Are others seeing this with their Vets ?

[C908]

We live in a small town that has 3 different Vet offices. I have actually tried all three of them. What I have experienced with two of them has me wondering if this is a new
trend. What I experienced is being charged two different prices for an office visit. To me this has the same feel as a car dealer scam to take advantage of the customer.If I call and make an appointment for any day other than the day Im calling the price is $45.00. If I make an appointment for the same day Im calling the price is $69.00 at one vet and 59.75 at the other.I might mention I learned this from personal experience after the fact. Neither Vet had a sign posting this policy or made disclosure of it at the time appointments were made. Has anyone else heard of this or experienced it ? Thanks for your comments.

 

[C908]

I forgot to mention one Vet list on the receipt work in $69.00 the other list urgent visit $59.75.

 

[Panama]

We have 3 vets in town.... (one I wouldn't bring a dog to no matter how serious the issue, I'd go out further).
One is a "clinic" that is strictly Walk-Ins. Office visit is $10 - $20. If you're there just for shots or suture removal, it's $10... otherwise $20. They are the After Hours EV for the county.

The other vet I use is for things of concern or serious issues. Usually by appointment only, but will work a pet in. Their office visit is $45 and always listed as Office visit. Price is the same whether I make an appointment or just walk in and wait to be worked in.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Strange. I don't have any helpful info. I just pay whatever silly monies the vet requires when I take the Dobe in.

I've never really felt I've gotten much out of vet visits. I ask questions and they don't really provide much in the way of solutions. They do tend to offer for me to buy drugs or prescription foods.

 

[HappyJoe]

Not in a small town but, because of Covid concerns everybody is by appointment only and generally the staff comes out to your car to get the pup. So the only way to get same day appointments is when it is urgent. And yep, those are more expensive.

 

[Rits]

I'm shocked you have vets that have room for same day appointments. Every vet here in a 25mile radius is booked up to 3-4weeks!! I'm wondering if that's why they are charging more. Honestly I'd be happy to pay more to get in sooner. It's frustrating to have a semi non emergency but could be bad if you wait 3-4weeks...

 

[Tropicalbri's]

We have so many people call and schedule an emergency appt, then they pull a no show.

We stay booked 4 weeks out and we try our best to save a slot for a work in emergency.

If your dog, cat, bird, lizard, snake starts vomiting and diarrhea on a Monday, don’t wait until Friday to call for an appt for that day, then yell at the staff for not being able to accommodate you.

We still charge $58. for office visit with the vet and do not charge an emergency fee unless it’s after hours.
Office visits with just the technician is less than with the vet.

When clients call with an emergency that requires us to pull staff from their duties to assist with the exam, it causes us to stay late because we have to complete all the jobs that were not done to accommodate your pet.

I am the on call tech that gets the dreaded 0100 call to come and assist the vet with an emergency.
Then I have to deal with a rude client that screams about the bill they can not afford but agreed to the estimate before we started.
The abuse we take from clients is monumental and it is exhausting dealing with them.
We have been cussed at, threatened and physically grabbed by irate clients.

There is a reason I always have one of my Dobermans at work with me.

Many clinics are now setting up charges for no shows. If you pull a no show 3 times in a row, you will be required to prepay for an office visit.
The appt you pulled a no show on could have gone to someone that really needed it.
Our vet won’t let us charge for no shows. He tries to be fair with everyone but at least he stands up for us when clients get nasty.
Any client that is rude and screams obscenities at us is immediately fired as a client. I will immediately make copies of their records and give them to the client for their new vet.

If you are charged different prices for an OV then you need to tell the staff and have them explain the charges.
Everything is computerized so OV are in the computer at a set price and should not fluctuate.
We give discounts to senior citizens, handicapped and military personnel.
If prices are lower then look on receipt for a discount that was applied.
If you are not getting a discount for the 3 groups listed, then don’t be afraid to ask for it.

This is a tough field to be in with the Covid rules in place by the AVMA and clients tend to take their frustrations out on us.

Ask the Vet why your OV are inconsistent as they should be up front with you. If they are not then I would find a different vet.
There are quite a few vets here that I would not take a dead animal to much less one with serious health issues.

