“The company does everything not to pay you, it combines, extends the time so that you do not deserve anything. Avoid from afar. It is better to insure in another more expensive company. They are very dishonest, I do not recommend. Never again.”
“Like other customers comments we have insured our dog for 8 years with animal friends never made a claim - he needed a scan for a bad leg and the claim was declined on a technicality as he had seen the vet in the previous year for a limp despite being insured with them the whole time - would never trust them again with one of our pets - they weren't there when we needed them as they should have been - be careful out there is all I can say look elsewhere would be my advice”
“Awful company. Had policy for 5 years, but they refused to pay out on a ruptured fatty lump. They say they're not paying out because we noticed the lump 18 months ago and apparently we only had 365 days to have the lump seen to. Our vets advised against surgery due to the dogs age but after 18 months it ruptured and needed attention. That's when this company drop in the 365 day rule and refuse to pay out. We now have a £500 bill. Policy cancelled.
“Would not pay claim .. said it was pre existing condition , my vet even rang them to challenge them .. They ignored him .. Took my money for 8 yrs with no other claims the number refused this one .
Rude and condescending..
AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL ..
Stay well clear”
“I wish I had read the reviews before taking out insurance with this company. My old dog had a benign mass on his chest and due to the location he cut it, cut became infected and the infection went into the mass which needed to be removed. Put in a claim but declined as although I had premium cover to cover for pre-existing they dug up some fine print exclusion to avoid paying and declined the claim. Avoid”
“We have paid insurance for our four dogs for many years, without a claim. In the past year we have had to make three claims. The first was for an operation to remove a mammary mass. We received about half of the cost, but were told that any further recurrence of the condition would not be covered. The tumour was found to be benign so this was totally ridiculous. More recently, one of our older terriers has had a crisis with a heart condition but Animal Friends had refused to pay anything towards her care. They are probably the worst insurance company we have ever dealt with. No more money from us and I would strongly advise to look elsewhere.”
“Shocking company! Do not use!! NOT Recommended!!! Paid over £1200 in insurance policy fees over 4 years because we chose a premium policy thinking we were doing the best for our dog. Premiums rose every year despite no claims.
We recently claimed for the first time and it was any pathetic excuse to send the claim back to the vet and 2 months later they awarded 1/3 of the claim... £150. We had to fight to get that!!! Got a 2nd smaller claim waiting for monthly meds as the issue is going to be a long term condition, however I'm waiting to see how many creative ways they can come up with to wriggle out of paying!!!
They are quick enough to take your money but will not pay out when it is needed. I think they need to remember they are being paid (a lot) to provide a service instead of acting like they are doing the customers a favour by dishing out an odd payment and expecting us to be grateful.
I am furious with this company and there is a complaint ongoing. I consider myself to be completely out of pocket as I would've been hugely better off saving the money in a bank account. There is no way we will ever get anywhere close to the premiums we have paid in and I get that most of the time insurance is throwing good money away on 'what ifs', but come on... ur happy enough fleecing the customers with over inflated premiums! Dreading how much they will go up on renewal!!! Better off saving it yourself and cutting out these con artists. Even our vet said they were by far the worst company they have to deal with. Wish I'd seen this review page before I took out our policy.
Do yourself a favour and dont touch animal friends with a barge pole!!!”
“VERY POOR - Please do not take insurance with animal friends, if your pet has had anything previously the matter with it then this is basically classed as a pre-xisting condition even if they are not linked...”
“If I could leave no stars I would. They have been taking payment for my beagle cross for nine months. Come to make a claim and because I said he could be a different breed due to his height,they told me they don't insure foxhounds as they are a banned breed. Biggest liars I have had the displeasure of dealing with in years. Cowboys of the worst kind. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY.”
“I have been a loyal customer for 10 years and I can say they have gone downhill. I have had cause to contact them twice in the last 12 months and both times have been thoroughly disappointing. The first time was for my 'elderly' dog of 10 years for whom they only paid me a percentage of the cost. The second for my cat who I had to take to the out of hours vet. She had severe diarrhoea and was floppy and deteriorating. the cost of the vet was £316.42 yet they only paid me £70.95!!! I have a Superior Plus policy yet they gave me £70.95. I think I am paying my money for no benefit, they like to take the money but not pay it out.”
