I can't thank Petplan enough . My 5 year old cat was diagnosed with cancer and without Petplan I don't know what we would have done. They paid for investigations and chemo and made a direct payment to... See more
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Established over 40 years ago, Petplan is the UK's No.1 pet insurance provider, offering comprehensive pet insurance, including Covered For Life® policies for dogs, cats and rabbits. Discover more on our website petplan.co.uk.
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Dont be fooled by all their ads on TV. We started out with £30 approx per month when our retriever was a puppy. Within a few years it was £90+ Now shes 11.5 its £210pcm. However the amount shes insured to has not increased from £4k. So despite their assertions that vet costs have increased hence the premiums they dont crease the amount your covered! Funny that!
So basically you can be covered up to £4k but you are paying £2300pa in premiums, £135 per condition excess and 20% of any claim which means out of £4000 they will only have to pay approx £3500. Thats not insurance its a scam. Beware.
Oh and I have just had to chase a bill sent to them over 2 weeks ago which they paid less than 35% because our dog is now up to her £4k limit due to cancer treatment.
Dont both with the patronising disingenuous responses from Petplan either treating customers like they are idiots. Go to the Ombudsman.
Finally dont believe all the positive reviews on here. I already reported some to Trustpilot who found some fake ones. These people are charlatans. The CEO should be ashamed
Reply from Petplan
Iv never felt so let down by an insurance company.My beloved dog blue passed away last week he was 12 .We have paid Petplan full premiums all of his life the last four years a massive amount we worked it out to over 7000 pounds.They refused payment for blues palliative treatment to give him a day we could enjoy together.Refused his cremation,and had the cheek to say we will as a good will gesture pay for his ethunisa..We were absolutely disgusted and Iv now cancelled my other dogs policy and have put them with another top provider.My advice when you lovely pets get to 8 fully check what you are paying for put the money in the bank instead.
Reply from Petplan
Absolutely outrageous they have put my dog insurance up to £67 per month ive never made a claim this company are ripping people off big time
Reply from Petplan
*WOULDN'T RECOMMEND* Received our insurance renewal today and its increased by 33%. The price was already the most expensive. When I asked for justification of the excessive increase, they said it was because we had moved house and the vets prices were more expensive in this area. That statement is completely false. I offered to obtain the price lists from 3 local vets in both areas to prove that this isn't the case. I was then met with waffle/excuses and references to inflatation (which is currently around 3% and not 33% !). We wont be renewing. We've never claimed and been loyal customers. We'll be taking our business elsewhere.
Reply from Petplan
Just received my first renewal. Has increased by just over £110. The "excuse" for such a big increase is down to the discount received when taking out the policy. This is a con and very misleading, as any money saved on the discount is totally lost in the increase the following year, making the discount utterly pointless.
This is not acceptable. Considering how snide car insurance companies are, even they don't increase renewals by that amount! Plus, their premiums are no where near as high as Petplan's, but would pay much higher values in a claim.
Also, there is no 'no claims bonus', so the premium will just increase every year. It's throwing money away.
Reply from Petplan
We have been Petplan customers for a long time. Usually they settle claims promptly but our last experience was poor. Starting with the telephone advisors who speak English but you can’t understand a word they’re saying and rely on guesswork; false promises about payments which never materialised; emails that are not answered; fighting to insist on payment that you have paid upfront; successfully achieving the promise of payment and seeing that online your claim is closed but you still have to wait another week; an unnecessarily long wait to be paid with no apologies whatsoever; a great deal of wasted time telephoning and being put on hold. Finally the penalty for owning a 10 year plus old cat is hugely unfair = £105 excess plus 20% when you have been a loyal customer.
If I could change providers I would.
Reply from Petplan
Absolute disgrace.
First year insurance was approx £250.
Four years later with absolutely no claims whatsoever I have just had £899 taken out of my account. Luckily I was in time to cancel and get a full refund. Explanation was rate was calculated by my post code and age of my dog and increase in vets fees. Complete rip off and should be reported to ombudsman for inflating insurance costs and promoting a cartel of veterinarian practices over charging for absolutely everything.
Reply from Petplan
Do not be fooled by Petplan’s glossy marketing or the celebratory banners on their emails. I have been a loyal customer for 9 years, paying roughly £54 a month in good faith. Over Sayana’s lifetime, I have handed this company £5,832 in premiums. Their lifetime payouts to me across nearly a decade sit at just £3,800. They have walked away with over two thousand pounds of my hard-earned money in pure profit.
