Trouble with pet insurance - Animal Friends

straygoat

Hi all

I wonder if anyone can offer some advice? We got a dog from the dog's trust a year ago. At the time, she had a bad stomach because of her diet. We changed her to better quality food and she had an upset for a while...we took her to the vet, they said to use dry food. We sorted out her out with a mixed diet and she was fine. A few months later, she tore her cruciate ligament and had to have an op. I had loads of trouble claiming from Animal Friends for this and had to go to the financial ombudsman before they agreed to pay. While going through this, they saw that the dog had been to the vet with a stomach upset and put an exclusion on digestive problems on the policy. I wasn't too happy about this, but the agent said I could have it taken off this year.

In Jan, the same dog ate some stuffing out of a cushion and it got stuck in her stomach. She had to have an operation and the vet said I should claim for 'foreign body ingestion'. I did that, but Animal Friends say they won't pay because the digestive system exclusion covers all digestive disorders. I don't think this is a disorder - it is an accident. A dog with no history of stomach problems would have suffered in exactly the same way...it is not down to digestive illness in any way shape or form. It looks like I'm going to have to go to the Financial Ombudsman again.

I just wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem. The vet thinks A.F are being harsh, but my experience of A.F is that they are terrible, so I don't expect anything but the worst case scenario with them.

Gurtie

Sorry i have no advice but just wanted to say am in exactly the same boat with my Dog. When we first got him it was mentioned he had droopy eyelids but was also said a boxer without this would be a surprise. He has been insured for 8 years with no claims. Then this year he gets jumped on by the other dog and ends up with an ulcer on his eye. Animal Friends are refusing to pay out as i did not disclose he had droopy eyelids. Both my Vet and the specialist he has been referred to believes the ulcer has nothing to do with the droopy eyelids, so am currently going through complaints procedure with Animal Friends - by the sounds of your case looks like i am going to have to follow it all the way through to the FSA. When i contacted the specialist to explain the insurance won't pay out they did not seem surprised when i told them who i was insured with.

straygoat

Thanks. I've started the ball rolling with the ombudsman.

I have two dogs and have used many different insurance companies over the years (I don't like staying with one company for too long). Animal Friends is by far the worst.

Mbday

Very interesting comments on Animal Friends. My dog recently had severe sickness and diarrhoea and was admitted as an emergency by our local vet. Bill came to £1400 and he was tested for all kinds of things, including Addison's disease and pancreatitis. Everything was negative and vet couldn't confirm diagnosis, saying it was just one of those things. Animal Friends were very slow in paying up and I ended up having to send claim through 3 times (one supposedly lost in post; wouldn't accept photocopy of signature,etc). Now they have paid but said that from renewal of policy they will exclude anything with respect to the digestive system. I have asked them to clarify exactly what that means, as it seems to me they are pulling a fast one! Presumably it would include pancreatitis, which the vet said he didn't have. Happy for you to quote me in any case you take forward with the ombudsman. Good luck

Mbday

Quick follow up: google "Consumer action group and animal friends". Looks like the ombudsman is going to be very busy!

mbday wrote: »

Very interesting comments on Animal Friends. My dog recently had severe sickness and diarrhoea and was admitted as an emergency by our local vet. Bill came to £1400 and he was tested for all kinds of things, including Addison's disease and pancreatitis. Everything was negative and vet couldn't confirm diagnosis, saying it was just one of those things. Animal Friends were very slow in paying up and I ended up having to send claim through 3 times (one supposedly lost in post; wouldn't accept photocopy of signature,etc). Now they have paid but said that from renewal of policy they will exclude anything with respect to the digestive system. I have asked them to clarify exactly what that means, as it seems to me they are pulling a fast one! Presumably it would include pancreatitis, which the vet said he didn't have. Happy for you to quote me in any case you take forward with the ombudsman. Good luck

narabanekeater

to the 2 posters who have posted id be intrested to know what type of policy you have is it a 'for life' one or a fixed sun one?

Mbday

Mine is a "non lifetime" policy (quote from letter I received today). However, I think these all embracing exclusions cannot be justified and, based on various comments I have seen both here and on other forums (mainly posted in last few months) I think Animal Friends could be on very dodgy ground indeed!

Homegrownhero

Hi All,

We recently had to make a claim for out 2 year old male cat who was run over in march this year. We took out animal friends basic insurance shortly after we got the cat and felt at peace knowing any accident, Illness or otherwise would be taken care of. We chose animal Friends (Hinsight eh!) and thought their policy looked fair and comprehensive; a £3000 annual policy limit and on going treatment, refferals and specialist treatment (physio etc) and a £500 per condition limit.

