Animal Friends

They will not pay out and use any Excuse not Even twisting words to make sure you can't claim Even had a vets note to help my case. And they twisted the words to make the claim. To make the claim even worse.

Be aware they have recently briught in a new policy that thy will not cover you animal when it will most need it. In that they will not cover you ( well £200) if your pet is refered to a specialised

Since the year 2011 I have had 4 dogs insured through yourselves. Jette, Flynn, Maya and now Dan.

I've always praised your customer service, payments and claims procedure and been an ardent supporter as your policies have been fair and competitively priced.

That is until Maya's policy renewal came through this year.

I was shocked to see your list of capped fees attached to the email. This is the first time I've been informed of this and I have every document saved from emails since 2011.

Looking back through my files there is no reference to these fees until this renewal.

As a test this morning, I went on your website to re-insure Maya, went through the whole process to payment and there was no reference to capped fees.

This lack of transparency makes these policies not fit for purpose. Policy holders need to know upfront what cover they have precisely at the point of purchase.

Imagine rushing your pet to an emergency vet needing overnight hospitalisation but really worried about how you''d pay for this?

What are we meant to say to the vets, oh I can only pay £100 per 24 hour period hospitalisation? Plus how much nursing care?

On your website you state and I quote: "Simple and easy to understand" and "Peace of mind". Clearly these statements are entirely misleading.

These capped fees are hidden, I have called Customer Services about this and they stated these fees have been present for a while now so why have I not been informed on the emailed renewal/policy purchase?

The capped fees are not available to view on point of purchase on your website were not included in previous emailed Policy Documents.

These fees are (I've now found today} available to view online after the policy has been purchased. However, having only just made an account with yourselves how would I have known they even existed?

Having had no reason to make an online account with you and going from emails sent out on renewal how would a customer know these fees were there?

It's bad enough Maya's policy premium was hiked this year by such a large amount, despite no claims, without added worry on top about her cover.

I expect a full and speedy Final Response from your complaints team .

Insured my alapaha blue blood bulldog in May 2020. No drop down for actual alapaha only bulldog as aware breed. Used their vista vet on numerous occasions whi were aware he was a alapaha. 3 years later of renewals and my dog had a seizure which I wanted an mri done. Of course I requested a pre authorisation and they apparently don't insure alapahas????? Would of been nice if someone told me but of course they have taken 3 years of premiums so why would they. They should not be allowed to trade as have never claimed and I knew they would find a way of not paying just like they did with my other bulldog when they had a lump in their mouth. 12 years of premiums one attempted claim rejected as dont cover work in the mouth. Stay away from this company they are all con artists.

We changed to this company last year after many years with another. When we got the renewal notice for this year it was not to lour liking and we went back to our previous insurer. We paid Animal Friends on our credit card and chose not to auto renew. When the renewal came it said in bold type that the policy would not auto renew and if we wanted to renew we needed to contact them so all seemed fine.
On the day the policy expired Animal Friends took the renewal from my husband's credit card.
He called and the advisor clearly couldn't be bothered and said that they must have had authorization for auto renewal and said she couldn't view the renewal notice but as it was within the 14 day cancellation period she would authorize a full refund and send e mail confirmation. Point totally missed.
We received no such e mail so my husband called again the next day and the person he spoke to was more helpful and raised a compliant and confirmed that a refund would be with us within 3-5 working days. That time has now passed and we have had no refund.
Although my husband has given them authorization to discuss this with me they won't talk to me and they are open 9-5 so he will have to take more time off work to call them today.
Animal Friends have taken money that they had no right to take, that money is now accruing credit card interest and we seem to have nowhere to go with them so we are going to have to contact our credit card company to see if they can help.
Animal Friends have effectively stolen almost £400 from us.
Please do not use them.

My 1 year old dog was diagnosed with diabetes insipidus, and the tests leading up to the diagnosis were expensive, along with the medication to treat, but the vets put the claim in on a Monday, and the money was paid into my account by the Thursday. Her insurance was due for renewal, and only increased by £50 for the year. Customer service was also excellent

Horrendous customer service lied to on 3 separate occasions that they would settle my claim when they did excuse after excuse.
Ended up put a complaint in to be told it takes 8 weeks to answer a complaint. Would never use again terrible company

