Bichon/Maltese mix from the central Vt. Humane Society. She already has a chip under the number [protected]. Her new owner is Jake Nunn, 4805 Bayley Hazen Road, West Danville, Vermont 05873. Telephone [protected]. Would you please be kind enough to note the new information and send me an e-mail confirmation to heavensentfarm@hotmail.com. Thankyou.

This company is a scam and a disgrace. Their employees are incompetent. There is no way I would trust them to find my pet if he was lost. They haven't even been able to successfully register him (after several attempts). I'm sticking with HomeAgain.

I just got 2 cats microchipped at a "low-cost clinic" yesterday and when I went to the website to register them today, I found out about the maintenance fee. I really feel ripped off. I had my dogs microchipped at Banfield and they only charge you once for lifetime service. No one told me before they put those chips in the cat that I would be in for more charges. It's a rip-off.

After having there microchips implanted in my dogs for years I received a from 24Petwatch today stating that if I wanted them to keep my dogs information in thier database I would have to start paying a $14.95 annual fee for each dog. Also information on one of my pets has been lost. As a kennel owner I have recommended these microchips to many customers. I gress my good reputation is gone.

I have been insuring my act through them since she was 3 months old, no claims. At 6 years old, she came down with urinary infection and ultimately died from kidney failure. 24PetWatch denied all my claims saying that it's not a covered disease. Cat had multiple positive urinary cultures with 6 months of antibiotic treatment. Policy clearly stated they cover Feline Lower urinary tract disease, and Infectious disease. They argue that bacterial infection is NOT an infectious disease. But they said parasitic diseases are covered. Which is opposite of what their policy said.

I've been on hold for over 30 minutes now trying to cancel my policy so they won't continue to auto-deduct my monthly payment. I tried this a month ago and never got through after over 25 minutes on hold. They're easy to talk to if they're trying to reach you to sell you a policy but after that the customer service is horrible. I encourage anyone to find another company to use for pet insurance because this one is BAD!

http://www.24petwatch.com/collar-tags.asp and http://www.24petwatch.com/index.aspx these are 2 links for the losers. Really this is B)))S))) to jump through these hoops. I have found the company less than desire-able. Unfortunately they see only $$$$$$$. Through the second link I was able to update my info. I am currently looking for an ORG to register my microchip numbers so the LOSERS dont make my life miserable IF that unwanted day happens. I am sorry you have to experience this. PS I have made a few cheap tags from ebay with my microchip # on it. I am going to ask the humane society next if they will keep this info for me. GOOD LUCK

I had a similar experience. I adopted a dog who had been microchipped with a 24 hr petwatch chip, but had never been registered. After days of trying to reach someone there by phone, I gave all the necessary info. and was told that they would be sending me tags in the mail. Two weeks later I still had not received the tags so I called the company again. Again, it took numerous attempts to reach them with hold times of more than 10 minutes. I was told by the rep. that I spoke to that my dog had never been registered and that if I wanted tags they would cost me $10 a piece. I explained that I had already been promised free tags but he informed me that he really didn't know what the company policies are but if I wanted to speak to someone who did he could transfer me (but the wait would be more than 10 minutes!)
I immediately contacted Home Again where my other dogs are registered and they registered my dog with the petwatch microchip #.
Oh, did I mention that 24hour petwatch's website has been down and remains down indefinitely?
24 hour petwatch is a joke. I would never trust them to help find a lost pet. I am a vet tech. and would only recommend Home Again to our clients.
Update: I received a letter from Petwatch today confirming the information I gave them 2 weeks ago. They had my name wrong, the dogs breed, sex and birthdate wrong and never listed the emergency contact information. Great company.

Go here https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

You write: "Every time we've made a claim, they either say they can't pay until they receive the dog's full medical history or that they never received the claim. We've faxed multiple copies of medical histories, including the successful fax transmission reports of previous attempts and they still refuse to acknowledge they received any information. They gave us an alternative 'priority' fax line to use and the same thing happened. They claim they never received the required documents. After cancelling the coverage on our animals, they still billed us!"

Looks like the same pattern of billing issues that I am going through with these people. Its time to stop them, enforce the law, write your Attorney General for your state. Do a google search for "your state attorney general" search their site to file a complaint! also, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission here http://www.ftc.gov/ . If we do not stand up and fight this fraud, it will continue to happen to others. I would contact an attorney as well.

If you have a PetsMart with a Banfield inside, consult them as an alternative to 24PetWatch for discounted pet vet services.

Mixed review.. I have 24Pet Watch on both of my cats. Oliver eloped for two months and when we finally found him, he was in terrible condition and required extensive vet care including hospitalization. High bill. 24 Pet Watch reimbursed at a reasonable rate less 20% deductible...Annie had bladder issues and required surgery. Reimbursement less deductible was fair. Four years later and she is in good health...What I am upset about is the termination of the original insurance and the offering of new policy at a substantial increase in premium. After having insurance for 8 years plus on my cats, this seems very unfair...From reading the above comments, it would seem that I am one of the few policy holders who has had a relatively positive experience with 24 Pet Watch. They were reasonable in regard to my claims and I don't feel that they are "scam artists."