 

[JanS]

It has been really disappointing around here since our vet and many others won't take any walk in or emergency calls, no matter what the emergency is or what time it is. Last week, during regular office hours, I wound up taking Albert to a vet I swore I'd never go to (this one Hibbing vet disciplined - unbelievable... ) because it was the only place that would see him for an extra $100 emergency fee. The office call was $40 so that was average and the job got done but...

Many clinics are now setting up charges for no shows. If you pull a no show 3 times in a row, you will be required to prepay for an office visit.

And they should since other people can't get in when they need to because of irresponsible people like that.

 

[Kaiser2016]

Many years ago there was some talk about forcing vets to display their prices. I have to say I agree with that. A certain level of transparency has to be there. You get a quote before proceeding with dental work, why not the same for pets? At the same time, the argument against publishing prices was that people shouldn't be motivated by cost. Yet, how many surprise bills just show up at the end of the appointment? So far, I haven't seen a single vet put their prices up, not in the office or online. I just ask them to quote me on best and worst case scenarios so I have a range to work with. I find if I do that, it is also less likely that they are just going to provide all sorts of random services while I'm in there.

I so agree with charging for no-shows. That's just plain unfair to anyone that has to book appointments. I don't know about the vet, because knock on wood, we haven't had to go to one since Covid struck, but I have been paying pet insurance premiums all the same without having the same level of access. Then there is my chiro (for humans) who now has to book with a 15 minute gap to avoid patients running into each other and so that he has time to clean in between - imagine if those appointments would cancel without notice. They did introduce a cancellation fee because it must have been happening a lot, but then they had to relax their cancellation time frame in case the patient was feeling sick that day, which makes sense, but ya, there have been a lot of changes to everyday normal activities.

 

[Ravenbird]

Ahhh. The pleasures of living in a small town with a country vet. I love both the vets at my clinic. They take ONLY walk ins, no appointments except for scheduled surgeries. When I took Asha for her post purchase physical exam it was just an office call of $34. Later she got her rounds of vaccines, but I wanted her rabies shot a couple of weeks later by itself and they were totally fine with that. I figured for the trouble they would charge an office call. Nope it was $12.20 to take her in, get the rabies vaccine and leave. I may have had to wait 30 or 45 minutes because, as I said, no appointments. That was last January. Also, last December when my cat was dying, I took him in for advice about letting him die at home (vet agreed unless in pain) and he didn't charge me anything for that tearful visit. Asha had one sick day in Feb - I was terrified she ate something & was blocked, it's the only day since I've owned her that she didn't want to eat - 2 X-rays, (gas bubble, no foreign objects), a 4 hour stay for observation, antibiotic, sulfer-something and some tablets for tummy soothing - can't recall what. Grand total $136.

These two vets and all the staff I've met are the most caring clinicians I've met in a long, long time. I count my blessings.

 

[C908]

Ahhh. The pleasures of living in a small town with a country vet. I love both the vets at my clinic. They take ONLY walk ins, no appointments except for scheduled surgeries. When I took Asha for her post purchase physical exam it was just an office call of $34. Later she got her rounds of vaccines, but I wanted her rabies shot a couple of weeks later by itself and they were totally fine with that. I figured for the trouble they would charge an office call. Nope it was $12.20 to take her in, get the rabies vaccine and leave. I may have had to wait 30 or 45 minutes because, as I said, no appointments. That was last January. Also, last December when my cat was dying, I took him in for advice about letting him die at home (vet agreed unless in pain) and he didn't charge me anything for that tearful visit. Asha had one sick day in Feb - I was terrified she ate something & was blocked, it's the only day since I've owned her that she didn't want to eat - 2 X-rays, (gas bubble, no foreign objects), a 4 hour stay for observation, antibiotic, sulfer-something and some tablets for tummy soothing - can't recall what. Grand total $136.

These two vets and all the staff I've met are the most caring clinicians I've met in a long, long time. I count my blessings.

What you described sounds a lot like the clinic that is 30 miles from house. No appointments, low rates and two Country Vets. I may very well start making the drive and using them more.