How do vets justify such ridiculous call out charges?

Peter7917 said:
I'm one that actually agrees with you that some of the call out charges are unjust.

Taken from my vets website
0-5 miles £10
5-10 miles £20
10-15 miles £30
15-20 miles £40
20-25 miles £50

If my vet can be fair with the costs of call outs then why cant the rest of them?
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Hallelujah! Haha... that sounds very fair, and transparent too which bodes very well with me!

I tell you what started me on this rant... I had my EDT out to a young horse to have a lot of dental work done, lots of rasping and 2 wolf teeth extracted and the vets charged me more to pop out and sedate than the EDT did to actually do the work!

Now for starters, the dentist is VERY experienced, travelled an extra 10(ish) miles to get to met than the vet, and was with my horse a lot longer that the vet. The vet was a very young girl who was asking the dentist a LOT of questions, including how much sedation to give. I dont mind having younger vets out to do sedations, vaccinations etc as they have to get experience one way or another, but it just REALLY griped me that A. the vets refused to do it on a 'zone day' because it wasn't a routine proceedure and B. that the bill from the vets was more than the dentist whose time I feel was SO much more valuable!
 
What you fail to take account of is that your vet - even a young one - has spent a great deal longer qualifying than the dentist. Your vets probably have a huge amount more capital invested in their practice ie x ray machines, scanners operating theatres etc etc.
I would strongly suggest that if you do not like your vets charges you move practices. Probably if they read this they will move you anyway!
 
My call out fee is about £60 + from my practice to my current yard going by their website! Thankfully not had them out since I moved where I am.

So much more then another practice that does free zone visits day. However I’d far rather pay the £60+ call out fee have a vet of my choice and totally understand they have running costs for the cars and other things to cover. £35 call out is cheap in my eyes and I wouldn’t be upset or even question that price! Even my old practice which was closer to my previous yard cost me £45 in call out!
 
Your dentist isn't a dentist, he's a dental technician.

The qualification in no way compares to the human equivalent of several years at university
 
honetpot said:
I would assume that when vets work out their scale of charges they assume most farmers have more than one animal, perhaps a herd or a flock and when attend for routine visits they will be treating several animals. I recently saw a copy of a bill for treatment for a ewe, and it wasn't much cheaper than a horse and it made me think it would perhaps have made better business sense to have the sheep shot.
A lot of call out work for vets I would imagine is pretty much a loss leader. You have to buy the car, fuel it, have a full bag of equipment and drugs. Travel time. You spend 45mins getting there, 30 mins exam and perhaps if you are lucky how much net profit on the consultation. If they were working in the consulting room they would perhaps see a patient every 20 minutes and have a full days work.
The plumber charges £50 per hour, his kit comes from Screwfix, he does not have the same level of responsibility, and try getting one to admit they have done something wrong or come back to fix something, and that's after spending several thousand pounds with them.
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How rude if you don’t like your plumber change them. My husband charges much less, does helps out old people and always goes back if customers are worried more often than not nothing is wrong or it’s nothing to do with anything he has done. Do not tar all the same. Some people are so rude and aggressive when you go to look at a job you have to walk away, some people think they are aright to be rude to trades people. He has to undertake ongoing expensive training and registration. I am happy with my vets as the costs in running a business are large
 
You could try asking if they do zone days OP.

However, £35 is pretty reasonable. Having pets and animals without being an expert at treating every ill and injury does have the side effect of needing someone who does have the knowledge to come and fix things when they go wrong. Surprisingly enough, this does cost money.

If you don't have any money, don't have animals.
 
tallyho! said:
You could try asking if they do zone days OP.

However, £35 is pretty reasonable. Having pets and animals without being an expert at treating every ill and injury does have the side effect of needing someone who does have the knowledge to come and fix things when they go wrong. Surprisingly enough, this does cost money.

If you don't have any money, don't have animals.
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I did ask if they did zone days as mentioned above and they said that sedation wasn't a routine procedure.

And of course I know it costs money to have horses. I'm not saying I don't have enough money to keep my horses or would ever let me horses go without so I believe that comment is a little unjust! I was purely questioning the value of a call out fee.
 
I am in no way pointing the finger at this practice specifically as it seems to be the norm. I have not named names at all so I'm not sure why you think they would move me?
 
SWE said:
I did ask if they did zone days as mentioned above and they said that sedation wasn't a routine procedure.

And of course I know it costs money to have horses. I'm not saying I don't have enough money to keep my horses or would ever let me horses go without so I believe that comment is a little unjust! I was purely questioning the value of a call out fee.
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Sorry - it wasn't aimed at you actually when I was writing it - I hear lots of people complain and cut corners when it comes to vets or other animal HCPs (domestic pets included!) so I was thinking of them, not you specifically.
 
Lets not forget the cost of non payers, which all of us have to pay for built into the cost of every single thing you buy, and the cost's of cameras and security in such as shops etc "we all" pay for this business expense every time we purchase something, just the tip of the iceberg, ask your farrier how many clients he has that owe him money.

Society is paying the price for ever increasing costs of running a business and ever expansion of building extra housing for starter's, it took me an hour sat in traffic to get to one single job last week, it takes me longer to get through traffic anywhere now than 5 years ago, who do you suggest pays for that extra time and fuel, don't see why I should fund it, I didn't want or was asked if I wanted the latest housing sites and Commercial park rammed into our area.
 
tallyho! said:
Sorry - it wasn't aimed at you actually when I was writing it - I hear lots of people complain and cut corners when it comes to vets or other animal HCPs (domestic pets included!) so I was thinking of them, not you specifically.
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OK tallyho thanks... In that case I do agree and frustrates me tremendously when people have animals they can't afford and don't care for them the way they should.
 
Excellent article Murphy's Minder.
I'd like to add that in our vet practice (small animal) visits are a loss leader. They take a vet (and usually a nurse as well) out of the practice at what might be a busy time - sometimes meaning that something else has to be rescheduled. We have to run and maintain a van. We do two zone days with free visits - they make a loss. The "normal" and emergency visits have to make up for this.
 
Not sure if this is suitable for your horse but how about just popping into the surgery and picking up a tube of Domosedan Gel for any dental work
 
I was paying £35 for a call-out 15 years ago and the practice was less than 2 miles away. Vets can set their own prices - I had to take one of my chickens for an emergency appointment on a Sunday mid-morning in November. She was examined, kept in for the afternoon, had tests, and I brought her home with a weeks worth of antibiotics and Metacam and the bill was just over £90. My sister took her cat to her vet in Cornwall for a routine appointment and paid over £100.
 
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