Complain about a product or service

Banfield Pet Hospital

Julie of Houston, TX June 16, 2009

The reason for this letter is to explain the chain of events which resulted in the loss of my very best friend and companion, Coby, my eight year old kitty. My goal is to have assistance in an investigation of Bansfield/Pet Smart for possible animal malpractice by any or all media outlets, including any applicable pet rights groups. His sickness was a time sensitive one that I regrettably depended on Banfield/Pet Smart for help and answers. My cat suffered from pulmonary edema (fluid filled lungs) due to some unidentified condition of the heart which resulted in labored breathing, depression and anorexia. After doing my own research on the web I took Coby to Banfields 4 days after I had noticed the progressive changes in his breathing, at first I thought it was just me and I was being a paranoid mother.

The Doctor and Assistant at Banfields acted like he was breathing fine and it was his weight that was the culprit. I specifically asked about x-rays on his lungs, they suggested blood work and said they could find out more that way. Being in a position to do what ever it took to help him, I agreed, though I was surprised that’s how they wanted to move forward. I had the blood work done and waited by the phone to get the results, to my dismay; I received a follow up call from someone completely different that wanted to know how Cobys vomiting and diarrhea were doing. He never had these symptoms to begin with so obviously their means of health intake are scued and unreliable.

Finally I get some results from the Dr. stating that he had a urinary tract infection and special food, along with oral meds were necessary. I went directly there to pick up the supplies and paid 136.00 on top of the 322.00 I had just paid for the blood work and exam. Coby graciously took the pills and ate what food his body would permit the next two days.

Waiting to hear results from further testing at Banfields, I watched my precious little guy fade before my eyes. Not seeing time to wait any longer I franticly searched for near by veterinarians I could get him to in emergency. Luckily I found the best vet in Houston closest to me but it was too late at this point. The new Dr. checked his pulse tapped his side twice and wrapped him in a towel to rush him back to ICU, which is down the hall a few steps from the exam room. His words were, this cat is in critical condition, we NEED x-rays stat! I lost composure as he showed me the condition of Coby's lungs. 20% lung capacity at that point was all he had to his advantage. Unfortunately that was not enough to sustain life any longer. Coby passed away in the ICU at the new vet, which I will return to as long as I reside in Bellaire.

The point of all of this is to make pet owners aware that Banfield may be good enough to take your pet for grooming or getting their claws trimmed but NEVER EVER depend on their experts to save the life of a beloved pet. Don't let the time come that you urgently need to seek help for your pet, find a real good family doctor as if you were taking your children. I can not have babies so my pets are my family and I have learned a very hard lesson with the loss of my beautiful Coby.

Joyce of Minneapolis, MN June 15, 2009

While walking my dogs through the neighborhood, my dog Sunshine was attacked and injured by pit bulls. It happened directly behind the Banfield clinic where she receives her regular care, so I quickly walked her there for care. Even though she stood dripping blood onto their floor, they refused to treat her or even check her out to see if she was okay to walk home. They initially claimed it was because they were too busy dealing with another emergency. That emergency turned out to be a constipated cat. But as I sat there and waited, the assistant came out and told the young woman who was waiting for the cat that the cat was using the litter pan and would be okay. So clearly they were not too busy to at least look at Sunshine, and there were no other people or patients waiting at the time. After they refused several times to even look at her, we left, but Sunshine was bleeding so badly on the walk home that I went back and begged them to look at her.

They then took her in back for a few seconds, and returned with her stating that she might need stitches and that might take too long so they weren’t willing to help her. This from a company that boasts about “legendary client service.” I ended up walking all the way home with Sunshine and then driving her to the University Small Animal Hospital for care. Why did Banfield behave this way? When I’d bring my dogs in to Banfield for care, they would always pressure me to leave them at the clinic, no matter how minor the problem. This allowed them to charge double because they’d charge for both the visit and the stay. They could also then fit additional appointments in to what should have been my 15 minute appointment.

I eventually started to question this practice (other area vets don’t do this) which was unnecessarily expensive and very stressful for my dogs. I also didn’t like one of the vets, who had recommended 700 worth of x-rays for an allergy problem. They were unhappy that I voiced my concerns about these and other issues, and I believe the vet in charge that day was being vindictive because of this.

Jacqueline of San Clemente, CA June 12, 2009

First of all, there are over 700 Banfield Pet Hospitals in the United States. You can not judge every clinic based off of one bad experience. Banfield veterinarians are just as good as a "real vet." That's because they are real vets. They've been to school just like someone who owns a private practice. You are treating hundreds of hospitals (with multiple doctors at each hospital) as though it is one place.

Additionally, Banfield doesn't offer "pet insurance," they offer "wellness plans" and the contract that you sign when you sign up for one tells you exactly that, in addition to the services and discounts included. If you have a problem with the way the contract is written, maybe you should read important documents before you sign the dotted line. My cat and dog have two different vets at Banfield and they are both amazing individuals that I trust completely with my beloved pets. They are both extremely intelligent men with excellent bedside manner. I'm not saying that some of you haven't had horrible experiences, but you are generalizing too much to be fair.

