How do vets justify such ridiculous call out charges?

I'm not a vet, I am a professional who spent a little less time at uni than a vet (4/5 years standard plus on the job training). My time is charged at £217 an hour by my employer. Travel might be agreed at 50% discount. So I think a £35 call out is not bad when you take into account costs of travel and time.
 
SWE said:
I'm really not disputing what vets do, how much drugs cost or how much they are going to charge me to examine my horse.... It is just the call-out I have an issue with!
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It will just be a flat rate, as someone else said, so won't matter how close to the practice you are. Also bear in mind the vet may not be coming to you from the practice, but from elsewhere that is further away. In fact, unless you're first call in the morning it's very likely they'll have been somewhere else first.

Also, as someone else mentioned most vets do a cheap or free call-out day, which is brilliant for routine stuff. Unless it's an emergency or something else that can't wait, I always try to get one of the "zone" days as we call them.
 
It may only take 10 minutes to get to yours but they could be “earning” a lot more in that time by consulting or performing tasks in practice. Many vets won’t be responsible for their call out fees and it will be decided by someone else in a managerial/practice owner position. They are on a fixed wage and somewhere along the line someone has evaluated how much their time is worth when travelling I.e being paid to be at work but not earning the practice money. This plus fuel costs, or in some cases a percentage towards insurance, MOT, tax, purchase and fuel of a practice owned vehicle. That will be your call out fee.

The call out fee is high as their time is worth a lot because the wages are “high” to cover the ~50-100k to get through vet school university and internships (including basic living costs).

(Please excuse my personal bitterness about the belief vets get paid a lot, when in reality jobs that are much less demanding physically, mentally and emotionally can reap much better rewards)
 
I don't know the business model of your vets but at my work (admittedly mainly small but some basic mixed work) consulting I earn the practice £216 an hour before drugs and extras (£36/10min), a callout fee of up to 5 miles being £58+ normal consult charge still makes them quite a comparative loss as all in a visit is rarely less than 30min door to door.
 
meleeka said:
The livestock vet I use for my pigs is much cheaper than my equine vet, despite the livestock one being at least an hour away.
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Interesting that horse owners ge5 charged a lot more than farmers for the same basic service ! Same with feeds, drugs, grazing etc etc .we get charged a premimium because we will pay it !
 
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.
 
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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My kit doesn't come from Screwfix it comes from a reputable outlet, Grahams mostly or Plumb Center, also try telling the dead 16 year old girl and her dog who died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning or anyone dead from a gas explosion that I don't have actually "more" responsibility than than someone who just deals with animals, I also have to do gas exams every 5 years at a lot of expense and pay to be Gassafe registered every year, also I look after my customers and go back if they have a problem, so you are talking out of your backside, just because you managed to get yourself some cowboy don't tar all other tradesmen with the same brush thanks very much. NOFA.
 
Pedantic said:
My kit doesn't come from Screwfix it comes from a reputable outlet, Grahams mostly or Plumb Center, also try telling the dead 16 year old girl and her dog who died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning or anyone dead from a gas explosion that I don't have actually "more" responsibility than than someone who just deals with animals, I also have to do gas exams every 5 years at a lot of expense and pay to be Gassafe registered every year, also I look after my customers and go back if they have a problem, so you are talking out of your backside, just because you managed to get yourself some cowboy don't tar all other tradesmen with the same brush thanks very much. NOFA.
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Spot on ^. Having worked in a family P & H company for 7 years till end of last summer , I totally agree with you on all the above. The lads worked ruddy hard, and had to be very responsible. Its easy for persons outside the trade to 'diss' plumbers, particularly when they pay 'loads' for a leaking tap or a dpc not getting hot - let alone a boiler non-op - but they haven't trained & taken the quals to deal with it in a workmanlike and safe manner. Nor does the customer realise what losing Gas Safe quals would mean!
 
Vets don't actually make much money - OK large animal vets that are out and about - from their call outs and work. They make their money from the drugs and bandages they use. My previous vets tried to charge £75 a bottle for penicillin - something they can buy in for less than £5 a bottle in bulk. This is why they are now my previous vets.

When you have horses you are best having your own supply of bandaging equipment so the vet doesn't need to use their own.
 
EKW said:
Vets don't actually make much money - OK large animal vets that are out and about - from their call outs and work. They make their money from the drugs and bandages they use. My previous vets tried to charge £75 a bottle for penicillin - something they can buy in for less than £5 a bottle in bulk. This is why they are now my previous vets.

When you have horses you are best having your own supply of bandaging equipment so the vet doesn't need to use their own.
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This is definitely true for small animal vets too. My dog is on two lots of lifetime medication. My vets charge for a months supply is £194. Online it’s costing me £46, excluding a prescription charge every 6 months. The vets and online pharmacy are owned by the same company (CVS). Presumably the online pharmacy are still making a profit, albeit a smaller one.
 
bonny said:
Interesting that horse owners ge5 charged a lot more than farmers for the same basic service ! Same with feeds, drugs, grazing etc etc .we get charged a premimium because we will pay it !
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Vet fees don't just cover the visit but the cost of all the highly expensive equipment the vets have to buy and maintain. Most farm animals tend not to undergo x rays, scans, scoping etc which is why equine fees tend to be higher.
 
SWE said:
So first of all, I am NOT trying to say that vets should be paid peanuts, I am more than happy to pay for examination fees etc and understand drugs cost money, but how do vets get away with charging you £35 for a 10 minute trip down the road?!

It really gripes me 😡
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Call out fee is almost certainly a flat rate.

It's definitely easer to bill a flat rate charge rather than calculate milage.

It's also almost certainly easier to get (farther afield) clients to accept a flat rate rather than to get them to accept one based on mileage.
 
