Has anyone refused to pay a bill and then changed vet?

[vetprob]

I'm unwilling to pay the final part of our bill due to the surgery not having been completed to the agreed standard.

Has anyone moved vets with something like this in the background? I realise notes may not be passed along, but I'm hoping that won't necessarily matter.

They didn't have a reason. They actually tried to do the check up 'out the back' without me present until I insisted. Lucky or I wouldn't have even seen it.

You are right that half my argument is one thing and half is the other.

I could perhaps forgive one but not both.

Personally I think you could argue for a discount based on the fact that they were negligent in leaving the tooth behind (given they were being removed to prevent infection). You could possibly also argue against paying for the items that weren't in the estimate but that the vet knew would be needed regardless.

It may be easier to pay the bill (asking for a discount for the tooth) and then put in a formal complaint afterwards if you feel it's needed. It will just save you from racking up interest or risking a court case.

@vetprob sorry I highjacked your question, I just got a flush of sulks.

vets are always expensive but if you feel there’s a problem I’d go in and see them in person, I’ve generally had good service but if an issue comes up a cordial face to face is the best place to begin

You'll be even more out of pocket if they take you to Court!
You do know that vet medicine is not an exact science? After all, the animal cant say how they feel, what hurts the most etc. A vet may start surgery then find problems they didnt anticipate thus meaning the surgery has to be adjusted to factor this is.

I think the magnitude of the error in the estimate is a problem. Let's assume that insurance limit is 5k, out by £500 is annoying but ok but out by 10k (3x limit) is dodgy as owner would have likely sought a second opinion or made a different decision if they'd had that price. Was the estimate negligent or fraudulent to be that far out. Was the low estimate intended to induce the OP to do the surgery at this practice.

It's predictable that the purpose of an estimate is to decide if paying for an op is possible, so it being basically impossible if that far out is hardly unpredictable.

I'm usually on the side of the vets but if the estimate is 200% out I'm starting to swap sides!

Thank you @randomsabreur I'm glad it's not just me. Decades of vet care and never had this before. Not something I think they should be allowed to do.

I had two problems with my ex shit vet where I did not think i should have paid the bill. One was a routine dental where my healthy 7yo dog was found dead in the cage in recovery after the surgery. I don’t believe they gave good aftercare and they still charged me £400. Even the vet nurse as she was crying said i shouldn’t have to pay but i did pay.

then a few months later elderly cat was unwell. Cat went for blood tests and a scan and I paid. Then after I left they decided to do further blood tests with the sample they still had and rang up and asked Dd who was 15yo could they do another blood test. Dd said it would be fine, assuming I’d have to take the cat back for the blood test, they never mentioned a price. They rang back the next day to say I owed another £80 and that Dd had given permission.

I paid that bill as well but left to another vet. I was worried about being blacklisted. My new vet certainly got medical records from the old vet.

You also need to make sure vets in your area are accepting new clients full stop. Many round here aren’t due to a vet shortage, I was on a waiting list for months.

You can do a lot of vet bashing. I work for an independent practice and we tend to give estimates , not quotes but we inform owners along the way and once we give an estimate we try and inform as soon as it goes over. Nothing is ever a quote.
You also haven't said what the problem was which makes it more difficult to judge.
I am paid no more than an experienced human nurse. I have just put a day's work in with no breaks, starting early. Didn't even have time for a cup of tea or lunch. It is hard work and at times emotionally draining to have to tell owners bad news or do put to sleeps. It is not an easy job at the best of times and it does affect you and your mental health.
So you either have bad vets or you don't grasp how difficult it can be to deal be a poorly pet. We all care a lot. But also our time and the equipment cost money.
We are all very aware about this but that's how it is. We can't provide care and treatment unless we are paid for it.

How much is your insurance limit. There are some policies that are very very low so 3x wouldn't actually be that far out as I have authorised many investigations and procedures for my dog and some have come under the bottom estimate range and some over the top estimate range by a few hundred pounds.

For the few dental ones I am always warned that it may turn out more depending on what they find when they are doing it.

We had a situation with our previous cat where she needed a scale and polish, and two teeth out. Once she was under they realised she needed more teeth out, and the bill ended up about four times what we were quoted (estimated?). They rang us to check we wanted to go ahead, and if we had said no would have just done the original two teeth as expected. For reasons unknown, we didn’t claim on the insurance - I think someone had told me dental wasn’t covered?

We sadly had the same cat pts earlier this year after multiple scans revealed she had aggressive cancer in her stomach. The specialist vet ended up doing more tests than anticipated and again, she called to check it was okay to go ahead. (We did claim then but did have to pay upfront first.) I think your vet was wrong to not check in before going ahead with treatment, even though the initial estimate is subject to change.

Where I live the vets have stopped taking on new customers as they are so over stretched so make sure you can actually do this.

It does if the complaint was legitimate.

But what's stopping the OP from joining a new vet and claiming that her pet is a rescue from a centre, and they've only just got him?

Sorry, pressed post a bit hastily. I'm not saying it's the right course of action!

@SharpOpalNewt I'm genuinely intrigued by this as I always believed private businesses were allowed to pick and choose their clients as long as they weren't being discriminatory.

She wouldn't be able to claim on her insurance in the future if she did this.

@JMSA it's really not in my nature to lie and I'm not in the business of misleading people, especially those with which I hope to have a close relationship (as I always have with my vet until recently).

But I see what you're saying. I'm sure people do this.

Why put an animal through that in the first place.

He had infections @fanaticalfairy

I have a dog with huge dental problems involving multiple extractions and have never found an insurance company who cover dental problems!!

No same, the insurance claim was for another procedure carried out at the same time as the dental.

Unfortunately I think this is the result of not having sufficient insurance cover 😕 I imagine it’s a shocker getting that bill when you thought you were covered. Did they explain the cost difference since the estimate? If they couldn’t have really foreseen the increase the like I say it’s unfortunate and a lesson learnt to have better insurance cover but if they made the estimate poorly and have now put you in a financially compromised position I’d get some advice. Have you spoken to the vets about the situation and seen if they can offer a payment plan plus take the remaining tooth out free of charge? Unless you can confidently / fairly / morally fight a case to say the vet has got the costing wrong I think you’ll find yourself in a tricky situation with bad credit rating and possibly not be able to use other vets

This does sound deliberate then....