Yes, if your pet does more than breathe before you took out your policy it will be “a pre existing condition or clinical sign” don’t be fooled.... I only gave 1 star so I could leave a review, a minor cough, some minor diarrhoea, minor ear infection, common urinary infection, bout of sickness, a limp....they will literally find any excuse to not pay out... apparently they’ve advised me you have to tell them every time you have been to the vets which isn’t part of their annual vaccination? They will then add a clause to your policy that anything! And I mean anything linked to that vet visit isn’t covered.... so a cough, diarrhoea, sickness...you name it, they won’t for example cover ‘digestive’ related problems in the future. Now I’m a reasonable person, I have 4 dogs and have only ever made a claim on pet insurance twice in ten years (obviously NOT with this ridiculous company) my dog who’s nearly ten had a common UTI over 6 months ago which cleared up after 3 days with antibiotics, no issues since, she was rushed in as an emergency 6 months later as she couldn’t urinate, she had surgery which removed 50 tiny stones from her bladder, an overnight stay and a bill of £2500.... very relieved to say she’s doing great! However they are trying to link a common UTI which occurs commonly in older female dogs and is stated in veterinary research that a uti can be a sign but cannot be solely relied upon to diagnose bladder stones... I have undertaken much research and sought advice from numerous vets who confirm a common uti could not be linked to these bladder stones 6 months later without her suffering some sort of urinary issues during the past 6 months, it’s not possible.... my advice is, if you are considering changing your policy to this company do not expect them to pay out if your beloved pet unfortunately needs veterinary treatment because they scrutinise your pets medical history and find something to link it to. I can’t bare to think how many pets have suffered and been put down due to this unscrupulous companies decisions and heartbroken owners who can’t afford to pay because they won’t cover the cost... don’t do it! I have made a complaint to the financial ombudsman, which by the way costs you nothing and is easy to do, however due to the current climate this may take some time.... I have one of the more expensive lifetime policies which obviously means nothing, I’ve made my complaint to them and they have given their ‘final decision’ so the battle goes on..... Just don’t do it please!

I feel they should be called 'Animal enemies'. Reading posts on here, it seems there is a pattern of not paying out.....

Due to CoVid-19 our vets refused the groom our long-haired cats coat, advising I would have to do it. It got so bad the cat was in distress, so I tried to remove one large matted clump of fur which was hard to see & puss was struggling. I unfortunately caused an accidental wound requiring stitches from an emergency vets. Four nights later he had projectile vomiting and was dehydrafted so had to go back for more treatment. Believe it or not Animal friends refused both claims, saying they were linked, and that they don't cover 'grooming'. I've asked for a review saying it wasn't grooming, and the vets wrote 2 letters to them saying it was accidental injury in understandable but very unusual circumstances and emergency surgery was required, imploring them to cover the claim, but they won't change their opinion.

I have now taken the time to read through all the policy paperwork and the policy with Animal friends does have some very unhelpful clauses. These include that under vets fees it states that if out of hours charges for vets fees are being contemplated, not only must a pre-authorisation be obtained but also that they will not cover out of hours charges unless the animal is in a life threatening condition. If one would assume that might not for instance include a broken leg or similar injury, I find it quite shocking that there terms could result in an animal suffering over a weekend needlessly. After this experience we will be looking elsewhere for insurance for our cat and I would advise anyone to read terms VERY carefully before selecting ‘Animal Friends’ who I do not believe are as friendly as they claim!

I had a claim refused because it was a 'pre-existing condition', despite the issue being in a different ear, the operation and healing process completely different and different medication! Absolute con artists.
Call centre staff have extremely patronising way with them.
I implore you to stay away from this company!
Needless to say, all three policies have been cancelled.

We have payed Animal Friends for almost three years for Dog health insurance.Recently our poor doggy got an infection and had to have lots of tablets and an expensive test done costing many hundreds of £s .Before we went ahead and payed for one expensive test in particular we contacted Animal Friends and asked if we would be covered for it and able to claim .Yes ,they said go ahead.
Well, you guessed it ,they have refused point blank to pay up.Not one Penny ! Not only that ,they have now placed extra restrictions on the policy to make sure we can never claim for anything remotely resembling our dogs illness again !
I advise anyone to stay well clear of this company .Find a reputable one.I have cancelled my policy and will be just putting the money by each month instead. I feel like i have been mugged in broad daylight and then laughed at.

