British Friendly Society Avis 318

Not a Halloween horror story. A real horror story. Highlighting unconscious bias towards women's issues.

I’ve been insured with British Friendly for several years and expected to receive fair support when I needed to claim. Unfortunately, my experience has been extremely drawn out and confusing.

Despite providing full medical evidence and GP confirmation to support my claim, I have still not received any income to date. The company continues to dispute the reason for my absence, despite my GP records clearly confirming that it relates to perimenopause and ADHD-related complications.

Although British Friendly previously confirmed that mental-health conditions are excluded from my policy, they keep interpreting my medical evidence through that lens instead of recognising the neurodiverse and hormonal causes I’ve explained. They keep trying to say "it's mental health, which we can't cover you for" when it is clearly hormonal and neurodiverse circumstances. Unconscious Biases based in sexism. The woman claims manager understood, the male reviewer can't see past "hormones can't do this, she must be mentally ill". Another incident where a woman is called "mentally ill" because her disabled body is getting older and no one can believe perimenopause can affect a person that way...now add late diagnosed ASD/Autism to the mix. Only late diagnosed because I'm a female, and studies for women in medical settings only began in 1996..

The case has now been escalated to their Chief Medical Officer, and my GP has stated he will not provide any further correspondence because of the repeated and unnecessary enquiries.

While some individual staff have been courteous, the process as a whole has been inconsistent, exhausting, and lacking understanding of complex medical situations.

The complaint process has been started, however it is not helping my current situation where I have no income despite unnecessary delays.

Do not use if you can. Go somewhere else.

Nie polecam nikomu,źle zostałem poinformowany i gdy chciałem skorzystać z opcji income protection to już zaczęły się problemy i oczywiście nic nie dostałem.Lepiej te pieniądze wkładać do skarpetki bo wtedy wiem że będę mógł z nich skorzystać

I am a customer for nearly 5 years and never ever claimed! One day felt back pain because I am a Dryliner but I didn’t take it seriously because I thought I am overloaded. Then took a break a went back to Bulgaria. During the flight became terrible pain and immediately went to doctor. Explain the pain and they send me to lower back scan. Diagnosed me with Sciatica ( herniated disc)and send me for bed rest with injections (Diprophos) and a lot of pills. More than month still on pain then second doctor- again injections and pills and bed rest. Then friend of mine reminded me you have income protection with British Friendly. I said ok gonna call them. With first advisor smooth nice conversation, but with claims manager- disaster!!! She been very rude, she told me I can’t speak and understood English- real reason - bad connection and my phone been corrupted ( to old) I told her can you send email with all information You need? Anyway- she asked too many questions with no sense and I have to prove that how with herniated disc I’m not able to work!!! Ridiculous!!! Before that I sent them both doctors conclusions ( translated)self assessment and bank statements for recent year! Still not enough. Only person who been suffering from herniated disc know about the feeling! You are useless, you can’t do nothing even drink less water because of toilet. Pain is terrible. And still with both doctors conclusions I have to prove that I am not able to work. Shame! They make me feel like a scammer or beggar for mercy. 5 years wasted money!!! Keep away from them! Maybe they have to change name to British Unfriendly! You think You are insured and when you got a case you have to provide evidence which you are not able to , nobody keeping records hourly! I’m gonna trow them in the cut and hopefully nobody in the future feels humiliated like me!

I joined in the 80's as some protection of wage if sick I only bought as many units as I could comfortably afford. When sick every little helped and now retired I find their service very good and clear as at my age Chalk & Slate would be preferred.
Excellent company.

I feel compelled to warn others about my devastating experience with British Friendly Insurance.

I paid premiums for over 6 years, believing I’d have support if I ever needed to claim. Unfortunately, when I filed a claim in April, I discovered otherwise.
• The initial call with a representative (Charlie) gave me little confidence, he sounded unsure and unsteady (later discovered why, he probably knew all along what their plan was)
• Over the following weeks, I provided every single piece of documentation requested. Each time I complied, they asked for something new.
• Many follow-up emails went unanswered for weeks.
• Now, 17 weeks later (yes, over 4 months), despite meeting all requirements, I hav e not received a single payment. Instead, they have suggested physiotherapy, which is neither relevant nor appropriate to what I had issues with. No income protection provided at all!

