Vets bill query

Jumblebumble

sheramber said:

trudij said:

Had I have known they were going to charge me for it then I would have done. There was no indication when I was asked to bring the extra sample in that there would be a charge - even in the way she asked me. 

The results they had discussed to generate the other bill were the ones from the original urinalysis - they were aware of the charge before my final bill was made up. 

I have never known a vet do anything without charging.- even the vet I had used for regularly for20 years.

Our vets lovely nurse gave us a free  recovery suit after our hound was spayed.
These are way better than the horrid cones if the surgery is in the right place

HillStreetBlues

Jumblebumble said:

Our vets lovely nurse gave us a free  recovery suit after our hound was spayed.
These are way better than the horrid cones if the surgery is in the right place

I have a vision of a dog in a tux

trudij

born_again said:

trudij said:

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. 

 roughly how much I could expect 

So not even a fixed price quote then..

Which was the 1st visit.
Any visits after are a separate charge, even follow on appointments. Anyone that uses a vets should know that.

Just had one of our dogs with an eye ulcer. £55 for each visit + drugs, + an overnight stay for intensive treatment at one point. End bill nearly £2K (no they would not quote how much it might be at the start) as how long is a bit of string. Luckily we saved the eye. Or that could have been another £3K for a specialist clinic for further work

As I clearly said - the price I agreed with the vet who rang me was the final total of my account once he’d taken off the invoice I queried. That final total (£80odd ( on top of the hundred and sixty something I had happily paid at the start) was what he had told me was all that was left to pay. Willingly paid by myself - at No stage did I quibble the work that had been done up to the final invoice. There wasn’t a fixed quote becuase I already knew roughly what I thought it would be and I rang to check I was in the right ball park. 

As already said - I worked in vet practice for 22 years ( and one that has a reputation for charging every little thing!) I knew that no way on the planet would they have charged to look at the second urine sample, given that there was minimal time needed to assess it, and very little in the way of preparation, so I assumed that with no mention of payment when I dropped it off, it would be done for a token cost at most. 

Apart from the urine testing, which was an unexpected extra after the blood test, every single part of my appointment could be costed before we went in. The original urine test was extra - as I’ve said, I had no issue with that and I paid without question. Another £35 for just looking for crystals in the second sample was what I queried and what the senior partner removed from my account so that I could make the final payment so my account with them would be terminated. This surprise £11 is apparently from the lab for liasing with the vet to tell her to ask me for another sample just to check for crystals because they couldn’t be sure the original sample hadn’t just hung around too long in the post or at the lab before they looked at it. ( which it turned out was what had happened - normal amount of crystals in the fresh sample) 

as for your dogs eye ulcer - cost/quote wise you can’t compare the two at all. There are so many possibilities for an eye if it doesn’t get the right treatment, you’re never going to be able to get an accurate ish quote - anything from £80 - £5000 would just about cover it due to the unpredictable nature of healing. A routine vaccination and kidney blood test you can absolutely cost out accurately ( give or take an abnormal result on the bloods that would need more investigation) 

  Hope your dog’s better now and didn’t take too many visits!