Our retriever suffered a ruptured crutiate ligament in his left leg as a result of an accident running on a beach. He had done the same thing to his right leg over three years ago but wasn't insured at that time so we made no claim. He made a full recovery and we've never seen the vet since. Animal friends are refusing to pay for the left leg injury with the rationale that any 'bilateral pre-existing condition' is excluded. What rubbish. How can injuries through trauma,years apart, be classed as a bilateral pre existing condition. I've appealed against their decision but they still refuse to budge. What makes my blood boil is that their medical questions they ask prior to you taking out insurance do not cover any injuries. I phoned them to tell them about his first crutiate injury and was told they would cover him now as I had not claimed the first time, so this would be a 'new' condition should it ever happen. How wrong I was not to get it in writing! Our vet wrote on our behalf as well and said AF are well known for refusing to pay out. Moral of the story is.....stick money each month under your mattress and if you need to pay for your animals treatment it'll be there with no arguments over paying. I won't be staying with them and am spreading the word about how bad they are. Wish I'd read all these reviews before taking out the insurance. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing!!