Helpucover Reviews 76

After taking out rabbit insurance with Helpucover, I have been waiting since 25/04/21 to see if they were going to put any exemptions on my insurance. After phoning them up once again after having waited so long I have found out that they have put an exemption on my policy of blocked tear ducts. My rabbit is a rescue rabbit and when I got her she had a blocked tear duct which has now been flushed and is all clear. This was a completely tempory thing and not an illness and yet they have put an exemption on my policy that any tear duct problem, whatever the cause will not be cured. This is totally unfair so I have cancelled my policy and have gone to a company that hasn't put any unfair exemptions on. I urge anyone reading this to think twice before taking out insurance with this company as they are just trying to avoid paying out on anything they can avoid.

We got a rescue bunny on the 25 April 2021 and the animal rescue centre vet estimated her age at 4. We looked around for insurance and found Helpucover where the cheapest quote. I am beginning to see why. Because the original owner was an old lady, she had died and there was no medical history for the bunny. I wanted to be totally honest and declared medical history of a blocked tear duct, which was a very temporary issue, and that she had been spade. There were no inherent issues so in hind site I shouldn't gave declared any of this. They wrote by e-mail asking for vet details which I gave to them by return. I didn't hear from them for a long time afterwards so I rang them up and they told me that they had written a letter asking for the adoption papers. I had received no letter. That same day I sent the adoption papers by e-mail. I then I received the letter asking for the adoption papers a few days later. Why did they start off writing by e-mail and then swapped to snail mail? After not hearing from them for a long while I rang them up again to see what was happening. They said they had received the adoption papers and the underwriters were working on it. A few days later I got a letter dated the 28th April saying they had not heard from me and that I needed to send them the adoption papers. In desperation I phoned them today asking them what was going on. They said that the underwriters were working on it and it would take a few more days. Because of this I cancelled another bunnies insurance that I had just taken out with them because it was cheaper than the Pet Plan insurance I currently had but because of this experience, I have decided to stay with the more expensive Pet Plan policy. They are a lot more expensive than Helpucover but the service is so much better. If this is the standard of service that Helpucover has to offer I would urge anyone reading this to pay a bit extra and get a much better level of service with someone else.

I am not normally one to leave reviews but in this case it warranted one, albeit poor. We have paid Helpucover religiously for eons but when we have had to claim the phones just constantly ring and ring and ring. 3x periods of over an hour of no answers is a disgrace. Don't blame Covid either because looking at the reviews below this has been going on forever. A call to the FCA may be in order to ask why they continue to offer a company like this to operate for so long. I bet they answer the phone.

Absolutely rubbish. By the time they answer the phone my pet will be dead by then!! Called 4 times and all 4 times no one answered the phone! I stayed on the phone for 40 mins each call and no one would pick up! Please do your research before buying, I wish I did rather just going for the cheapest one I found.. this company is absolutely joke.

I have held gadget insurance with Helpucover for many years and have always been very pleased with the friendly service when adding or removing items.

Terrible company. Avoid. Terrible customer service and trying to get money (that they owe you) from them is very stressful. They are trying to make excuses not to pay in an already stressful time 😡

What an absolutely awful company to deal with. My dog became unwell in august. I have been with this company for years. Paid the vet his bill of £358 and had just over £80 paid back to me. I have since needed 2 further visits ( 1 for euthanasia of my beloved dog) and still they are questioning the amount paid. The total lack of sympathy and communication as to how claims are being move forward is zero.

Gadget insurance - I just lodged a claim for the first time, everyone I spoke to was extremely helpful and had no issues. I was nervous because I had read a few things on here about bad experiences but mine was very positive. No waiting on the phone to speak to anyone either!

Very disappointed. Price increase every year (33% at first, now 50%) and no price match. They talk about condition my vet could have sent like they know everything... They may wish to be Big Brother, but 1st, thevet only perfomed vaccine, never suggested anything and I do not even recall we did tell them the name of our Vet anyway !

So... go and compare the market, there are plenty of other insurance. I gave them a chance to price match, they told me how lucky I should feel to still be with them ;-) I guess this isgood bye then :-)

Breedist insurance company, apparently my dogs breed is dangerous

Make sure you read what you are getting. We’ve paid thousands over the years, however now we need them we only get £500 towards the vet bill so now have to find £2500. There is no point in having the insurance.

