My vet is taking me to the cleaners!

philman1980

Dear All

I have recently run into some bother with a vet's practice and wondered if anyone else has experienced this and / or knew what my rights are.

It all started at Christmas, my dog became very ill with a virus and I had to take him to my vets on Christmas Day, as he was so ill he was referred to a nearby small animal hospital the same day and operated on, thankfully a few days later he was ok and I took him home.

At the time when I picked him up I requested to pay in full for the treatment, I didn't have insurance and wanted to pay the whole amount as it was a reasonably large amount and I wanted to put the whole lot on a credit card. The vet told me what the total amount was and I paid it there and then and went home.

Fast forward 3 months and I have just got back from working away from home, I haven't been there since the start of the new year. In my mail I have found 3 letters from the veterinary school who treated my dog demanding money, now as I have been away I clearly haven't been picking up my mail, to be honest I didn't think I needed to, I do everything online when it comes to important finances. The last letter obviously sent very recently has 'Court Summons' in big red letters at the top, telling me I owe them money and that if I don't pay in 7 days I will be receiving a court summons!

After reading the itemised bill they sent me it has become very apparent that I wasn't charged the full amount by the vet on the day I picked up my dog, they had added charges to the bill after I have left.

I was very annoyed by this on 2 levels, 1 that they had decided that I owed them extra money and that simply by sending 3 letters out this would suffice as adequate warning. Its worth noting that they had my number they didn't try to call me once. I know a little about trying to get money out of people through small claims courts, I do it occasionally in my job, and there's several things you need to do to try and resolve cases before it gets as far as court. Secondly, I am a bit miffed that its acceptable to just add on charges after I have paid for the final bill.

I called the practice yesterday and spoke to their accounts department, what's happened essentially is that because they are a vets, they have lots of little charges they add for different things, such as scans, injections etc. Someone had not added some of these until after I had paid for what I thought, but perhaps more importantly what I was told was the final bill. Now the amount they want to take me to court for is £280. I had a brief conversation with the women in the account dept and basically stated that I don't think I owe them anything because the vet told me that it was the final bill. Her explanation for this was that vets are not as skilled enough to deal with card payments and accounts and that she should have told me that there could have been more charges to come.

So, I am in a bit of a pickle as to what to do now. I feel like digging my heels in, I'm not scared of the threat of court, I know they haven't done a very good job of trying to settle this matter so far so am quite confident. But more importantly surely its not right that they get to charge me what they want, after all I asked for the final bill and paid as such, what's to stop them discovering something else they have forgotten to charge me further down the line?

If the vet had told me at the time that there maybe more charges coming through, I would have had no trouble paying, I would have agreed, (After all she had just saved my dogs life!) But she didn't, she told me that this was the final amount.

It strikes me that they probably do this a lot without anyone questioning it, after all a lot of people have insurance, and as its not coming out of their pocket, it will get passed straight to their insurers.

So is it different for vets, are they allowed to do this? Any advice would be most welcome!!

lynnemcf

What does it say on the bill you got from the vet on the day you paid?

cjmumto2

Have you spoken to the actual vet? I would tell them you are well versed in these matters and you will take this right through to court as they have lied and not follwed procedure, you can say if I were told there would be more to pay I would have but that was not the case.

I am sure they will not follow through if they know they are in the wrong.

I am with you though, if I pay a final bill, I expect it to be final.

Good Luck

Berger

Honestly, I would fight the charges. If you ask to pay any merchant in full, and you pay there and then, you should not expect further charges. If you had an itemised bill at the time, and it did not clearly say "further charges to pay", I think the Sale of Goods Act is on your side. (I am not a solicitor!). Vets in this capacity are selling a service like a mechanic, auctioneer or anyone else that sells a service.

The key thing is the accounts lady said the vet "should have.." - she didn't. What if you were a little old lady surviving on a state pension, who couldn't pay? Would this be acceptable behaviour?

Adding charges to the bill after the event is not on. Do you have an itemised bill from the day, or just a till receipt? They should have given you a bill at the time anyway, again without this, I don't see how they have a leg to stand on. Would you pay up to a mechanic who 'forgot' to add on the price of new spark plugs when he did your service? Unlikely unless you had a longstanding relationship.

I am sure most small vets practices are quite honest, however after watching the recent documentary on Medivets, and their method of charging for 'extras' being one enormous scam, I am a lot more wary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/panorama/2010/07/join_in_the_debate_on_it_shoul.html

trudiha

I can see why you'd be annoyed. I was pretty annoyed recently when my vet bill at 3pm was 30% higher than the amount stated on the consent form I signed at 9am. The procedure gone as expected and no extra work needed to be carried out, they'd just forgotten to include some charges that they'd later remembered and then not bothered to mention.

However, you don't seem to be questioning the actual charges, that the work was carried out on your dog or the standard of care your dog received. I think that you need to pay the bill as it's a separate issue to your vet's practice having rubbish admin skills and lacking in good manners.

philman1980

The day I paid, I got a credit card receipt. I didn't take a bill, she said it would get sent through the post.
It did come through the post, and because I have been away I have only recently opened it. It shows all itemised treatments and then a line showing I had paid an amount, after my payment it shows about a dozen other charges that were obviously added later on.

I have no doubt that the extra charges are for genuine procedures or whatever that they carried out.

I think If I had been in on a day when the practice was properly open and the receptionist had dealt with my payment as opposed to the vet, I would have been dealt with properly and they wouldn't have had this situation, but why should I pay for their incompetence?