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.
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Oi money well spent, Pixie my sheep on a stupid day to call the vet, I'm convinced these animals plan their illnesses around bank holidays and weekends.......
Visit = £35.60 + vat £42.72
Examine ewe <he is a wether but we won't split hairs> = £32.28 + vat £38.74
A jab of Emdocam (Metacam) = £5.84 + vat £7.01
A jab of Engemycin = £6.64 + vat £7.97
Total cost £96.44

Cheap at half the cost, Pixie sheep lives to fight another day :)
Cost of a bullet = £1 but cost of therapy for me for about 5 years for thinking life is cheap = thousands
 
Pedantic said:
My kit doesn't come from Screwfix it comes from a reputable outlet, Grahams mostly or Plumb Center, also try telling the dead 16 year old girl and her dog who died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning or anyone dead from a gas explosion that I don't have actually "more" responsibility than than someone who just deals with animals, I also have to do gas exams every 5 years at a lot of expense and pay to be Gassafe registered every year, also I look after my customers and go back if they have a problem, so you are talking out of your backside, just because you managed to get yourself some cowboy don't tar all other tradesmen with the same brush thanks very much. NOFA.
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I actually have a lot more faith in the plumber and electrician I use than I do with the local vet, and I would gladly pay more for a vet who knew which end of the horse was which.

In fact, for the past 15 years I have preferred to drive my horses 2 hours each way to a proper equine vet than get the local ones out, so I'm a lot worse off than if I'd been paying a £35 call out charge.

The only time I've objected to a call out charge was when the branch of the practice I rang for a vaccination decided to send out a vet from another branch in the next county, then had the cheek to charge me double call out for an "out of area" call.
 
My vet has different call out charges based on how far you are from the practice. Basically if the vet practice is at the centre then a circle is drawn around it anyone within that area is on call out charge 1. Then a second larger circle is drawn and anyone between that and the first is on call out charge 2, etc. If you are in call out area 2 but are very close to the edge of the first circle then you may feel aggrieved at paying the same as some-one who is right at the out limit of that call out area but that is just the way it is.
 
That sounds reasonable compared with our last experience. I asked for a vet already attending the yard doing vacc on another horse to drop off a tub of cream for mudfever. That tub cost £80!!!! Charged attendance fee, examination and then the cream when I clearly knew what was up with her. Going to stick with our usual vet only now as he's fair.
 
Pedantic said:
My kit doesn't come from Screwfix it comes from a reputable outlet, Grahams mostly or Plumb Center, also try telling the dead 16 year old girl and her dog who died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning or anyone dead from a gas explosion that I don't have actually "more" responsibility than than someone who just deals with animals, I also have to do gas exams every 5 years at a lot of expense and pay to be Gassafe registered every year, also I look after my customers and go back if they have a problem, so you are talking out of your backside, just because you managed to get yourself some cowboy don't tar all other tradesmen with the same brush thanks very much. NOFA.
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I deliberately said plumber as I know that there are specific regulations for Gasafe engineers, and there are different parts of the register for each type of gas maintenance, from commercial to caravans.
I would imagine none of the people we have employed would class themselves as cowboys, and all had been in business for a while, they were not working with gas, so they did not need to be Gassafe.
I also am well acquainted with all the builders merchants, I have stood in enough queues in them over 40 years, and know how difficult or not its is to get parts and equipment. Our local Scewfix is next door to Plumbase.
As we had just had built are own house and employed several types of 'expert', I can on conclude we must have been very unlucky. In my opinion the only way to check they know what they are doing is to find out how it should be done and watch them like a hawk. Our problems with the heating rumble on with a new 'expert', my husband who does not class himself as an expert thinks he may have worked out what the problem is by ringing the manufacturer and asking for advice.
All I know is when I ring a vet they pretty much turn up in a couple of days, no emergency, in an emergency in the hour. They come equipped for the job, with the correct tools, some costing thousands of pounds, and have stood in rain and snow under car headlights to treat animals. They will ring for advise from a senior partner or even refer to an equine hospital if they think they do not know what the problem is. I think that is not bad value for £30+Vat
 
When people start complaining about vet fees (and call out fees), I always wonder how much they think they would pay for a human private consultant/surgeon to treat or visit them..... and yet vets study for longer (and have the added difficulties of learning about multiple species who can't tell them where it hurts).
 
Landcruiser - when I see people complaining about Vets bills I assume they haven't seen a private doctors bill. About 10 years ago I had my larynx scoped at a local private hospital. Probably took less time than gastric scoping a horse and the bill was over £900.
 
eggs said:
My vet has different call out charges based on how far you are from the practice. Basically if the vet practice is at the centre then a circle is drawn around it anyone within that area is on call out charge 1. Then a second larger circle is drawn and anyone between that and the first is on call out charge 2, etc. If you are in call out area 2 but are very close to the edge of the first circle then you may feel aggrieved at paying the same as some-one who is right at the out limit of that call out area but that is just the way it is.
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My vet does this too. However, we also have 2 cheaper call out days a week which is great for routine visits, and if we can co-ordinate a visit with other people on the yard then we just pay a share of the callout charge.
 
This thread is depressing. Do some people value intelligence, years of study and experience so little?

There is NO comparison between a vet fees and those of a plumber*. Any vet could have been a plumber, but they were very, very bright, and spent the best years of their life studying instead of earning. The least they might expect is to be rewarded and valued for it.

I don't get the vet out very often, but when I do, I pay him what he's worth, and I don't expect to haggle.


*No disrespect to plumbers meant in any way.
 
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?
 
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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Is that linear distance or the actual length of road?
 
We are in the farthest radius from our vet, and also in the farthest radius from the other one we used to use. Call out, exam and vat, no change from £100. But I have never faulted them, they are definitely worth it.
Thankfully now they do yard visit / Area days.
 
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