Puffin Group UK Ltd · DRN-5855824

The complaint Miss E complains about the service she has received from Puffin Group UK Ltd trading as puffininsurance.com (Puffin) when it renewed her pet policy. Miss E is represented by her partner, and I appreciate they have both been affected by the loss of their pet. But as Miss E is the policyholder I will be referring to Miss E throughout the decision this includes comments made by her representative. What happened The detailed background to this complaint is well known to both parties, so I’ll only summarise the key events here. • Miss E is unhappy because Puffin have requested payment for the full premium following a claim and the cancellation of her policy due to her dog passing away just four days after the policy renewed. • Miss E complains about the lack of information provided to her at policy renewal regarding the cancellation clause and the obligation by her to pay the premiums in full if a claim is made. • Miss E also complains that there were administration errors made by Puffin when it had failed to change her address on its system, as well as a breach of Consumer duty and treating customer fairly when it failed to support her at a personally difficult time. • Puffin says the policy was renewed online, and Miss E was sent confirmation that the underwriter had changed on her policy. It also didn’t think it breached Consumer duty so offered no compensation following its review of the complaint. • Our Investigator looked into the complaint but didn’t uphold it. Miss E has disagreed with the Investigator’s findings, so the complaint has been passed to me, an Ombudsman, to make a decision. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. Within this decision I may not respond to every point Miss E has made this is not intended as a discourtesy, but a reflection of the informal nature of our Service. My role is to focus on what I consider the crux of the complaint to be which means I will only comment on those things I consider relevant to the decision I need to make. That may also mean I don’t comment on everything Miss E has said but I can confirm I have read and considered everything said by all parties.

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I’ve considered the relevant rules and guidance, these require businesses to handle claims promptly and fairly, provide information on the claim’s progress, and to not unreasonably reject a claim. • I think it’s more likely than not, based on everything I’ve seen, that Puffin did send Miss E policy renewal information for the year 2025-2026. I’ve seen the renewal email, which was sent to the same email address as other correspondence provided to me as part of this complaint. But even if Miss E didn’t receive this email, I’m satisfied the renewal invitation wasn’t the only opportunity she had to review the terms and conditions of the policy before going ahead. • I understand Miss E might not have expected the policy terms and conditions to change but the onus was on her to check the policy terms were still suitable for her needs. At the point the 2025-2026 policy became active, Miss E still had 14 days to decide not to go ahead if the terms weren’t suitable for her needs. • The policy information clearly sets out the need to pay the full year’s premiums in the event of a claim. In the section headed ‘How do I cancel the contract?’ it states, “If you cancel within 14 days from the policy start date, PuffinInsurance.com will refund any premiums paid, and cancel your policy back to the start date and you will not be able to submit a claim. If you cancel after 14 days and a claim has been paid during the policy term the full annual premium is still payable”. I understand Miss E is unhappy about having to pay a full year’s premium now that she no longer requires cover – I’m sure she didn’t expect her beloved dog to sadly pass away within a few days of the new policy year starting – but that doesn’t mean the policy terms no longer apply. The policy Miss E held was an annual policy with an annual premium; the policy allowed her to pay her annual premium in instalments. That means, regardless of when a claim is paid during the policy year, the full annual premium is still due. In my experience, this term is common in insurance policies that offer payment on an instalment basis. • I appreciate Miss E believes the policy hadn’t previously included the same need to pay the entire year’s premium in the event of a claim but even if that were the case, the policy she held when her dog sadly passed away, did. And ultimately that’s the contract Miss E entered into with Puffin at the time, and prior to submitting her claim. Puffin are entitled to change the underwriter of the policy, and that sometimes leads to a change in policy terms, but that’s a commercial decision for them to make. • Miss E confirms she was given the choice of cancelling the policy, without making a claim, or submitting a claim and covering the full annual premium. She chose the latter meaning the full policy premium became due. I understand for Miss E, the ideal solution would be to have the claim covered and not have to continue with the remaining payments but that’s not how the insurance policy she held works. • With regards to the error in not changing the postal address. I appreciate this would’ve been frustrating, but I’ve not seen that this caused any detriment to the policy renewal as all documents were sent by email, any failure by Puffin to update this did not affect the renewal of the policy. I understand losing a much-loved pet is an incredibly upsetting time and not something Miss E expected to happen when it did. I also understand she was caring for a terminally ill family member at this time. But based on everything I’ve seen, I’m satisfied Puffin has acted in line with the terms and conditions of the policy and I’ve not seen evidence it treated Miss E unfairly or breached the consumer duty. As such, it follows that I don’t uphold this complaint and won’t be asking Puffin to do anymore.

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My final decision For the reasons set out above, I don’t uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss E to accept or reject my decision before 14 April 2026. Angela Casey Ombudsman

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