animal friends insurance

Tiarella

Tiarella

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Currently with pet plan but animal friends seem to be a lot cheaper and cover the exact same. Does anyone use them? I saw them advertised on tv the other day and have not heard of them before that, thanks.
 
Ive got my 2 Dobes insured with them but Ive never made a claim , I asked on here for recommendations and they seem to have a very good reputation. I think what swung it for me was BlackCob who had lots of treatment on her dog and they paid out without question.
 
Yes they paid out a whopping amount in the first year we had Ricoh, think it was approaching £1600 (:eek:) for one set of investigations into his leaky bladder and one into his chronic snotty allergy thing. Premium has of course gone up in the year since but still reasonable for the level of cover, there are several to choose from including three types of lifetime cover. They were easy to deal with and paid up promptly.

D is still with Direct Line who again have good levels of cover on the lifetime policy and were again fine to deal with, paying out for an expensive accident in her first year no questions asked, but their payouts take a minimum of eight weeks.
 
I googled them a year or so ago and the reviews were awful so I didn't go with them. I liked the fact they donate to animal charities but not at the expense of not having a claim paid.

I don't know but if you are the company or individuals is there a way of putting bad feedback / reviews to the very back of your listings so no-one sees as most people don't look beyond the first few pages.
 
thankyou guys :) didnt realise they did horse insurance either. They say theyll do a 10% discount if you insure 2 animals so I might go with them after hearing some reviews from you all :)
 
Animal Friends are one of two companies we won't take direct claims from at work (ie we expect the client to pay us and insurance pay them back, rather than insurance paying us direct). The other company is E&L!
 
We will not accept direct claims with animal friends insurance at my work, also E&L same as Murphy88. They are cheaper for a reason :)

Also I would recommend lifetime cover, not yearly.
 
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Make sure you read all the small print and take note of the bad reviews.

Wish I did.:mad:

Wasn't untill my dog went under the knife that they told me I had the wrong cover. Had been on the phone 3 times before then to let them know it was going to exceed £1000, and they had said yes thats fine. Cost me £2,500 in the end.

Their customer service is terrible.
 
Murphy88 said:
Animal Friends are one of two companies we won't take direct claims from at work (ie we expect the client to pay us and insurance pay them back, rather than insurance paying us direct). The other company is E&L!
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My insurance company paid vets direct "friends of animals" are they same company as animal friends ,you know what these insurers are like using similar names .E and L paid out nearly 11,000 on my old horse you just have to make sure everything is above board
 
I have both my dogs insured with animal friends. The oldest one got run over and had to have a his pelvis rebuilt and then a further claim when he contracted MRSA. Both claims went very smoothly and all monies paid back promptly, the initial claim used our vet bill allowance for the year and he was treated for MRSA the day after the policy renewed for the year and there was no questions asked or hesitation to pay. Only slight draw back is that you have to pay the bill and then claim the money back yourself whereas some of the bigger insurance companies will pay the vets direct. Would definitely recommend though, very helpful staff and easy to deal with
 
cruzing said:
Make sure you read all the small print and take note of the bad reviews.

Wish I did.:mad:

Wasn't untill my dog went under the knife that they told me I had the wrong cover. Had been on the phone 3 times before then to let them know it was going to exceed £1000, and they had said yes thats fine. Cost me £2,500 in the end.

Their customer service is terrible.
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I had the complete opposite experience. After the dog had been run over he was obviously treated as an emergency case but until they opened him up we didnt quite know the extent of the internal damage. I know the rules state you should inform them if your claim is to go over a certain amount but we were unable to do this and they were extremely understanding and processed the claim accordingly
 
Don't forget also If you change companies all pre existing conditions will be excluded. Pet plan IMO is the best insurance company and although they are expensive they are so easy to deal with and you get a very comprehensive cover. Just received 2 cheques from them totaling 5400! No questions, easy peasy x wouldn't touch e&l with a barge pole at work, xx
 
Most vets this way on only deal with PETLAN, as in.....you can slap your £100 over and the vet will claim the rest via your claims form, however most/all other insurances the vet will ask for the whole bill then you have to claim it back (alot of people dont know this) and expect when they take insurance you only ever have to pay your excess (have even had people say) " really, well I never knew that, I could not afford to wait for the insurance to up"........if this is (you) then I recommend if you chose a cheaper insurer (understandable) then have a credit card at the ready! and be prepared for a long wait and alot of questions when you try to claim, your vet can be of great help in some instances but some a night mare (esp) if they have already been paid and its you waiting for the money:rolleyes: inc the way they fill in the claim form or things they mention or don't and this can give an insurance company any excuse (to get out of paying up):mad:
Pet insurance can and is in most cases a huge scam and so are some (not all) vet prices;) (esp when they know you are insured;) and this is having a huge knock on effect and its why we have so many issues claiming and finding descent insurers IMO (and obs I work in the veterinary industry) I do feel very sorry for those looking to insure their dogs and not having to worry about the outcome of (what will actually happen when you claim) it's stresfull enough having a sick animal (I only pay cost price and I only pay for medication not vet) so I know exactly how much things cost;) . I only recommend Petplan as insurance and its what we issue with our recues but have heard good things about what I thought was called "friends of animals" or is it "animal friends":confused:
 
wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I changed mine over from Petplan to AFI because I like the principle that the money goes to charities but when it came to paying out, well might as well not been insured at all :( And now to go back to petplan because of one of the ages of my dogs I can't as shes now above their age limit with an existing condition.

Stick with petplan they might be expensive but at least you know they will pay out and the vets seem to like them.
 
I used to have my dog insured with them but hadn't checked the small print and didn't realise how quickly you have to put a claim in (I can't remember now but I think it's 2 months). As my dog was 1st treated in the January with what I thought was a one off injury which didn't get any where near the excess and then fine until September when the bills started to mount up they wouldn't pay up. I gave up insuring her at this point as she was then 11 and we'd paid out for whole of life insurance but couldn't claim a thing.
 
cruzing said:
Make sure you read all the small print and take note of the bad reviews.

Wish I did.:mad:

Wasn't untill my dog went under the knife that they told me I had the wrong cover. Had been on the phone 3 times before then to let them know it was going to exceed £1000, and they had said yes thats fine. Cost me £2,500 in the end.

Their customer service is terrible.
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Had big problems with them also. Paid out eventually with my vets help.

Very rude and unprofessional, I cancelled with them.

You only know how good insurance companies are when you have to claim. Awful people.
 
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