United Pet Care Review, Plan Info, And More (Updated 2020)
Today, I’ll be reviewing another pet care assist program. United Pet Care (UPC) is not United pet insurance in any sense of how true pet insurance works. Rather, it’s a program that you pay to sign up for. In return, you get a discount on specific services. Most discounts happen when you pay, not through a claims process, though there are some exceptions.
UPC was created as an alternative to traditional pet insurance to help pet owners cover the actual, ongoing cost of owning a pet, much like health care for us humans does! Rather than focusing on what conditions are and are not covered, this membership health care program focuses on helping you pay to cover your actual, upfront costs.
Since UPC is not pet insurance, there are some important differences you should pay attention to throughout the following review. If you’ve found pet insurance to seem a bit too complicated for you, you may love the idea of a program like UPC!
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United Pet Care Rating
United Pet Care Review
For today’s United Pet Care review, I’m awarding them 2 stars. While they are not a pet insurance and there will always be a limit to how much they cover, you know this upfront when you buy into a healthcare membership. Even for a pet care supplement program, however, I think that they have too many bad practices to be worth the cost.
Pros
Recommended Veterinary And Specialists
When you are part of the UPC network, you will have to select a primary care veterinarian. Once you are enrolled, however, all specialists can be seen if they are in-network, even if you don’t have a referral. This streamlined process can save you both time and money since you won’t have to run around trying to get the right referral.
Up-Front Savings
For many people, a pet healthcare plan is better than a pet insurance plan because the savings happen up front. Some people cannot wait a few weeks to get reimbursements, so being able to know that they will save between 20% and 50% at the vet when services are rendered is a big relief for many pet owners. With UPC, you usually know what you’ll be paying in advance.
Cons
History Of Unethical Practices
There have been so many complaints about unethical practices being done with customers’ credit card info that I am surprised there hasn’t been a bigger issue. Some customers had the expiration changed on their card to continue billing without asking the customer to update it. Other customers had their membership canceled without warning, and they had to pay a fee to reactivate their membership that they never wanted to cancel. All-in-all, it sounds like bad news!
Lacking Customer Service
On top of frustrating billing practices, the customer service is very lacking at UPC. Customers are regularly treated like they are being done a favor, when in fact, they are the customer and should be treated with understanding and respect. I would never want to deal with a problem with United because of this!
Limited Availability Regions
Not only are individual membership plans only available in select states in the United States, but there are also a limited number of in-network veterinarians, which means you could be in trouble if you have an emergency. If there is not an in-network vet nearby, you won’t be able to use your discount or get any reimbursement for your bills.
High Cancellation Fee
Some customers moved only to find that there were no vets in the area that worked with UPC. This led the customers to cancel. They were charged a $30 cancellation fee. This is pretty high considering, and they were not able to simply let the plan expire. UPC charges extra fees around every corner that they can find.
Plan Options
All plans from UPC have a one-time service fee of $17 to set up billing. There is a $30 fee to cancel the discount plan, and you may incur other fees for things like reactivation on UPC. It’s not clear what fees may be applied.
There are only two plans available for individual members at this time. There are association members that can be formed, but those are done on a case-by-case basis, and fees are not clearly listed out on the website.
Preferred Healthcare
- 50% Savings on:
- Office Visits
- Annual Exams
- Health Certificates
- Annual Vaccines
- 25% Savings:
- Procedures and Medications
- Monthly Fee: $13.90
Select Healthcare
- $40.00 Office Visits
- 20% Savings:
- Annual Exams
- Health Certificates
- Annual Vaccines
- 20% Savings:
- Procedures
- Medications
- Monthly: $11.75
Pet Healthcare Or Pet Insurance?
To be able to keep your dog healthy on a budget, you might need some help. The cost of keeping a dog healthy can be high, especially when they may need unexpected veterinary visits that you didn't budget for. According to UPC, a healthy dog is a happy dog.
I’m giving UPC's membership program 2 stars in my review, but that’s only if you really want a pet healthcare plan. This does not give you the same amount of financial coverage you might get in case of a costly emergency, but it does support all veterinary bills, emergency or not. Still, I can’t help but be worried about their poor practices and severely lacking customer support.
If you do decide to get a plan like this, you might even want to consider getting a health care membership like UPC alongside a traditional pet insurance if you can afford it. Having both will give you the most comprehensive coverage around, but it won’t come cheap.
If you are also looking to get a pet insurance or would prefer to get pet insurance instead of pet health care membership, I recommend Petplan, Healthy Paws, and PetsBest. All three of these brands are great options with a range of prices and services available so that you can get exactly what you want from your pet insurance.
