“Glad to say I've never had to claim on my animal friends insurance for my dog. Rang animals friends 3 days ago to cancel my policy as my dog passed away, this morning I received a lovely sympathy card hand written from the lady i spoke to when I cancelled my policy, this was unexpected and a lovely gesture”
“I left an earlier 1* review for Animal Friends following their decision to refuse a claim for my sick cat on the basis that his gastro-enteritis could somehow be interpreted as an underlying condition. I made a complaint through their system and, much to my surprise, they upheld my complaint and made a payment of £400. In fairness to Animal Friends I am giving them 3* for having a complaints system which, at least in my case, can result in a changed decision. So my advice would be that if you have a claim turned down, don't necessarily assume this is the final word”
“Cannot recommend. They will examine your animals medical history to see if there is the slightest get out from meeting a claim. Tried their utmost to avoid paying out for my dogs cruciate ligament. Finally got paid after intervention from 3rd party senior vet. Having paid out they immediately placed restrictions on the policy against any further cruciate surgery and also tumours as my dog had a small fatty cyst removed during the anesthetic. Very little cover left now/”
“My experience is mixed clearly buying pet insurance requires far more diligence than i thought at the time, the terms and conditions are not customer friendly and they are more importantly not pet friendly.
Having made a claim I lost out several ways , as the condition couldnt be diagnosed quickly i ended up paying for multiple bills due to the 90 days claim limit and the £99 excess on my policy. When i did eventually make a claim it took forever and at a time when the pets wealth ware should have been foremost, i was having to worry about whether or not they would even meet the claim. Now that I have made a claim they are excluding future claims not just for the current condition but on a whole section of the anatomy of the pet.
You do truly get what you pay for, and for this type of product you need to print off and read the terms and conditions through or like me you will be disappointed.”
“I have been with Animal Friends since 2013. Initially they paid up very quickly however my vet submitted a claim in April 2018 and it STILL hasn't been paid! They said that they wrote and emailed me as the figures in the claim didn't match! Funny I never received either. The figures did mismatch because the claim handler at the vet had accidentally transcribed 2 digits but it was literally a matter of pence, they could have opted to pay against the lower amount but no! Eventually I asked the vet to resubmit the claim entirely. This was done in November and I have STILL received nothing from them. Who do you have to kill round here to get some money out of Animal Friends? As it is because my boy is now 12 they will be taking a hefty co-payment off on top of the excess. I am giving 2 stars because they were excellent in the past but no more it would seem. I am sorely tempted to cancel the policy altogether, the renewal premiums are exorbitant and if they don't intend paying out what is the point?Their loss! as the amount I would get IF they ever paid the claim is less than they would get in premiums this year.”
“Terrible experience when our flatcoat died of cancer of the blood vessel lining. He’d had a skin tag removed 10 months previously, mainly as a precaution and so we could test it. The vet concluded it was nothing to worry about but the lab didn’t absolutely rule out that it could be a low grade spindle cell tumour. Instantly, Animal Friends placed an exclusion on all future cancers and tumors, so when George got sick, they refused to pay for any xrays or scans, even though they acknowledged, in writing, that it was a completely new and unrelated condition. Ironically, if it was related there would have been a bit of money in the pot as we weren’t up to the condition limit, so they managed to wriggle out of paying out on both fronts. Despite trying to reason with them, they have just quoted large paragraphs from their terms and conditions, they are very quick to wriggle out of their obligations.
I have a new puppy now and I am searching for a new insurer - will never use Animal Friends again, nor will I use anyone underwritten by E and L.”
“Animal Friends are appalling - do not use them. They will use any excuse to wriggle out of paying up on genuine claims. They will slap exclusions on at the drop of a hat and try to link everything else to them to avoid paying. Total tricksters.”
“Don't use Animal Friends to Insure your pets, there information they miss out like they tell you, when you lose your pets you receive a percentage of the cost but that's only if your pet gets knock over,!! Also after 8years of age you lose 20% of your claim but your monthly payments go up,,? Do your research”
“In the last week my pet had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. After coming to terms with this, I thought to myself “at least the majority of the vet bill will be covered by the insurance.” How wrong I was. My cat is still young in cat years, so when I applied for the insurance I thought the basic cover would be substantial. Not only was the minimum payment paid, it meant I could not claim again for anything related to the same condition for a year. My cat will be lucky if she makes it til Christmas, yet I still have over £1000 to find to pay the vet bill, and the treatment does stop here, it will continue until she passes away. The worst thing was you could tell the advisor was reading from a script, because the last thing she said was “I’m sorry to hear your pet is ill, but we can only pay out the minimum. I hope she makes a full recovery soon.” Not likely if your pet has been diagnosed used with a terminal illness, is it?! No care or compassion at all for me or my pet. Should have gone with my gut instinct: petplan.”
