Vets..excessive mark-up! Should I return items?

[lonelylou09]

I've got 2 dogs and 1 horse. No insurance (yes I'm an idiot!)
This year so far ive already spent £969 at the vets plus another £125 yesterday.

That's made up of 2 emergency call outs and painkillers for the horse (£150) the rest is daily meds for older dog arthritis plus monthly jabs and my younger dog had to have a growth removed from his leg.
I paid beforehand £130+ to have a biopsy sent off and tested but the results were inconclusive so vet recommended it be removed as well as a large area around it just incase.
This has left him with a huge open wound and we've been to the vets every other day for 3 weeks now for dressing changes. Which resulted in the £125 bill yesterday. I wasn't expecting it to be that much so asked for a print out.
So far everytime they have changed his dressing it's £5 for the melolin pad and £5 for the vet wrap. They have also given me 6 melolin pads incase I need to change his dressing at home. But no vet wrap so I ordered some online. £1 each!
So I looked up the dressing pads online...£6 for a box of 10. Same make and size.
I really don't mind paying my vet bills (honestly I can't think of what else I could possible think to spend £1000+ on 😭😭 ) and have always just paid it without question but surely if I can get them that cheap they are not paying anywhere near £5 each for them!
Would I be being unreasonable to take the pads back and ask for a refund?
I hate being that person but at the moment every spare £ is going to the vets without feeling ripped off in the process.

[quote lonelylou09]@ClarkeGriffin not in any way am I complaining about the £1000+ ..worth every single penny..my question was would I be unreasonable to ask to return the £5 each dressings when I can get a box of 10 for nearly the same price, especially as it looks like he's going to be needing a lot more.[/quote]
Thought my post was obvious when I said pay the bill and stop complaining, but yes you would be unreasonable. If you don't want anymore from them, just say so. Don't have to keep buying it after that. I got a first supplement from the vets for my horse, but I found a cheaper equivalent online. I chose the online one after using the vets batch. Simple as that.

What painkiller? Bute, danolin? Loads cheaper online with a prescription from your vet, but if you need it immediately, you have to suck it up and pay.

Don’t you have a med kit at home for the dogs? Vet wrap/dressings are cheap as chips on eBay. I have a stock handy for my accident prone springers.

I would return them.. it is annoying to pay for the items they gave you to take home , knowing the markup is more than 800 pct!!!! That’s an enormous markup

Sorry forgot to add.. 800 pct over retail... ALL businesses need to make a margin to survive of course, but if everyone charged markups of say 900 pct over wholesale/trade price , nothing you bought in a shop would be affordable

DH is a vet, for our personal animals we buy online for most things as it's far cheaper than buying at cost through his work!

[quote lonelylou09]@ClarkeGriffin not in any way am I complaining about the £1000+ ..worth every single penny..my question was would I be unreasonable to ask to return the £5 each dressings when I can get a box of 10 for nearly the same price, especially as it looks like he's going to be needing a lot more.[/quote]
Sure do that.

But then don't be surprised if your vets suddenly start charging you appropriately for their time

You've had 5 vet checks/wound/exams/dressing changes for £125 and they've clearly not charged you a consultation fee. But when they do charge you an appropriate fee for stock you want to complain. Rather than thinking they're trying to rip you off on the bandage materials, why not willingly pay full price as a gesture of goodwill for all the discounted treatment they've given you so far?

Please tell me the name of your vet practice. I would be prepared to travel far for such cheap vet treatment

@WaltzingBetty I have paid for all of it as stated.
When it's the same issue there is generally not a full consultation fee each time for the same issue. If I was taking him every other day for a different matter and taking up the vets time in a consultation I would happily pay for that if asked. They have charged a small fee on top of material costs for each dressing change and I've happily paid that.
My issue was with being unwittingly sold these dressings to do at home at such a high cost. I've now got 7 spare dressings that the nurse has just given me when bringing the dog out..that's £35 when a box of 10 cost me £6.

@Cherrysoup no painkillers involved? They didn't give the dog any. And I would always buy medication direct from the vet even though I know it's cheaper online in some cases. Just for peace of mind that I know it's what it's meant to be.
The vet himself told me it would be cheaper to buy my older dogs daily medication online (loxicom) but the difference in price was a few pound for a few months supply so would rather pay the extra to the vet.
Yes I do normally have a little supply of items at home but horse had a foot absess recently and cleared out most of my stuff.