First off, if you want to read the entire review, please do.

However, if you want the short version then I will start by saying:
1) ALL the negative comments about this company are actually true, as unbelievable as that may sound (unfortunately for me, I read the reviews after opening a policy with them).
2) I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone, for any reason.
Long story short, my dog got injured. An injury that was new (not pre existing) and my pet's policy stated, this type of injury would be covered once all supporting documentation was submitted and reviewed.
I submitted all the vet's examination information for the diagnosis of this new injury - but 24PetWatch kept asking for more information that was not part of any DVM routine consult or examination. 24PetWatch asks for these random documents knowing you wont be able to provide the document (as I mentioned its not a process the DVM follow) and then 24PetWatch will use that as lack of providing a particular document as non-compliance to their request, and deny your claim.
Fortunately, as ridiculous as 24PetWatch was being, my vet was on my side and did everything possible to get me any and every document that was requested, regardless of how ludicrous the request from 24PetWatch was. I was able to get my vet to provide some supporting documentation that satisfied the claim for the diagnosis costs for the injury.
Knowing the diagnosis was leading in the direction of surgery to fix the injury, I called 24PetWatch before going ahead with the treatment, and consulted an agent about the injury and the only treatment available. The agent said that in the diagnosis fees were approved, then the treatment would be as well. I'm not a fool, so I wasn't expecting everything to go smoothly when submitting a claim for surgery. I booked the surgery, because my dog would not get any better without it, so the surgery had to be done asap.
I decided to be proactive, and submit a pre-approval request for the surgery. Once again, 24PetWatch started with requests for unrelated information. 24PetWatch read in my vet's notes that I had said I talked to "a friend" about the injury at the time it occurred. 24PetWatch demanded the license number of my friend or they wouldn't honor my claim. My friend isnt a DVM (I never said they were) I just mentioned to my vet that I spoke to that friend when I initially took my dog in for the exam related to the injury, and my vet wrote it in her notes. There is no vet license number for my friend that I can provide to 24PetWatch and furthermore it was a casual conversation on the phone about my dog's injury, It was not an official consult with a DVM. 24PetWatch insisted that I provide them with this persons contact information and their veterinary training qualifications (which dont exist, as the friend is not a vet), and if i did not provide the information, they wouldn't pay.

I went ahead witht eh surgery, as I stated that was the only option to treat my dog's injury. When I submitted the claim for the treatment of the injury (surgery), 24PetWatch decided that they were changing the name/type of the injury, from "rupture" (as stated by my vet & the surgeon) to "disease" (as the word disease favored a clause in 24PetWatch policy and was a loophole for them to get out of reimbursing me). My vet and surgeon refuted this and said it was not a degenerative disease, as my dog is too young to suffer from that type of degenerative disease. 24PetWatch did not care what the vet & surgeon said. 24PetWatch said my surgeon's diagnosis was wrong, and my dog has a degenerative disease (even though there is no scientific data to support 24PetWatch). 24PetWatch changed the diagnosis/terminology of the injury in order to allow 24PetWatch to reference a clause in their policy, which absolves 24PetWatch from paying for a "disease" even though my surgeon clearly documented it was a "rupture" due to rough activity and not due to disease.

I understand that no insurance company would freely pay out large claims without requesting documentation as proof (which I very promptly provided), but when they start using disingenuous methods and lying to avoid helping a client in need of the service that you are already paying for - that is a very good indication that this is not a company you want to have any association with.
24PetWatch uses typical underhanded method used by an insurance company, and a clear indication of what kind or mentality and culture this company has adopted.
You will be doing yourself and your pet a favor by NOT opening a policy with this company.

Just go to carecredit i have so-so credit and they gave me a 2300 dollar limit. They were a lifesaver to us. It is a credit card and you have to pay it back but monthly payments are lots better than wasting time and money on these policy's that aren't going to be there when you need them.

They make you have a deductible per claim not just a yearly deductible. They didn't cover any of the dental bills and they didn't cover my dog's heart medicine of which she was diagnosed with a stage 2 heart murmur after I got the insurance. They did cover the reimbursement of euthanasia/cremation of my dog.

