| Overall |   |
| Claims | |
| Customer Service | |
| Value For Money | |
Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance allows you to choose the cover which suits your needs:
- Option 1 Covers the cost of vet’s fees up to £3,000 per condition for a maximum of 12 months.
- Option 2 Covers the cost of vet’s fees up to £7,500 per condition.
12 months cover for the price of 9 for Nectar card holders – Online only. Plus double Nectar points on Sainsbury’s shopping for 2 years when you take out Option 2 cover. You’ll still get a 20% online discount if you don’t have a Nectar card.
Sainsburys Pet Insurance – good value for money
Overall service – very satisfied
Claims – Very quick and easy
Customer service – When used has been helpful and informative
Value for money – Very satisfied
I have used Sainsbury’s pet insurance for the first time this year, but so far have not made a claim but I can comment on the following:
You get 12 months cover for the price of 9.
Up to £7500 in vet fees per condition.
5% discount for your second pet.
Double Nectar points on your shopping & fuel for 2 years if you choose the £7500 vet fees cover as long as you dont cancel your policy and are claim free at renewel.
I applied for mine online, it was straight forward, easy to understand and you can also set up a Direct Debit to pay monthly and I received my policy paperwork came through within a couple of days.
Excellent all round. Made a number of claims between January and May this year when my dog broke his toe. Paid up quickly. Good customer service when I telephoned with a query. Didn’t rush or try to fob me off. Would recommend. Premiums not the cheapest, but very good level of cover provided. You get what you pay for when it comes to pet insurance.
I have not yet made a claim for my cat but i found the process of taking out the insurance very simple and fast. The price i pay per month is very good and compared to other companies i fel i am getting great service!
I only insured my dog for the first time aged 8. She had no pre-existing conditions, but since then (3 years) has had several problems involving big claims with no problems. I even had a dental claim paid, which I though wouldn’t be covered. HOWEVER her premiums are now over £35 pm (originally £12) and as she’s 11, can’t switch elewhere. Also this year her excess has been increased from £50 to £125. Service and cover level is excellent, and no problems with claims being paid, but getting very expensive now my dog is older.
Wonderful glowing reviews but wait until you renew. I have held a policy for 16 months. At renewal the paperwork was not forwarded so I had no idea of the new policy premium. Yes, my fault for not checking the direct debit on my statement but when I did I found that the direct debit had increased and the annual premium had increased almost 100%!! Phoned customer services to see how they could justify the increase, bearing in mind there had been no claims made,and they were no use whatsoever. Seems that the headline discounts for first time policy holders is being subsidised by renewals. Needless to say I am checking the comparison sites for alternative cover.
My experience on renewal after first year of cover has been decidedly negative.
Without prior notification, monthly premium (paid by direct debit) rose by 80%. from £11.47 to £20.83. No claims have been made by me during the year and to date Customer Services have produced no satisfactory explanation for the increase; or why I received no renewal notice and was left to discover the increase from the direct debit charge to my bank account.
For those of you whose direct debit mandate was abused by sainsbbury’s increasing the fee without notice, you can go to your bank and immediately claim that back hassle free under your direct debit mandate. Under your direct debit mandate companies have to give you advance notice of any increase (and not just in their standard statement that they can increase outlined in their terms and conditions). I have had to do this MANY a time with companies abusing my bank account.
A company doing that can cause financial hardship by sending someone into overdraught/bank charges territory, through no fault of their own.
I even claimed as far back as 9 months due to the fact that I had been ill and checking every transaction on my bank account was not a priority in my life at the time.
Watch you don’t have a bounced direct debit payment with Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance – they try and take it again, which, is not really legal unless they tell you they do this beforehand. Also, my premium has doubled over 3 years – no explanation as to why. Some cover is silly – for example, cremation cover is £100 with a £75 excess.
My experience of Sainsbury’s pet insurance has been nothing other than extremely positive. I took out my first policy with them over 6 years ago when I got my my first dog and took out another policy with them a year later when we got our second dog. A few months later, our first dog was taken ill and needed an operation to shorten his soft palate. Sainsbury’s were fantastic with the claims process which really helped at this stressful time. We then had 2 or 3 other smaller claims for our two dogs, all of which were settled extremely quickly without fuss. Sadly, our first dog died in very traumatic circumstances last year and to be honest, claiming was the last thing on my mind. However, we decided to have him cremated and the vets suggested contacting our insurers, which we did. Between them, the vets and Sainsbury’s took care of everything, the £100 cover provided being more than enough and we did not have to pay any excess. We’ve now had another addition to our house and did not hesitate to take the policy out with Sainsbury’s. Yes, her cover is cheaper, but then she only a pup and our other dog is 6 years old. We’ve had no problems with renewal notices being received, premiums have steadily increased (we’re paying just over £20 p.m for the 6 year old and £13 for the youngest)but you would expect that as your pet gets older.
We took out Sainsburys insurance for both our dogs in 2006 and, within a year one of them was diagnosed as epileptic, but this was after a very expensive MRI scan, which was paid promptly and without query. Since then both policies have increased – sometimes more than we would have wanted, but we were always advised and received all the paperwork. However, now there was a pre-existing condition we were reluctant to change. Since then, the epileptic dog has been a very poorly chap and has had two operations at University Hospital – which were very expensive. Sainsbury’s have paid within 10 days of receiving these bills – no questions asked. Although the premuiums have increased as the conditions and age became facors, there is no way we could have afforded the medical bills and it is only thanks to Sainsbury’s insurance that one of our dogs is still here and enjoying a wonderful life as he recovers from a serious illness. Thanks!!!