Thanks for the advice above everyone, I think the court thing is used far too much to try and scare people, having been through some small claims cases myself albeit from the other side, its supposed to be used as a last resort, I'm going to dig my heels in, I don't think they will bother pursuing in the end not for £280.

tizerbelle

philman1980 wrote: »

I have no doubt that the extra charges are for genuine procedures or whatever that they carried out.

I think If I had been in on a day when the practice was properly open and the receptionist had dealt with my payment as opposed to the vet, I would have been dealt with properly and they wouldn't have had this situation, but why should I pay for their incompetence?

Thanks for the advice above everyone, I think the court thing is used far too much to try and scare people, having been through some small claims cases myself albeit from the other side, its supposed to be used as a last resort, I'm going to dig my heels in, I don't think they will bother pursuing in the end not for £280.

The vet made a mistake, people do (vet's included) it doesn't denote incompetence necessarily and you aren't disputing the charges, in fact you agree they are genuine..

So you got some follow up letters - of course they are going to write to you. Should it go to court they have to be able to show the steps they have taken - easier with a letter than well we called him but he didn't answer.

Is it really worth losing a vet that provides great healthcare 365 days a year purely because you are a bit miffed and annoyed that the vets accounting procedures haven't reached the same 100% perfection you obviously insist on and perfoem in your own life.

The charges are genuine, pay them - then no court problems. What more do you want - a grovelling apology for a mistake; free vet treatment for 5 years - not going to happen. Get it paid and get over it.

olias

OP, you seem to be missing the point. Your dog became ill, and you were lucky enough, despite it being the holidays, to have to hand specialists who were able to treat and save your dog. Unfortunately, presumabely due to it being the holidays, the payment was made to a vet, rather than one of the admin staff. The vet has made a genuine error or omission, because he is not used to dealing with the billing side of things. As a result, presumably on their return from holidays, the admin staff have noted this and have sent out 3 letters requesting payment. As far as they are concerned, all 3 letters have been ignored. As a business, they have to have a procedure in place for non payment, and one would assume that theirs is to send out three reminders and if no payment or contact is made, then to issue (or threaten) court proceedings. What more do you expect, for the senior partner to call round personally for a chat about it?!

I do not see anything unusual about this and certainly don't think they are 'taking you to the cleaners'!

The bottom line is that after saving the life of your dog on Christmas day of all days, they made a genuine error in billing. The charges they are requesting are by your own admission, genuine, yet you are going to 'dig your heals in and refuse to pay' for no other reason that I can see other than you are a bit peeved that they only sent 3 letters out and didn't ring you or call round.

I will repeat again, they saved your dogs life on Christmas day and made a genuine and reasonable mistake in billing and took reasonable steps to contact you about it. The right thing to do is to pay the bill. After all you would have paid it had the charges been on the original bill you recieved wouldn't you!

Olias

undaunted

I'm not sure why you are posting - if you "know your rights" and want to take it to court then just take it to court.

Personally I think you'll find the Judge will "laugh you out of Court" and rule in the vets favour on the basis that they provided a professional service, have raised a legitimate & written bill (errors or not on the way) & now, reasonably enough, expect to be paid for it. Writing to your home address several times to pursue that was a perfectly reasonable course of action (they could not know you were away) & I would imagine effectively ignoring your mail for 3 months isn't likely to impress the Judge.

Sorry, but in short, I think you should pay up before you have Court costs to pay on top.

Berger

In retrospect, reading the above two posts (not undaunted, we crossed over, and I don't quite agree with them), maybe (if you generally respect and find your vet to be honest) you should pay up. I missed the Christmas Day bit, and it is true that you were lucky to find facilities open and willing to treat (and not charge double time ;P )

However, the main fault is here is the vet's lack of training. If in one of our old shops, an employee failed to charge a customer correctly and let them go - that would be a shop loss and a disciplinary matter for the member of staff. I appreciate the vet is not a receptionist/admin, but at the least it highlights a big training need (or for someone who is trained to use the systems to be there at all times). The vet could have simply said we will send you an invoice if he/she wasn't sure what they were doing.

And re: the letters, I'm sorry, but if you want cordial relations with your customers, after two unreplied letters, before sending a 3rd threatening court, my policy would be for someone to try at least to call the customer & leave a voicemail, in case address details are wrong or similar. I would imagine this case, whether OP pays up or not, they will be losing a client in the long run.

So, if you agree the extra charges are valid, and are in line with what other vets would charge (as I say, I'm a bit wary of superfluous charges myself - but this is easily checked_ - I'd pay. And then change vets.

philman1980

tizerbelle wrote: »

The vet made a mistake, people do (vet's included) it doesn't denote incompetence necessarily and you aren't disputing the charges, in fact you agree they are genuine..

So you got some follow up letters - of course they are going to write to you. Should it go to court they have to be able to show the steps they have taken - easier with a letter than well we called him but he didn't answer.

Is it really worth losing a vet that provides great healthcare 365 days a year purely because you are a bit miffed and annoyed that the vets accounting procedures haven't reached the same 100% perfection you obviously insist on and perfoem in your own life.

The charges are genuine, pay them - then no court problems. What more do you want - a grovelling apology for a mistake; free vet treatment for 5 years - not going to happen. Get it paid and get over it.

Perhaps saying I had no doubt was a little much, what I should have said is that 'I presume' they are genuine.

But we are not talking about getting a haircut here, they have charged me for treatments which I presume were necessary. So by that same token what's to stop them sending me another letter in a few months time saying ' we missed the charge for an injection off, sorry pay up'

What if as someone suggested earlier, you got your car serviced and the garage told you several weeks / months later that they forgot to charge you for spark plugs, would you honestly not question it and pay up?!