This company is ripping off innocent people who have tried to do something good by rescuing animals When I adopted my cat in 2008, the place where I adopted her from had the form and "free" insurance in the adoption packet. I had never had pet insurance but thought it would be a good thing to have. My cat has been healthy the 8 years I have had the insurance. I have paid my annual 24PetWatch bill faithfully. She had a checkup in June 2015 before we moved from Texas to Arizona. The vet gave me a copy of her medical history to give to the new vet. Everything was fine. Her vaccinations were current, and she was healthy. When it was close to a year and time for her annual checkup, I made an appointment with a new vet. 2 days before the appointment, she started vomiting (not hairballs) and was acting weird. Since I had the appointment, I figured I would find out what was wrong, if anything. It turned out she had renal failure which would be helped by medicine and renal food. I turned in my first claim! Heard nothing. I turned in my second claim. Heard nothing. I then got e-mails that this was missing or that was missing. I sent every thing they asked for. Friday they called and told me husband they sent me an email with the explanations why they aren't paying. I still haven't received the email. If I had put that money in a savings account, I would have had plenty saved to pay for her treatment. 8 years...healthy cat... when she does get sick first time, no coverage. Now they want me to renew. You have got to be kidding. The cat is too old to take out another pet insurance. I will start that savings account and hope for the best. She is doing well on the medicine and medicated food thankfully.

Horrible customer service. Now you have to provide a fax number from your vet and then the customer service tells you no record of claims then I did the computer chat and the operator found it right away. Told me I was missing info had vet email everything back and now they tell me I need the email address of the person who sent it and from there it will take 10 days to upload to my acct. I have 4 dogs and pay these people about $200 a month have been waiting a week for a call back from someone in charge because you cant be transferred to claim adjusters or a supervisor.
Been waiting 4 months regarding a claim that they disagree with the diagnosis and try to say it was pre existing - its an injury from an accident how is this preexisting.

I adopted my dog, Buddy, from New Beginnings Shih tzu Rescue on October 13, 2013. I took out a 24PetWatch insurance policy on October 15, 2013, per phone call to the company. I gave them my credit card # for the first premium on that day, as required. Several days later (October 17, 2013), I took Buddy to the vet for a new dog check up and mentioned that Buddy seemed to be drinking a lot of water. There was no record of any medical diagnosis that came with Buddy on adoption. In fact, he had been at Rock County Humane Society for over 2 months before New Beginnings took him. He was in a foster home for almost 4 weeks with New Beginnings before I adopted him. The vet ran a urinalysis, found a small amount of blood in his urine, and treated him with antibiotics for a Urinary Tract Infection, which may have caused excess thirst and water intake. Unfortunately, for Buddy and I, we were back to the vet on November 15, 2013 for the excessive water drinking and then began the journey of blood work, urine testing, medical appointments, trial meds, and on, and on. Late December, the verdict was in. Buddy"s diagnosis was Diabetes Insipidus - a life-long condition! I submitted all the claims on December 30th, as once I received the actual written policy more than a month later (or should I say, an abbreviated policy with many references made to a web-site, on-line policy), I became aware of many inclusions in the policy that I was not aware of. For instance, 24PetWatch reserved the right to cancel the policy for any reason within the first 60 days. Imagine that! Well, here we are-March 5, 2014. They have not yet sent me an Explanation of Benefits for even 1 of the 6 claims I submitted. I have received no money. When I call, I am on hold no less than 45 minutes each time. They used every excuse possible to delay and avoid giving me an answer on the outcome. They lied about when they received the claims, giving a date in mid-February, and then saying they were still being processed. When I called back last week and pressed for answers, they finally admitted that they had determined all of the claims for Buddy were due to a pre-existing condition, and therefore, not covered on his policy. I now have approximately $1500.00 of vet bills to pay, while they were drawing out premiums for bogus insurance for 5 months. They still have not put anything in writing! I imagine they are careful to avoid being sued. My credit card company is going to stop paying the premiums, while I cancel the insurance tomorrow. WHO IS MONITORING THESE UNSCRUPULOUS COMPANIES? HELP!

This company needs to be shut down, it's a fancy way to package organized crime. I too am a victim of believing that an insurance policy on a pet would cover accidents and sicknesses but found out otherwise. I notified the shelter who promotes this company and was told they are given money by 24PetWatch, which is desperately needed, so they give people the 'free' insurance which leads many to enroll in a policy, hence, making it a lucrative venture for this scam machine. I'm sure the shelter worker would not want the ugly truth to be brought to light in fear of losing the monies given to them by 24PetWatch but morally it's wrong. Oh, just to let you know this company 's HQ is in Ontario, Canada. Their under writer is based in New York City and they have a post office box in Buffalo, NY which gives them a base to do business in the U.S. Please consider all the reviews before making the decision to buy a policy with this company. Notice how many 'good' reviews there aren't too.

I was going to sign up for their coverage, but now that I read these comments, I think I'll look elsewhere! I'm so sorry that happened to you & I appreciate you posting your experiences! =/

I can say this company is a crock of bull... I bought my policy and paid a years worth of coverage to only find out six months later that they wouldn't cover my cat's diabetes. My cat showed symptoms of something was wrong on two days prior to the policy affective date which was noted on the vets paperwork. So since I was being a good pet parent and telling my vet the truth to ensure that my pet got the best care I got denied coverage. My mind you my cat never showed any signs of diabetes before me taking him to the vet on that day nor was he ever diagnose with it before. So I guess I am suppose to be some kinda Vet and know automatically that my cat has diabetes. GREAT JOB 24 PetWatch you just condemned my cat to a slow painful death! I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone...