“What a con, had to put dog down for medical reasons costing me £100, excess = £99 with %20 co-payment charge on the £1 remainder which means only 80p is returned. What a absolute joke of a company, spoke to advisors who were useless and gave the wrong information\missed out the info I needed twice. Will never use them again. Be warned. Seems when others have put in a claim, that they will find the slightest thing in a pets medical history to try to link to the existing condition and call it a pre-existing condition so they don't have to pay. Typical insurance company just with a pretty website. No doubt will be given the standard response from them. Find a decent pet insurance company, avoid these clowns.”
“If I could give 0 stars I would. This company are the lowest of the low. Premium policy an yet they will not pay the £2114 for diagnosed IBD in my dog due to her vomiting a year earlier due to eating cat faeces. DISGUSTING COMPANY!! AVOID AT ALL COST!!”
“Like the other readers dont bother with these cowboys. On the surface nicey, nice but underneath ruthless money grabbers. I wont say why but do not bother with these. They like to threaten, change wording and rob people. seriously stay away and pay a bit more with a reputable company.”
“They are the pits......as with all pet insurers, they refuse to let you know whether or not they will pay on a claim BEFORE taking on a procedure/ treatment. No other insurance operates this way....but this lot are the worst. They actually changed the wording of my vets report in order to reduce cover. Anothr time, my dog had to have a grass seed removed from her paw.....then this lot said she would no longer be covered for that again.....HELLO.....this is not a ‘condition’ to be regarded as pre-existing.....it’s an ACCIDENT. They will use any tactic to reduce/deny cover...it’s all about the money, not the animals. The entire way these pet insurers operate needs to be investigated and changed. They are the reason dogs are left in shelters because of the highly inflated expenses with vets and insurers. Surely, if a ‘condition’ is later regarded as pre existing and no longer covered, the premiums should be reduced since the over is reduced.”
“If I could leave NO STARS I would!
DONT INSURE YOUR PET WITH THIS COMPANY UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERT AT READING SMALL PRINT - THEY WILL DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER NOT TO PAY OUT!
I have paid them hundreds over the last 3 years and when I need to claim they wriggle out!
ANIMAL FRIENDS...THEY ARE NOT!!”
“Before you consider taking out insurance with these thieves....stop....put your debit card down. Don't believe their "animal friends" nicey nicey name/image...these guys will whatever they can to not pay you the money you're owed. My dog has been left lame and in pain for nearly 2 months while I've had two different claims denied. I've now just had to bite the bullet and pay for it myself.
I've had insurance with them for 4 years and never claimed a penny. Then when I need them... guess what, they try to wriggle out of paying and couldn't care less about your pet.
Best advice I can give you is to direct debit the money you would pay to them monthly into a savings account and further down the line if/when you need it you will have a pot of money to at least lessen the burden”
“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.”
“My rating would be no stars however the lowest this allows is 1. This company are your typical insurance con outfit. My dog was very ill with several issues having to be dealt with at same time....final bill over 5k....my 'Prime' policy had maximum allowable payout of 2k....however these con artists dug thru yearly vet check ups etc and cited an instance several years ago where as a responsible pet owner....when vet asked if i had any thing i wanted to check i mentioned my dog had vomited....i was told just to monitor but like babies these things happen likely passing bug and nothing to worry about. As a result these thieves have refused the claim stating my dog had a stomach issue from several years ago.....they wrote the full claim off even though there were other issues which included Pneumonia and a spinal deformity. Please beware of these people....they care not about your pets welfare or providing the assistance that you would expect. They will find any excuse to refuse a claim. There are far better providers out there who really do want to provide cover that you pay for and woulc expect. Dont say you havnt been warned.....these are insurance scammers.”
“AWFUL... they don't care about your pet,
they don't care about you,
they 100% DO care about taking your money for many years!
Pay extra and get an insurer who isn't a con artist.
I hope none of these people have pets, I feel for them if they do! Should be ashamed.”
“I have been using this company for many years ( 5 cats) and on the surface they appear very good, that is until you have to make a claim and then their true colours come out. I had to put one of my cats down on the 16/11 and I am still trying to get this claim sorted, the vets were at fault sending through an invoice incorrectly however I have phoned Animal friends nearly every week for the last month to go through with them the rational of the invoice, I have chased the vets to also email them with an explanation and still today I am told that it is not sorted, I was told last week that someone would chase it and come back to me but no call back. The lack of communication from them is shocking and during one conversation I was even told that it was not their job to chase vets ! That may be the case but surely it is there job to let their customers know ( I can't even see the claim on my account so have no idea what was happening) Needless to say I have now cancelled the remaining policies and gone to another company. I would not recommend this company at all .”
“Firstly I am surprised that they score so high on Trust Pilot and so low here. Makes me question how they did this???
So the only thing I can say is AVOID AT ALL COSTS. They cause dog owners so much additional stress at a time when you are worried sick already about your fur baby.
Pet Owners BEWARE
If I could give this company a zero rating I would. Do not be fooled by the friendly, we care for your pet, marketing. They really do not!
When you have a pet that is never or rarely ill they are could be fine as per my Border Terrier BUT BE WARNED if you have a pet with a lot of issues they try everything they can NOT to PAY. I have a Parson Russell, that is a longer legged Jack Russel breed. Sadly he has serious issues with his spine and now pancreatitis and along with that, his friendly and energetic lifestyle pre the spinal injury has led to a lot of claims. As a result of his bad experiences he is not best pleased at the vets but a super happy, friendly gorgeous boy who loves everyone and all dogs equally and just wants a good play session. Here is the RUB with Animals Friends. Every time we have a claim, they try to pull the dangerous dog card. They literally go back years on the vets records and say 'he had to be muzzled' 'is he dangerous' 'have you ever had an incident' 'your claim is on pause' any excuse not to pay. Three times I have had to justify his friendly character despite the fact that his illnesses have absolutely nothing to do with the conditions being claimed for. I have even invited them to visit us to see for themselves but of course they do no such thing and would rather prefer to stress pet owners out and try and avoid their obligations. WORST decision I ever made by moving to them and now I am stuck with them !
I am serious people, trust me, AVOID! I have had dogs all my life and claimed for all over the years with companies and have never experienced anyone as bad at this company. I have spoken to professionals in the animal sector and they are also all shocked.”
“My policy started with Animal "friends" in October 2020. My cat had treatment and medication after a diagnosis of Glaucoma in December 2020, they really clawed for reasons to refuse the claim. They never maintain communication, I had to phone them 6 times over the space of 2 weeks to get any kind of update and the answer you get is "it's on our missed claims spreadsheet that we keep of things that are urgent and haven't been dealt with by the team". That really says it all. DO NOT INSURE YOUR PET WITH THESE PEOPLE!!!! If you care about your fur baby at all, pay the little extra and find an insurer that cares about animals and the wellbeing of their customers. They should not be in business!”
“Everybody please be aware!!!!!
Everybody please be aware!!!!!! we have insured our dog for over five years with animal friends we wanted to upgrad our policy through the go compare site because our renewal quote for almost the same policy was a lot more, unfortunately we had to claim for Coco who is now seriously ill We have been told us we can’t claim on the old or new insurance due to the new policy has to be wait 14 days before it can be activated ...... we even overlapped the date so there would never be a gap in our insurance for our little princess ... But the sad sad news is it’s costing us over £7,000 and we may still lose our little princess xx
All this is over a large company trying to charge more people money for being loyal customers....... the exact same policy every year for five years this year
we are going through a pandemic and people are losing their jobs livelihoods,
Loyal customers find themselves in this position
Being charge almost 20% more for the same cover
FOR BEING LOYAL!,,,,”
“If i could face given zero stars i would have
I changed to them in autumn 2020 when my insurer almost doubled my premiums and got what I thought was a good quote from animal friends
Put a claim in end of January 2021 for a serious eye complaint and was refused saying it was a pre existing condition he had before the start of the policy August 2019 I explained ( my vet agreed ) that was mild conjunctivitis or allergy reaction with no follow up and nothing like the serious glaucoma he was suffering with for the claim I was told it was his eyes that were not insured for anything and would not change the decision so I will be taking it to the ombudsman and let as many people ( Facebook ect ) not to deal with these crooks take your money but do not pay out when you need them too
Disgusted”
“My experience of this company is that they will do anything they can to get out of paying by using previous illnesses and injuries to say they are pre-existing when they are not. Bacterial infections are not pre-existing, they occur and they are cured! They have not paid out on any of my claims this last year. I have just been advised of my renewal and they are asking if I have taken my pet to the vets for anything other than vaccinations and if so these things will be excluded. I will not be renewing. I have looked at other pet insurances and have found one that offers reasonable cover and will include any current or recent illnesses. My advice is look elsewhere.”
“This is not insurance. They do absolutely everything to avoid claims and will exclude anything that they think is remotely connected to a claim you may have had with them or any others in the past. The first loss escalates with age of pet rapidly. They are awful at communicating with vets. Just avoid this company.”
“We have been with Animal Friends Insurance for 5 years, have never made a claim and our elderly cat has been very healthy. However, this year they increased the premium by 35% (stating it was due to him being over 10 years old - he is now 12 ½ so why didn't they increase the insurance 2 years ago? - and they added that they would not cover 'any illness or condition linked to the Pyrexia'. Our cat had a raised temperature in 2012 (9 years ago) which the reason was never discovered - he could have been bitten by another cat / rat etc. or maybe had an illness of unknown origin. No further episodes and the vets said it had been a mystery as to why he got ill all those years ago, but not to worry as it was obviously a 'one off'. But their new exclusion meant that, if our cat got ill, they could simply point to the fact that he had a temperature (which tends to happen with illness / infections etc!) and refuse to pay. Our vets wrote to them and said this was ludicrous, Pyrexia is a symptom and not a condition, but they refused to remove this. So we cancelled and went to a new insurer, slightly more expensive but I just had the feeling that this company were looking for excuses NEVER to pay out if we ever made a claim. Reading some of these reviews, it is a well founded concern.”