The result is that I’ve been left without income and in an extremely vulnerable position, despite years of loyalty and timely payments.
People should stay away from companies like this, they aren’t doing what you need them for.

Highly recommended. I was struck down with long term health issues and the claim process was very easy. Everyone I dealt with at British Friendly was excellent.
They are compassionate, sensitive and caring throughout so I could concentrate on my recovery without worrying about income.

Ive been with them over 3 years and they must have had nearly £4-5k

I put a claim as my wife had full hysterectomy and needed over 6 weeks full bed rest. British Friendly didnt want to pay out, arguing there is no proof she needs 35 hours of care a week!

If they paid the 6 weeksx£125 without quibble, they would have a customer for life.

Total rip off and avoid. There will be better companies out there. This company are just finding loopholes not to honour payments.

Wykupiłam polisę od złaman i utraty dochodów,, niestety zdarzyło się i złamałam nadgarstek. przedstawiciele pomogli ,sympatyczni życzliwi i wyrozumiali,, pieniądze szybko wpłynęły na moje konto po przesłaniu wszystkich dokumentów,, warto się ubezpieczyć gdyż nie wiadomo co nas czeka więc szczerze polecam firmę British friendly,,Dziękuję Panu Bartkowi szczególnie gdy musiał mi cierpliwie tłumaczyć krok po kroku co mam robić by złożyć ten wniosek,, Kup polisę a będziesz miał spokój ducha i komfort że w razie nieszczęścia nie zostaniesz bez pieniedzy

The process was really simple and straight forward handling my claim when I had my injury. Being self employed, having this safety net was such a relief and have highly recommend this company to friends and family.

Don't waste your money with these scammers.
Ive been with them 5 years, the 1 time I needed to put a claim in for being off work, I got denied.

Again find a insurance that will help you when you need it and not just take your money. FUMING.

Everyone I have spoke to have been very kind and helpful with what I’ve needed. It is definitely worthwhile using British friendly they are amazing.

I'm surprised with negative feedbacks here really. My claim took a while to proceed, it was made in November 2024 but once I gave them all paperwork the payment was made in 2 days. I'm very grateful for your support, thank you British Friendly! Sharon was absolutely amazing with calls&emails information about progress, thank you Sharon! The date of my experience is date when it happened and BF supported me till March 2025. Thank you! I will definitely recommend your company to my friends. With kind regards - Marcela B.

My claim took a while to sort out ,not helped by the GP taking a long time to complete my report.
Debbie was very good and I was awarded my claim.
Once the decision was made the payment was processed and received within 2 days

I'm so grateful for all the support I've had through my claim and I have only to praise you all for the commitment you have for your clients.

Excellent service from everybody concerned .

The claim process was easy and efficient. From being sent the claim form, to receiving confirmation of claim being accepted and first payment received was 2 weeks. Charlie was extremely helpful in keeping us informed of other potential benefits available and the process was stress free. Having previously read some negative reviews, we were concerned it would be a long, drawn out process and a negative outcome. Turned out to be the complete opposite. Would continue to recommend British Friendly.

One of the most disingenuous, dishonest companies I have ever dealt with. They sell "peace of mind" which is cruel considering the way they treat you in a pseudo-medical way if you try and claim. If you havnt sent them your medical history BEFORE they insure you: don't bother, because they will literally pour over it for anything they can use to suggest you were dishonest, or an underwriter (not a medical professional) decides could be related to your symptoms. Definitely go direct and never use a broker. Avoid.

Felt really supported by the company, happy I had this support in place for the 6 years i've been insured until I actually needed to make a very valid and sensitive claim. It has been 3 months and the back and forth is stressful. It feels like whackamole. No matter what evidence I provide they suddenly have a new reason why my claim has an issue. The most recent reason is that my payslips don't appear to have shown a loss. They do show over £1000 loss per month so to me, that is a huge loss. I handed my payslips to them 2 months ago so why is that issue only being raised now as an excuse. Why not tell me that ages ago? Nonsense

The claim proses was made very ease and striate forward. I have no complaints. well done.

I’ve been insured through British friendly for many years , sadly I’ve had to claim due to 2 serious leg injuries at different times , they have always supported me in those tough times , I’m in the middle of a claim at the moment and once again , they have been great support to me , especially Mike Lister , he has been so helpful and very supportive and compassionate on every call we’ve had .