So we have four dogs. Three huskies and a collie all of them are insured by animal friends they are also all rescues. So as you can expect for the breed and the fact they are rescues their insurance isn't cheap at all. One of our dogs Loki has had trouble lately with his nasal passage. Now previously he had a cold so we were told by animal friends that he wouldn't be covered for the same thing fine that's cool who cares? However what they failed to mention is that anything to do with the respiratory system would not be covered. He get cancer not cover as he had a cold, get a punctured lung not covered had a cold who are these con artists they should be locked up! The illness he has now is not related this policy was taken out years ago to the point where the 1k his treatment has cost is nothing in comparison not when they have had almost 3 times that off of us over the years. Disgusting!!!

Our dog was insured with animal friends for the past 5 years. We made a claim this year for a spinal operation on our dog who had 2 herniated discs and was rendered paralyzed, the claim was refused on the grounds that 8 years ago we reported to our vet that our dog was catching the top of his paws when walking which caused sores, animal friends claimed that this was a sign that the dog had problems with his spine and therefore they would not pay out, they also excluded any future leg problems in all legs, spine, back and neck but they also backdated the exclusion to 8 years ago so in fact I was never insured! How can they link a dog catching his paw to a herniated disc? They are Rogue traders! DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM AS YOU WILL BE SORRY!

After being insured by More Than for 8 years after one claim for a minor operation my premium was substantially increased. I cancelled my insurance with them and insured with Animal Friends. Fast forward 2 years and my beautiful labrador was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of skin cancer after having a dew claw removed. My experience with this insurance company was totally positive. The vet made claims on my behalf and I paid the 20% that I was obliged to pay as she was 8 years +. After her death I cancelled her insurance that had just been renewed at the same monthly payment as before she'd been diagnosed and received a letter saying how sorry they were for my loss and cancelling my standing order. My vet said that dealing with this company had become easier as it was now all done online and once this had been introduced I only had to sign one claim form.

Obtained a really competitive quote, but the following cover aspects caused me concern:
Theft or Straying only applies from home address, not much use if you are out for a walk.
Bilateral exclusion e.g. both eyes excluded if a problem with one.
Out of hours vets fee cover only if life endangering condition (how would you know?)
Reduction in market value due to age (but presumably not reduction in premium?)
Stayed with Petplan.

Please please do not use, they are not Animal Friends they are con artists !
They riddle and riddle with red tape and reduce your bill to a claim not worth having !

They should appear on Watch Dog again for all the wrong reasons !
Do your homework before you choose them.

Wouldn't pay out when my vet advised I should go to a specialist vet for an eye problem! The small print lets them get out of paying if they think the fees are too high!!! Who are they to say that? If my own vet thinks I need a referral, then I need a referral and my insurance company should pay up. Getting the Financial Ombudsman sorted them out. They didn't uphold my complaint, but they did pay up in the end. Bitter experience. Avoid at all costs.

Personally had a very bad experience with this insurer after having had them reccomended and seeing lots of good things about them so am very dissapointed.

Currently facing potential vets fees of £1500 with no support from insurance as my dog required emergency care and therefore i had no time to submit the pre-auth which apparently takes 48 / 72 hours to obtain. Now i have a nail biting wait to find out if they will help me, or if i will need to find the money i was expecting not to need to pay due to taking out insurance in the first place.

Athough my dog was admitted for emergency care at 10am due to not being diagnosed, earlier at 2am the same morning his condition was 'none life threatening' purely because he was sent home incorrectly.

Left me very out of pocket and wondering about the purpose of insurance for my dog altogether sadly.

Having had to have our pet Moss put to sleep I cancelled her Pet Insurance with Animal Friends on 3 August 2016. A premium had been taken on 26 July for the next months cover and I phoned on 9 August to enquire if I was due a partial refund. In Sections 12.2 and 6.1 it states I can cancel and readsas follows :-
Should you decide to exercise this cancellation right, you will be entitled to a refund of premium less an appropriate pro-rata charge for the period of cover given before the cancellation right was invoked.
However I have found out that Animal friends do not offer a partial or pro rata refund if you pay monthly. Although there is nowhere in the agreement that states this I am expected to call them to find out if I don't understand the policy clauses. I told them on reading the notes iI was of the opinion that a pro rata refund would be due they informed me my understanding was wrong and I should have called to clarify this. When I said this was misleading they said not at all I could have called at any time to clarify their stance on the matter. When I asked where the money for the period of cover for the remainder of the month after Moss had died went I was told it went to Animal Friends. No pro rata refund applied to my payments and in any case the appropriate pro rata charge for the period of cover 26 July to 2 August when Moss was alive was in fact the whole months fee. So I was therefore not due any refund whatsoever.I asked where this appropriate charge was defined or how it was calculated and was told this was Animal Friends general policy of charging and was not in fact in my policy. I also asked if an annual payment had been made would the appropriate charge be a whole months premium and was told yes. I said that this was very misleading and was nowhere in the policy to enable customers to make an informed decision. Certainly a money maker for Animal Friends. So once again Animal Friends refusing to pay out, in my case a few pounds but it is the whole principle of how they operate and hide behind hidden interpretations of the policy. The wording is not defined or specific to inform clients of the full facts and biased towards Animal Friends not paying out and pocketing money. In my case at a very upsetting time.

