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haggis
Silver Member
England
278 Posts |
Posted - 15 Sep 2010 : 11:11:33 PM
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well said Lisa, I hate it when everyone starts vet bashing. Our call out and examination charges are less than a washing machine repair man's. We don't have a fancy hospital and the newest car in the practice is 2004 reg( mine is a 16 year old Landrover!!) We make a living , but not a fortune and my on call rate of pay is only £4.00 an hour!! I didn't train as a vet to make money and I was lucky to find a practice where money is not a god, care and service are more important. |
CUMBRIA |
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Goldenmane
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4964 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 06:51:09 AM
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My vet charges 42 pounds for a call out and I have to say it is worth every penny. I have used them for 30 years and they will explain everything to me in great detail, re-credit unused medicine and have a sense of humour, when necessary, and a shoulder to cry on, when necessary. |
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debs
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
3218 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 08:03:26 AM
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Eeek, hope you dont think I was vet bashing, I wasn't...I'm very pleased they have changed the call out procedure. Its a great practice. But, am sure that they wouldnt reduce the monies coming in without a gain somewhere...wouldn't make sense. No-one could afford to do that I'm sure??? Have to say I'm definately in the wrong job, my wages have always been cr*p...there wont be any changes there!!! Do love it though.... |
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s.jade
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
2401 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 08:50:10 AM
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No vet bashing here, I love ours However, having been with them for 4 years now, we were recently sent a new vet, to geld my colts. He was good with the horse, but what pee'd me off was that he kept referring to myself as "babe" - not very proffessional! |
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marionpack
Gold Member
England
1073 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 11:22:02 AM
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Up until lasat year my vets call out was £30.00 plus treatment, they have now put zoned rates in and my call out has been reduced to £15.00 plus treatment |
Berkshire
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Kazzy
Platinum Member
England
3335 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 11:38:30 AM
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I wouldnt be without my vet!! I think well the last time I had them was about £25 call out plus VAT.
I dont mind one bit paying for the vets.
Janet |
Sunny Cheshire |
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Pasha
Platinum Member
England
3622 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 12:12:37 PM
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I'm not vet bashing and half the time I think charges are added on in the office by the staff as routine and nothing to do with the vets! I wouldn't change my vet for the world BUT they do know how to charge in the SE
Funny thing was I took my little cat to the small animal vet and we'd missed his booster date so they made us start again... roughly £20 each (2 lots) rather than £30 booster! I thought that was quite reasonable (used to the horses lol) BUT my horse vet thought it was outrageous and said they should have given him a booster.... hmm when I was 1 day out with Shesky's he made me start again from scratch! I know that is because I compete him and that's the way it has to be, but just surprised me that he got quite worked up about them over charging in his book lol! |
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Edited by - Pasha on 16 Sep 2010 12:13:25 PM |
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jamie
Bronze Member
Scotland
193 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 12:16:42 PM
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My vet is at the same livery as me - the last time she did a vaccination she didn't charge me a call out fee which was really decent of her but I felt really embarassed about it and a bit awkward the call out fee covers other costs not just her petrol - what to do next time? Give her some wine or something? |
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azeer
Silver Member
373 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 10:23:42 PM
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Whilst I appreciate that people think that call out fees are high (my vet £42 +vat) it is worth remembering that whilst they are driving to you, you are paying for their time - if they werent on their way to you they could be earning money treating at the surgery. A call out fee is way more than just the petrol costs, car wear etc. It could be worse one vet in our area charges £3 per minute for every minute they are there after the first 10 mins (for which you pay a £20 consultation fee!!) |
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Mrs Vlacq
Platinum Member
Wales
3776 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2010 : 10:43:57 PM
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No vet bashing inteneded - it is a tough job, I know ours often rings us on his way home to check if Mrs X's mare went off ok, or did we get that mare covered etc. But it is always good to compare your own vet's rates with others locally and more widespread, and why not do it here, rather than tying up the surgery's phone lines and risk annoying the staff! We also try to block book as we like to have our usual vet - as he does all the scanning and dental work anyway he comes to do 6 or so horses, and always try to split visits for visiting mares, and even the neighbours bring theirs here to do too! And the desk/accts staff know they can call to discuss which horse had what - we get some funny invoices where vets have guessed at names/breeds/ages! |
- V Khazad - V Calacirya & V Sulime - Quarida(L) - V Boogie Knights - V Hamra Tofiq |
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simbba
Silver Member
299 Posts |
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Ludanella
Bronze Member
England
76 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 06:33:19 AM
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Not too sure what my call out is. An emergency call out, out of hours + painkiller/anti-inflammitory injection was £100. He was with us for about an hour. Was quite relieved by that bill! |
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Nut
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 07:47:20 AM
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Following the retirement of my vet of over 15 years, I now use an equine only practice that offer set week days in each zone they cover that are free e.g no call out that day, if its a routine visit and they can give you a price upfront then if you take cash with you its 10% off, if you can pay on credit or debit card within 48hours its 5% off which I think is a brilliant offer and encourages early or even prompt payment.
