Issue with Vet bill

...Ghost...

Looking for some opinions on this please. Sorry for a long post.


My dog ran out onto the road at the end of October one evening and got hit by a car. She was 4 months old at the time and was taken to local vet to be looked over. Due to covid, it was a ring, drop off and leave situation. Vet called later and x-ray revealed a cracked rib and she had a chipped tooth, but was doing fine. Vet said they'd keep her overnight and to collect in the morning.



My OH picked her up the next morning and asked to settle the bill. It's standard to pay on the day, but if a client doesn't have the money an invoice can be sent for any outstanding amount. My OH got a receipt but no breakdown. Not an issue and is pretty normal. You can easily ask for a breakdown. Fee was €164 which seemed ok.


Fast forward Friday last. A bill arrives (see attached below)


Problem 1)

We thought the bill had been settled 3 months ago.

Problem 2)

I took her back 3 weeks later for worming tablets. When I phoned ahead I was asked to bring her in to check weight. They recorded the visit and I paid the €8 before leaving with worming medication. There was no mention of any outstanding balance.



Problem 3)
Looking at the bill and ignoring the accounting errors near the bottom highlighted in orange, I am not happy with how this is itemised. My OH was told she had an xray and some pain medication, but the bill seems to suggest multiple xrays and sedation, none of which was communicated to us. I find it difficult to believe the itemisation which would suggest invoicing from 2 different vets at €164 and €176.67 respectively on the same day.


Problem 4)
My OH rang on Friday and queried the bill. The receptionist was asked 4 times if it was normal for multiple vets in the same practice to invoice a client separately for what would seem to be the same treatment. She danced around and didn't answer.


Problem 5)
We were told that the accounts lady would phone us on Monday morning. It's Tuesday evening and still no word.




My thoughts)
The bill is paid and even if they made a mistake on the day with the amount, it is unacceptable to send an overdue invoice 3 months after the fact. I've been a client for over 20 years and I trust my animals in their care, but I'm very unhappy that they made suck a cock up, couldn't explain why when called and then failed to call us back.


I would like to know your view on this. Thanks.

silver2020

Les of the "its unacceptable" hysterics. Hope you never need to go to a hospital where its can be normal for a bill to come 2-3 months later

It's probably an error and vets are under plenty of stress too.

Possibly two dogs got mixed up, possibly internal error.

Just give them time to find out what has happened and sort it out - it's not as if they have a gun to your head and if not sorted out tomorrow its Armageddon

Padre_Pio

I've noticed vets are under intense pressure the last few months.
COVID, social distancing, massive numbers of new pets maybe.

I had to deal with one near me, usually quite good, but the couldn't tell their arse from their elbow the last time I brought the dog in. Left waiting over an hour, mixed up bookings, lost all my contact details, couldn't take a blood pressure. Painful.

...Ghost...

silver2020 wrote: »

Les of the "its unacceptable" hysterics. Hope you never need to go to a hospital where its can be normal for a bill to come 2-3 months later

It's probably an error and vets are under plenty of stress too.

Possibly two dogs got mixed up, possibly internal error.

Just give them time to find out what has happened and sort it out - it's not as if they have a gun to your head and if not sorted out tomorrow its Armageddon

Hold on a second there! How is it acceptable to send an overdue invoice to a client 3 months late and not be able to explain the invoice when the client calls to ask? Saying something is unacceptable is hardly "hysterical". I've made many dozens of hospital visits and plenty of times I paid when checking in.



Never once have I received an invoice when I have already paid and of the times I didn't pay on the day, the invoice may have been a few months delayed, but it wasn't sent as an overdue invoice and I have never seen a bill where I was invoiced for doctor x and doctor y for the same treatment.


Error or not, they haven't been forthcoming with answers and haven't stuck to their word. Billing isn't an uncommon reason to call, so a secretary should at least know how they bill people. They aren't a start-up with no experience.

...Ghost...

