Advice please! Rip off vet

RuthnJasper

When did this happen? If it was late in the evening or at the weekend then the emergency out of hours fees are higher than usual and £130 is quite reasonable.

Vets cannot proceed with anything without some form of consent so, at some stage, someone (your girlfriend, perhaps?) would have said that it was OK to proceed. That would have been the time to query any payment.

If your dog had a broken leg, it would easily climb into the £1000s.

I can't see that the vet has done anything wrong; you suspected that your dog had something that could potentially have caused a long and agonising death. You sought treatment and it was provided. I am glad that your dog is OK. Raise a complaint with the vets and see what they say, by all means, but I don't think the RVCS will be able to help you.

shaun_from_Africa

arcon5 wrote: »

Ops the customer of the vet, of course she can dictate what treatment is undertaken, an d equally they have the right to refuse the request being made for their services.

your deluded if you think a vet can just do as they please, regardless.

There is a good chance that the OP gave the go ahead for treatment without realising it.

benny1234black wrote: »

So I took him down and they got me to fill out our details on a form.

This form may well have included a consent for treatment section on it.

arcon5 wrote: »

but frankly this wasn't a time critical situation which needed the vets to make a split second decision.

If there was a screw lodged in the animal's throat, (something that might only be found with an x-ray) it would be about as time critical as you can get.

photome

benny1234black wrote: »

Ok let me explain it as simple as I can because you all dont understand anything at all.

I was 95% sure he swallowed it. If they said its £50 or something no probldm would have had an xray.

If they would have told me the actual cost i would have got my partner to DOUBLE check around the area he picked it up. Taking around 2 minutes to do it before proceeding.

How does looking for something that is lost take 2 minutes?

It may take a few seconds it may take all day

If you still wanted to look for it you could have done so before going to the vets.

benny1234black

arcon5 wrote: »

Ops the customer of the vet, of course she can dictate what treatment is undertaken, an d equally they have the right to refuse the request being made for their services.

your deluded if you think a vet can just do as they please, regardless.

op also has every right to expect fees and policies to be transparent.

saying that i'm not sure what you expected op when they took the dog, but frankly this wasn't a time critical situation which needed the vets to make a split second decision. They should have consulted with the customer about the service they deemed most appropriate to supply.

I'd write a complaint op, maybe it'll open their eyes and make sure they discuss options first and not second.

Thank you for the reasonable reaponse. First one.

And some people would do the same with their car. If anything needed doing they would pay anything to get it sorted. Others would respond differently.

Point is that fee should have been transparent and it actually says on the RCVS website that out of hours fees need to be explained. Especially to new customers.

Nothing was explained. No consultation fee. They didnt mention any costs for xray or they would do one.

They just said on the phone bring him in they will make him sick. I got there they said they will take him in the back somebody will be out in a minite to talk. Next minute I ben told they have done xray snd slap a bill on me.

photome

benny1234black wrote: »

Thank you for the reasonable reaponse. First one.

And some people would do the same with their car. If anything needed doing they would pay anything to get it sorted. Others would respond differently.

Point is that fee should have been transparent and it actually says on the RCVS website that out of hours fees need to be explained. Especially to new customers.

Nothing was explained. No consultation fee. They didnt mention any costs for xray or they would do one.

They just said on the phone bring him in they will make him sick. I got there they said they will take him in the back somebody will be out in a minite to talk. Next minute I ben told they have done xray snd slap a bill on me.

You mean the first one that agrees with you

shaun_from_Africa

benny1234black wrote: »

Thank you for the reasonable reaponse. First one.

So you don't think that a post linking to the relevant legislation is a reasonable response?

Why is that? is it because it clearly states that without a prior agreement as to the price to be paid, the user of the service is expected to pay the bill if it is a reasonable amount (which as already mentioned by others, £130 for the treatment is in line with what other vets charge and is therefore reasonable in the eyes of the law).

unholyangel

OP take a step back for a minute.

Is it possible you're only feeling this way, grudging payment because your dog didnt eat the screw? I can understand why, I mean now you know the dog didnt, its likely affected your view slightly to think that the xray was unnecessary and this is whats giving you the feeling of being ripped off.

But presumably (and yes we do have to presume because you've only presented limited information) you frantically looked for the screw before calling/visiting the vets. I mean why else would you think your dog had eaten it other than you had searched and couldnt find it or had seen him eat it? And if you seen him eat it then there would be no searching required.

£130 is technically a bargain compared to what it could have cost if the dog had eaten the screw (even a broken leg will set you back around £2000). At least this way you are in no doubt whatsoever that your dog is okay

George_Michael

Has anyone asked the most important question.

Did you find the missing screw?

benny1234black

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

So you don't think that a post linking to the relevant legislation is a reasonable response?

Why is that? is it because it clearly states that without a prior agreement as to the price to be paid, the user of the service is expected to pay the bill if it is a reasonable amount (which as already mentioned by others, £130 for the treatment is in line with what other vets charge and is therefore reasonable in the eyes of the law).

Just seen links posted.

One does say that if I said "do what it takes" then fair enough but I never gave the go ahead. They just took him and said somebody will be out in a minute.

wealdroam

benny1234black wrote: »

...if I said "do what it takes" then fair enough but I never gave the go ahead. They just took him and said somebody will be out in a minute.

Read again the form that you filled in.

Is it possible that by completing that form you effectively said "do what it takes"?