Your treatment may have been reasonable so far but I do agree that vets put a massive mark up on the medication they sell. It is ofter 4 times the amount you can buy it for online and, whilst I expect it to be a bit more at the vets, not that much. You already pay for the consultation fee so it's not their time you are paying more for. I just pay around £10 for the prescription and buy it online, still works out much cheaper.

@XelaM not complaining about the cost of any treatment and I think the vets do an amazing job. Even more so now since covid as they are flat out now they can't do drop in clinics as before.
But I've had 2 handfuls of dressings given to me by the nurse...not knowing I was being charged so much until after I'd paid and asked for a print out.
The cost is ten times what I can get them elsewhere!

@Kisskiss thank you for seeing my point! I wouldn't expect to be paying almost 10x more for a dressing. I would of (wrongly) assumed that the vet would buy in bulk and they would be reasonably priced. I didn't ask for the dressings was just given a few each time incase I needed to change it..but not given vet wrap to secure it so it was obvious I'd have to buy that myself.

@Sueaxlbrick yes the vet said to me it may be cheaper to buy the older dogs daily medication online but it was not that much cheaper so I've stuck with getting it from them. As it's just a dressing change it's been the nurse doing it rather than the vet .hence the smaller charge rather than full consultation fee.

in your position, i'd buy online for supplies I use at home, let them use & charge for their own stock when they are providing treatment.

& hope that horse and dog are feeling better soon.

Vets do buy in bulk but for most things (meds) they have to use the authorised veterinary wholesalers. I assume they buy bandages from them to increase volume discounts on meds. I do know (from DH's rants) that most of the online pharmacies are cheaper than the wholesale price paid by the vets! Bizarrely in an old job it was cheaper for DH to buy our dog's metacam from a reputable online pharmacy linked to a big corporate than to use his staff discount at his own practice.

I think you are incredibly foolish to not have pet insurance.
In fact unless you are very wealthy,I don’t think anyone should have a pet without pet insurance.
My eldest dog died ,he was ill ,and the final vets bill was over 5 thousand.
Insurance company paid within the week .
Actually the care you have received sounds very reasonable for what you have paid out .
No don’t humiliate yourself asking for the money of the pads back ,they won’t be able to reuse them again .they will end up in the bin

@lonelylou09 Does seem daft to demand a refund for so little when you have paid a grand already on vet bills.

Just say nothing and buy your own from now on.

Hope your animals are OK soon ..

I wouldn't bother getting a refund, but you can always ask the vet to use your own supplies in future. The vet will be more than happy to do that

I wouldn't take them back this time, but I agree there should be more transparency on consumables that are readily available elsewhere. For example, paying for one dressing from them is reasonable, but sending you off with 5 instead of saying they need x we can provide it for y cost or you can buy it over the counter is fair. I guess they might say they see it as a duty of care, ie we know the animal needs these for z amount of days, if we provide them we know they are leaving us with everything they need to provide that care; but it's more likely about money isn't it.

@lonelylou09 you said That's made up of 2 emergency call outs and painkillers for the horse (£150 which is what I mentioned. You now said there are no painkillers for the horse? With an abscess??

Vet bills don't just cover the cost of the dressing or medicine supplied. You're also paying towards the professional time, the premises, the hugely expensive equipment in it, all the back up staff. The 24 hour cover.

FYI, vets insure their own pets. So that they can afford to treat them.

@Cherrysoup sorry..mixed up with the dog treatment. Yes horse had mild colic 2x so emergency call out plus a painkiller injection was £75 X2. Hoof absess was treated by the farrier and myself ..no painkiller needed just some vet wrap and nappies to draw the infection out.

I agree it’s a huge mark up, but it’s to be expected, you’re paying partly for the expertise (knowing they’re the correct ones) and convenience (take them home there and then rather than waiting for delivery). I think it’s similar to ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant, we paid £30 for one last week, I liked it so looked it up online - £6.

@randomsabreuse that's very strange..you would think it would be cheaper for the vet at least. But I guess not always the case.
I can remember an ex of mine having a fit in the local garage about them charging him £750 for a part he found brand new online for £150. He told them no way was he paying that and he would bring his own in. Not quite the same thing and I don't mind paying their prices when they are changing the bandages..I wouldn't take my own in and ask them to use that but it seemed very excessive to me.