AXA paid out £700 in claims in 2010 for my 18 year old cat and a further £800 this year. Premiums were £19 per month (£234 per year). They changed admin to BDML last year and my premium went down £1 per month despite making claims.
It takes about 5-6 weeks before you receive a cheque. I found the telephone staff friendly and polite. When my pet recently passed away I asked if I still had to pay the premiums (there was 6 months left on the policy). They advised that they would not take any further premiums because they had revised their policy terms following a Watchdog programme last year. I would be happy to use AXA in the future.

5 phone calls later and instead of the 3 claims forms as promised one came in the post.My claim forms have been in since Dec 2010 and although the claim is ongoing it still takes weeks upon weeks for them to send payment.In fact my forms lay 5 weeks and when I eventually rang they said they were waiting for a clinical report and they were to call me or my vet but failed to do so.Still chasing up a small amount off money and they have had the claim form from the 11th Feb and say it is being assessed even though it's the same condition that my dog isbeing treated for since Oct 2010. At least 10 phone calls later and already a letter of complaint sent but to be perfectly honest they really don't care as long as they are still getting their monthly direct debits.Avoid.

Axa subcontract the administration of the policy to another company. Two years running they failed to send out renewal invitations, so cover lapsed. The first year, 9 months after the insurance had lapsed, they agreed to backdate the policy to provide continual vetenary cover. The second year, after again failing to send us a reminder, they wrote to cancel the policy after one month uninsured (around the time they transferred administration to a different contractor). I submitted a complaint, but they refused to backdate the cover, despite having no record of a renewal reminder being issued. I suspect the main reason was they could not be bothered to refer the case to the underwriters as they had to do the previous year. We have now tranferred all AXA underwritten policies (business, pet and car) to Direct Line.

If you want to make a claim then settle back with a good book (or a whole shelf of them) and be sure to have the telephone number of the claims line handy for frequent calls to see what's (not) happening. They claim a turn-around of 10-14 days. I'm six weeks in and still waiting on a claim.

They're very pleasant on the phone but that's where the good service stops. Everything happens in slow motion and I'm now convinced I'm being lied to when I call. Asked for another claim form to be sent by post and was assured it would be in the post that night. A week later, and I'm still waiting.

Quite simply - DON'T DO IT!

had an unexpected claim for an injury to my dog.. all dealt with easily - very helpful on the phone and the claim was settled direct to the referral place within 5 weeks . very happy and may move my other dog to them at renewal

I have 7 animals insured with Axa (they have been with them for several years). The cover is good and it's reasonably priced. When I claimed for my recently departed dog, there were some quibbles about paying out, but it was because of the way the vet had worded something in the notes. Once the vet wrote to them to say it wasn't a pre-existing condition, they paid out. I have had several other claims with them and they have always paid out promptly and the staff are always friendly and helpful.

Although I've always received reasonable premiums for the insurance on my three cats with Axa, I have just ditched all three policies thanks to their appalling customer service. First they took my monthly direct debit payments out of my account twice, and when I complained, they refunded the duplicate payments but cancelled the policies by mistake. They took a month to tell me, so my pets weren't insured for a month without my knowledge. I recently renewed the policies and was told I can no longer pay by direct debit even though I've done so for the last four years, and they required payment upfront - that was the final straw and I've now switched.