Livid with my Vets

MurphysMinder said:
Not supporting all vets, some of the stories on here re prolonging life are horrific, but regarding your last para - it was before vets charged for prescriptions that my practice first suggested i could get pergolide cheaper from a chemist. So yes they did willingly give away a profitable part of their business.
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Yep that's good business take plenty but give a little sweetner back every so often!! it helps stop the customer thinking they are being screwed:D
 
Silly question here - are vets allowed to make profits?

They are are a business, if they don't at least break even, then they will go bust.

But if they can only break even, why would anyone invest in a vet practice? A vet practice can't exist without capital - at the very least you need drugs, cars, x-ray, premises, phone and someone to do the work. That someone has to live, so they need money to pay for a house, food some free time. The person that provides the capital might want slightly more than they could get from leaving that capital in a bank or shares or property. That comes from the "profit" which is such a problem.

If you have employees, they have 6 years of student loans to pay back (plus other debts). They will expect a salary that means they can eat, and occasionally have some fun. This too comes from "profit".

There are some partners (generally Surrey/South East/Bucks) who make a lot of money (as in enough to run a new Cayenne/X5), but the vast majority do not make that much, compared with the amount of capital they have tied up.
 
This thread does paint a pretty bleak picture of some vet practices, but at the end of the day they have to make a profit or they go out of business and there is alack of vets and then prices go sky high as demand is there.
I will have to just counterbalance some of the negatives on this thread, my vets are fantastic, they give me discounts if i get a few horses done at a time, when i do have to call them out they will notify me if i have a visit coming up for something else and combine the visit so i only have to pay 1 call out fee.
On numerous occasions they have waived the call out fee, as i have got all jabs done at once.
And this weekend the vet rang me on Sunday to say one of my horses needed his steroid injection and rather than him coming to me and me getting a Sunday call out fee, did i want to call over to his house and he will give me the injection and i do it myself.
So not all vets are money grabbers, and yes i do always have a huge vet bill run up that they are happy for me to pay off bit by bit without incurring interest.
 
Wishful said:
Silly question here - are vets allowed to make profits?

They are are a business, if they don't at least break even, then they will go bust.

But if they can only break even, why would anyone invest in a vet practice? A vet practice can't exist without capital - at the very least you need drugs, cars, x-ray, premises, phone and someone to do the work. That someone has to live, so they need money to pay for a house, food some free time. The person that provides the capital might want slightly more than they could get from leaving that capital in a bank or shares or property. That comes from the "profit" which is such a problem.

If you have employees, they have 6 years of student loans to pay back (plus other debts). They will expect a salary that means they can eat, and occasionally have some fun. This too comes from "profit".

There are some partners (generally Surrey/South East/Bucks) who make a lot of money (as in enough to run a new Cayenne/X5), but the vast majority do not make that much, compared with the amount of capital they have tied up.
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No-one i think is saying that Vets are not allowed to make a profit, this is also not what i was getting at.
But there is no real customer service anymore (which i always endevour to give to my own customers), they don't seem to have the thought to care how much you have spent & still spending with them month after month & it is obvious in my case that they think i am an endless pit of money & are not really prepared to help in any small way.

My practise is a very big & is making a huge amount of money, maybe because they are so big it's made them greedy. It would be lovely to have even a small gesture from them once in a while.
 
if you don't want vet fees don't have animals-simple. It's private healthcare. The suggestions some of you make are ridiculous.
 
Wishful said:
Silly question here - are vets allowed to make profits?

They are are a business, if they don't at least break even, then they will go bust.

But if they can only break even, why would anyone invest in a vet practice? A vet practice can't exist without capital - at the very least you need drugs, cars, x-ray, premises, phone and someone to do the work. That someone has to live, so they need money to pay for a house, food some free time. The person that provides the capital might want slightly more than they could get from leaving that capital in a bank or shares or property. That comes from the "profit" which is such a problem.

If you have employees, they have 6 years of student loans to pay back (plus other debts). They will expect a salary that means they can eat, and occasionally have some fun. This too comes from "profit".

There are some partners (generally Surrey/South East/Bucks) who make a lot of money (as in enough to run a new Cayenne/X5), but the vast majority do not make that much, compared with the amount of capital they have tied up.
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No one is saying that vets shouldn't be allowed to run a profitable buisness, but you would hope that this can be done fairly.

When professionals start to rely on the perceived ignorance of thier clients to either over charge or carry out un required work, this is wrong.

To capitalize on peoples emotional ties with their pets is also very wrong.
 
Andy Spooner:

Slight deviation from the OP's post:

FYI the Law Society does not self regulate its own members- The SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) a separate body regulates law society members, namely solicitors. You must be behind with the times, perhaps you should undertake a bit of due diligence i.e. check the factual content of your posts before you attempt to berate the competency of professional societies.

I am sorry I have had to post this but I did not want people to be misled by your post.
 
AndySpooner said:
No one is saying that vets shouldn't be allowed to run a profitable buisness, but you would hope that this can be done fairly.

When professionals start to rely on the perceived ignorance of thier clients to either over charge or carry out un required work, this is wrong.

To capitalize on peoples emotional ties with their pets is also very wrong.
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What is "Fair"?

