Advice please! Rip off vet

benny1234black

iammumtoone wrote: »

Are you sure this was what was said? I am not a vet or claim to be any expert but even I know if an animal or person swallows something you do not "make them sick" you give them an x-ray.

I do see your point in a way, is this your first visit to a vets? As I don't have insurance every time I have visited I ask "how much" like you I always have money available for treatment and its not the case of money before the animal but I do like to know what the estimated costs are beforehand, no vet will be able to give you an exact cost as they don't know what they will find. BUT it is your responsibility to ask, the majority of pet owners have insurance so a vet will assume you have and the costs are covered.

You should have doubled checked if you could find the screw before you took it to the vets. If the situation was different I could see you posting a thread along the lines of negligent vet, I took my dog to the vets telling them it had swallowed a screw, they advised me to look for the screw and whilst I was doing so the screw caused complications causing my dog pain and costing me more money as the operation was more complicated than if they had just got on and done an x-ray straight away.

Any responsible vet would not have been happy leaving the animal with a potential screw in it whilst you looked, the time to do that was before you contacted them.

I understand that completely. Point is that I wasnt aware they were firstly out of hours. Didnt know that was a thing. And wasnt aware of the costs which were extra because of that.

But mainly the fact they just did it without telling me what they were doing and what the fee was at all.

iammumtoone

benny1234black wrote: »

Yes that is what they said on the phone. We need to bring him to make him sick.

Yes first tome i have had to take him to vets

So you took him there expecting them to make him sick and were prepared to pay for that (as you took him).

What would have happened if they made him sick and saw no screw, so made him sick again, again no screw. How many times would you have expected them to make him sick before you agreed there was no screw? What if it was later found out they was a screw and he wasn't sick enough I am sure you would be complaining then. All that being sick would have been very unpleasant for your dog when it now seems it would't have been necessary.

I can understand you didn't think the above through as you would have been worried about your pet but you now see why an x ray was necessary? Maybe they should have mentioned this and it might be a good idea to point out you would have been preferred to have been told but I really don't think you have any cause for a complaint, just a lesson learnt to next time ask beforehand.

benny1234black

pinkshoes wrote: »

The double checking is what you needed to do BEFORE you left to go to the vets.

It would have been irresponsible of the vet not to X-ray the dog once they had been told the dog had swallowed a screw.

They acted in the best interest of your dog.

Your dog is FINE. £130 is a small price to pay to know your dog is OK. Be grateful it didn't swallow the screw. Surely that is the important thing here???

Yea im glad he is okay.

And that is the main thing.

But that still doesnt mean the way it all happened was right. I should have been told.

And I did look before I went and not want to mess about wasting loads more time looking for the sake of a what I thought would be a small fee. Had they said the cost before going in I would have had it looked over one more time and even if I didnt then I could make an informed decision to go ahead or not.

benny1234black

I see the xray necessary sure. I am not disputing that.

I am disputing the fact the first time one was mentioned was AFTER it was done when I was given a bill.

I was told sit down somebody will be out to talk to you. Which I expected somebody to come and talk about fee.

Not just do it.

iammumtoone

benny1234black wrote: »

I was told sit down somebody will be out to talk to you. Which I expected somebody to come and talk about fee.

Not just do it.

When you go in to pay it might be a good idea to mention that so they are aware of their actions for future, but in a nice way not to make a fuss.

Must people who go to the vets are aware of how things work, explain that this was your first visit so was expecting to be told the price before hand and see what their response is. I would not expect or ask for any money off but to give feedback of your expectations might help them in future.

If this had happened in normal hours there would have been more vets on hand so you might have found you were consulted more. Its a shame your first experience of vets is of out of hours service but as others have said it seems a good vet as the price is reasonable so I suggest you stick with them, they have done the best thing for your pet which is what anyone expects from their vet but unfortunately not always what happens.

visidigi

Problem here is, if that person, out of hours, came and spoke to you and said you need an xray, its £130 what would you do?

Are you saying you wouldn't pay it?

What are you expecting by complaining about the principle?

I get they may have not told you, but are you telling me if they had you would have done things differently?

LilElvis

benny1234black wrote: »

I see the xray necessary sure. I am not disputing that.

I am disputing the fact the first time one was mentioned was AFTER it was done when I was given a bill.

I was told sit down somebody will be out to talk to you. Which I expected somebody to come and talk about fee.

Not just do it.

What did they say when you queried the fact that they hadn't consulted with you in advance of the treatment?

What was the paperwork that you signed?

benny1234black

iammumtoone wrote: »

When you go in to pay it might be a good idea to mention that so they are aware of their actions for future, but in a nice way not to make a fuss.

I did mention that when they said the bill. That is the whole point.

benny1234black

iammumtoone wrote: »

they have done the best thing for your pet which is what anyone expects from their vet but unfortunately not always what happens.

I know they have done the best thing. I am not querying that.

Just like if your car was making a noise so you took it for a garage to check it out. And they said "I fixed it that will be £500 please"..

No doubt they did the best thing for your car too, but that doesn't mean they should not have spoken to you, explained what will happen, the fee, and got a go head from you

iammumtoone

benny1234black wrote: »

I did mention that when they said the bill. That is the whole point.

So what did you say and in what tone of voice, what was their reply?