According to DEFRA, there are now 16 approved pet microchip databases that meet the relevant government standards. You can check them out here.
This article however uncovers a scam website that preys on the many pet owners do not know who their microchip database is, and as a result find themselves on the UK Pet Chip Registry website which falsely claims to register pets to a national microchip database.
This is not the case, it is NOT one of the 16 government approved pet microchip databases, and as a result, pet owners are registering and paying to have their data stored unsecurely on a website that is not even connected to vets. As a result, if a pet does go missing – their contact details will not be visible to a pet owner scanning the microchip on their pet.
More often than not, a pet owner is oblivious to the fact that they’ve paid £15 or now £18 to a non compliant database which serves no valuable purpose to the pet owner.
We’ve noted that this has now been escalated to Trading Standards who issued a warning about the UK Pet Chip Registry website – which continues to trade utilising Google ads to dupe pet owners into registering their details.
If you’ve clicked on one of these adverts on search engines, and cannot remember your database provider, or are looking to register your pet microchip with a database – you’ll most like end up at the UK Pet Chip Registry service website that looks like this, through a search engine.
We’d like to outline some concerning matters on this website.
There is no such thing as a National Database – and if you have registered accidentally with this website and provided payment details – your details will be searchable and visible through the site’s search engine, making your phone number, address and contact details visible to anyone who enters in your microchip details. This is not how approved government databases work – your details should be kept secure and only specific individuals such as vets, rescues and wardens should be able to access this information on your behalf for pet re-unification.
Paid £18 to UK Pet Chip Registry? – you have unfortunately paid to register your puppy’s details to a database that is not a legitimate microchip database in the UK. This also means that when vets scan in the microchip, your details will not appear because you are not registered to one of the approved databases.
If you have registered your pet with UK Pet Chip Registry and not with an official approved microchip database, you are breaking the law. Government guidance says that it is compulsory for dog owners to not only have a microchip implanted into their dog but their data needs to be kept up to date on an APPROVED verified database – you can read up on dog microchipping laws here and your requirements as a pet owner.
If your pet goes missing, and you have registered on the UK Pet Chip Registry – no vet or warden would ever check this database to find your details, as they will only be searching on approved databases.
We see the same questions asked again regarding the UK Pet Chip Registry database :
Is UK Pet Chip Registry a legitimate database?
In short, no. We see claims of over 3 million pets being registered on their database, but they are not a UK approved database. Many pet owners are questioning whether this is a scam, and recent news from trading standards have confirmed that this is the case.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) issued a warning about the website with CTSI Lead Officer for Animal Welfare, Steph Young, stating :
“It is vital that when purchasing a puppy, members of the public must register the chip on one of the 15 databases verified by the UK government. If they do not, they risk a fine of up to £500.
The database quoted by UK Pet Chip Registry does not conform to UK government standards, and signing up toit alone puts the user at risk of fine and the needless cost of the money used to pay for it.”
We see many negative reviews for UK Pet Chip Registry on trustpilot – especially where £18 is being charged and also being set up as a recurring payment.
What should I do if I’ve accidentally registered with UK Pet Chip Registry? How do I get a refund from UK Pet Chip Registry?
- If you have paid them £18, you may have been automatically signed up to be on a subscription – we would recommend logging into your paypal account and cancelling this subscription.
- Contact Paypal to complain and point them here or to the trading standards link.
- Contact your credit card provider and request a chargeback – you’ll only be able to do this if you’ve used a credit card when paying, and not a debit card.
- Also, log into their site and visit the contact us button – where they have provided a form for you to request a refund within 30 days. We’d recommend going ahead with the aforementioned steps first.
- Register your microchip with a legitimate approved microchip database.
Is the UK pet chip registry a scam?
In short, yes. As mentioned above, you are paying for a service that is not an approved pet database. You will also be potentially leaving yourself vulnerable to identity fraud as your personal details are on this website and in some instances, they are making this information available to the public.
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If you recognise that you may have accidentally signed up to this site – we hope you have sufficient information to know what to do next. Whilst you’ll be looking to receive your funds back from them, it’s equally important that you register your pet with an approved pet microchip database immediately – a pet can go missing at any time and it’s important that vets and wardens are able to obtain your contact details in that situation.
All is not lost!
There is a new official Defra compliant database that is completely free, called PetDatabase.com. Unfortunately, you can’t recoup your fee to UK Pet Chip Registry, but you can sign your pet up to a database that is 100% safe and secure and offers you unlimited changes. To provide instant peace of mind, we’d recommend you do this as soon as possible here