William of Groesbeck, TX June 9, 2009

My dogs, Meg and Sadie, visited the Banfielf Clinic from July 2006 through Deember 2008. Meg suffered from cronic scratching and constance sheding and an occasional infection. I was told she had very sensitive skin and was very likely reacting to flea bits. I was advised to spray the yard for fleas, use a special medicated shampoo, and use a pescription flea repellant sold by the clinic. After saturating my yard with pesticides and regularly applying te flea medicatio an probably over washing my dog the condition persisted.

Both dogs were signed up for the Banfield Wellness Plan on January 15, 2008. After moving out of the area in Aptil of this year, I took Meg to a local vetinary clinic, where she was diagnoised as having a thyroid imbalance. The thought of the years of discomfort Meg has gone through because of poor medical attentionmisdinoago and becoming dissatisfied with their service and moving I decided to cancel the Banfield Plan.

When I called the home office to cancel the plan, I was told the plan could only be placed on a "Non- renewable" status until a 400.00 balance was paid. When I requested a written statement explaining the balance, I was told this was not possible. At this point, I advise anyone considering the Banfiel Wellness Plan to be very careul and do much research.

Linda of Casselberry, FL June 6, 2009

May 1,2009 I took my cat in to be checked out since one day prior he had eaten a toad. He had had Toxic Smelling Diarrhea for two days, I took him in on the second day.The employees were in their weekly meeting. Two different Vet Assistants came out, and looked into his cage, one of the assistants said, "We are closed now for our meeting and will reopen at 3pm. This was more than an hour away. I was very insistant he see the vet.

One of the vet assistants said let me get the nurse. She came out opened his carrier felt around on his head like she was petting him, and closed the door. She then said,"If we get done with our meeting early, then we can take him in as an Emergency Walk-In, and there would be an extra charge since I did not have an appointment. After waiting more than an hour, he is finally seen by Veterinarian C. Nicklin. I repeated my story about him eating a toad the day prior and about the diarrhea. They listed over 500.00 worth of test to do.

I am unemployed right now, I got laid off. I said lets start with an x-ray 1st to see what we are dealing with. This whole time no one has told me about toads being poisonous. I found out on my own through the Internet research. The vet prescribed Carafate, and Probotic Powder and their prescription food. I did everything she told me. He seemed to be getting better through the week and the diarrhea was gone. Then as days went on it seemed he was not feeling well, he was still eating and drinking water so I thought he was still recovering from the extreme bout of diarrhea. He was now down to 5.1lbs, from 12lbs. into the 4th week he was breathing as though he was going to heave up a fur ball, but he never did. Other than that he seemed ok.

By beginning of June he was still breathing this way so I was taking him back to the vet, where on the way to the vet, he starting acting as though he was choking and no sound was coming out or air. I immediately opened his carrier where I felt him, to see if he was breathing, he was not. Once I arrive at the vet The man vet pronounced him DOA. When I spoke with Dr. Swetnam, he sure could do the spinning talk.

My complaint was that they made me wait that day, and that NO ONE EVEN THE VET C. NICKLIN, knew all toads were poisonous. The Manager vet and the other man vet knew. Maybe if she had be trained properly, maybe she could have tried to induce vomiting or given him something to help absorb the toxin. But she did not. Dr. Swetnam, went on and on and on, about how much training they go through, and how they close down every Friday for 1.5 hours for meetings, for training.

Dr. Swetnam, kept dancing around that he would have animals dying everyday if they had eaten a toad. He said it just does not happen. Since then my husband and I have spoken to many people we know and many of them had bad experiences with Banfield Vets as a whole. I do not usually have the need for a vet because my cats stay indoors, and are not exposed to other animals. This toad got into the house after a rain storm. I made it very clear that I would tell as many people as possible to stay away from Banfield Vets. And since Petmart sponsers them, under their roof, I told the Assistant Manager Michelle, that I would no longer be shopping at their store.

Maria of Wilmington, NC June 5, 2009

My dog was not eating and was acting strange. Because it was a Sunday and my regular vet was not open I took my dog to Banfield. After 3 hours he was diagnosed with pancreatitus and given antibiotics and special food which totaled 345 with the office visit and tests. After two days he seemed worse. I brought him to my regular vet and the vet found he has a back problem (thru x-rays and a physical exam) and was flabbergasted that he had been diagnosed with pancreatitus because he did not have any of the classic symptoms. I am livid that my dog suffered for two more days because of a bad diagnosis. My paperwork states that at Banfield he exhibited normal behavior and no physical compliants which was obviously wrong because if you touched my dog anywhere on the back he yelped!! I want a refund and an explanation. I am going to go back to Banfield to complain and if nothing is done I am writing the company. It makes me so mad and sick to my stomach to find out that this seems to be a major problem for Banfield.