Now a condition implies Illness according to all the other policies we have subsequently looked at so when our cats vet bill came to £2000 we felt secure in the mind that an RTA would be classified as emergency/priority treatment and not an Illness 'condition'.

So today we pick our cat up, call the insurer to make sure they got our claim form and then we get told that they have paid out £401 (minus the £99 excess) and locked out our policy because apparantly runnning down a cat is classed as one condition and no subsequent treatment would be paid for!!!!!

£3000 it seems, is payable when each condition is none related, so a terminally ill cat with diabetes, kidney problems, stroke, aids etc is more likely to be covered than a perfectly healthy cat with no conditions at all.....If life insurance worked in the same way, we'd all be immortal!

I found the customer service people abhorrent, rude and just plain unhelpful. Regardless of how many times i quoted the frankly vague terms and conditions, they simply reiterated the last sentence in a different way.

As someone whom reads everything with a fine toothed comb I was shocked at the audacity they confronted me with and lack of reasoning when confronted with their own flawed policy terms. :mad:

On another note, their underwriters are a gibraltar based company (hmmm i wonder why!) and have a less than perfect track record I have since found out.

Needless to say this is a matter that has ombudsman written all over it :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Gurtie

Hi All,

Well quite good news for me. When i first received the letter explaining i would not be covered i called them up and managed to get put through to a manager (after already being told by supervisor that she was in fact a manager).

I told him that i would be discussing the situation with the specialist i was referred to and if she believed the eye ulcer was not related to the 'droopy eyelids' they are excluding him because of then i would be following their complaints procedure all the way.

When i spoke to specialist she kindly wrote me a letter saying the conditions were not related.

I sent all the info and bills and asked them to review their decision. Normal response highlighted T&Cs and all that but at the bottom of the mail, they will offer me a goodwill gesture of just over £900 (total bill was £1100 and i have £99 excess) as long as this is agreed as full and final settlement of claim.

Both my normal vet and the specialist said animal friends are one of the worst insurers they have to deal with.

ZoezyR

Gurtie wrote: »

Sorry i have no advice but just wanted to say am in exactly the same boat with my Dog. When we first got him it was mentioned he had droopy eyelids but was also said a boxer without this would be a surprise. He has been insured for 8 years with no claims. Then this year he gets jumped on by the other dog and ends up with an ulcer on his eye. Animal Friends are refusing to pay out as i did not disclose he had droopy eyelids. Both my Vet and the specialist he has been referred to believes the ulcer has nothing to do with the droopy eyelids, so am currently going through complaints procedure with Animal Friends - by the sounds of your case looks like i am going to have to follow it all the way through to the FSA. When i contacted the specialist to explain the insurance won't pay out they did not seem surprised when i told them who i was insured with.

Hi Gurtie, I am having exactly the same problem with Animal Friends insurance. We bought our Bulldog puppy when he was 3 months old. He had a cherry eye when we bought him and when we registered him at the vets for his follow up jabs, it was noted he had a cherry eye and because this was in the first 14 days of us taking out our insurance, they have decided to exclude his eyes from the insurance, which we have now found out whilst our poor puppy is in the vets with a melting ulcer. Does this mean if he was to have a broken nail, they would exclude his leg from the insurance?? I really wish I had read all the bad press on Animal Friends Insurance before taking out a policy with them. We are also going through the complaints procedure and will go as far as we can, our vet recommended we went to the FSA as he said he had heard nothing but problems with Animal Friends Insurance. Good luck with your boxer, I really feel for you as I am now going through the same problems and I know its heartbreaking.

ZoezyR

Hi All,
Just wanted to warn all people thinking of taking out pet insurance with Animal Friends. I have read on lots of forums that I am not alone when having problems with Animal Friends Insurance and trying to make a claim.
I have a 6 month old Bulldog, which we bought when he was 3 months old. A few days after purchasing our puppy, we went to the vets to register him and have a health check where it was noted that he had a cherry eye. And because of this being noted by our vets and was in the first 14 days of us taking out our insurance, they have decided to exclude both eyes from the insurance. I found this out only yesterday when our poor puppy was at the vets being operated on for a melting ulcer and the vets wanted to send him to the Animal Health Trust. They asked us to check with our insurance to see if they would cover this. On calling Animal Friends insurance and being honest about his cherry eye, even though the vets spoke to them and explained the cherry eye has nothing to do with the ulcer, they told us his eyes were excluded because of the cherry eye. So does that mean if he brakes a nail they will exclude his leg from the insurance?? Most probably from all the forums I have read. We are writing to their complaints department, although I don't hold out much hope and will also be going to the FSA, which was recommended by our vet as he said he had many concerns about this insurance company.