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How can vets justify out of hours fee's!

C

CuBar

Warren Scout
Im just having a grumble because my local vet now uses a company called vets now to take their out of hours calls. On staurday afternoon when cuba was going into gut stasis I had to use them, but to my horror they charge £97 before treatment :shock: :shock:
The treament she had only cost £15! Hpw can this be right?
 
Woah! That.s... a bit steep, isn't it? :shock: I mean, I suppose it could be justified in costing a BIT extra, simply because it's out of hours... but when an animal gets sick, it very often IS during an out of hours time. And, in the case of rabbits, prompt care can be essential. It seems very unfair to charge like that.
 
My emergency vets is also Vets Now grrrrr and is the same price.

BUT...the worse thing is it would be even more if it is in the evening (about £25 more :shock: ).
 
They've got us all really because they know that we will pay anything to make sure they are ok, someone said to me, "you paid how much, for a rabbit! It would be cheaper to get another rabbit!!!" :censored: :censored: I had to be held back :lol:
 
Whilst I appreciate that the out of hours service is expensive, I think we need to look at this also from the other viewpoint. With practically all aspects of life anything which is used out of the normal office hours is charged at a premium rate such as plumbers, electricians and car mechanics. Many vets either work from home and will get paid an enhanced rate for any time they are called out, others are paid a night allowance and are based within a vetinary surgery / hospital. Overnight vets who are based in a vetinary practice will not be working all the hours they are 'employed' and paid for, therefore the practice manager needs to offset these costs against those who use this sevice which will account for a largish proportion of the cost ... however not all of the cost.

Like many out of hours charges in all areas of life we may need to use many are exhorbitant whilst others are less so. It is certainly a good idea to find out what your local vets do charge and also how they organise their on calls to enable them to utilise the best facilities available at the time for the charges which are made.
 
I understand why they have to charge for out of hours service and it is a service that is greatly appreciated I just find it extremely expensive. My local vet now use this 'vets now' rather than having their own vets on call. So anyone needing this service is forced to pay their fee's!
I was just having a grumble thats all :roll:
 
amanda hughes said:
I understand why they have to charge for out of hours service and it is a service that is greatly appreciated I just find it extremely expensive. My local vet now use this 'vets now' rather than having their own vets on call. So anyone needing this service is forced to pay their fee's!
I was just having a grumble thats all :roll:
Click to expand...

Could you see if any other vets in the area use their own vets and find out what they charge.
 
My vets are the same although different vets hours vary - I had a bun go sick on me at 18:30 and my usual vet closes at 18:00 and wanted to charge £97 call out (why don't they just call it £100?? :roll: ) but the local shuts at 19:00 so didn't get charged the extra!

I do think the charges are extortionate tho and in a world where so much is 24/7 I do think they should rethink their hours. But like has already been said, if people are willing (or have no choice) to pay the call outs then why bother? :?
 
I have used Vets Now, and do find them very expensive. However, I find the care you get much better, eg they will keep a bunny in stasis in the surgery overnight rather than just giving them a metoclopramide injection and sending them home still very ill.

I think we do have to think of the vets working over night - they need some sort of incentive to do these sorts of hours, so the pay has to be higher. Also to a certain extent, people do need the price to be higher or they will see anything as an 'emergency' and therefore needs to be treated out of hours. Whilst you wouldn't want the high prices to put off a genuine emergency, a lot of animal problems can wait till the next morning (particularly with larger animals).
 
I do think that £97 is a complete rip off. The surgeries ive worked in have a night vet paid to work just nights and also a rota for all the day vets to take turns in covering and this is all paid for in their set wage.
I think £50 is an acceptable amount for out of hours consultations.
After all, the vet is either already there , if its a hospital, or sitting at home/down the pub and just gets a call out to get back to the surgery. Fair enough if its a home visit and quite a way away, then you would expect to pay that kind of fee!

I wonder if Vets now vets are paid on commission or overtime for out of hours work? That would make sense as to why they charge so much!
I would try and find somewhere cheaper too!:shock:
 
I haven't had to use an out of hours vet since I changed vets (I'm just asking for something to happen tonight now, aren't I?! :roll: :shock: ), but all my local vets now use Vets Now.

I guess it's moving the same way as out of hours GPs.
 
I think ill ring around to find out which surgeries use their own vets and how much it is! I do not begrudge paying at all for the cost of the out of hours service, I just think for the ten minutes I was at the surgery (the vets are their all the time) it was very steep!
Either that or I might find a dishy vet and marry him :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
We went to VETS NOW in Coventry, yes the prices were high £97 consultation fee + all medicines & an overnight stay (where she was monitored all night, I even got a 1am call on her progress - I could be wrong but my vets keep pets in and noone checks on them), BUT the vet was SO incredibly thorough.. he found the time to watch Daisy for 10 minutes just until she settled down.. then examined her from top to tail - took a complete history from us - then he diagnosed what the vets had missed/not looked for only the previous day.. Sadly after staying the night we lost Daisy.. :cry: :cry: But I can't fault the service.. Its just a shame that I couldn't bring a well lady home..

I would like to think that as VETS NOW was at the PDSA centre, that some of the money I pay goes to help other animals??
 
oh im sorry to hear that :cry: :cry: thats really sad, I would of been heart broken if I could not have brought Cuba home.
 
We were heartbroken.. :cry: but we knew we had had the best advice & she had the best / 24 hour care rather than a 10 minute slot, a quick diagnosis and moving on to the next patient.... admittedly (as you originally posted) expensive! :oops:
 
our vets charge around £90 for an emergency appointment between 11pm and 7am, i think its around £60 from closing until 11pm

it is high and i sometimes fume when i have to pay it, but you are also calling someone out of bed often in the middle of the night. i cant fault the emergency treatment my vets have given my animals so i think it is worth paying it
 
amanda hughes said:
They've got us all really because they know that we will pay anything to make sure they are ok, someone said to me, "you paid how much, for a rabbit! It would be cheaper to get another rabbit!!!" :censored: :censored: I had to be held back :lol:
Click to expand...

Thats the same with me, when i tell people what i pay every 6-8weeks for Pringle to have his teeth cut down all i got was oh for a rabbit, be best PTS im like :evil: hes my baby. They would never put their dog to sleep if it has to have regular treatment would they????

Im not to sure what my vet charges for emergencies .. ill ask next time!
 
When one of my guineas was dying, I wanted the vet to put him out of his misery, but was told it would be £80 just for them to see him, let alone do anything. I can't afford that so I had to let the little one go by himself, it was awful, but I had no real option. Plus it was only 5 minutes after they had closed!
 
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