Breach of contract by our vets?

chrisbt123

Hi all,

I wonder if someone on here could give me some pointers, i'm reasonably sure that i'm legally in the right here but wanted to just double check.

We have two cats, who are under my local vet practice's "health care plan". This covers, or did when i took the policy out, consultation costs, worming treatment, and any other treatment that the vet thought was necessary. It excludes things such as specialists laboratory referrals, harm to pet caused on purpose, and a few other things, but all in all its not a bad deal. About £13 per month per moggy. happy days. I enrolled both my cats in it, the youngest in 2015. We have used the service before a few times without issue between then and now.

Fast forward to yesterday where I had cause to take my cat to the vets for tearing her fur out. She was given a consultation, steroid jab, flea and a wormer treatment. happy days no problem i thought, so went home. I then got a call yesterday evening to inform me I had left without paying my bill for the consultation, steroid jab and worm treatment! To which I was quite annoyed about to be honest. The vet said the care plan did not cover this and never had, which I knew to be total rubbish. (I still have the leaflet I was given when I joined that states the original terms) It did however state that flea treatment is only a 25% discount, to which I admitted I was unaware of and stated I had no problem paying the balance on that. Interestingly they state the flea stuff is free and I owe nothing for that, just the rest.

I was then asked by the vet how much I paid per month, which I was unsure exactly of at the time.Afterwards when I looked, the original leaflet stated it was in fact exactly £13 per month per cat. The new care plan which I am apparently on, on their website, is £12.50 per month. She asked me to check how much I had been paying - this is where it gets interesting, as January last year on cat suddenly changed to £12.50 per month, then in July the other cat changed to £11.50 per month. The new plan states that it offers a £1 discount per cat and the normal amunt is 12.50 per month, however this covers much less and is NOT what I signed up for.

It appears we have been changed to this new plan without my knowledge or consent and they are just trying to spring it on me out of the blue! What are my options here. My initial thought is that this is breach of contract and that I should terminate my payments with immediate effect and move vets and send them a letter offering the balance for the flea stuff. No doubt they will be peeved at me as the contract states they will charge the remaining years balance if terminated early (although if the contract has been breached they cannot add more fees can they..)

Sorry I know that is quite long winded. Any pointers would be appreciated. thanks!!

JJ_Egan

(although if the contract has been breached they cannot add more fees can they..)

You will be breaking the contract .

If you are going to claim that they are breaking the contract . Go through the terms and conditions of the contracts first .

lincroft1710

If this is an annual plan one presumes that it auto-renewed each year. If the benefits of the plan or the plan itself changes then you should be informed of this, are you sure you didn't receive anything in the post and perhaps overlooked it? But check your original documentation for a clause such as "we reserve the right to change benefits without notice"

shaun_from_Africa

lincroft1710 wrote: »

But check your original documentation for a clause such as "we reserve the right to change benefits without notice"

Would such a clause be legal?
I could understand it if they reserved the right to change the benefits if they informed the customer of these upcoming changes and gave them the option to pull out of the contract but I don't see how they could legally change what had been agreed whenever they wanted to.

lincroft1710

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Would such a clause be legal?
I could understand it if they reserved the right to change the benefits if they informed the customer of these upcoming changes and gave them the option to pull out of the contract but I don't see how they could legally change what had been agreed whenever they wanted to.

Possibly not, but it would not be unknown for a less than scrupulous organisation to try to hide behind unfair Ts and Cs and hope the average customer would accept them. I offered But check your original documentation for a clause such as "we reserve the right to change benefits without notice" as a possible explanation as to why the plan may have changed without them being aware.

Lizabeth21

The payments changed last year - did you not notice then?

sheramber

If a DD changes the organisation has to inform you.

Did you get an updated renewal which you assumed was just a continuance of the previous one.

Fluffybunny80

These plans never cover everything at a vet visit.
I'm signed up to the vets4pets one and have been on another similar before.

You usually get one free consultation per year, free worm treatment, discount on food or ever free food and some or all vaccines.
It never been designed to cover everything each visit!
Otherwise the vets would be out of business.

Do you have the name of the plan and your original leaflet?
This will help us to understand exactly what you signed up for.

Also there is usually a clause stating this does not replace insurance but instead runs alongside it to cover routine treatments i.e. vaccines, worn treatment.