Please help, have been misquoted and now being billed a huge amount

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Hello, I wonder if anyone has expertise in this sort of matter.

I'm really shaken after calling at the vets this morning, in order to buy some post op medicine for our rabbits.

The receptionist asked whether we had paid for the operations (they were all three neutered on Thursday) and I said we had.
She noted that we have an outstanding balance of something like £175. I was really puzzled and it transpired that the amount we had paid was actually for ONE rabbit (just over £80).

I am so shocked. I rang to book them in on Monday, actually I rang to ask what it would cost and the woman I spoke to said £35 per rabbit. I was pleasantly surprised and booked them in at the time. If it had been much more I'd have taken them elsewhere.

On the day I rang to confirm this in the afternoon, after they had been operated on I should add - and was told the total I'd been charged according to the computer was £80-/.

I made the receptionist check and she came back saying yes, that was all it was. 'Great' I thought - they are very small rabbits so I thought perhaps that was why it was less.

Anyway today it seems they have charged us £80 + each. My receipt, which I didn't check (I collected all three and presumed I was being charged for all three) states it is for one of them, but it could have meant all of them under one name...

The receptionist seems to believe me and says I was booked in possibly by one of the nurses, another nurse was there and said 'we're not allowed to book in'. It appears she got the price wrong. The receptionist today was the one who confirmed it at £80 on Thursday afternoon, and had to look up their fees to confirm it's meant to be £80 per rabbit - she didn't even know.

She was kind and said 'try not to worry' but of course I am now guaranteed sleepless nights until Monday.

Can someone please tell me where I stand? I know I was misquoted but will they accept my word on this? I didn't even think about asking for a written quotation.
I don't want to underpay and £35 each would still be fine - but not £240 total, that's just outrageous

Thanks.

£80 a rabbit??!!!! Are they male or female? It cost me £55 to have my female rabbit spayed. And its about £35 for a male. Why is it so much? My vets charges that for a large dog FFS, a rabbit is tiny

Female, Sparkly. I was expecting about £60 each, so was so pleased when she quoted me £35 each I booked the appts straight away.

I have no proof of the quote, though.
All I have is the support (I hope) of the receptionist who took the payment, with no mention of further charges to come, and my word against theirs.

I have a receitp but it only names one rabbit and one vet (they were each done separately by different vets, apparently)

I rang consumer direct and the woman said they have nO legal recourse to ask for more, now - but did admit the receipt was a bit of a stumbling block because it doesn't say I paid for all three.

anyone else know about this kind of thing?

I have no idea of the legalities but if I were you I would call around today and get at least three 3 other quotes from other vets in the area. Hopefully these will be in the £35-£60 price bracket and could support your claim that there was no way you would have agreed to £80 each when you could have it done so much cheaper elsewhere?

Good luck

Good idea! Thankyou.

Thanks,
have just rung round a few. There are a couple at £71, one at £60, one at £56. So £35 was always going to be cheap! But I didn't know that at the time, obviously - just imagined they knew what they were talking about how wrong could I be.

I'm guessing she gave the price for male rabbits. Which was obviously her mistake but still, it is a but worrying that I don't have it in writing.

the woman from Consumer Direct said it was a verbal contract, and I had paid what I'd been asked for, and they can't come running after me for more, now. I wonder when they would have sent the rest of the bill, had I not gone in today.

Feeling really shaky still, in case they push for it and get nasty. I could come up with it if necessary but tbh am really furious that they told me the wrong price in the first place.

Am guessing all the lawyers are out enjoying their weekend!

Just received two more invoices in the post - I'm glad I already knew they were planning to charge me more, or I'd have been really shocked.

Can't believe they have done this - when I paid, the receptionist checked for me and confirmed that was all I was being charged. NOTHING was said about invoices being sent or balances to pay.

It's all such a farce. They don't even know their own prices.

Really worrying, sorry to be so useless but I feel so sick about it.

.

Oh love .

Not quite the same but I was quoted a price at Bupa for having DS2's hearing checked and later I got an invoice for another £60. I phoned to ask and I didn't have to pay for it as I had already paid the £180 I had been quoted.

Oh gosh really Fab? That's really good. I hope they'll be as kind as that!

The receptionist seemed very understanding towards me and did admit she'd given me the wrong total, but they are a very posh vets and I feel like I'm going to be treated like a chancer iyswim.

I would still be happy to sub the extra £25 to make it to the total I was quoted initially, but if they'd been upfront and told me the proper price (which they do have access to, it seems) I'd have gone elsewhere straight away.