Insured my kitten, made a claim for a parasitic infection (since cleared up), Animal Friends refused the claim but to add insult to injury disqualified any future claim for anything related to the whole digestive system!!! Madness, or ignorance - shows a complete lack of medical knowledge and questions what grounds they make their decisions. The condition is known to have no lasting health effects. It seems to me these new kids on the black are just covering their backsides and making it up as they go a long. Better to pay a little extra, go with a reputable long standing insurer and have peace of mind. Better i found out early, recommend reading the reviews about this outfit before signing up. Avoid.

I have owned dogs for many years (40+) so have great experience of caring for them prior to insurance being available, and not. In general I have mostly had hardy, small breeds, and having chosen breeders carefully, or bred them myself, coupled with good nutrition, hygiene, exercise and general care, have had little need for vetinary support beyond routine events such as vaccination. In the last 15/20 years I have seen vet fees escalate astronomically, and whilst I accept that research, improved drugs, surgery have all developed, I still suspect that this increase is linked to insurance companies getting in on the act. Since retirement my husband and I have bought 3 larger breed dogs, and due to the increase in fees, purchase price,etc. We decided to insure our brood. 1st, our old dog, who has never suffered a day's illness, was quoted at a ridiculous price. Our deerhound was uninsurable with many companies. Our 2 standard poodles we did insure, and made claims on both of them which were turned down (1st was an accident, apparently we didn't have the right level of cover, the 2nd was an ear infection, she had had it once before, so they were querying the cover.) An appeal was unsuccessful in one case, and only addressed in the 2nd case after we cancelled the policy. Our vet is trusted and competent, We no longer insure the dogs, and yes the dog with ear problems has gone on to have £2000 of surgery, we managed to find the money, which the insurance company would have refused anyway. In my opinion insurance companies are rapacious, greedy indidviduals, and it is better to save money each month for emergencies, or insure only if that is difficult. If you really cannot afford vet fees, should you have a pet in the 1st place?

Very happy with Animal Friends. The level of cover is high enough to protect our dog against pretty much anything that might happen and, as long as we stay with them, they will continue to cover him for existing conditions - including arthritis for which he has been treated in the past and which may well be a problem at some point in the future. I also like the fact that they are a charity and are giving something back. Pretty good value for money.

2 trips to the vets in a 13 month period - both undiagnosed but when trying to claim for the latter visit they have decided it was a pre existing conditionand will not pay out. Only a yelping crying dog and pain relief were the common factor in both cases. Clutching at straws to not pay my £2000+ vet bill.

I have been unable to claim back £600 for X-ray costs! My dog has been now diagnosed with a ruptured ligament in his shoulder. Animal Friends have refused to pay back the X-ray costs claiming this is an ongoing condition. My dog had previously been to the vets for limping which included treatment for dry pads. Animal Friends claim I should have advised of the other conditions when taking out the policy.
MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL THE SMALL PRINT ON YOUR DOCUMENTATION OTHER WISE YOU HAVE NO CHANCE OF GETTING ANY MONEY.
I’ve been to numerous vets over the last couple of weeks and they all are aware of Animal Friends reluctance to pay out.
USE ANOTHER INSURANCE COMPANY!!!

I had an expensive policy for my puppy £56 a month £4,000per condition lifetime.

My boy had surgery in his first year and on renewal premium went up to £116 a month.just about afforded it.

Second year he had some more surgery before being diagnosed with cancer.

Good l thought l am insured .cant fault them on the paying out but extortionate premium increases.

he was terminally ill,a fact they knew about but second renewal £408 a month.

No sympathy and l was prepared for another 100% rise but notthis one.they didnt care and my beautiful boy was pts at 26 months old as we couldn't afford the insurance or his treatmet .

When asked about price on website told only for people who never have to claim.my policy was lifetime so not worth the paper its written on.

Really pleased I switched to Animal Friends, the premiums are very competitive, they paid out very quickly on the claim I made and I really like the fact that some of their profits are donated to animal charities.