Padre_Pio wrote: »

I've noticed vets are under intense pressure the last few months.
COVID, social distancing, massive numbers of new pets maybe.

I had to deal with one near me, usually quite good, but the couldn't tell their arse from their elbow the last time I brought the dog in. Left waiting over an hour, mixed up bookings, lost all my contact details, couldn't take a blood pressure. Painful.

The practice is always busy with 4 or 5 people waiting with their pet. I'm sure covid has added some challenges. The waiting is outside now. There have been 2 vet practices open locally in the last couple of years, so they are no busier than normal even with all the new pets people have taken in.


I understand if there are a couple of problems. It's just that we were bewildered that their secretary couldn't/wouldn't answer a simple question. We were fine to wait til Monday. I expected a call by today, but nothing.

silver2020

Christ - I hope you didn't have that attitude when on the phone. Possibly that why they are not calling you back. they don't get paid to take grief from you.

Possibly you are Ms/Mr Perfect, but others are human and can make errors. Their number one priority is to look after the animals which they seem to have done (why wasn't the dog on a leash?)

Good luck

...Ghost...

silver2020 wrote: »

Christ - I hope you didn't have that attitude when on the phone. Possibly that why they are not calling you back. they don't get paid to take grief from you.

Possibly you are Ms/Mr Perfect, but others are human and can make errors. Their number one priority is to look after the animals which they seem to have done (why wasn't the dog on a leash?)

Good luck

Perhaps your approach of burying head in sand and talking from the other hole gets you by, but I don't like being given the run around.

I haven't dealt with them at all on this issue as a matter of fact. You probably should stop making assumptions. If you believe perfection is expecting proper service and billing, then that's a low enough standard I would suggest. Making an error is fine if it's owned up to and dealt with. When it's not, then it's negligent at best. Imagine paying AnPost to deliver a parcel and then receiving a bigger bill 3 months later for the service you already paid for.....and when you ask why, they don't tell you and don't call back to explain as promised. That's what you are saying is acceptable.

Sometimes what is in your head is.....well, in your head. The dog was not out on a walk. We had her a few days when she was hit by a car going too fast on a cul-de-sac after slipping out the front door before it could be closed. But sure, keep making those assumptions and adding nothing of value to the thread. I asked for views and opinions and all you've done is make negative assumptions and unhelpful comments. Take a hike :rolleyes:

Cerco

What you have attached is not an invoice. It is a statement which shows outstanding amounts from previous invoices. It is not unusual to issue quarterly statements showing outstanding balances.
So don’t get hung up on the 3 months.

Perhaps they previously gave/sent you the second invoice or neglected to do so. Maybe there is an error.

A simple phone call from yourself asking them to recheck and advise should resolve the matter.

The main thing is the pet is okay and it seems they gave you a good service and peace of mind in an emergency.

As you are a client for over 20 years I am sure neither you or they want to destroy the relationship.

LilacNails

Have u spoken to the vet(vets) that treated your dog?

The secretary is someone who is given info, put it together, and hand it over to the client. It's possible the error is on her, but like others have said maybe the vet got mixed up. It could simply be that in fact these extra tasks were done, but u weren't told. And it's the vet that can only confirm that. Not the secretary.

I think ur best to talk to the vet about it. It'll be tricky to get their time but the fact ur a client for 20 yrs they should surly take ur loyalty into consideration. I would ask to have a chat with them before or after clinic, this week.

Ronald Franz

silver2020 wrote: »

Christ - I hope you didn't have that attitude when on the phone. Possibly that why they are not calling you back. they don't get paid to take grief from you.

Possibly you are Ms/Mr Perfect, but others are human and can make errors. Their number one priority is to look after the animals which they seem to have done (why wasn't the dog on a leash?)

Good luck

The only attitude on the thread seems to be from you. Is it close to home for you?
Nothing from the OP account rings as an over the top attitude.

stoneill

You have the receipt for €164 paid - so it's only the difference of €12 to pay?

