ProtectaPet - www.protectapet.com

I am extremely disappointed with the service I received from Protect-a-Pet, particularly regarding the installation of fencing at my property and their handling of my subsequent concerns.

Firstly, the total cost for this project was £5,371, which included materials that were meant to be reused from my old property. However, none of these materials were reused. Instead, all new parts were installed, with the cost of these new materials totaling just under £2,000. This means I was charged over £3,000 for fitting a relatively simple system, which seems incredibly excessive.

When I requested an itemised invoice multiple times, my requests were ignored, and I was explicitly told they would not provide one. Instead, I was informed that I had been given a £1,222 "discount" because my old materials weren’t reused—a detail that was never communicated to me at any stage of the process. To make matters worse, they took the materials from my old property but did not reuse them, and instead accused us of not allowing us reuse them. They did not clarify their disposal, leaving me to question where that £1,222 discount actually went.

The installation process itself was riddled with issues, starting with the fact that Protect-a-Pet does not conduct a pre-installation visit to view the garden and identify potential challenges. Instead, they rely solely on pictures provided by the customer and Google Satellite View. For such a high-cost service, this lack of thorough preparation is shocking. For example, I was told prior to installation that a large wooden swing set would need to be moved as it might serve as a jump point. However, on the day of installation, the engineers stated that it wasn’t an issue after all, as there was enough space. This inconsistency caused unnecessary stress and effort, as we had to move the swing set beforehand based on their incorrect advice.

Additionally, the engineers blocked access to my shed and claimed the fencing had to be installed in a straight line, despite later admitting that bends and corners could have been added for an additional cost. However, this option was never presented to me during the installation. When I raised this as a concern and asked for the issue to be rectified, I was told it would only be possible at an additional charge, even though this could have been avoided with proper planning and communication from the outset.

What made the experience even worse was the accusatory tone adopted in their responses. I was essentially accused of lying at several points, including being told that my brother had agreed to block the shed door and that we were informed about additional charges for bends—neither of which are true. My brother and I were also accused of preventing the reuse of old materials, which was simply not the case. These accusations were completely unprofessional and felt like an attempt to deflect blame rather than resolve my concerns.

The lack of transparency, refusal to provide an invoice, dismissive communication, failure to conduct a pre-installation visit, and unprofessional accusations have left me feeling deeply frustrated and taken advantage of. For such an expensive service, I expected far better customer care and professionalism. I strongly advise others to get everything clarified in writing before proceeding with Protect-a-Pet, as the aftercare is severely lacking, costs are not clearly broken down or justified, and you may find yourself accused of dishonesty if you raise any concerns.

Unfortunately our experience of both Protectapet, their products and their attitude is not a favourable one.

I could write pages and pages but to summarise, we bought the fence top product and after a period of attempting to secure trees we found our cat could escape by climbing directly over the brackets. At the time, Protectapet's marketing claimed that it was not possible for cats to escape in this manner. Ours did which rendered the system completely useless so we asked for a refund.

Protectapet refused to give us a refund so we put our video online. They then offered a refund on the condition we removed the video. Since so many people gave us feedback that our video had helped them to avoid wasting their money on a system they were confident their cat would also escape from, we did not remove it. Protectapet went back to refusing a refund and gave us no option but to pursue them in court.

Prior to this my wife received a threatening phone call and I received threatening emails from Protectapet saying they would have us 'dealt with' if we took them to court. They then attempted to sue us for £1000 to compensate their time trying to resolve the issue (£50 per hour was stated as their rate which I take to be largely aftersales service).

In court the judge ruled in our favour that;

Protectapet's system was proven not be fit for purpose.

Claims from Protectapet that it was my installation that led to the cat escaping was proven to be wrong.

That Protectapet cannot hide behind their terms and conditions.

Protectapet also admitted that in their opinion there are some cats that would escape from any system. This is the sort of information I think you need to know before you part with what can easily be hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Responses to our video, which has been shared numerous times (including the Cat Protection League) on Facebook indicates there are a lot of people who have had cats escape as well.

Prior to our victory in court, but immediately after we submitted our claim, Protectapet removed all the marketing that made claims that cats couldn't escape from their system. They claimed it was coincidence. I think that action speaks volumes.

I would be very wary of dealing with a threatening, court happy company. In my personal opinion there are better products and better attitudes our there. The changes in marketing really says it all.

My best advice is to watch our video and if you think your cat can climb as well as ours then it is, in my opinion, a waste of your time and what can be an awful lot of money.