Feel our vet is ripping us off

Hiya i was looking for a wee bit advice

sadly our wee Jimmy was pts recently. we went into the vets yesterday to collect his ashes and pay the bill but they quoted us £117 when we had expected to pay £33.

i can break down the cost can you tell me what you think?

initially we were quoted a max of £65 to get his put under, teeth checked, and any teeth filing/work done while under.

while he was under the vet phoned, and explained his problem was serious and best option was to put him to sleep. RIP wee man xxxx

we agreed to this - they didnt mention anything about additional costs.

they then asked what we wanted to do with his body. we opted for getting his ashes, as we live in a top floor flat and didnt know what to do with his little body, and the other option was the vet to dispose of him which we didnt want to do either. we were informed the cost of the ashes would be around £33

As Jimmy didnt get any work done while under, and the operation was not a success we didnt think we would be charged for it, but they have charged roughly £50. At no time did they mention a charge for PTS. But on the bill that is now £35. Plus the £33 ashes charge on top of that.

We are not skinflints but £117 is a lot of money for us and it was a shock as it was in no way made clear this would be the cost. The only cost mentioned in the phonecalls that day was the £33.

We have said we're not happy paying the £35 for pts injection, as they should have advised us that it would cost this at the time it was offered. the vets are holding onto his ashes and refusing to give him back until full vet bill is settled.

Hoping to get some advice from those with some experience.

Thanks xxx

I don't have any experience of this, and agree that the way they have gone about it is insensitive and perhaps not as upfront as should have been.

But even though he didn't have any work done while under, that's still vet and nurse time, equipment used, anaesthetic, etc, so that will be why they've charged for that. pts does cost, and that price sounds about right to me, and while I can see why you wish they had told you the price at the time, they probably thought it was insensitive to mention costs while you were making your decision. Plus if they had mentioned the cost, I presume you would have made the same decision?

I'm so sorry for your loss, and this mustn't make it any easier

Hello,
I really dont know, i would try and speak to them again, but basically you really might have no option if they wont give you your boy back.
£33 is really cheap for the ashes back, my Kermits cost £80!
Hope you manage to get something sorted.
K xx

I think it's quite standard to charge for all they did (obviously they have to cover their costs, etc), however, they didn't go about it the right way because they should have fully discussed prices with you before they did anything.

They can't expect people to just know what wil be charged for and what won't be, etc, and also they can't expect people to be thinking straight, so they need to lay it out in a very basic way.

So I think the charges are right, but I do think that the vet practice and customer service and sensitivity was POOR.

I would write a letter about how very disappointed you are and explain why. Don't be angry, but super sad and disappointed, because you normally get what you want that way. I would think they would be able to discount if they wanted to.

I'm so sorry about your bun. This sounds like the last thing you needed.

Very sorry for your loss. Unfortunately though, although they could have handled it better I think that the bill sounds about average.

I presume that although they didn't burr his teeth he still had a general anethetic? If so my local but quite expensive vet would usually charge around £50-60 for the drugs & dentals can go up to £150 depending on which part of the country you are in.

Normally the PTS costs around £15 -£20 where we are, so again a bit on the expensive side but not off the scale.

You can also easilly pay £60+ for an individual cremation with the ashes returned.

Hi guys thanks for the advice

It looks like we're going to have to pay most if not all of it. we're going to see if the practice owner will remove the £35 fee as we feel we were missold it and if they told us it was £35 to put him to sleep we may have opted for collecting his body (which was free) instead of the cremation

I cant believe it costs so much when we didnt even get our wee bun back!

Thanks for the replies - much appreciated xx

I cant comment on the operation fees and I hope I never have to lose a bunny under similar situation (hugs) but just to make you feel a little better, I have paid £70 on two occasions for their ashes back

Sorry but that last post didn't make sense to me. You would have to pay the £35 for pts, otherwise he would have been brought back round and sent home, presumably in pain?

Do you mean the £33 for the ashes back? if so, thats a cost you asked to incur and charged by the people performing the cremation which would not be for the vets to refund. You would just be paying the cremation fee through the vet rather than to the company itself.

Hello, I don't know much about vet costs but from other posts it seems that they are reasonable. I just wanted to express my sympathy and say I totally understand where you are coming from. I know that to recieve a bill for £117 must have been a real shock when you where expecting a much lower amount and even though the cost may not have affected your choice it is still best to make an informed desicion rather than feel let down at a time when you are already feeling upset over your loss.

If this was me I would pay the bill but I would also write a letter stressing how disspointed and upset you are about the way it was handled. If you have dealt with this practice previously and had a good experience stress that this previous positive experience had set an expectation that on this occasion was not fulfilled.

I hope that you manage to get this sorted out and get at the very least an apology or admission that perhaps there was a breakdown in communication somewhere in the process.

Lucy said:

Sorry but that last post didn't make sense to me. You would have to pay the £35 for pts, otherwise he would have been brought back round and sent home, presumably in pain?

Do you mean the £33 for the ashes back? if so, thats a cost you asked to incur and charged by the people performing the cremation which would not be for the vets to refund. You would just be paying the cremation fee through the vet rather than to the company itself.

Click to expand...

It did make sense. If she had known that the pts sleep would cost £35 she would still have had him pts but would have collected the body instead of cremation.

Lib_n_bunny said:

It did make sense. If she had known that the pts sleep would cost £35 she would still have had him pts but would have collected the body instead of cremation.

Click to expand...

But that wouldn't have saved the £35 pts fee, that would have saved the £33 cremation fee. It seemed as though he was saying the £35 fee for pts was missold :?

I would presume they are not looking at where the money is going, just the fact that £35/3 is a lot of money and they may have saved where they could have saved-so not compromising the bunny care, but changing what they did with the body.

At least, that's what I presume, and could of course be wrong.

Having said that, I do see what you mean, I think that's not what was meant though. At least I hope not.

Hiya yes I meant that if we had known it would cost £35 to have Jim pts, then we would have still done that, but reconsidered the ashes, and instead maybe opted for having the body back instead which was free

Thanks for all the advice and info peeps xox

I'm surprised the PTS cost as much as it did seeing as he was already under GA and would therefore, presumably, require far less of the drug.

Sorry about your loss. It's bad enough losing your bun without having to contend with something like this as well.