Forced delivery payment on monthly animal medicine

raccoonhands

Bullets:
I pay £17.99 a month for my dog's medication subscription.
I have been forced into paying £2.50 for delivery for something 3 minutes away.
I wasn't notified of any changes when they have taken payment every month.

Hi, I have a monthly subscription with my vet to get my dogs flea and worming medication (£17.99). I rang them today to get more and they have said that I have to pay £2.50 to have it shipped to me. This a bit off to me and it's pretty frustrating, my partner has 2 dogs registered with a different vet with a similar monthly payment scheme and they just brought them to the car park for us. When I started to complain it was almost like the receptionist was reading from a script and kept cutting me off. I managed to get the complaints email at the end of the conversation but was hoping for a bit of advice. I know it's only 2.50 but my partner is furloughed and I'm in part-time employment so I really don't have money to be throwing around and the principal is pretty terrible. I Should add I haven't kept up with getting the medication for around 2 months with everything going on and I had some leftover.
Thanks in advance for any help.

JJ_Egan

Forced ?

Suggest you cancel the service if you don't like their new terms .

Though they should have given you notice of any changes .

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

raccoonhands said:

Bullets:
I pay £17.99 a month for my dog's medication subscription.
I have been forced into paying £2.50 for delivery for something 3 minutes away.
I wasn't notified of any changes when they have taken payment every month.

Hi, I have a monthly subscription with my vet to get my dogs flea and worming medication (£17.99). I rang them today to get more and they have said that I have to pay £2.50 to have it shipped to me. This a bit off to me and it's pretty frustrating, my partner has 2 dogs registered with a different vet with a similar monthly payment scheme and they just brought them to the car park for us. When I started to complain it was almost like the receptionist was reading from a script and kept cutting me off. I managed to get the complaints email at the end of the conversation but was hoping for a bit of advice. I know it's only 2.50 but my partner is furloughed and I'm in part-time employment so I really don't have money to be throwing around and the principal is pretty terrible. I Should add I haven't kept up with getting the medication for around 2 months with everything going on and I had some leftover.
Thanks in advance for any help.

You were not forced, unless of course you Veterinary put you into an arm lock and forged your signature.

There are plenty of options with regards treatments and medicines for pets, and if you shop around, then you get the best choice. personally for our current lodger, I get a batch load of flea/worm treatments on his annual visit, no postage, no waste!

raccoonhands

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

raccoonhands said:

Bullets:
I pay £17.99 a month for my dog's medication subscription.
I have been forced into paying £2.50 for delivery for something 3 minutes away.
I wasn't notified of any changes when they have taken payment every month.

Hi, I have a monthly subscription with my vet to get my dogs flea and worming medication (£17.99). I rang them today to get more and they have said that I have to pay £2.50 to have it shipped to me. This a bit off to me and it's pretty frustrating, my partner has 2 dogs registered with a different vet with a similar monthly payment scheme and they just brought them to the car park for us. When I started to complain it was almost like the receptionist was reading from a script and kept cutting me off. I managed to get the complaints email at the end of the conversation but was hoping for a bit of advice. I know it's only 2.50 but my partner is furloughed and I'm in part-time employment so I really don't have money to be throwing around and the principal is pretty terrible. I Should add I haven't kept up with getting the medication for around 2 months with everything going on and I had some leftover.
Thanks in advance for any help.

You were not forced, unless of course you Veterinary put you into an arm lock and forged your signature.

There are plenty of options with regards treatments and medicines for pets, and if you shop around, then you get the best choice. personally for our current lodger, I get a batch load of flea/worm treatments on his annual visit, no postage, no waste!

Sorry by forced I mean that I pay a monthly subscription and I physically cannot get the items I have paid for unless I pay more for them, probably the wrong word I suppose. As for buying a load at a time, I'm not sure it's allowed with Lungworm medication as its a prescription as far as I know although I could be wrong on that.

sheramber

Is it that because of the current restrictions applying to vets you cannot collect, so they need to post and are charging accordingly?

donnac2558

Yes, it will the current restrictions.   Items like flea and worming most vets are posting out.   My older cat was on kidney meds and I was allowed to come and stand in the car park to collect because the post is taking longer 12 days for me to be delivered.    At first, my vet did not charge postage but had to because of so many ordering flea and worming.

You can, of course, go online and buy Frontline but usually, the online companies will still charge postage.

warby68

If I was otherwise happy with and trusted a vet with my pet, I don't think I'd fall out for £2.50.
I know we get annoyed when we think we are being ripped off but everyone will have come up with different solutions to the same problems and not all will take all the pain. Perhaps their supplier is sending out direct and perhaps some customers prefer that, you never know.
Hopefully its not much longer now in any case, assuming this is purely because of lockdown.
Taking your custom elsewhere may cost more especially if you are currently 2m in credit with the supplies but is always an option.

raccoonhands

warby68 said:

If I was otherwise happy with and trusted a vet with my pet, I don't think I'd fall out for £2.50.
I know we get annoyed when we think we are being ripped off but everyone will have come up with different solutions to the same problems and not all will take all the pain. Perhaps their supplier is sending out direct and perhaps some customers prefer that, you never know.
Hopefully its not much longer now in any case, assuming this is purely because of lockdown.
Taking your custom elsewhere may cost more especially if you are currently 2m in credit with the supplies but is always an option.

Thank you, you're probably right. Money is so tight at the moment and I felt a bit attacked on the phone for even questioning it.
Thank you again.

mattyprice4004

Sounds reasonable to do - what the other vet does isn't really relevant. If your vet has chosen post only, it's only reason they'd want the cost of that covered (and £2.50 is very low as far as delivery charges go) 

eddddy

raccoonhands said:

Sorry by forced I mean that I pay a monthly subscription and I physically cannot get the items I have paid for unless I pay more for them, probably the wrong word I suppose. 

You need to clarify a bit. Essentially, has the vet breached the terms of their subscription agreement / contract with you?

If you have an agreement that they will continue supplying you with medicines for £17.99 per month, they cannot add new terms to the contract about a £2.50 delivery charge (unless it says they can in the contract terms).

But, TBH, it sounds like you're saying your subscription has expired (without any breaches of contract), and you want to take out a new subscription. If so, the vet can almost certainly have different terms for the new subscription - like a £2.50 delivery charge, and/or an increase in price.

hollydays

You could see if you can order the medication online cheaper.Your vet will give youthe prescription