I phoned around all the local vets for 5 miles to compare prices

MrsE_2

toniq wrote: »

In my area by gatwick in sussex i was charged £49 to get puppy micro chipped.
That was cheap for my area xxxx

You're near me.

I'm close to Gatwick, I'm north east of it.

I can give you details of better priced vets if you PM me your location a bit better.

I priced from Redhill down to Crawley & Charlwood to Oxted.

MrsE_2

stirlo wrote: »

wow toniq thats a lot for a microchip!!! did it come with skyplus or something!!!??? :rotfl:

A homing device!!!:D

toniq

Im crawley, im guessing your horley way x

MrsE_2

jess1974 wrote: »

Awww that cat is gorgeous. i am soooo jealous, whats her name?

Thats still "under offer".

DD likes Missy & Gracie

DH & I like Molly

Cleo, Milly, Fifi, Princess & plenty more have all been mentioned.

tankgirl1

Hmm ......

I am firmly of the opinion that in most cases with veterinary services, you get what you pay for, but am also very well aware that there are some vets out there whose morals allow them to charge premium prices for average services. I think that £50 for a chip is extortionate and I'm quite frankly gobsmacked! It takes 2 mins to fit a chip, and can be done by anyone with adequate training - it doesn't have to be done at a vets! Like Simon says, the cost price of a chip is well under a tenner, even for the market leader, and so effectively this practice is charging £40+ for 2 minutes of a job, that doesn't even require a veterinary surgeon! Shocking indeed!

MrsE_2

toniq wrote: »

Im crawley, im guessing your horley way x

Over to the right a bit on the map;)

I rang a vets in Crawley that actually gave me a very cheap quote for neturing.

I will get you their details when I get home.

I usually shop in Crawley (bu66er all else between London, Brighton, Bluewater & Guildford.

My family live in Crawley (Three Bridges & Ifield)

orlao

MrsE


She's georgous.....very much a princess:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

About the variation in vet prices.....about 10 years ago I changed to the vet I used until very recently because the practice I was using was expanding (built a vet hospital, set up satalite (sp!) surgeries etc) and the prices rose accordingly.They also stopped treating large animals. At the time I didn't have any pets that needed specialist type care and I moved all my animals inc the horses to this smaller more basic practice whose prices were also more basic......in fairness to them I have only very minor beefs with them about the quality of care, my major rows with them have been about service, pricing and the lack of manners that are regularly shown.....

Over the past few years their prices have risen, on average by about 25% with no extra service or facilities.....in fact in that time they have stopped treating large animals, out sourced their out of hours services with no information given in advance, the first I knew of this was when I needed it so have actually shed facilities in this time:mad: and despite the regular "words" about the receptionists attitude when you asked for a prescription:D .

I have to admit I'm probably not the easiest client....Why? is my favourite question when a treatment is advised, not that I don't want my animals treated, of course I do but I don't do anything without understanding the reasoning behind it and I will ask questions if I'm not happy/clear about something. Some vets take offence at that:eek: Honestly I'm not questioning their expertise but I know my animals better than they do i.e I had a vet wanting to remove a cyst on my 17 year old JRT last year....it's just a fluidy fatty lump, doesn't bother her but why put a very old dog under a GA for what is effectively a cosmetic op? The answer waswhat if it's malignant? But the fluid was drawn off and came back clear....so what if it is? At her age while she's well, fit and happy lifes good! IMHO I would be doing her no favours in putting her through surgery just to extend her life a little in those circumstances....it would just be selfishness on my part But I was accused of "not caring enough". That's the type of thing that makes my blood boil, the stroppiness when you didn't immediately agree to do as some vet said........ but TBH that was relatively minor issues.

I have NO problem paying a fair price for any service be it vets or anything else. I do appreciate that it's not a cheap or easy business to run but it is a business and if a practice doesn't cooperate with its clients they can and will go elsewhere. I honestly would be sad to lose the variety of practices that are available now, until now I've always tried to avoid using the chain type practices as I personally prefer to support local individual business but in this case the pennies ( and the service standards) just don't come up to scratch! I do wonder though, if in a few years as clients whether we will only have the option of chains or specialist type vets to chose from as (with the obvious exception of simontheNiceman and the very few of his ilk:beer: ) I can see the smaller vets closing because their businesses (IMO) are so often so badly run? That would be a shame.....

snowman2_2

Not all chips are less than a tenner - some of the Identichips are £14 each incl VAT if you only buy small quantities. I can't afford to buy 500 at a time so we buy them by the 100 at about £8.50. Different chips give different levels of customer service as well but it is bulk prices. There is also variation in vaccine prices and quality - saying that £50 for a microchip is a bit steep!

MrsTinks

I think it's great we have Snowman and SimontheNiceman here to tell us honestly what a realistic cost would be Simon always said he bought in large bulk and snowman has given us some other costs and I know that round here the typical cost os chipping is £20 (checked with next door who had their cat chipped recently LOL and then checked my friend who's a vet about 20 miles away) she has no say in the pricing structure as she's not a partner in the surgery and she thinks it's too high - they'd still make a profit at £10-£15 and more people would be encouraged to have the pet chipped then.
Whenever I've had treatment at my local surgery I let her know what the costs are as she's very interested in the differences in price. Often they are similar but not always. Then again she sometimes disagrees in treatment with them and it can swing either way on if the treatment she'd recommend is cheaper or not... But ultimately her advice (and mine!) is still to chip and more importantly insure! OK vaccinations won't be covered and so on - but it takes a lot of the worry away when you don't have to compare surgeries at 4am because your pet has been run over

Kerriebaby

shocked at the price of microchipping...I do it for £5 each!

the most expensive vet around here * shockingly* is the PDSA one, charged me £300 to put down my rabbit on a sunday ( she had severe Myxo, and despite having treatment, she had taken a big turn for the worse, couldnt wait till Monday to see our own Vet ) The guy could barely speak English, and was more butcher than vet. Her screams will haunt me till my dying day