Advice please! Rip off vet

chris_and_crystal

No they didn't tell us the cost I didn't ask its my dog it doesn't matter. She's a living breathing creature cost doesn't come into it.

The op says they rang the vets and was told they were going to make the dog sick. So before arriving he knew the course of treatment intended to be taken. He says he was left a few minutes in reception before the dog was taken through. At no point did he ask about price even though he knew the treatment. Cost would be approx the same. So would he still feel ripped of?

benny1234black

iammumtoone wrote: »

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.

The receptionists were messing about chatting keeping me waiting when I first went in

George_Michael

benny1234black wrote: »

The receptionists were messing about chatting keeping me waiting when I first went in

They might have been waiting for the vet to give the go ahead. He/she probably had to disinfect his hands and possibly the examination table and maybe get other equipment ready.

benny1234black

Fosterdog wrote: »

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.

Yes but you explain this is the case beforehand?

You dont just tell them 'leave it with me' whe somebody brings a pc in and then say oh it took an hour thats £x for my time please

iammumtoone

OP please think carefully how you handle this situation.

If you cause too much of a fuss the vets may refuse to see you in future.

Next time there might be an emergency, your dog might need emergency treatment where else are you going to go seeing as your own vet doesn't operate an out of hours service. You are sorting insurance now so wont be in this situation again.

Whilst I don't agree which how you are handling this situation, I do think you care for your pet and would take it to the vets again if needed out of hours, please make sure you leave that option open to you.

artbaron

Completely bizarre thread. The OP has already said he would have paid the money if he'd been forewarned so what is the fuss about? What's he going to say to the vet? "Look, I'm not happy with you doing exactly what I would have asked you to do if you'd told me first so I'd like you to apologise for not wasting your time and mine in consulting me about irrelevances. And also, give me some money back or something."

Jeez, life's too short.

RuthnJasper

Benny, how did you get on at the vets' today? I am not asking so that I can argue with you further, just because I am genuinely interested in how you got on and what the vet manager had to say.


Hope your dog is well. x

mgdavid

benny1234black wrote: »

No I was not told anything. I was waiting for them to come back out to ask ..

You should have asked up front.

benny1234black wrote: »

......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. .....

That simply does not follow at all, that appears to be your big assumption.

fed_up_and_stressed

In my area the fees are as follows for an out of hours vet consultation.
Out Of Hours Fee £83.78 - £114.40
Consultation Fee £35.80

So nearly £150 without the aforementioned x ray !

halibut2209

The most annoying thing about this thread is that the vet will probably end up waiving the fee and the OP will then be convinced they are correct.

Either that, or they will just say that the vet apologised and waived the fee in order to save face.