Really Annoyed at the vets :-(

[Amber]

Thats awful! To leave it three years, and then all of a sudden turn around and say that you still owe them £300 had they bothered to tell you in the first place it wouldn't have been a problem.

At our practice, we ask that all bills are settled on the day, but if for some reason this is not possible, we ask that they are settled within 14 days. If for some reason, the client is unable to pay back the full amount in one go, we will come to some sort of arrangement so that they pay us in monthly installments, or supply us with post dated cheques. If the bill is not settled within 14 days (except for the circumstances just described) a copy of the invoice is sent to the client, with a note on the bottom asking that the bill be settled within the next 7 days. Once the 7 days has passed, we give them a few days grace, and then another copy is sent to the client, stating that this is their second reminder and the bill must be settled within 5 days, otherwise a court letter will be issued. We have only had two cases in the past year where a court letter has been nescessary, and I have to say those clients were very bad payers anyway.

Our policy used to be that the owners pay us back when they could. Regular reminders would still be sent but we had no set time in which the bill must be settled. However we had so many cases of clients ignoring the reminders completely, and when contacted by telephone months later, claiming that they had never received any bills. If clients are unable to pay, and tell us that straight away, that's fine, we can make arrangements - it's when they lie about it or totally ignore it that annoys us.

Clearly the practice is completely at fault here, and there was absolutely no need for the vet to speak to you the way they did! If I were you, I would make a formal complaint against the vet to the head office. There's obviously a total lack of communication going on between the staff there aswell. A change of vets may definately be in order hun.

[Elvisisboss]

hiya thanks!

i know!! petplan pay for it all, i was under the impression that after my first claim i didnt have to pay anything else as they never asked for Any money what so ever!!

but every year for the first claim i have to make a little bit torwards it, so thats what the £300 (now £350-made another new claim) adds up to!

my dad might be paying it for me & ill pay him, i hate having debt in different places, i saked them to set u a direct debit or a bank payment but they said no to that aswell, so my partner has to drive down there every month with payments as im too ill to go!!!!

extremly annoying, if only the girl i had spoken to & head office had told the other vets what was going on, made me feel like a liar! and i do not lie!!

anyway, we are moving next year & i will move vets to, i havent got the energy to complain, just want to forget about it, they used to be so nice to us as at one time we took our cat in every 2 days....then every 4...then every week, then every 4 weeks over a period of 6 months as he is allergic to Everything!

if they had tols us 'you have to so and so torwards each new claim' at the time i had a job i could have said 'here you go thats fine'

but to leave it 3/4 odd years!

ARGH!

[Elaine]

Originally Posted by Jac

I agree with all of the above. Or get your agreement in writing from the Vets head office. Put in an official complaint of how she treated you and change vets. Remember to keep to your payment plan and you'll be home dry.

I agree Jac, thats exactly what I would do too.
I can understand that you dont want to do this and I am sorry you had to be humiliated like that. Personally I'd kick ass.

[Elvisisboss]

lol no i should write to them really, im going there tonight to make a payment & ill ask for a written agreement to be sent to me, then i have to go 2weeks later to take the cat for his monthly injections so if i dont recieve it buy then ill be going back any flippin way!!