Problems with Animal Friends Pet Insurance

hethmar

Yes but accidental Id think would mean the cat eating something whilst out - I may be wrong - clearly they are wrong about the vet recommending a dog product for a cat.

MichAm

gettingready wrote: »

Really sorry to hear about your cat... poor baby

Re Animal Friends - they have a lot of online reviews:

excellent ones from people who praise their customer service etc - those are from people who never had to claim

terrible ones from people who put claims in and those were denied

Out of curiosity - what brand was the flea treatment? I realise you say it was one meant for dogs but what brand was it? Not Bob Martin by any chance?

Hi, yes it was. Both vets that treated Coco have seen similar cases before. Neither recommend this brand.

MichAm

hethmar wrote: »

Yes but accidental Id think would mean the cat eating something whilst out - I may be wrong - clearly they are wrong about the vet recommending a dog product for a cat.

Hi, their policy wording covers for accidental poisoning (plant, alcohol and drugs). It says an accident means a sudden, unforeseen or unintended event causing injury to your pet. Obviously our actions were unintentional, so I don't see how they can argue the case.

They haven't responded to my complaint letter yet. I'll put an updated post on here when they do. Hopefully they will do the right thing ...

gettingready

MichAm wrote: »

Hi, yes it was. Both vets that treated Coco have seen similar cases before. Neither recommend this brand.

Oh dear- all shops should ban Bob Martin flea products. I heard about more cases of cats dying from cat version of Bob Martin never mind the dog version.

MichAm

gettingready wrote: »

Oh dear- all shops should ban Bob Martin flea products. I heard about more cases of cats dying from cat version of Bob Martin never mind the dog version.

Never again. I will buy flea treatment recommended by the Vets from now on.

MichAm

I just wanted to give an update on my original post.

Animal Friends had sent me a standard letter declining my claim.

I wrote a complaint in and taking advice for Forum Members, also asked the vets that treated Coco to write in on my behalf as well.

I registered a complaint with the Ombudsman and received verbal legal advice.

Animal Friends emailed to say they would look into my complaint and reply within 8 weeks. The day I received the email, I called them.

They had already received notification from the Ombudsman that a complaint had been registered. I then mentioned the thread that I had submitted to a popular forum. Seeded in two different sections of the site, the thread had received nearly 750 views in less than a week and a number of comments giving advice had been posted.
I also mentioned that I work in Marketing and PR and that a press release for distribution to local media was currently being drafted.

Can you believe it....within 10 minutes of my phone call I received a call back from Animal Friends confirming that they would be paying the claim!! Social Media can be a wonderful thing!!

On another note, under the terms of my policy with them, I am due a payment relating to the contribution I first paid for my cat (to the cat charity I rescued him from). This payment wasn't forthcoming and only when I queried it, was I told that it has to be claimed from Animal Friends using a different form. The form arrived this morning - and is exactly the same as the one I originally completed. I wonder how many people don't claim under the policy for this.

Many thanks to all those who viewed and commented on my original thread and thanks to this forum for letting me air my views!

realshannon

well done - I have just come on as I too am having problems with them. I have 3 dogs insured with them, never had to claim until this year. they stalled on one simple claim for a nasty ear infection, resending forms and requesting history they had already been told didn't exist. They did pay eventually. the 2nd dog has a continuing tum problem, so far so good but takes a long time to come through. the 3rd dog, when I took out the policy I advised that on arrival, he was a rehome, that we noticed his eyes were red (the breed generally have droppy eyes and can naturally be quite pink) that turned out to be conjunctivitis but also that he had to have a small operation on his paw as he had a grass seed embedded. However, I did advise them and they just said they would probably put an exclusion for his eye problem. As he is a veteran, that didn't worry me, thought it had been treated, end of story but many months later, he went back again and he was diagnosed with dry eye and has had a lot of medication to help and recently we sent him for a 2nd opinion to make sure he was getting the best treatment for it. I then looked at my policy and couldn't find an exclusion, so emailed them and asked if there was one, there wasn't. I explained that I had been told that there would be an exclusion so I hadn't claimed before so would be submitting a backdated claim. they have today told me that they have now put an exclusion of the policy from 2011 and wouldn't be paying on the claim at all. Now I know I wasn't expecting to be paid until I realised they hadn't actually put the exclusion on but I feel as they had knowledge and made an error by not putting the exclusion on, they should pay. I cannot prove that I advised via the telephone about the original eye problem but feel this is very under hand and will be asking for a final decision and then go to the Ombudsman. so this has helped me as now I realise they are not as respectable as I thought they were. update to follow but any thoughts appreciated of course

geoffky

Send them a subject access request and state you require the recording of the phone call...They will have it..

realshannon

this has just reminded me to go onto my BT online account and see whether it goes back to 2011 and will show that I rang them and how long I was on the phone. I know I did it but cant remember the conversation in detail. I have had an email from them now saying that they consider his conjunctivitis condition to be exempt but haven't mentioned that it isn't that I am claiming for! they have also advised me, kindly, that the online quote form doesn't give you an option to disclose any pre existing conditions but I am sure that's why I advised them as I didn't want any problems at a later date. I realised that the existing conditions would be exempt. thanks for your tip