Thanks for your encouragement.

Just remember, you have done nothing wrong.

Stay calm and if they demand the extra money say you are only willing to pay the £25 to make it what you were quoted.

Actually, the £60 was missed off because I didn't give the nurse a form I had been given but no one told me too and she didn't take it off me or ask for it.

i would rely on their goodwill and the fact that you were qoted, booked in, given the ops, paid and took your rabbits home without anyone immediately trying to get more money from you

we had similar with our vets, we had some voucher thing for free vaccs , so booked the dogs in , and were told it would be £25 which we paid, then got v nasty letter about a month later saying we owed £65 !! phoned the vets immediately and were told it was not a problem but needed to speak to the practice manager. she was quite shirty with DH, who said after using the vets practice for best part of 20 years he expected a bit of give and take. bill promptly cancelled. it was their error

Thankyou very much guys, you are great.

We have our other pets registered there but tbh have not been regular customers, don't tend to do yearly vaccs or anything, I tried to get program there but it needed a consultation so we get it online...

they had a lot from us about 4 years ago when ds1 painted the cat blue, but that was covered by insurance.

Am trying not to be wobbly about it...it's that fight or flight reflex, makes me not want to eat or anything till it's all sorted! Ridiculous really. But i am so cross with them.

thankyou x

Oh and their vet charged us around £60 last year, for medicating the guinea pigs when in fact there was nothing wrong with them...just a bit of dry skin, he couldn't even find any evidence of mites on his microscope! But still gave them the injections.

I feel slightly fleeced.

The advice you received from Consumer Direct is correct. You basically entered into a (verbal) contract on the basis of the quote you received from the receptionist. If the quote she gave was wrong that is their problem (staff training issue). It is not a requirement that such a contract be in writing. The price quoted was a term of the contract. Thus you should have paid 3 x £35.

Of course, if it came down to it (if they were to issue a claim in the small claims court for the balance), it would depend on whose evidence was believed. And it seems there is no evidence that you were given any other quote.

My advice would be to write to the surgery explaining that you entered into the contract on the basis of the quote given by their employee and offer to pay the balance on that quotation (ie the £115 you were expecting to pay).

They are not entitled to hike up the price just because their employee made a mistake.

Thankyou very much, Jacksgrannie...that is really encouraging. I've thought about writing but figured I would wait and see what they decided initially before I do - though maybe it would be better to get in first with my offer. I'm not sure.

I tried to find the price on their website before I phoned, but there was no price list available. And they were the first people I rang, because we are already registered with them, so I didn't have other quotes to compare it with.

Even if I had I'd still have had no option but to believe what she told me - and a lot of places seem to be running special offers for rabbits at present in any case. (rabbit awareness week coming up!)

I'll see what they say tomorrow and if no joy, I'll write a proper letter.

Thanks again. Hope it doesn't get to the court stage! I couldn't handle the stress. Depends how litigious they are, perhaps.

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Thankyou Bloss, that sounds really good. I don't have the names unfortunately which is a pain. But perhaps you are right about making a written summary of it and sharing that with them straight away.

I took a few minutes to write down the entire story for my own records yesterday (on the back of one of the invoices!) so I can basically copy that into a letter with a few adjustments.

I really wouldn't have a problem paying a reasonable amount if agreed beforehand but it was a tripling of the bill that we just hadn't prepared for - it's really unfair. I'm hoping they don't just say 'well you can pay it off slowly' because frankly I don't intend paying it at all. The fact they overcharged for the pigs last year does come into it.
They are a hugely profitable company with brand new premises and a wealthy clientele (apart from us!) and the amount in question is probably rabbit food to them. I do want to be fair though.

Thanks for all your help.

What everyone said Your verbal contract was under the amount she stated, and that's the amount you are prepared to pay.

Good luck!

thankyou very much...would I need to prove she said that though/ This is what I'm worrying about - the fact I have no evidence. Apart from the receptionist telling me yesterday that it was her who'd said the total was £80 odd.

As long as she stays on side and admits the same to them, I'll probably be Ok!

Just what we need - have got recovering rabbits, a playing up motorbike, a national paper mucking us abut re an article, and school goes back tomorrow! Going to be a busy day.

You cannot "prove" it as the transaction was over the phone, but you hang tight to your story as this was the truth. Don't worry, you are totally in the right here.

Thankyou...I guess they'd have to prove I was quoted correctly, anyway, and they can't.

I'll let you know how it goes!