Vet has sent an unjustified invoice

sdhatfield

Hi

I am looking for advise on how best to manage a vet that is chasing an unjustified invoice, and if there are any forums to complain about them to.

Over Christmas my dog ate a couple of mince pies, so we rushed him to the out of hours emergency vet (not our normal vet practice).

They gave us various options to help him and we settled on an injection to make him sick and then they would take his bloods, and retest the next day to see if there was any change.

After agreeing to this, we paid our invoice on site. We then brought him in the next day and had his bloods taken again as planned and long story short, he was fine.

We then left the practice (without anybody saying we owed more money) until we received a threatening letter in the post advising we had £150 to pay or we would be sent to the debt collector.

After enquiring with the vet, they have advised this was for the blood test on the 2nd day. This makes no sense to me as 1) the 2nd blood test was always agreed so why wouldn't it be included on the initial invoice and 2) they never advised us of the extra cost, if they had we wouldn't have done it was clear our dog was fine.

I have raised this to the vet but they are insisting it needs to be paid. I have questioned this further and asked to raise a formal complaint.

Are there any bodies we can escalate the complaint to? This feels completely inappropriate from the vet, they're trying to charge money we never agreed to and sending threatening letters about debt collectors.

For context, the vet is one of the large national providers so they aren't a small fish!

DE_612183

What does the detail say on the initial invoice that you paid?

sheramber

 Vets  normally charge for each visit unless you are a known client. 

You would not normally be charged in advance of any visit/ treatment.

Your invoice should state what you were charged for at the first visit.

vets are independent  businesses who set their own charges.
 There is no overseeing authority into charges. 

 

Penguin_

As above, vets charge per visit.

Does your first invoice, that you paid, say 1 or 2 blood tests? 

PyGuru

Check your initial invoice carefully to see if it mentions the second blood test explicitly. The vet may argue that the second test was a separate service if it only covered the first visit. However, since they never informed you about additional costs, you have grounds to dispute the charge.

Since this is a large national provider, escalate your complaint within their corporate structure. Most have a formal complaints process. If that doesn’t work, you can report them to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) or Trading Standards for unfair billing practices. You could also leave a detailed review online to warn others.

If you want to push back firmly, you could send a formal letter stating that you were not informed of the extra charge and that the demand for payment is unfair. Sometimes, simply challenging them firmly is enough to make them drop the invoice.

elsien

Although as far as the debt collector letters are concerns I would imagine they are computer generated if no payment is received after a certain amount of time so the tone of them would apply to all debt chasing correspondence. 

TripleH

We had to use an emergency vet Christmas 2023 (broken paw) for our eldest cat. We were charged at each visit and advised in the consulting room.

Might it be in your distress, you missed something that was said?

As @Elsien says above, wording is standard template letter as its cheaper than customising each letter.

sheramber

Do you not normally check at the desk , after a visit, if there is anything to  pay?

That is normal practice in all the vet practices I have used over the years.