Being charged / invoiced more after paying for the service on the day

jmkgreen

We took our cat to the vets. They arranged a scan, which happened the following Monday and we paid our bill as we left. In our mind, we were simply now awaiting the scan results.

Two weeks later we have received an invoice. A line-item has been added concerning the scan (the referral), dated the day after the scan happened. We're now being chased for payment. Is this legal?

TIA!

Ergates

If you had the referral and haven't yet paid for it, then yes.

People make mistakes, and just because something was accidentally missed off an invoice doesn't mean you get it for free.

When you paid on the day, did you get an itemised bill?  If not, can you get one?

Aylesbury_Duck

Perfectly legal.  Sounds like a minor administrative error which they're entitled to correct.  If you've had a consultation and referral and then a scan, and have only paid for the scan, then you owe them for the initial consultation and referral.

user1977

Or possibly not an error at all. They might want cash up front for third party expenses but be content to bill after the event for their own time. I don't think we can answer from the info given.

sheramber

What did your invoice say for the firwst payment?

A referral charge would be senr to your vets  from whoever you were referred to and would not be billed until you had been seen.

The vet then passed it on to you.

The qickest to get an answer is to ask the vet about it, not strangers on a forum.

Green_hopeful

Just to say it’s worth checking if your vet is independent or part of a big chain. Our vet is independent and very reasonable. It costs about a quarter of the price of a chain vet. You can check on the companies house website to see if one of the vets is a director. If not it’s part of a chain. It doesn’t help your current situation but it might make the bills more manageable going forward. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/