Anyone else having trouble with ANIMAL FRIENDS Insurance?

tilbarn

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Hi all, I switched my 7 year old dog to Animal Friends insurance back in 2007 because they seemed to offer a better level of cover, and I liked their ethics (and their name). Barney, now 11, was diagnosed with Stage IVb Lymphoma cancer in March this year and, although I rang them for permission to proceed with his treatment to which they agreed, because they then found an incorrect sentence made by my vet in Barney's medical records in 2007 (just before I switched my insurance) Animal Friends subsequently declined my claim to pay for his chemotherapy treatment.

By now Barney's treatment had already started. I checked Barney's medical records, saw the error, got the vet to write a letter to Animal Friends confirming that he had made his statement in error, and posted it all off to Animal Friends on 1st June requesting them, as they advised me, to 'reassess my claim'.

Now here's the rub... when I rang to chase them up in July for a response, they told me that because they had earlier declined my claim, my 'case' was no longer a priority to them and because of this they could take up to 6 months to reassess my claim.

In the meantime, I continue to pay for Barney's chemo treatment which now sits at just over £10000 on my credit card. The hardest part is getting anyone from Animal Friends to be sympathetic to the fact that all I want them to do is review my vet's letter and make a decision whether or not they will pay my claim. I fail to understand how they can so easily tell me that my dog is no longer a priority to them. That certainly makes me feel 'special' as an existing and continued policy-holder of theirs (I daren't cancel the cover while this remains ongoing).

But what's even harder for me to comprehend is the fact that Barney is in partial-remission now and he has recovered so well in himself that no-one would ever look at him and realise he has cancer... but at some point I may have to make a decision that I cannot fund his treatment by myself anymore and have no other option but to put him to sleep. And all while Animal Friends continue to leave my 'request to reassess my claim' paperwork sitting at the bottom of an in-tray somewhere.

So, as of today, I continue to remain unsure whether or not they will agree to pay for his treatment and could find myself waiting up to Christmas for an outcome. All I can say is Animal Friends is a cold-hearted organisation and most evidently NOT a Friend of my Animal.

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID at all costs. Just google 'Animal Friends pet insurance reviews' at (www) reviewcentre.com to see what a dreadful company they are. PS they have just moved into two huge shiny new black-windowed buildings high on a hill in Amesbury so not sure that so much of their profits are going to charities as they claim???

dacouch

Send them an official complaint by recorded delivery, they have to investigate and respond in a set amount of days

tilbarn

Thankyou for that suggestion however this is from their official complaints process...

• Animal Friends will endeavour to resolve any regulated complaint as soon as possible. Notice they say 'regulated' complaint... however my complaint does not fall under that heading as I am only complaining about their timescales which is not a regulated issue, compared to incorrect advice given when taking out the policy which would be.
• Whilst Animal Friends will always look to resolve your complaint in the quickest time possible, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Financial Services Authority, we must respond to you within four weeks of receiving your complaint, providing either a final response or a holding response which explains why the company is not yet in a position to resolve the complaint and indicating when Animal Friends will make further contact. According to the FSA, a complaint must be resolved or a holding letter sent within 28 days but note how after that time, AF keep the timescales loosely unknown by stating they will 'indicate when they will make further contact', which could be in 6 months time! So I have no doubt I would get the holding letter within 28 days telling me my claim will be reassessed within the next 6 months... and that would be them complying with their complaint process.

Sceptical me perhaps, but I guess it's worth a try incase I'm proven wrong.

mikey72

As they have not confirmed they will pay, complain about the original refusal to treat, rarther than the delaying tactics.
Hopefully the FOS can address that, and bring the decision forwards.

tilbarn

Further to my last review comment made on 09/09/11, I have a further update and warning for you all. The good news is that Animal Friends finally decided to overturn their decline decision and agreed to pay my claim for my dog, Barney,'s Lymphoma chemotherapy treatment. My vets bills were up at £10200, me having paid them already by credit card, so I submitted them for what I believed would be a payout of £6000, as per the Annual Cover Limit on my Prestige Lifetime policy that I have with them. The bad news is that I was so wrong - I got £3836 for one policy year and not the £6000 I thought I would get.

When I rang them to query this, they confirmed (after some serious detail questioning to squeeze the facts out of them) that their stated £6000 Annual Cover Limit is in fact their Annual Vets Bills Limit. Meaning that £6000 is the maximum total amount of VET's bills per year they consider FROM WHICH they deduct the excess and the 35% co-payment, thereby reducing the payout to a mere £3836 total in any one policy year.

SO BE WARNED, if your dog is over 8 years old and you have to make a huge claim for treatment... remember Animal Friends Annual Cover Limit is NOT the annual maximum amount of money they will pay you in the event of a claim, but THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF VETS BILLS they consider FROM WHICH excesses will be deducted and you will only ever get the change.

By comparison, I've rung JOHN LEWIS insurance and just insured two of my dogs with them as they confirmed that they will pay out their stated maximum Annual Cover Limit of £10000 per year, making Animal Friends' top Prestige policy for dogs over 8 the biggest con out, with an annual payout of only £3836.

rslappers

thanks for the heads up, I was just filling in the application when I came upon your post in a relevant search, they've lost my business.

rs65

tilbarn wrote: »

When I rang them to query this, they confirmed (after some serious detail questioning to squeeze the facts out of them) that their stated £6000 Annual Cover Limit is in fact their Annual Vets Bills Limit. Meaning that £6000 is the maximum total amount of VET's bills per year they consider FROM WHICH they deduct the excess and the 35% co-payment, thereby reducing the payout to a mere £3836 total in any one policy year.

