Buddies Pet Insurance Reviews 14

After five phone calls and being told each time I will have a call back I have given up . One of the worst companies I have dealt with in ages. Simply cannot answer a very simple question.

We are a veterinary practice trying to help a client find out where Buddies have paid her claim monies too. You can't get through to Buddies but have to leave a phone number to receive a call back. I was told by the person taking the call back request that it can take between 2 & 3 days to receive a call back!!

I have no idea about claims but I am really outraged that their renewal process seems to consist of them picking a new price and increasing my direct debit without even telling me renewal is due or what it will be. It is my understanding that that is illegal! I can’t seem to get hold of anyone by email to provide renewal documents either and now I’m just wondering if I am paying out into a money pit that will never even be there for us if the worst happens. Absolutely disgusted by them and now I think I should cancel from looking at the other reviews.

I was with Buddies for two years, the first went well, renewal time had problems renewing took several weeks, several phones cals, several emails, in the end I managed and paid, the next time I had the very same problem - so I gave up and went elsewhere.

They promise to get in contact BUT they DON'T.... 12 months + later I'm still waiting.....!

Looks well if I wanted to put a claim in - 'MY' guess they would be even slower.

I insured my German Shepherd......or thought I had......and accepted the renewal. My dog required surgery to an injured tail but since the injury and treatment were separated by the insurance renewal , they refused to pay out on the claim. This is a rip off . more akin to a spiv car salesman than a supposedly reputable company. They don't answer emails so I emailed the parent company Legal and General. They don't answer either I know some real shysters with more manners. I obviously cancelled and would warn anyone to stay away from Buddies....don't go near them

We have experienced similar issues to others described in the chain below.
The renewal cost of our policy was increased by 50%, and money taken from our account without any prior notification, nor agreement by us. After 7 phone calls and emails, we eventually managed to get a copy of the renewal notice, and decided not to continue with Buddies.
After a further 7 phone calls/emails, (including a reply from L&G 'complaints department' stating that they were conducting an internal enquiry, and would report their findings "within 4 weeks"), at the time of writing, & after 2 further months, we still await any update, refund of our payment, or compensation for the disgraceful service this company.
We have reported them to FSO and await their findings.
Our advice to anyone thinking of taking out a policy with BUDDIES or L&G is : DON'T

Absolutely outrageous. Trying to speak to anyone is more painful than pulling teeth. Having had a new puppy and having had to pay out for treatment it’s been incredibly stressful and upsetting not to mention being significantly out of pocket. You cannot get to speak to anyone who can answer any of your questions. They seem to reply to message with significant delay. I just want my settlement!!!

Impossible to get the phone answered or any response to email. This is a Legal and General company who are happy to take the monthly premiums but not even accept that a claim has been sent to them - despite a number of submissions to the email address that I was given to send. Am now going to the FSO as a result and suggest others do the same.

My insurance went up by £14 without being notified. Sent an email six weeks ago, no response. The money went out again this month. Called them today to cancel.

If I could give zero stars I would. At my first renewal they increased the policy by about £12 a month for no reason this was approximately 40 % increase with no claim history. Unfortunately I have had to make a claim recently due to emergency surgery. This was made over a month ago. I am unable to get any reply to calls or emails and have received nothing to say the claim form has been received even. This is apoalling. They are charging me about £460 a year. That is triple my car insurance. Double my house insurance.
I have tried in vain to contact them via email and phone.
Do not use this company.

Don't waste your time on this company. You can expect to have to listen to recorded announcements for anything up to an hour at a time. They don't answer emails either.you don't need my details .just try ringing the number yourself .. that's assuming you have nothing to do for an hour or so

Our breeder had arranged Buddies free pet insurance for the first 4 weeks of cover after we picked up our puppy. I'm so glad that we decided to insure our dog elsewhere after the free period ended. Contacting this company is next to impossible, with the message '..we're experiencing higher than normal call volumes..' present on the line every time we called. The wait to speak to somebody was never under 20 mins and frequently 30 mins+, whatever time of the day a call was attempted.
Our vet emailed them a claim twice, only for them to claim that they did not receive it. In the end, I had to have our vet forward the previous emails to us so that we could email Buddies and specifically request acknowledgement of receipt. Two weeks down the line after receipt of our claim, we've heard nothing, and contacting them is unreasonably difficult. Avoid Buddies regardless of quoted premium as you will not receive any customer service at all.

**Update on 04 March 2020**
For anybody reading this and noting the follow-up from Buddies of 25 Feb, below. I emailed Buddies on 25 Feb to provide feedback, and have yet to receive any response.

I also asked Buddies, on 22 Feb, by email, to provide a copy of their complaints procedure, but they have not replied.

The claim has since been settled, but my review of their overall service above is unchanged.

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**Update on 12 March**
Well, Buddies did finally get back to me and in the last few days I've accepted financial compensation from them in order to make up for the poor service I received.

A Buddies Representative explained that a change of systems and a higher volume of work has recently affected their service to customers. I've been assured that Buddies has recruited more staff in response to work volumes and is ironing out system issues.

As I'm no longer a customer, I won't have any evidence of this explanation being true in the form of any improved service in the future, however this is the response I received so I feel only fair to note as such.

Been on the phone for an hour and nobody has picked up yet!!!

We insured our 10 week old puppy with Buddies as we just continued the breeders free 1 month insurance - worst mistake ever.

When it came to making a claim Buddies took 4 months to write to us (after I made several chaser phonecalls to them) to then tell us that they would not be honouring our claim as it was a pre-existing condition. They said that the puppy had been at the vet for a 6 week checkup with the breeder and had a slight "watery eye" at this checkup. They used this for the basis to refuse to pay out on a bloodshot eye when she was six months old.

Avoid at all costs! I've now heard multiple stories that Buddies are terrible for paying out and will try to find any reason possible not to pay out.