Yet, the moment she faced a truly major medical crisis—a cruciate ligament tear requiring TPLO surgery costing £4,013.01—they weaponised their policy wording to abandon us mid-treatment.
I received an email with a picture of a happy puppy and a headline proudly declaring, "We've approved your claim." The reality? They shortchanged me by £1,653.89. Because I have an "Essential" plan, they enforced a strict, permanent lifetime cap of £3,000 for this condition. On top of that, they slapped on a compulsory 20% co-payment simply because my dog had the audacity to turn 9 years old.
To add insult to injury, their breakdown table doesn't even explicitly show the £3,000 cap calculation; they misleadingly lump the massive deficit under the word "Excess" to obscure the fact that their policy limits are completely inadequate for real-world veterinary costs. Their small print notes casually inform me that they will never pay a single penny for this injury again.
If I had simply avoided Petplan entirely and tucked my monthly premiums into a personal savings account, I would have been able to pay the vet in full, out of pocket, with zero debt, while still having thousands left over for her food and a luxury kennel. Instead, I trusted a corporation that took my money for a decade and gave us a doorslam when we needed them most.
A profound breach of trust. Absolute corporate gaslighting. Avoid.
Reply from Petplan
If any company deserved 6 stars it would Petplan in my opinion. I have insured my beloved labrador with them since she joined me as a puppy. Over the years she has needed veterinary treatment regularly - from small complaints to successfully treated cancer. Not once have Petplan queried a bill. They have always liased directly with the relevant veterinary business taking all of the paperwork hassle away from me.
Thank you Petplan - I am glad I have you in my corner.
Reply from Petplan
We've been PetPlan customers for over ten years. In that time we've made exactly one small claim, back in 2020. Nothing since. We paid every month, without fail, and never gave them a moment's trouble.
Then our dog needed treatment for a tooth and suddenly PetPlan had a reason to say no. The refusal? He hadn't had a dental exam in the previous 12 months.
They state they cover 98% of all claims, yet everything they did with this smelt like a company that does everything it can not to help.
Think about what that actually means. They sell you a policy with an annual requirement buried in it, take your money every single month for a decade, and never once send a reminder, a prompt, or so much as a note asking whether your pet still meets the criteria for the cover you're paying for. They are perfectly happy to collect the premium without checking. It's only when you finally need them that the small print comes out.
That isn't an oversight. A company that can email you about renewals and price increases is entirely capable of telling you your dog is due a dental check. They just have no incentive to.
Here's the maths. Across the years we've paid PetPlan over £9,000. We've had £378 back, and that was before 2020. That isn't insurance, and it certainly isn't good business, it's taking money from people who love their animals and then hiding behind a clause when those animals need help.
Safe to say won't be using PetPlan again. We'll take the risk, put the money aside ourselves, and fund our dog's care directly. At least then it'll actually be there when he needs it.
Deeply disappointing behaviour towards long-standing, loyal customers.
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UPDATE 20-07-2026
Following my review, Petplan's social team got in touch publicly offering to look into this and "support" us. I appreciated the gesture at the time, but expected exactly what we got back from them. Once we gave them the details - the default response returned… exactly same as they told us on the phone. Seemingly to ignore what the crux of the point was, that they are happy to auto-renew your policy without checking on the dogs welfare, or whether you meet the requirements, rather than wait when you actually need it to then tell you it’s worthless because you missed x,y, or z.
So to be clear for anyone reading the reply you may see below is not a resolution. It's a public show of concern that, in our experience, makes them look or feel better, but its an empty statement.
Still deeply disappointed, now more so, having been offered help that never materialised.
Reply from Petplan
I can't thank Petplan enough . My 5 year old cat was diagnosed with cancer and without Petplan I don't know what we would have done. They paid for investigations and chemo and made a direct payment to the various vets involved. They kept me informed, answered my questions and were sympathetic when my beautiful cat sadly had to be put to sleep. Petplan is peace of mind and provide an amazing service.,
Reply from Petplan
Customer service & sensitivity leaves a lot to be desired!!! Our dog had severe stomach problems & needed an operation to try to get her better. However petplan would not cover the cost as she had had a previous stomach issue in 2021!!! As the cost for the treatment would have been at least £2.5k we could not afford this & had to make a decision to have her put to sleep - which again petplan would not cover!! When I rang to cancel the policy they were not interested did not send a confirmation but locked me out of the system immediately- so much for the bereavement counselling they say they offer- would not recommend them.