I know you posted this a couple of weeks ago but I would challenge that. The policy says We pay up to the Annual Benefit Limit shown in the Schedule. If they are now saying that they always deduct the excess and co-payment then they will never pay the Annual Benefit Limit. This is, at best, misleading. I don't see anything in the policy that says they will handle it this way. If I was in your position I would be drafting a letter to the ombudsman right now.

I would have expected the total cost less excess less co-payment - and if this exceeds £6k then the limit would apply.

tilbarn

rs65 wrote: »

I know you posted this a couple of weeks ago but I would challenge that. The policy says We pay up to the Annual Benefit Limit shown in the Schedule. If they are now saying that they always deduct the excess and co-payment then they will never pay the Annual Benefit Limit. This is, at best, misleading. I don't see anything in the policy that says they will handle it this way. If I was in your position I would be drafting a letter to the ombudsman right now.

I would have expected the total cost less excess less co-payment - and if this exceeds £6k then the limit would apply.

Hi there, thanks for your comment. Yes indeed the policy does say that, but if you read the 'Pet Summary Acc' doc which has to be read as part of the whole 'policy document', you will find in a box entitled 'Policy Excess' halfway down the A4 sheet their small print where they state in the last but one sentence at the bottom that excesses "are deducted from those policy limits". That's the only place in the entire Policy Document where I could find they have stated this however. But it's enough for them to be covered in the event of a complaint against them for misleading statements, because that sentence isn't misleading... it's simply put in smaller print.

So sadly, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on with the Ombudsman as they will only respond that the policy documentation does state these facts and that if I had read them properly and still wasn't satisfied at the time of purchase, then I had 14 days in which to cancel, which I didn't do.

For dogs under 8, it wont hurt the pocket too much as they would still pay out £5931 if the excess was £69 or £5001 if the excess was £99. But it's when your dog goes over 8 yrs old that the total payout is seriously affected after deducting £99 excess and the 35% (£2065) co-payment where it's then only £3836 per annum.

So you're right, either way, they will never pay out the full 'annual benefit limit' as shown compared to say, John Lewis insurance, who will.

In my opinion it's Animal Friends' use of the words 'annual benefit limit' which is misleading, but we can't do anything about that as they can call it whatever they want. They have chosen to use words very similar to all the other insurance companies to lead us into thinking it would therefore work the same way. But their 'Pet Summary Acc' doc does make it clear that it doesn't work the same way ... if you can read the print that small.

I personally think they should change the name of their 'policy limit', or 'annual benefit limit' to the 'Annual Vets Bills Limit' (From Which Excesses Will Be Deducted And You Will Get The Change). But of course if they called it that, they'd never sell any policies!

If you have a policy with them, I'd suggest you ring them yourself to check. They will be reluctant to tell you how it is, but they will if you press them for the detail. And the girl I dealt with on the phone when I did this was not a happy bunny when I told her how uncompetetive AF's top policy was versus John Lewis's.

Ahh well, in the end, the best news for me is that my dog Barney is in full remission now, so he just has to have monthly blood tests which means the bills are a lot less. I now keep a running record of all the bills I'm paying for him, knowing that AF will disregard any vets bills submitted if they go over £6000 in any one policy year. And that of those £6000 vets bills that they do consider, I will only get £3836 back from AF in any one policy year.

But now they have finally agreed to pay my claim, it's better than nothing... and if someone else can learn from my experience and not buy an animal insurance policy from Animal Friends, then my efforts to put my story on here will not have been in vain.

Bubble_09

I have just cancelled my 3 policies with Animal Friends as they dont pay up on insurance claims. They have now used 2 excuses for not paying on 2 separate claims, stating reasons that weren't true. Don't use them, they might be cheap but in the end if they don't pay claims it is a waste of money.:(

happytraveller2

Our dog had a fatty lump on her leg which the vet was not worried about and said he would take a sample of if she ever needed surgery.
Unfortunately she had some lumps developed on her tummy and so 6 months ago she had a mastectomy to remove them and biopsy to test them. Vet took the opportunity to carry out small biopsy on leg lump too. Tested proved all benign and leg lump was a fatty mass as suspected.
Put a claim in for operation and it was rejected as leg has pre-existing condition, and therefore claims for mastectomy was also rejected and they applied a retrospective clause to exclude all growths and tumours.
Last month she had to have emergency surgery to remove her spleen but unfortunately she died.
Animal Friends rejected that claim also and cited the exclusion clause.
So we are going through the complaints procedure with the support of our vet.
They apply retrospective general clauses to reject unrelated claims. I cannot express how poor we think this company especially in light of their "we are so wonderful" promotion.

Rikaroo

You're not alone. Our mini schnauzer has a fatty lump and our vet mentioned it in the medical notes.
Animal Friends saw this and then excluded pretty much anything that may go wrong with our dog in the future. Just because of a fatty lump!
Would never go with animal friends again.