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www.ndlarabians.webs.com
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kimzi
Gold Member
865 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 08:14:19 AM
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Hi back to call out fee's, Ours is £60 in an emergency is which is pretty good for our area, none of the vets in our area offer any free calls, nearly all ask for money upfront which is fine unless you get something truelly awful happen with a veteran which the insurance wont cover. But if you look at it in comparison to a courier i could ring and ask for a large sprinter van that requires an hours loading @ £10 hour at 2 am with no notice to cover the same distance for the princeley sum of £26 and they also require business insurance, goods in transit insurance, public liability etc. & huge maintenance costs, The driver gets nothing for being on call and the courier company takes their cut out of the £26. You dont see impoverished vets in our area they are too busy dining at smiths brasserie or taking their kids showjumping in shiny new lorries, maybe you should move to essex lisa lol. |
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lisa rachel
Gold Member
Wales
831 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 09:16:34 AM
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Kimzi. Sorry everyone else maybe I was being a bit sensitive , just a bit knackered at moment, last night I wasn't on call but got home 20 past midnight. I am off till 5 pm today though, then working the w/e ,so going riding now on my beautiful horse on the beautiful mountain.... which is worth more than all posh dinners and shiny lorries in the world so I think I'll stay happily un-rich in my lovely Wales.
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lisa |
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saddlebred
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1706 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 11:39:12 AM
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I wouldnt be without my vet - whatever the charge. I do sometimes get irritated if I get sent a more junior vet who knows less than me - but I guess that is just a sign that I am getting old.
Lisa - enjoy your ride on your beautiful Arab and I hope one day you are very very rich - because you're worth it (flicks hair with a cheezy grin!) lol. |
Based Bewdley Worcs |
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templars
Platinum Member
England
1852 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 12:34:49 PM
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We absolutely love our vet
We use a specialist equine practice for the horses and a general practice for the dogs, cats, sheep and cattle.
The equine practice is so, so good. They don't charge a call out charge because they are usually dealing with more than one of ours when they come to do routines stuff (jabs, teeth etc) but obviously, if it's an emergency then they do charge.
They are all real horse people (they all have horses) and their human handling skills are just as good as their veterinary knowledge. Each one has a specialist area so we can just ask for x for a chat about legs or hooves, y for a chat about teeth and z about reproduction (yipee - they do stallions AND mares). And they are so caring that when we had to have a horse pts, they sent us a sympathy card signed by all the vets and nurses who had helped and been involved.
And what I really appreciate is their honesty. When Mr Feathers broke last year they explained it was an old injury (from before we got him) that was probably never going to heal properly (it had never healed properly before) and they advised putting him to sleep because effectively he would be little more than an ornament. We were shocked and said no, we had the space and we were more than happy to let him retire. And then they said "but what if he's not ready to retire - he's been an athlete at the top level, what if he can't adjust to a life of retirement?" That made us think? And we worked out a plan for helping Mr Feathers and they still call in for a brew and to see how he's coping emotionally with being an "ex-eventer" (he's as happy as Larry!!!! and become a bit of a slob!!) - and we don't get charged! And Mr Feathers got a Christmas card from them!