The renewal cost for my insurance has increased from £25.00 to £40.00 pond a month, absolutely ridiculous. There should be some legal guidelines as to the increases they make. I intend to take this to trading standards and my local government
Having recently re-homed a 4yr old cat unfortunately with 2 months of insurance he had both kidney and tooth problems both now fixed and the cat is fine now but without previous history have been refused insurance. I have appealed and am awaiting reply has anyone else had this problem it does not state that rescue animals are not insurable or that there are time limits.
Very good insurance , no problems at all … except whe you come to renew.. a big hike in charge !
Just had our renewal from Sainsbury’s, after 8 years with them and making only a couple of small claims but non in the last three years, our monthly dd has gone from £37 to £61. There reasoning behind this is claims in my area have increased…If anyone could recommend an alternative I would be grateful. Until now have been happy but feel really annoyed at such a jump in price but aware my dog is 8!
I have had my pet cat insured with Sainsbury’s for the last 3 years. This month I had to put in my first claim. I received a cheque very quickly but it is £25.00 short! It says very clearly on my policy that my excess is £75.00. I have had to pay the first £100. My real anger comes from trying to sort this out today. I have phoned their claims line all day and have experienced something far more annoying than being held in a queue (though this does happen at first!) I am greeted by a person telling me that they are all very busy and cannot take my call. At first I thought it was a recorded message – until I questioned them and they answered! This happened all day – phone back after lunch, phone back at 5pm, phone back in 10 minutes!! In the time it had taken for them to answer my call – why can’t they answer my questions?? I have given up today and will try again tomorrow. I also want to ask them why my policy says I am covered for £2,500 per condition but the policy booklet says £3,000. I won’t be staying with Sainsburys next year – they have put it up every year anyway and now I have made a claim I dare say it will go up again. The ridiculous customer service is the final nail in the coffin!! I wanted to click no stars for the claims dept!
When i took out insurance on my cat last year, i opted for the 2 years (mainly for the nectar points) and option 2…just 12 months on i have received re-newal documents saying that unless otherwise told they will continue take the payments, but it is at an increased price, although all details are the same and i have never made a claim!! I have tried too call them numerous times as it is either a very bad admin error, or just a scam too get more money from unsuspecting customers. Either way i signed up for 24 months pet insurance at a set cost and there is no way i will be paying any more… very disapointed with this and when i do get through they will be getting an ear bashing from me!!! Considering the company is such a well known, large franchise you would of thought they would want too keep customer happy and avoid mistakes and increasing the cost so much!
Like many of you, I was appalled at the abuse of the direct debit system. My premiums shot up from £15.25 to £25.30 in July. When I rang to query why, I was given a stream of blurb about rising costs in my area, blah blah.. I asked why I had not been informed of the increase before payments were taken, only to be told, pretty much, that I had 14 days to cancel and that it was my fault for not doing so! Each time I insisted that I had received NO paperwork, I was confronted by the same ridiculous “well you had 14 days to cancel…” I then asked that my automatic renewal be cancelled so that I did not encounter the same situation NEXT July. Only to be told that I couldn’t. Incredulous and concerned at the increasingly sneery tone of the chap on the end of the line, I asked to speak to a senior manager. I was put on hold and the same person returned. Apparently “no-one was available”. I find this hard to believe and contradictory to their customer care policy! Eventually, after much insistence, I succeeded in getting them to cancel the automatic renewal. However, I have no confidence that that will actually happen having read far to many stories that it never does “over the phone” and so will be writing to confirm. AND contacting the bank to ensure it doesn’t happen! Now I am obliged to stick with Sainsbury’s for then next 14 days until my alternative provider’s policy kicks in (pet owners beware.. never cancel a policy until you are completely covered by the next. The small print always excludes any condition arising within 14 -sometimes 30!- days of taking out a policy).
So, in summary, given that I have been a loyal customer for some time, have NEVER made a claim and have had no change in my circumstances whatsoever… nor, incidentally, have my vet’s fees risen AT ALL (I happen to live just next door and decided to pop in to check!) would I recommend Sainsbury’s pet insurance?
Sure – if you don’t mind being trapped into auto-renewal, don’t mind them failing to inform you of price increases, don’t mind them keeping you on the phone while you listen to them rattling off every excuse under the sun not to fulfil their obligations, if you don’t mind them being rude and cheeky and ignoring your legitimate requests… go ahead.
Otherwise, steer well clear.
Zero stars from me.
Initially took out cover due to low premiums – but these have increased year on year to a huge and unaffordable £82 per month now my female Rotti is 10. I think I’ve only claimed on the insurance once in about 7 years for about £200, and this took ages to come through after they lost the claim my vet put in.
I would never take out their insurance again on this basis, as by the time I realised this was a yearly occurrence my dog was too old to get decent insurance elsewhere. This has been a completely different experience to price increases from another company – where I had a male Rotti insured without the big price increases. Whenever I’ve spoken to them about it they say its due to vet’s bills going up and said that sometimes premiums do go down! I cancelled my insurance today, and have now got the best cover I can afford elsewhere (which isn’t great – but with a good company).
Zero stars
I have had sainsburys pet insurance for the past 6 years, and to the best of my knowledge I have never claimed until, after my dog died, they payed out for vet fees, without any problems. My problem started when I tried to claim on the holiday, I very foolishly filled the claim form out wrong. The call centre staff would not listen and because a decision had been made, there was no changing this. Communication has been very poor, I only got a response after I had rang to find out what was going on. Asked for information be passed on to head. Mr Townsend, but guess that’s not going to happen. Well done sainsburys !!! (not)