Buddy Bubs

You've blamed everyone here from the vet practice to a speeding driver. You're lucky to have a dog at all after letting it out and being hit by a car and you're losing the rag over admin.
Its only been a few days, pay the bill or don't pay the bill its up to you, talk to your vet instead of trying to get validation from strangers not to pay it.

whelan2

As a dairy farmer I use my vet alot, it's not unusual to only get Bill's every 2 months or so. I have to laugh at the 5 euro charge to administer an injection. On looking at the bill again. The dog was obviously examined when she came in and xrays taken. Then the xrays were read by someone and treated accordingly.

stopthevoting

stoneill wrote: »

You have the receipt for €164 paid - so it's only the difference of €12 to pay?

No, the invoice/statement is for
164.00 + 176.67 = 340.67 -164.00 = 176.67 + 8.00 = 184.67 - 8.00 = 176.67

It's clearly 2xinvoices for the same date, some of the same treatments at varying prices.

Op is right in querying it.

stopthevoting

It's for the Cat Scan and the Lab Report

stopthevoting

Treppen wrote: »

I thought it was a dog

https://natarajank.com/2016/06/19/joke-of-the-day-bill-for-lab-report-and-cat-scan/

beauf

Seems like they double billed in error.

I would put your concerns in writing and ask for them to get back to you. Ringing isn't enough you need a written record.

OP don't rise to the bait and engage with those trying to troll you. Just add them to your ignore list. They become almost invisible. Improves boards no end.

stopthevoting

beauf wrote: »

Seems like they double billed in error.

I would put your concerns in writing and ask for them to get back to you. Ringing isn't enough you need a written record.

OP don't rise to the bait and engage with those trying to troll you. Just add them to your ignore list. They become almost invisible. Improves boards no end.

I don't think they double billed in error, except possibly for the €35.00 itemised amount, which could be clarified. It seems that two vets worked on the case, but only one bill was ready on the day, and the customer was not informed that there were still outstanding amounts.

SusieBlue

From an accounts perspective it looks like a duplication, like one visit was entered into the system twice in error.

It has happened in places I have worked before, where there was miscommunication between admin staff and two staff members inputted the same thing without realising. Therefore there would be two invoices for the one visit.

I would query it from this perspective, say it looks like a duplication to you and ask for the duplicate invoice to be struck from your account or credited.

zerosugarbuzz

OP, you are right to query the bill. I had a similar experience in a vets practice before Christmas where the vet was more than displeased when I queried the mistakes on the bill. Going forward I won’t be using these practices, with multiple vets who dont know you and don’t know your animal. They too much about the money and the unnecessary add ons. I prefer the old fashioned vets where you have 1 or 2 professionals and know who you are seeing every time.

beauf

stopthevoting wrote: »

I don't think they double billed in error, except possibly for the €35.00 itemised amount, which could be clarified. It seems that two vets worked on the case, but only one bill was ready on the day, and the customer was not informed that there were still outstanding amounts.

It's doesn't seem to make sense to have two vets and similar multiple treatments.

jimmycrackcorm

It looks to me like two separate animal treatments are being allocated to the OPs account. Possibly just human data entry error as even though there seem to be different entry lines, two sedations is strange.

whelan2

beauf wrote: »

It's doesn't seem to make sense to have two vets and similar multiple treatments.

One examined the dog when she came in and xrayed her. The other vet read the xrays and treated accordingly

beauf

whelan2 wrote: »

One examined the dog when she came in and xrayed her. The other vet read the xrays and treated accordingly

Maybe. My issue would how it was billed, and how they deal with bill queries.
Not the order in which it was done.

silver2020

Ronald Franz wrote: »

The only attitude on the thread seems to be from you. Is it close to home for you?
Nothing from the OP account rings as an over the top attitude.