Have had policies with them for the years and never claimed a penny, recently after walking our dogs we noticed one of our dogs had accidentally cut himself above his eye, as it was deepish we took him to the vets and as it was costing us £300 + we submitted a claim. Some weeks later Imagine our surprise when we received a letter back from Helpucover stating that they were not paying the claim as the cut was caused by our 2 dogs fighting, (which was not covered under the outlined terms and conditions). We rang them straight away and asked how they had come to that conclusion, the cut eye was not due to fighting it was accidental and caused by something on the walk, a branch, bush etc we reiterated that the cut was not due to fighting as our dogs have never faught, they said they would contact our vet for more details , and as we were not satisfied with the original decision would submit a complaint. We spoke to our vet who said they had not stated the cut was caused by fighting, they said that they had been contacted by the insurance company about the breeds of our dogs and they needed proof, which we provided by DNA records and nothing else. Today some weeks later we received another letter from this joke of an insurance company saying they had reviewed the complaint and as the claim record stated the dogs were fighting could not uphold our complaint.......What part of not fighting does this company not understand, they offer no proof of why they assume our dogs were fighting, it smacks of any excuse not to pay the claim. Well if you are reading this Helpucover, can I just state you have picked on the wrong people, we do not like our integrity and honesty questioned, if the cut was caused by a fight we would not have claimed, therefore we will be going through the ombudsman and also seeking financial compensation for the stress and time incurred trying to process our valid claim. I urge anyone thinking of taking insurance out with this company, think again, had we seen the other reviews on here we would have not.

Do not order Vital Lifetime policy under any circumstances!!
Premiums of £24.50 per month + £80 excess = £374 per year to pay, maximum claim per condition is £500!! So they will pay you £126!!
Our own fault for not reading the wording you might say, but why offer a policy that offers no return!?

My elderly parents Dalmation needed some tests for a kidney stones, thinking they'd be covered the agreed with the vet, bill came in around £1000. Woried sick now where the money will come from!

Absolute rip off, been with them for 7 years with no claim. Submitted a claim for my now 12 year old cat. Changed address, new terms show excess increased from £60 to 25% of the vet bill then they find reasons not to pay parts of the bill. Dont bother if your pet is older than 10 as you will end up paying a monthly premium to them and then footing most of the bill yourself.

Got our puppy at 8 weeks old and insured him on a lifetime policy. At 8months old he started having seizures and after several tests was diagnosed with epilepsy. He had quite a severe case and we had to claim several times a year. Every time the claims were settled quickly and in full. Understandable the premiums did rise each year but we used a large chunk of our allowance each year so the increases were reasonable. The call centre staff are kind and helpful and the advise line was also very handy. Sadly lost our boy at 4 years old. Would use them again if I ever bring myself to get another one

The communication from this company is terrible, they are one of the only providers that do no contact you via email in regards to price increases, when I contacted them to ask in regards to this they said "we did send you a letter" - I appreciate this is a form of contact but in 2020 when every other provider sends you both physical and electronic versions why don't they?

Their customer service is also terrible, after being transferred to a premiums advisor I was informed that they couldn't price match nor decrease my premium due to the renewal date being past and then proceeded to read a script about the benefits of staying.

Personally I never had any issues with this company until this year and it basically felt like the first time I had a complaint they treated me like I was a fool who had no idea what he was on about and when I told them of the far better competitive prices out there for the same level of cover, I was asked "do you wish to cancel".

Had a renewal price after being with them a year for my rabbit who had only turned 1 and never claimed. Went up by 33% so god knows how much it would of gone up by if I had claimed or been with them longer and then made a claim. So I cancelled and went with someone else

I would have given No stars whatsoever! All the insurance companies are only after our money , nothing else. This one in particular, increased the price ridiculously by nearly 5 pounds a month, I bought a different one , cheaper, for my beloved dog and called them and cancelled theirs. Today I realised that i have been charged for the last 3 month and they didn’t cancel it....😡😡 . My advice, record you call, ask the name of the person you are speaking with , have all the details otherwise they will say you didn’t cancel. Disgusting way of ripping of !

Absolutely disgusted that the premium has increased by 25% for a 9yr old cocker with a full NO CLAIMS HISTORY, when the market place is not increasing at that rate. Not even interested in offering a cheaper policy as they do not take on dogs over 8 years on new policies. Very feeble and weak arguments from operator.

£80 increase really! unjustified and pathetic attempt by an unconvincing call operator why it is going to cost an extra £80, when I can buy a premier lifetime cover for £95.