Has anyone used vac4life?

[PuppyPuppy]

From £99, vaccinations for life from vets4pets.

Is there a catch?

I’ve always used our local vets who, whilst trustworthy are megabucks.

Is it better to stay with trusted vets and pay more?

Vac4Life terms and conditions here most notable they can suspend if you owe them money for other treatment, you must pay for a booster first and they reserve the right to cancel the membership for any reason they see fit. If you lapse they insist that you pay for full course before rejoining, but their criteria for lapsing is more stringent that the data sheets - they use term overdue so in theory a gap of 366 days is overdue, but drug companies technical support say it can be up to 15 months.
In my town there was a Vets4Pets and a Companion Care ( same company) they closed vets for pets transferred all
Clients to CC cancelled all Vac4Life as 'different brand' 9 months later rebranded CC as aV4p.
Disclaimer I own an independent practice I have clients who go to V4P for the vaccs and everything else to us. That is fine admin hassle to get notes each time, but fine.

That's odd Lonecatwithkitten as those terms state

12. Vac4Life is transferrable between participating Vets4Pets and Companion Care practices If not participating practice still shouldn't be cancelled as client could drive to a branch in different area just for vaccinations.

I don't know why I didn't sign up tbh as I've used a vets4pets as some vets I know took on partnership. I'll have to find out if they are strict on timings, other vets had about 2-3months leeway before having to restart but probably depends what part is due.

Iirc there was a thread on here not long ago where one of these places had cancelled the ‘vacs for life ‘ of a poster because she hadn’t attended with the dog for any other treatment during the year . I suspect they thought she was a client as mentioned by lonecat who simply used them for the perks and then went elsewhere for actual treatment . We go to an independent vet and they have a vacs for life programme of their own so your vet may well offer something similar .

Thanks for the replies!
@Lonecatwithkitten I hadn’t considered that I could do vaccinations and other stuff at different vets!

How do you feel about customers who do that?

We’ve been going to the current vet since I had dogs as a child.
The only thing that’s swaying me is the cost, but it does feel disloyal!

@Floralnomad thanks for that.

The current vets offer packages, but they’re very expensive so I haven’t taken it up with previous dogs.

I am on Vacs4Life. Oddly, my nearests Vets4Pets would not initiate the plan (i.e. do the first set of Vacs and take the £99) but are happy to honor the scheme once I had it set up through a Vets4Pets further away. It's always a bit of a palava with the receptionist, she tends to look at the certificate like she has never seen one before, and double-checks with a colleague, so I don't think it can be that popular at the branch I am at.

I do use the practice for all my doggie needs/appointments/treatments, as they are a very good, and good value, practice.

I recently emailed them about having my dog's boosters done, since they are due now. I didn't mention I was on Vacs4Life, but I have it in an email from them that that the boosters have 3 months' leeway (for my dog until end of August) and they will be back in contact with me as and when they get through the backlog. So I hope they will honor that delay under the scheme!

We set it up for our dog 4 years ago, I would recommend it. I just make a note in my diary annually when to make the appointment as they don't remind you but it's good value for the money. For the last couple of years we haven't needed any additional treatment for our dog during the year so only use them for that.

I use it for my cat. He went missing for two years but they still honour it. I would definitely recommend it!

@PuppyPuppy go into detail as to what your vets package covers. Ours covers all flea and worm treatment, health checks and kennel cough vaccine ( not covered in vacs4life).

I was waiting for the catch too but 5years down the line and vaccinations are still free!
Definitely worth it.
Plus we get free 6monthly health checks aswell.

Lonecat- yes it comes with all of that, but their prices are extortionate.

They are amazing vets, but are known to be pricey.

Has anyone had any issues claiming on insurance with them?

Just to clarify (as I know these threads will come up in Google searches in the future) the current backlog I mentioned in my post is due to the coronavirus pandemic!

Has anyone had any issues claiming on insurance with them?

Vets4pets were great when I had to claim, filled out all the forms etc.