Vet accounts were to call Monday and they didn't, so on Tuesday literally less that 24 hours later it's as if the world has ended and its shoddy, "unacceptable" a "disgrace" etc etc

If it was two weeks later after a couple of reminders, yes, I'd get annoyed, but the next day and considering we're in a pandemic, level 5 restrictions and possible all sorts of emergencies could have arisen, to not wait 24 hours before blasting the vet practice is way way way over the top and the manner of the posts shows a contemptuous attitude.

It probably is an error, the world will not fall in if the response is a few days later that expected.

beauf

Where did the op say the sky was falling in...?

Antares35

It's normal for an x-ray to include sedation. Otherwise the animal won't stay still long enough to get a good image for diagnostics.

Cerco

SouthWesterly wrote: »

It's clearly 2xinvoices for the same date, some of the same treatments at varying prices.

Op is right in querying it.

Yes, he should query it on the basis he seems to have received only one invoice and the statement shows two (ignoring the worming) He should request an explanation of the additional charges.
He should not however make assertions of accountancy errors or assuming varying costs are for identical treatments before getting an explanation.

arrianalexander

Op definitely has a right to query it but give them time to get back to you.

If it was a weeks time and I hadn't heard back I'd give them a ring and ask has it been looked into.

...Ghost...

I'm glad to see the thread wasn't totally ruined. All reasoned replies are appreciated. I was looking for opinions on what next to do if anything at all. Though I wouldn't want to have any outstanding bills.

Cerco wrote: »

What you have attached is not an invoice. It is a statement which shows outstanding amounts from previous invoices. It is not unusual to issue quarterly statements showing outstanding balances.
So don’t get hung up on the 3 months.

Perhaps they previously gave/sent you the second invoice or neglected to do so. Maybe there is an error.

A simple phone call from yourself asking them to recheck and advise should resolve the matter.

The main thing is the pet is okay and it seems they gave you a good service and peace of mind in an emergency.

As you are a client for over 20 years I am sure neither you or they want to destroy the relationship.

Invoice is written on it. I blacked it out in error, but statement of account would make more sense. We received no other bill and always pay anything owed on the day. I know someone who worked there as a nurse and she always said to pay right away because their billing is shoddy and prices tend to creep as evidenced in the statement.

LilacNails wrote: »

Have u spoken to the vet(vets) that treated your dog?

The secretary is someone who is given info, put it together, and hand it over to the client. It's possible the error is on her, but like others have said maybe the vet got mixed up. It could simply be that in fact these extra tasks were done, but u weren't told. And it's the vet that can only confirm that. Not the secretary.

I think ur best to talk to the vet about it. It'll be tricky to get their time but the fact ur a client for 20 yrs they should surly take ur loyalty into consideration. I would ask to have a chat with them before or after clinic, this week.

It's how the secretary dealt with it that bothered me tbh. I would usually be the one to query bills and sign us up for new providers of services etc. I let the OH call, thinking it would have been resolved in moments as a double billing issue. According to my OH, the secretary was rude about being questioned on how the bill was calculated. I'll wait a few days and call when convenient to hear them out.

Buddy Bubs wrote: »

You've blamed everyone here from the vet practice to a speeding driver. You're lucky to have a dog at all after letting it out and being hit by a car and you're losing the rag over admin.
Its only been a few days, pay the bill or don't pay the bill its up to you, talk to your vet instead of trying to get validation from strangers not to pay it.

Another one who flies off the handle after reading a few snippets out of context :rolleyes:

The dog wasn't "let out"....we only had her a few days and she's a hyper pup. One of the kids had the door open going out and the dog ran out before she could close the door. The @sshole driving the car was going too fast and failed to stop after knocking the dog down as witnessed by a neighbour. Am I to blame? I wasn't even in the country when it happened, but sure...it's my fault. I should have locked the family in when I left the house. Or maybe sometimes animals get out of the house despite our best efforts.

I'm not here looking for validation to not pay a bill. But you know that already and are simply being obtuse.

SusieBlue wrote: »

From an accounts perspective it looks like a duplication, like one visit was entered into the system twice in error.

