Vets bill query

trudij

Sorry - this will be long, but I sort of feel like I need to explain the whole thing! 

I took my dog to the vets just over two months ago, to restart her vaccinations, get her nails clipped and to get a blood test done so she could continue on her painkillers. I rang and asked roughly how much I could expect it to be and was told around £150/160 (which is what I thought) all good - booked her in.
Took dog in, had chat with the vet - vaccine done, blood taken and claws clipped. Asked to wait so they could give me painkillers immediately that they’d done the bloods - still absolutely fine with us. Got the results - all were perfectly normal except one, can I take urine sample in for processing the next day. 

Paid ( £160 odd, plus anti-inflammatories) and left being told the nurses would call regarding weight clinic ( £45 a month) and the physio would call to talk to me about what she could do to help the arthritis so I could decide if I wanted to do it. 
next day, took in sample - no phone calls. 

Following day, no results - I rang and got told vet was on holiday and she’d call me after the weekend. That afternoon the physio rang and told me she was going to book us in for an assessment and treatment - wasn’t happy to the point of being aggressive, that I said no, you’re just meant to talk to me about what benefits you can do and for me to decide if I think it will help, then I’m going to decide if I want to book in. Still Nothing from the nurses. 

Fast forward to the following Tuesday ( still no call from any nurses) and the vet rings, tells me the urine results are all normal other than there were a lot of crystals - so can I “just bring us another sample so I can pop it under the microscope here and just check if there are abnormal amounts as it could just be that it was hanging around too long before it got tested” also discuss different anti-inflammatories as the first ones aren’t working, once they have the result of the check, I can collect new drugs.

take in another sample, get given a bill for £80 odd for the urinalysis. Bit surprised, but ok - I didn’t know they were sending it away rather than doing it in house - would have appreciated a heads up that it was going to be another 80 before I agreed to it, not least because we could have just changed drug approach. 

Phone call from the vet - all good with the second sample, come back over and collect new drugs. I go in expecting a bill of around £20 for the new drugs, to be handed a bill of £55 including the urine test. Pay for the drugs and inform them they are literally taking the pi** with the £35 charge and yes please, I’d love to speak to someone from accounts about it. 

Fast forward to the next day and I’ve got the senior partner on the phone ( so there’s only one outcome from this!) “wanting to understand what you don’t understand about the bill” so I told him exactly what I didn’t understand about the bill and how atrocious the communication is between vets and clients - mostly involving how my expected bill of around 160 has almost doubled purely through the extra tests and them having to check if the outside lab result was correct or not - and no, I was at No stage told of the extra costs and yes, with how I was asked to bring in the second test “ just to pop it under the microscope to check the amount of crystals” I was fully expecting it to not be charged for. It wasn’t being typed, it wasn’t checking for bacteria or any of the other things you’d usually look for in a urinalysis - it was literally just being stained up and checked to see was it hooching with crystals or not. 

( I’ve worked in equine practice for 22 years and I ran the lab - I know EXACTLY what goes into the tests and how long they take. Also, we were known for charging for the slightest thing - no way on earth would we have charged just to check for the amount of crystals in a sample, it’s that quick to do) 

anyway - we ended up agreeing that he’d remove the £35, I’d pay in a couple of days time ( I was expecting some money two days later) and I wouldn’t use them again. Did that - sent them through the payment online with “FINAL” in the box with my name and pet name. They accepted the payment and I thought it was done. 

I’ve now got a bill for a further £11 because apparently the lab charge them to discuss a case with the vet. I stopped being their client the day the phone call came in. I paid the amount I agreed with the partner by telephone that day, on the day we agreed I would - and made it clear it was a final payment. 

Do I have to pay them this final payment? I will if I have to, but I really want to tell them to sing for it - they are royally taking the !!!!!! out of their clients here and I really feel like I want to make a stand now. 


Sorry it’s really long!!

Aylesbury_Duck

All that for eleven quid? 

I doubt there will be any difference between paying or not paying.  I can't see them pursuing you for £11.

trudij

The amount is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things - it’s more the principle - I agreed the price over the phone with the vet when he rang me, I kept to my side by paying that price when I said I would and then they changed the goalposts after. My question is can they change things after a final total has been agreed, not should I just cough it up for an easy life. 

Aylesbury_Duck

It's always the principle.

I can't answer your question, because it's not clear if the final total was agreed.  You made it clear it was the final payment, but nothing in your account says that they confirmed that.  You can't just "stop being their client" when you decide to, if there's a debt outstanding, you're still a debtor.

Putting the trivial amount to one side, if this was £1100 you would have to look at the vet's terms and conditions and go through all the transactions to be very sure that non-payment was a reasonable position.  

user1977

The vets aren't going to be daft enough to be pursuing £11 to the ends of the earth out of principle.

trudij

The telephone conversation I had with the senior partner was that he’d remove the £35 charge, the balance was XYZ and we would part ways. So yes - as far as I’m concerned I agreed with him that the amount was XYZ and I willingly paid that. ( I had no quibble with the work done - purely that they hadn’t communicated at all well with me and the fees kept going up and up with no discussion regarding costs BEFORE I agreed to the extra work being done. The option was there to treat my dog a different way if I hadn’t wanted to proceed - so I should have been given the choice)

Aylesbury_Duck

trudij said:

The telephone conversation I had with the senior partner was that he’d remove the £35 charge, the balance was XYZ and we would part ways. So yes - as far as I’m concerned I agreed with him that the amount was XYZ and I willingly paid that. ( I had no quibble with the work done - purely that they hadn’t communicated at all well with me and the fees kept going up and up with no discussion regarding costs BEFORE I agreed to the extra work being done. The option was there to treat my dog a different way if I hadn’t wanted to proceed - so I should have been given the choice)

That's a very strange choice of words but if that's what he confirmed, then ignore the £11 bill.

trudij

Oh quite early on he hit the “ there’s obviously been a breakdown in trust on both sides” line - I was quite surprised he did that straight away considering I wasn’t rude or offensive in any way, nor was I trying to not pay any other part of the consult/treatments - I genuinely just questioned their doing a small part of a urinalysis profile and charging so much for it. ( and showed him how much other labs charge for the same thing ( average is £15-20) 

Because I know what it entails he couldn’t just fob me off - and because he’d already done the breakdown of trust line, I figured I may as well carry on and mention how aggressive the physio was over the phone and how the communication between everyone clearly needed to improve, especially with regard to the cost of treatments BEFORE the client agrees them. I wasn’t even asked if my dog was insured !

Made no difference to me really, I was happy to go back to my original vet ( I’d only moved because my friend works there) I was just a little
surprised he went straight to “get out” just over a query on their pricing 🤣 and even more surprised that having paid the amount he told me it was once he’d credited me the £35 they then added another charge! 

sheramber

I have used  different vets  for over 50 years and have never been advised in advance of a charge for treatment without me asking for it.

mr_stripey

in my experience with vets, the final bill is always a bit, shall we say, variable? I guess they don't exactly know how much until then end when all the treatment, meds and everything else is totted up?

On balance though, it's probably more important that the vet are providing good care for the animal rather than estimating the bill down the the nearest pound.

elsien

I have a more general terms, but not specific costs.

So dental might be “it starts at x but could be more because it depends what we find when we get in there” or “ option Aor option B, are you insured because option be it will be a lot more expensive.”