There are 3 basic elements to a vet's bill

1. Drugs/materials. These are most easily compared with online prices - so it is not viable to make much/any profit here, and there will be instances where a loss is made to match an online price. Drugs are dosed by reference to weight, so a 50kg Rottie will cost more to treat than a 5kg Jack Russell. Human seem to be dosed the same whether they are 50kg or 150kg, and all that for £7.50, whether the drug costs 50p or £300!

2. Visit/consult charges, which pays for you an the vet to be in the same place, whether that is the consulting room or your yard. This often includes some time as well

3. Time charges - payment for the time of the vet/nurse in caring for the animal, whether by calculated by time taken or by procedure performed.

Which of these is the best place for "profit" to be made, without accusations of profiteering? Visit/consult charges are too easily compared to put up the price above whatever is standard in your area - so not really an opportunity for profit.

The cost of time is the only place left for the dreaded profit to be made, and some elements have to be fixed in price - a caesarian/calving/lambing has a ceiling related to the value of the animal involved, regardless of time taken, so the rate for other procedures will have to compensate somehow.

I accept that some vets do take the mickey with what they do but in my experience, these are the minority. The vast majority would like to make enough money from their vocation so that they can have a comfortable life, pay off the student loans, and buy a house somewhere.

Obviously vets have to make money from sick animals - it's what they do. Preventative medicine is great (vaccination, health checks, MOTs) but the vast majority of animals only see the vet when they are unwell/injured - there isn't exactly an alternative source of income! It's generally only the emotional (or moral) ties that mean the animal isn't PTS/dumped at the first sign of injury/illness. In most cases, it would cost less to buy a new animal than to treat anything other than a minor illness.

If you think your vet is taking the mickey, or you don't like their advice, try a different vet - it's a free market, no-one is forcing you to have animals or to stay with 1 practice from birth to death. If you don't like the vet, take your business elsewhere!
 
RW1 said:
Andy Spooner:

Slight deviation from the OP's post:

FYI the Law Society does not self regulate its own members- The SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) a separate body regulates law society members, namely solicitors. You must be behind with the times, perhaps you should undertake a bit of due diligence i.e. check the factual content of your posts before you attempt to berate the competency of professional societies.

I am sorry I have had to post this but I did not want people to be misled by your post.
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Of course you are right and I admit that I was getting a bit carried away with my post. The change as I understand it came about in 2007 when The Law Society delegated regulatory powers to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in an effort to give some veneer of independance, following long and often ignored complaints about the competency of this particular professional society.
 
I actually agree with SusieT - vets bills are part of being a responsible owner. By all means change practice if you can't get on with a vet, but don't whine about the bills, because they're all part of the deal - the same as feed, livery costs, tack, farriery etc etc etc. Surely the fact that vets charge money for their services shouldn't come as a shock to anyone!
 
AndySpooner said:
Of course you are right and I admit that I was getting a bit carried away with my post. The change as I understand it came about in 2007 when The Law Society delegated regulatory powers to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in an effort to give some veneer of independance, following long and often ignored complaints about the competency of this particular professional society.
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Sorry but there is no way you can compare solicitors to vets. When I needed my colt castrated the vet came and did the job no fuss in a about an hour If a lawyer was doing something straightforward it would take a least six weeks and involve dozens of pointless letters and cost about 20times as much, and then you may or may not get the result you were expecting...:D
 
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Spudlet said:
I actually agree with SusieT - vets bills are part of being a responsible owner. By all means change practice if you can't get on with a vet, but don't whine about the bills, because they're all part of the deal - the same as feed, livery costs, tack, farriery etc etc etc. Surely the fact that vets charge money for their services shouldn't come as a shock to anyone!
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Fair enough, but how many times do you read threads about the price of Hay or shavings on here!! Im not going to go into my whole life story but changing vets is not really an option for me here.

It does seem that no matter what some people think it is perfectly reasonable to pay any amounts the vets deem fit to charge. I unfortunately am questioning the high prices & feel like i really havent recieved good customer service. I have been a great customer with this Vet practise & still continue to pay in full amounts owed within days of treatment. Im saddend by my vets.

BTW i am a horse owner of considerable years, i also pay for the highest levels of Insurance & make sure i have enough money to cope with all eventualitys my horses through at me of which there is many. But i can't understand why we can't question.
 
I worked for a company selling drugs into vets and there are 2 types - like my own vets who told me they didnt care how much discount I offered them they went with the best drug for the animal for that condition, now they are never going to be cheapest but they use branded safe drugs and the always full waiting room tells you they must be doing something right!

The other type buys drugs on price alone and usually still charges the same price as the branded drug which can be 200-300 x more expensive! they usually have the nice cars as the can but 1000% mark up on the drugs.

Most vets mark there prices up by 50-100% but they dont buy on the scale of the internet companies so will never get the best deals. /

I love my practice Ive spent 100's with them this yr, they have done a great job, when I called for some advice the other week, vet comentated he better have a look, to which I said fine (insurance were paying) but I was never charged, I cant ask for anymore than that!
 
my vets are great - yes there is a small increase in the prices from the vet to that online, but like everything else thet have overheads. I do admit that they are expensive but it comes with the territory.

I just dont buy my wormers from the vet instead i get them from the local feed shop. :D
 
Not entirely off subject... why do I have to pay for prescriptions!!!!?????? How annoying.. Just because I work.

I don't get rx's tho...not even for myself. I buy off tinterweb. Nothing like some research oneself. :cool:

Thing is if you can afford to have a horse in 1st place, kind of does mean you can afford to pay for everything to do with it... horses are not subsidised.
 
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