It has happened in places I have worked before, where there was miscommunication between admin staff and two staff members inputted the same thing without realising. Therefore there would be two invoices for the one visit.

I would query it from this perspective, say it looks like a duplication to you and ask for the duplicate invoice to be struck from your account or credited.

That makes sense. Similar items same day. Looks like a couple of vets added stuff randomly to the file. I'd have expected the secretary to be able to give some explanation when called, but still no word.

silver2020 wrote: »

Vet accounts were to call Monday and they didn't, so on Tuesday literally less that 24 hours later it's as if the world has ended and its shoddy, "unacceptable" a "disgrace" etc etc

If it was two weeks later after a couple of reminders, yes, I'd get annoyed, but the next day and considering we're in a pandemic, level 5 restrictions and possible all sorts of emergencies could have arisen, to not wait 24 hours before blasting the vet practice is way way way over the top and the manner of the posts shows a contemptuous attitude.

It probably is an error, the world will not fall in if the response is a few days later that expected.

Wrong again. It was literally more than 24 hours later.
Pandemics don't prevent them from making a phone call. The accounts person probably just has head buried in sand. More likely incompetent secretary never took a note to call us back.

I only see one poster here with a contemptuous attitude. It's best you avoid this thread. We wouldn't want you to burst a blood vessel.

arrianalexander wrote: »

Op definitely has a right to query it but give them time to get back to you.

If it was a weeks time and I hadn't heard back I'd give them a ring and ask has it been looked into.

It's likely i'll wait til next week. But i'll communicate by email so I have a record. Their itemisation is a joke though. Will be having her spayed soon. Imagine the bill:

Unclipping leash €5
Storing leash €7
Checking leash is appropriate colour €12
Sedation €30
Xray €130
Non sedation €45
Catnip €6
Reschedule surgery due to hangover €90
Printing of invoice €68

Scratchly

silver2020 wrote: »

Vet accounts were to call Monday and they didn't, so on Tuesday literally less that 24 hours later it's as if the world has ended and its shoddy, "unacceptable" a "disgrace" etc etc

If it was two weeks later after a couple of reminders, yes, I'd get annoyed, but the next day and considering we're in a pandemic, level 5 restrictions and possible all sorts of emergencies could have arisen, to not wait 24 hours before blasting the vet practice is way way way over the top and the manner of the posts shows a contemptuous attitude.

It probably is an error, the world will not fall in if the response is a few days later that expected.

You were the second post on this thread and you've come across more annoyed and contemptuous than anyone.

Have you really nothing better to do with your time that try start arguments with people who are rightfully querying a nonsense bill from a business in a consumer issues forum?

...Ghost...

Just thought I would update this. The practice manager rang the following week asking if I thought the bill was wrong. I said it sure looked wrong, but we would pay if anything was owed. I explained the issue with not being able to get the details from the secretary who turned out to be new, as believed. She said she would look into the account and get back to me. She called a few hours later and the second portion of the bill was an error. They don't know exactly how it was made, but it's sorted now thankfully.

Jim_Hodge

...Ghost... wrote: »

Just thought I would update this. The practice manager rang the following week asking if I thought the bill was wrong. I said it sure looked wrong, but we would pay if anything was owed. I explained the issue with not being able to get the details from the secretary who turned out to be new, as believed. She said she would look into the account and get back to me. She called a few hours later and the second portion of the bill was an error. They don't know exactly how it was made, but it's sorted now thankfully.

Isn't that basically what was said in the thread?

...Ghost...

Jim_Hodge wrote: »

Isn't that basically what was said in the thread?

If you pick and choose from various posts, yes. I think it's only polite to post the final resolution. It's still not ok to tell a client they will get a call from the practice Manager on Monday and for nothing to happen for a week and a half later.
I didn't try to drill for answers as to why it took so long to reply and when she got the message. I was just happy that the account was to be checked and she called back later that day like she said. One should not make definite statements they can't commit to.