Our Complaints Procedure

At Animal Friends we believe that is imperative to our business that we maintain a superior level of customer service and quality products. We are always striving to ensure that we are transparent with all our customers and we have a duty for attention to detail.

Our primary goal is to create value for our customers, ensuring that wherever possible we are delivering exceptional customer service online and offline.

Animal Friends recognises however that we may get it wrong from time to time. We endeavour to recognise our mistakes and to ensure that they are not repeated in the future which ultimately means we can refine our service and deliver beyond our customer expectations.

If you have a query about the service you have received from Animal Friends or indeed have a complaint; please follow the below complaints procedure to ensure that your query is dealt with as efficiently as possible.

Our Complaint Handling Process

When a complaint is received from you in relation to the insurance product you have taken out, Animal Friends will promptly provide you with a written acknowledgement when we receive the complaint. The acknowledgement will contain details of the person handling the complaint.

Your complaint will be handled by a dedicated complaints investigator and they will not have been directly involved in the matter which is the subject of the complaint.

Please use the following address:

Complaints Liaison Officer
Animal Friends Insurance
Animal Friends House
No.1 The Crescent
Sun Rise Way
Solstice Park
Amesbury
Wiltshire
SP4 7QA

Animal Friends will endeavour to resolve any regulated complaint as soon as possible.
Whilst Animal Friends will always look to resolve your complaint in the quickest time possible, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Financial Services Authority, we must respond to you within four weeks of receiving your complaint, providing either a final response or a holding response which explains why the company is not yet in a position to resolve the complaint and indicating when Animal Friends will make further contact.
Upon receipt of Animal Friends response to your complaint, should you remain unhappy, you will then have the right to refer the complaint to our second stage complaint process.

Our underwriters, Red Sands Insurance, will look into your complaint and review all correspondence connected with your complaint and they will issue you with a final response.

Their contact details are as follows:

Complaints Department
Red Sands Insurance Company (Europe) Limited
Level 3,
Ocean Village
Business Centre,
23 Ocean Village Promenade,
Gibraltar

Animal Friends will also, where appropriate, provide you with details of the Financial Ombudsman Service, along with a copy of their Leaflet 'Your Complaint and the Ombudsman' and a statement confirming that an approach can be made to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

This option is available if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of both Animal Friends internal complaint response and Red Sands final complaint response.

The Financial Ombudsman Service details:

Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh
Wall
London E14 9SR
Telephone 0800 0 234 567

In deciding whether or not to uphold a complaint, Animal Friends may consider any relevant guidance published by the Financial Services Authority, the Financial Ombudsman Service and any other relevant regulatory guidance previously published.

Complaint Procedure

Using your own Solicitor or other third party complaint-handling firm does not affect how we review your complaint.

However, please be aware that:

Animal Friends will not charge you to investigate your complaint.
Animal Friends will not be liable for any costs incurred if you decide to employ a third party to handle your complaint during this review.
Where your complaint is upheld and redress is due, compensation will, in general, be paid to the complainant direct or to a recognised veterinary provider who has already paid for any costs on your behalf.