“On line quotes do not highlight the clauses and claim deductions on policies. For pets over 8 years good example 20% deducted from the final vets bill.no death payment, no cremation payment. No blood samples paid.excess on policy is £90.”
“Like many many others, I found that the company find a way of getting out of paying claims. Premium for my second dog became massive when reaching 10 years old so I reduced cover to accident only for £126. Renewal just came through at £328. That is a 160% increase in a year without any claims. They clearly only want your money, despite the company name.”
“DO NOT insure "senior dogs" with this company
I have been insuring 2 x dogs both now 10 years old with them for years.
It is fine when the dogs are young but as soon as health problems due to old age arise suddenly you are handing over £90 excess PLUS 20% of each claim per condition.
On top of that if your dog starts with a Lifelong Condition which, during the first months requires a lot of medication, vet visits for reviews plus physio or treatment, if you do not keep up with sending in Continuation Claim Forms in good time (because of all the travelling to and from vets etc) and decide to bulk up all vet fees in a Continuation Form - suddenly that claim form is not allowed because it is over 90 days! So whilst thinking that my dogs vet fees etc are safe - they are not.
I do not mind spending money to make sure my dogs are well cared for but when you pay a lot of money for Premiums, then have to contribute 20% of each claim etc, you would expect every Claim to be accepted and paid.
I am absolutely disgusted with this company but now my dogs are "senior" i.e. 10 years old with lifelong illness eg Canine Arthritis and Dry Eye Syndrom, I am stuck.”
“Terrible experience when I had to make first claim ever. Even tho I provided all the information and photos I was refused support and left me with massive dept, stress and disappointment. Avoid! Avoid! Avoid! I saw they have adds in tv now and felt terribly bad thinking that people will believe them and sign up.”
“Like so many other customers we have been trying to claim on our policy. Months of waiting they now want more money BEFORE they will look at claim! As others found out they spend more time avoiding paying out than they do in resolving claims. DO NOT use this company - they do NOT listen to complaints and ignore all requests. Useless sums them up.”
“Long winded claim process of over 10 weeks. Anything you have ever visited the vet for in the past will be gleefully pounced upon and declared a ‘pre existing’ condition, however vague or even undiagnosed the issue was. Complete waste of money. Their main drive is corporate clap trap. Small print technicians and standardised relentless emails”
“Absolute rip off, they can and do classify everything as a pre-exisiting medical condition after you make a claim, in our case a water infection in 2013 followed by a urine infection in 2019 was rejected. Their staff are patronising when you discuss a claim and their complaints system is a joke, please don't waste your money on these crooks. Please look elsewhere.”
“Animal Friends have taken forever to process our claim then refused to payout on my claim absolute scum bags avoid at all costs they do every thing in there power to not pay out they happy to take you money but when it comes to a bit of pay back they don't want to know looser
AVOID SCUM”
“Your pet WILL be left suffering even with a genuine claim and you will be majorly out of pocket. Animal friends.... disgusting company!! Cheap and employ the best people to wriggle out of genuine claims ... need shutting down, if you love your pet avoid these first class scammers as all costs as you will be paying for nothing and you will be left out of pocket and your pet won’t have the medical care they need. This company is a joke!! Avoid at all costs ... they will not pay out and do anything to avoid it... joke of an insurance company ... with a valid claim ... basically ... yes we won’t pay out for his left eye troubles because we have seen that you got drops for his right eye years ago from the vets history (but no claim was made... just eye drops purchased that is all) all from the vets records ... so they wriggle out of a claim by doing that ... total insurance scam artists .. they are cheap for a reason, avoid them ... they won’t pay out... pay for a real insurance company not scammers like these ... will be posting this on all insurance and google reviews!! They need to be exposed for the con artists they are!. Yes they are cheap ... and for a reason.., they NEVER pay out ... just look at all the google reviews!!.”
“Please do not insure your pet with this company, it will be as much use as a chocolate fire guard. I would give minus stars if I could. At the time of writing this review 67.92% are one star reviews and most saying they would give zero stars if they could. Animal Friends are fraudsters at the very least and will wriggle out of any claim if they can. I'm very disappointed with this company and wish I had read their reviews before taking out insurance with them. Will be cancelling my insurance immediately as they have declined my genuine claim stating it was a pre existing condition, much the same as many of the customers who have left bad reviews on here. Animal Friends should be ashamed of themselves for having so many bad reviews.”