“I recently gave a bad review as they refused to pay for surgery to remove a foreign body due to an exclusion placed on my policy. The exclusion originally read ‘excludes all claims with respect to the digestive system’ and they refused my claim as the foreign body ingestion involved the digestive system... I have upgraded my review from 1 to 2 stars thanks to a competent complaints team.. I sent a formal complaint after they refused to pay and on investigation they admitted the original exclusion was too broad and incorrect .. if you’ve been refused payment due to an exclusion and you feel it’s incorrect I’d highly recommend writing a formal complaint - I would have never got my money back if I hadn’t and hopefully this review can help others..”
“Be very careful with this company, they are cheap only if your dog is younger than 8yrs old or your cat is under 10yrs, ive just lost my boy who was 10yrs the total bill was £2,800 I paid 2 excesses of £99.00 only to find out because my dog was over 8yrs I was liable for a additional 35% which meant I had to pay £1,150, buyer beware ! ! !”
“Polished pre-sale and customer service but be aware of the difficulties of claiming and the small print if you are insuring an older, rescue animal, as I have. I declared a known existing condition when I took out this insurance. Subsequently, my cat showed signs of another condition that I wasn't aware of until the vet diagnosed it. My claim was rejected on the basis that the condition was pre-existing when I took the policy out; the fact I didn't know was irrelevant. My latest claim has just been rejected on the basis it's "routine treatment without the presence of infection". Presumably, had I have left the cat suffering with this condition( impacted anal glands) until such time as they did become infected, my claim would have been allowed. Indeed, I wouldn't classify blocked anal glands as routine, the same category as nail clipping and grooming, in any event. So my best efforts to provide responsible, reactive insurance cover for my pet were wasted and I have cancelled this policy”
“I insured my two elderly cats & chose Animal Friends most expensive policy option. When my eldest cat was ill, they refused my claim, stating that 'weight loss' was noted on the vet's record prior to commencement of the policy with them. They then proceeded to preclude ANY illness which could be associated with weight loss, which was pretty much everything. My vet contested their decision in writing & they agreed to pay out. They also reversed the preclusions. I am disappointed that I had to go through this harrowing experience. You don't need this additional worry when your pet is sick. You pay insurance because you care about your pets. 'Animal Friends?' I don't think so. They claim to give x amount of money to charities which is all well & good but their loyalties should lie with their policy holders.”
“OK if your cat is ill between 9 and 5 . My cat had a possible life threatening illness of Blocked bladder syndrome. After discussion with the out of hours vet, he said, I will be at the surgery in 5 minutes'. Fortunately, the cat had something not quite so serious, but had I not acted and he had Blocked Bladder syndrome as suspected, the cat would be dead. Animal friends refused to pay out the claim, as it turned out not to be life threatening. When I asked them should I have let my cat die then, they did not really have an answer. READ THEIR SMALL PRINT VERY CAREFULLY. IT COULD COST YOU DEAR!”
“Avoid this company. They took ages to reply or to request information from the vet. Then they tried everything to get out of paying the claim, and in the end they found a way. Very frustrating, and left me to pay nearly £500 in vets fees.”
“2 years ago I decided to look around for cheaper pet insurance for my dog who was 13 years old at the time. I chose Animal Friends as the price was much lower and policy cover seemed to match my previous insurer. Sadly around 18 months after I took out my policy with Animal Friends, my dog became ill, and despite both the emergency out of hours vet, and my regular local vet both confirming he had no previous medical issues, even providing copies of his health record, Animal Friends somehow put this down to a "preexisting condition" and therefore not covered by the policy, therefore refusing to pay out on the claim. Am devestated as had to have my pet put down 2 weeks ago, I'm not saying the outcome would have been different if Animal Friends had payed out on the claim, maybe I could have had further tests done, but it is more the fact they showed no compassion or support and just refused to deal with myself, or my veteniary practice in trying to resolve the dispute, adding more stress at an already difficult time. Lesson learned not to go with cheap insurers but stick to someone you can trust. Only posting review as seems so many have had similar experiences and hope that either Animal Friends will review their method of dealing with claims, or people will go elsewhere for insurance.”
“I had insurance with so called Animal
friends till November 2018. My two dogs were rough housing as they were still getting used to sharing. They liked to mouth each other and sometimes their teeth clashed together. Well the youngest broke the older ones front tooth, only one tho. We noticed it was bothering him so took him to the vets. The vet had to take it out so he had to go into surgery. The vet said as it was an accidental break they will claim direct from the insurance. Well, Animal Friends came back saying as it was a routine tooth extraction they wouldn’t pay out. This lead to emails and phone calls from myself and my vets to them informing that it was not routine and was caused by another dog rough playing. How can that treatment be classed as routine? Understand perfectly if his teeth were in bad shape because of poor care but this is a healthy dog with no underlying issues. Animal Friends stood their ground and refused to pay. Left them not long after that and went elsewhere. I’m sure I’m owed some money as I had recently paid for the month when I left. They didn’t even fight to keep my custom, more of ‘whatever, bye’. Avoid this so called insurance company. My vets won’t recommend them anyway as they had issues in the past with them.”
