Thursday 12 March 2009

Warning re E & L Insurance - The Animal Society Ltd

Morning all,
I just wanted to warn people who have pet insurance out with E & L.
I have had my insurance with them for over a year, think they are rubbish in general as i am still waiting to be paid out for a claim that goes back to november regarding an operation my dog had to have.
That isnt why i am writing this post.
This morning i was checking my bank account as i do most days, but for some reason i wanted to have a look at what DD's i have set up. When i went into the DD list i noticed one which i didnt recognise, one for The Animal Society Ltd. I called barclays to find out more info. They informed me that I had set up this DD 2 days ago. I informed him i hadnt i didnt have a clue who they were or why I have got a DD set up. He was adamant that i had set this up. In the end he cancelled it for me (even if i hadnt i would have done it on line) i decided to google search the company, nothing came up. I google searched again but added direct debit at the end and this is a link to what i came up with this
I did no more as to call up E & L insurance, the woman says well you should have opted out of this when you took out the policy. I explained to her i took the policy out a year ago and i did opt out of everything, this DD is new and only just been set up. Her words to me were, i know this is very immoral, and i dont agree with it!

So to anyone out there who has insurance with E & L please check your bank accounts. If they have taken any moeny call customer services and demand a refund. I was offered a refund but fortunatly for me no money had been taken.

Sorry to waffle, just want to make sure no one else gets caught out.

16 comments:

kay said...

what a pain tracey,thanks for the warning.
kayx

SusieJ said...

Can only endorse what Tracy says. We had insurance with them too but changed in Dec. after a series of confusing and unsettling letters regarding change of underwriters.
Sue xx

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me and you're right, they are rubbish. They take ages to pay out for claims and their customer service is useless!

Anonymous said...

Hi there, i just noticed a 94p direct debit taken from my bank and called my bank to report fraud. They gave me details of 'The Animal Society Ltd' and when I 'googled' them it came up with numerous complaints like your own. I have informed Money Supermarket.com to investigate E&L Insurance so hopefully should get a response. I will be calling E&L and The animal Society tomorrow to give them a piece of my mind! It's only 94p but like some other people I may not have noticed this and ended up having this money taken for a period of time. Companies should not be able to set up a direct debit without a persons signature. E&L Insurance were rubbish from the outset and that is why i cancelled with them. I'm so mad GRRRRRRR!!! Stu x

Anonymous said...

just to confirm what others are saying, e&l took several months to pay out, customer service very poor ,plus make sure you read the small print very carefully to the amount that you are covered for per claim, also we have had a dd setup in our account but thanks to this article we now know what it is for. thank you very much for posting

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the useful information on E&L. I will not renew with them. Their customer service is rubbish. They are on the take with nothing in return. I sent an email to them a week ago which remains unanswered, that speaks for itself. Also you have to call them on 0844 and run up a bill. Tney should not be allowed to trade. They should be closed down. Wake up Trading Standards.

Andy said...

Really helpful post! Have just noticed an 'Animal Society Ltd' DD come out of my account. Googled it and came across this. Thankfully I now realise exactly what it is and that I too opted out when I took out insurance with E&L. Will be on the phone to them tomorrow morning to demand the money back, fingers crossed!

Unknown said...

I've just reported them to the Revenue & Customs. Their letterhead purports them to be the Animal Society Ltd with a company number of 1759450.

1. The Animal Society Ltd is a DORMANT company.
2. 1759450 belongs to Vinewood Ltd another company that Mr Francis David Martin is a director of.

The bottom line for me is it's a FRAUD!.
I've cancelled my policy with E&L and would strongly advise others to do the same. Let's hope the Tax man takes this seriously and puts an end to this deceipt.

David Vickers said...

We've just found a similar Dd setup on our bank account for 94p, and our pet insurance is with E&L.

We cancelled the DD straight away and called our bank! None of our E&L paperwork mentions 'The Animal Society' though.

I note that both E&L Insurance and The Animal Society are of (from) Thorpe Underwood Hall.

Equine & Livestock Ins. is the insurance company, but Entertainment & Leisure Ins. are the ones who hold the money. This is owned by Brian & Elizabeth Martin (with Francis Martin as General Manager of Eq. & Live. Ins).

Equine & Live. is regulated by the FSA. Still doesn't account for the fact that a dormant company appears to be taking money! I think we'll be cancelling this policy!

dimpledorf said...

I have just checked my bank account and 94p has gone out to Animal society, hasten to add after reading this i will be cancelling both my policy's in the morning.

Peterm said...

Hi everyone, I have a policy with E&L - what a shower they are. I have noticed a DD to The Animal Society., Its only for 47p but that is not the point. They are taking money from my bank account without my permission. It's called theft. I am going to report them to the Association of British Insurers.
xena's mum

Anonymous said...

i have also just recieved a bank statement with a dd als for 47p without my permission wen i called llyods they couldnt find any information so i looked on here and found the same has happend to alot of people. this is digusting ive been with these nearly a yr guess what not any more.

Natalie said...

Yep - did the same with me too. How can this not have been sorted out yet - clearly it has been going on for over a year - presumably to all E & L customers - and no doubt most dont realise. Surely enough of us have reported them,so how can nothing have been done???!!!

Anonymous said...

Yep, they got me for the 94p and the 47p. My bank at first said that they would not go after them for such small amounts, but I reasoned with them that all these small amounts add up - and fraud is fraud no matter how small. They will now be investigating and taking action so let's hope they have the backbone to stick with this. No need to mention that I had to threaten E&L with my lawyer before they paid my claim!
Furious.

Anonymous said...

I personally knew this family well. Entertainment & leisure (e&l) get all the money and equine & livestock (e&l) ??? Take the risk etc. Frank Martin ( Francis David Martin is the adopted son of Brian & Elizabeth. I know a lot about this family and they guard their money making schemes well. The big daddy in charge (Brian) was made redundant from m&s before setting up the e&l businesses. These guys are out to impress and get prestigious awards and a title maybe......
Anyway, they have become very very wealthy over a short period from nothing. No wonder they have high Walls and security as when I knew them , they had vast underground storage rooms.
All in all, beware if you get into bed with this family- the martins, however they dress up their business or front it with a large school complex !!

Anonymous said...

Beware of this company or any other company run by Mr Martin.He has a very long record of riding roughshod over people.Don't be fooled by his apparently philanthropic leanings.