Reply from Petplan
Be careful when insuring an older rescue pet and then trying to make a claim. Despite the fact the rescue charity had provided 4 weeks free insurance through Petplan and we then continued with this insurance they have stated that the yeast problem with the ear a year later, is historical and should have been declared therefore they will not be paying the claim and will be changing the policy.
Reply from Petplan
13 years with pet plan accepting yearly premium increases without questioning however £78 per month for a cat with no previous claims is ridiculous especially given I would also have an excess and have to pay 20% of the claims too. There is reward for loyal customers and even customer service don't try to keep you.
It's a shame pet plan that you dont look after loyal customers
Reply from Petplan
My Ragdoll cat was diagnosed with Urinary Tract disease when he was rushed into emergency this was for the third time he had to be hospitalised and was in there for almost a week Petplan where amazing sending us a lovely email saying they where sorry to hear Chance was so poorly. The claim for his treatment was expensive but within days petplan settled the bill. This certainly took stress out of the situation and we can't thank them enough you are amazing. I'm pleased to say Chance is doing well and hopefully carries on recovering
Reply from Petplan
Where to start? It’s impossible to get anyone on the phone, I’ve tried calling the person dealing with my pets case repeatedly and am always fobbed off with “they’ll call you back”. The email exchanges take days to be replied to and the payment for my pets treatment (which was an emergency) has been reduced for the fact it was an emergency and has STILL not been paid well over a month after supplying all the relevant paperwork because apparently the payment details are all sent out of the country. I have cancelled the insurance payments and found a much cheaper supplier with a much higher level of coverage and no ridiculous deductions for emergency care. I will also be changing vets as a result of this so please vets take notice of what insurance you are pushing because you will lose long standing customers as a result (with the same vet for different animals for almost 20 years).
Reply from Petplan
I am extremely disappointed with Petplan. After taking out a policy for my dog, I discovered they had applied an enormous list of exclusions covering almost every major body system, including the heart, liver, ears, urinary system, digestive system, endocrine system, legs, hips, shoulders, spine, respiratory system, skin and even tumours and cysts.
The most frustrating part is that several of these exclusions relate to conditions my dog has never had. It feels unreasonable to exclude entire body systems without clear justification, leaving me questioning what the policy actually covers.
As a pet owner, you pay insurance for peace of mind, not to find out that the majority of potential claims have already been ruled out. I expected a fair assessment based on my dog’s actual medical history, not blanket exclusions that significantly reduce the value of the policy.
I have contacted Petplan requesting a full explanation and a review of these exclusions. Until then, I would urge anyone considering this insurer to carefully read every exclusion before assuming they have comprehensive cover.
Reply from Petplan
We have been with Petplan for over 7 years. We took out a lifetime policy, and by this year the annual premium was £4,000, with payments of around £180 a month for our 11-year-old mixed-breed dog.
We had never made a single claim until recently, when my girl needed emergency surgery. The surgery took place weeks ago, and to this day, they still haven't made a decision or reimbursed the vet clinic.
Furthermore, our second claim for a holiday cancellation, which we had to cancel after receiving the devastating diagnosis that our girl only had a month to live, was completely rejected. This was despite providing all the necessary documentation for a claim of just £266.
To make matters worse, my sweet girl has since passed away, and of course, they provide absolutely no help with cremation or euthanasia costs.
A company that ignores you and makes your life harder during a time of grief definitely doesn't deserve anyone’s money. You are much better off putting that money into a savings account over the years than relying on their services.
Please avoid them at all costs!!!
Reply from Petplan
If I could give zero i would. My cat had been left suffering due to a loop hole that typical insurance companies find not to pay. Im now having to consider putting him to sleep as I can't afford the cost. Im heartbroken and disgusted. My advice is to look for a better company. They charge a fortune for nothing 😒!!! Never have we felt so let down. My advice is to go somewhere else.
Reply from Petplan
I can’t thank Petplan enough for covering our British shorthairs surgery. We are so grateful as would have never been about to afford it and it’s very reassuring knowing that we can offer the best treatments and life for our cat knowing that Petplan are there to support us. Thank you so much.
Reply from Petplan
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