Gini of OR, OR June 4, 2009

Previously I have used Banfield in Tigard OR, with no complaints. This time I took a 14 yr old cat in to be put down. I called and made the apointment, which they couldn't find. Then the vet took so much time trying to convince us how bad we were and how she wanted to do all these labs and ultrasounds, ect. I told her 3 times, very clearly we just wanted her put to sleep. Eventually the cat bit one of the techs which caused all kinds of chaos. It ended up costing us 400, thats with out getting the cat given back to us, and taking 4 hours.It was distressing to the cat, and horrible for our family. I will never go back to a Banfield again. To add insult to injury, the bottom of the estimate had a paragraph suggesting we get pet insurance for her, and how much it would save us for todays visit. How insensitive is that? And of course, after the bite, she told my hysterical daughter that they would have to cut the cats head off and send it in for testing! We had already told them we didn't need the cat returned to us, so why even say that?

Gerrilynn of sacramento, CA June 2, 2009

Took my dog in after 3 days of progressivily getting sick with hindquarter weakness, vomiting, no appetite,She had a lump that was biopisied to see if that could be the problem.Blood was drawn also. That was the only things done to her. She was wearing a muzzle at the time and we had also given her 15 mg. of valium before bringing her in. Along with the sedation and muzzle in adddition to the weakness from being ill she was in no shape no offer much resistance to anything that was done.We were there during the complete and total time that she was there.Phycially with her at all times.most control of her was done by myself,husband & son. They said she needed x-rays but their machine was down and they would call me as soon as it was functioning.

I got no call to return for x-rays No other tests or procedures were done other than described above. I was given a reciept for services that were NOT PREFORMED at all. I wasn't charged for all services that they had listed but they were supposedly done. they were not done. The list is too long to go into but I would be more than happy to talk w/an attorney if deemed worthy. The worst thing about all of this mess was that I am now having to take my pet to a private vet and time has been wasted to what damage to my baby is yet to be seen.

Chere of dallas, TX May 31, 2009

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY...Go to a REAL vet....My puppy bit into a battery and I rushed her in to see what I thought was a good vet, and they closed at 5:00 and it was 4:45 he refused to see my puppy. The only thing I heard him say was "check that dog in cuz she is pating emergency fee" Now I thought vets were to care about dogs and not the money as much...Wrong, he didn't care if my puppy died, he didn't ask what kind of battery or nothing just MONEY MONEY MONEY....Well I am canceling my wellness program cuz it is just a crock. They will never get another dime out of me. He lost me and anybody I talk to will know the same thing...DON"T WASTE YOUR MONEY

Carol of Carlsbad, CA May 30, 2009

I have been taking my pets to Banfield for many years. In November of 2007, while in for routine care for my three pets, the young female assistant suggested I sign up for the wellness plan for my dog and two cats. I proceeded to do so, and then had routine care for the pets for the next year. Just before the plan was set to renew, I called to schedule shots for the pets under the current year's allowances. They scheduled the shots. When I brought in the pets, they charged me for the shots, stating that my new plan actually started that very day. I stated that I had followed their instructions, and that they had made a scheduling mistake. They took a few dollars off the price. I asked to speak to the office manager. I was told she was not available. I asked that they have her call me. She never did. In the meantime, I called the corporate office and asked they remove me from the plan. The representative I talked to said that a different person had to handle that, and they would have someone call me. No one ever called. Shortly thereafter, Banfield began calling us several times a week at home using phone calls made by a computer and with a recorded message asking I call them back. When I called the number, no one ever answered, and no live person ever called me back. Finally, in May of 2009, Banfield referred me to a collection agency, which sent me a bill for over eight hundred dollars. There was no phone number on the bill. I went on Banfield's web site, and again found no phone number. I decided to try PetSmart's website, which had a 24 hour seven day a week customer service line. The pleasant and helpful young man on the other end assured me that they were in no way affiliated with Banfield, other than to rent them space in their stores, and kindly provided me with a phone number to Banfield's corporate office. I was able to get through to them today, and was, after several minutes of waiting, referred to their collections department. I then spoke to a female representative, and told her my whole story as briefly as I could. The representative said she apologized for my trouble with the Banfield location we patronized, but that she could do nothing to help me on that end. She then explained that I was being charged for back wellness plan payments as well as for the services my pets received in November and December of 2008 as well as adding the cost of the retail rate that they would charge for pet treatments for those who were not on the wellness plan. They had also canceled my plan, but not until several months after I had requested to be taken off. I then asked the representative if there were any law suits or class action suits against the company, as I felt their business practices were illegal, misrepresented their services, and so forth. At this point she stated I had a right to contact an attorney, but that she was willing to cut me a deal. If I would pay three hundred and sixty dollars, they would send me a letter stating that I had fulfilled my obligation to Banfield. I wondered when I would receive the letter. She stated most likely within a few days. I paid the lowered fee on the phone with my credit card. Since this last interaction was this afternoon, I don't know the outcome of this, or whether they will further harass me or continue to bill me. They assured me this would be the end of the matter. This has been an entirely brutal experience. Never as a consumer have I been lied to so blatantly.

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