Advice please! Rip off vet

benny1234black

iammumtoone wrote: »

I think when I first registered with a vet I got given a pack which probably contained a lot of the information you quote. But this was on a first visit for injections quite a different situation from turning up out of hours in an emergency!

Did you know once you got your dog you should have registered with a vet and seen them to give the dog a check up to make sure everything was ok, if that was done I have sure you would have been given this info and they would have spend more time explaining things to you and for you to ask questions.

My girlfirend did. But the normal vet she takes him to was shut. And only been there for initial vaccinations and neutering. Hence going somewhere else this weekend

iammumtoone

chris_and_crystal wrote: »

How much did you think it would cost to make him sick? Bet it would have cost about the same. Cost of tablets, supervision, time etc.

We paid over £100 when our pomeranian hurt her foot out of hours. No treatment needed just a cone for 24 hours. Would have paid £1000 to know she was ok

To be fair to the OP. I don't think he is complaining about the cost so much as he wasn't informed about it before hand. Were you told before any treatment how much you would have been charged?

iammumtoone

benny1234black wrote: »

My girlfirend did. But the normal vet she takes him to was shut. And only been there for initial vaccinations and neutering. Hence going somewhere else this weekend

So if you had been able to go to your normal vet, I take it you wouldn't been complaining as you have the costs from them. I don't think you can realistically expect to be given this information from the new vet in an emergency situation. Out of hours they only see emergency appointments.

having paid for vaccinations and neutering you much be getting an idea of what vets charge. I can see your comparison you would have been clearly told how much these would have cost beforehand but it is slightly different whilst recommended they are not life threatening treatments the swallowing of a screw could be.

benny1234black

iammumtoone wrote: »

To be fair to the OP. I don't think he is complaining about the cost so much as he wasn't informed about it before hand. Were you told before any treatment how much you would have been charged?

No I was not told anything. I was waiting for them to come back out to ask as they said somebody will be out soon to talk to you. I.e. Before we do stuff we will tell you what we will be doing and the costs.

And previous comment was spot on, I did NOT expect bills to be so high at all. Especially didnt know about the higer cost of out of hours. And none of this was explained. Even after they asked if I had been there before and I said no I only came here because our normal vet is shut.

Yes I will be getting insurance first thing tomorrow (already have quote saved).

But the point is that they did not explain costs at all. Not over the phone before telling us to come in. OR when I got there. Knowing the cost I would have taken a better look for the screw either before leaving after speaking on the phone. Or after getting there once somebody come out to talk to me. But they didnt they come back out to tell mewe have done xyz here is the cost.

When we took him for injections and neutering we spoke to the vet, they told us the cost etc etc.

This time they just took him in the back, and brought him back with a bill!

jumpedtheshark

OP, the x-ray was the diagnostic which would have preceded removal. You agreed to removal ('make him be sick', though inaccurate was about removal) and implicitly agreed to the necessary diagnostic. Even if you persist in arguing there was no contract at all (overlooking what you signed), quantum meruit means you owe a reasonable sum and £130 is reasonable.

Please DO NOT complaint to the RCVS - receiving complaints like yours makes it more likely it will become harder to make legitimate complaints, and they have limited resources to investigate those complaints. One of my dogs has suffered at the hands of veterinary negligence (massive overdose of steroids, which caused long-term damage), and my best 'revenge' is to tell all the other dogwalkers I see out and about what that vets did and to recommend a number of alternative vets instead.

Your vets sounds like they did the right thing, and just suffered from a lack of communication. That is perhaps worth discussing with the practice manager, but in the context of acknowledging that they did the right thing by prioritising the health and well-being of your pet.

Hermione_Granger

To be honest, £130 for a consultation and x-ray out of normal working hours isn't bad at all.

Just think how much it would cost if you had to do the same thing for a member of your family at a BUPA or other private hospital.
This is basically what the vet is. An unsubsidised medical facility that costs an awful lot of money to keep going.

iammumtoone

benny1234black wrote: »

No I was not told anything. I was waiting for them to come back out to ask as they said somebody will be out soon to talk to you.

I do agree with you, they were in the wrong here, but you have already been given a reduction. You have to bear in mind they would have been busy treating emergencies and it is probably a case of miss communication. They would have assumed you knew the dog swallowed a screw and what they probably meant was someone will be out to talk to you once they know more ie the location of the screw (hence x ray) and you would have been informed of options and cost of surgery then. They could not provide this without knowing where the screw was.

RuthnJasper

Country_Cousin wrote: »

Perhaps your best hope is that they don't take away the good will and ask for it all, when you go and start complaining tomorrow...

It sounds like the practice has waived the out of hours fee and only charged the X-Ray cost to the OP. Which is very generous of them.

Benny - I know you are annoyed and I can understand why, but please take care with how you approach this. Out of Hours (especially at weekends) vet work is hard and frequently unpleasant/distressing, as almost every case is an emergency and many do not end as happily as yours did. It does genuinely sound like they have not charged you for all that they should have (£130 IS cheap, whatever you feel about it).

All the best to you and Benny-dog.

Fosterdog

If this wasn't your usual vet how did you find out about them?

If it was from your usual vets answerphone service or your welcome pack then it would be classed as a referral to the designated out of hours service in your area and your own vets initial welcome information should have explained this so you wouldn't be classed as a new customer for emergency out of hours work.

There are two emergency vets within 15 miles of me, no others offer this service but refer customers to one of these two for out of hours treatment. I've never had to use the service but have all of the info on who to call and an example of costs from my vet, I have been registered with six vets over the years and have been given this from all of them. I know it is £85 just to be seen at the one without any treatment.

Your car analogy is flawed as it is not a living thing, you went to an emergency vet for emergency treatment not a garage.

I fix computers for a living, if someone brings in a computer and I spend an hour running diagnostics only to discover it can't be fixed or not cost effective for a repair compared to a new machine and the age of it I still charge for my time taken to diagnose the fault. My time and skills are worth money, I'm not there just to tell you what's wrong free of charge. The vet is no different and by calling ahead and then taking the dog in you entered a contract for the services of the vet.

George_Michael

benny1234black wrote: »

This time they just took him in the back, and brought him back with a bill!