Our general practice vet is a lot more (sorry for the pun) clinical! They are more impersonal and charge per cm of bandage or plaster, they charge for the contents of the syringe, the syringe and the needle for annual jabs for the dogs and they aren't as open and up front. In fact we moved the horses because we had a youngster that was very poorly and they outlined all sorts of treatment that would help. £3,000 later after he'd died, one of them said we had wasted our money because they knew from the outset he wouldn't live. That's when I changed vet.
Can't believe the difference between the practices. But love, love, love our equine vet. In fact, if there was a place to nominate vets for an award, we'd definitely do it!!
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www.eviepeel.com |
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abcoboy
Silver Member
England
464 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 1:15:43 PM
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I pay my equine only vet £35 standard callout, £70 if after 5.30/weekend, examination £25 then any lotions/potions on top ... dont care as long as she's not poorly |
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abcoboy
Silver Member
England
464 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 1:17:28 PM
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and am lucky he's patient with my 100's of calls ... is this normal? Is that normal? are you sure? what if you're wrong? Pateience of an angel ... |
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ella
Gold Member
United Kingdom
786 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 7:12:23 PM
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Templers - there are several "vet of the year" type awards, look up Petlan Vet Awards
There's not many vets out there earning much per hour, only the company owners & those with very specialised skills. A new graduate vet may start on less than £25k......with an enormous 5/6/7year uni loan to pay off. They can't even earn more than a few pounds in uni holidays due to the requirement to gain practical experience.
I'm sure most medics/dentists/opthalmologists/plumbers/gas fitters think anyone wanting to do so much for so little £ is crayyyyyzeeee! |
"If an 'alternative treatment' has reliable effect it becomes classified simply as MEDICINE" D.B. |
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templars
Platinum Member
England
1852 Posts |
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lisa rachel
Gold Member
Wales
831 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2010 : 10:26:57 PM
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Originally posted by saddlebredI wouldnt be without my vet - whatever the charge. I do sometimes get irritated if I get sent a more junior vet who knows less than me - but I guess that is just a sign that I am getting old. Lisa - enjoy your ride on your beautiful Arab and I hope one day you are very very rich - because you're worth it (flicks hair with a cheezy grin!) lol.
I did have a blissful ride thanks , Bryn loved it and was v good, lovely gallop, sunny and a sky full of red kites and buzzards Needless to say the rest of the day off didn't happen, .... work called!
BUT as I said, it is wonderful to work with horses, most of our clients and almost all of the horses are lovely, I am not motivated at all by money, it's just that when you work stupidly long hours for not much it hurts a bit when vets are made out to be greedy ripoff merchants.... again though sorry I was being a bit sensitive! Lots of you sound like lovely clients to your vets, I am sure if I wasn't a vet I would be the ultimate pain in the arse client, when I had to take Auds for MRI I forced poor John Walmsley to let me sleep in the carpark!
Cheers Lisa |
lisa |
Edited by - lisa rachel on 17 Sep 2010 10:32:30 PM |
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gryff1976
New Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2010 : 10:41:59 AM
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I just wanted to add that Lisa is my vet - and even, though I've (courtesy of NFU) spent a small fortune at her practice this past year - it's been worth every penny! |
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nikki
Platinum Member
Wales
4384 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2010 : 1:45:24 PM
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i think my vets are great though i now always make sure i try and have the same one every time, as i did get sent one i never met before who has i found out after has a bit of reputation for bumping the bill up as much as possible, she was so slow, and i didn't realise/and certainly was never told that i was being charged per min. she kept on having to sedate my horse as she was slow and kept on messing about, and so i got charged for the repeated injections. |
pagey |
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sarah_and_sert
Silver Member
Wales
298 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2010 : 10:23:43 PM
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Im lucky too Lisa and Phillipa are my vets too I owe them so much as my baby boy is in their care at the moment to say the least its been hell of a week and a half and we still not out of the woods yet, and its because she cares so much its because of Danny she missed the show to do a operation on his leg.
I wouldnt change my vets for the world xxxxxx |
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