Medivet Heaton Chapel

Don’t go to this Vet! They wrote us a letter saying that they don’t want our custom anymore simply because we corrected them regarding misinformation they gave to us!! They supplied us with a bag of dog food for my dog that was having tummy troubles and the price was quite expensive, so we asked if there was anywhere else we could purchase the food, not only for cost but for convenience as we’re not local. They told us that we could only get the food through them because it required a prescription. It took a 2 second Google search to disprove this, as it turns out Waitrose and Zooplus sell the same food (Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets Canine EN Gastrointestinal) and a prescription is not required at all. Also, it is much cheaper, (£22 to be exact). So we called back the Vets and told them this, thinking they would be happy as now they could correclty inform their other customers, provide them with the right information and avoid a situation like this in the future but their attitude upon receiving this news was disgusting. The receptionist called us liars and said it wasn’t true, she got very abrupt and rude with us and wasn’t happy to receive this information at all and continued to accuse us of lying! Then when we told them that it certainly was true and we specifically stated which supermarket it could be purchased at, the woman on the phone suddenly backtracked and said “Oh i thought we were talking about something else” and she laughed down the phone at us. She tried to patronise us like we were idiots when she was the only person who looked foolish backtracking after 5 minute of accusing us of lying and the funniest thing of all? She wasn’t even there when the Vets told us it could only be purchased via the practice with a prescription. So she was calling us liars over a verbal exchange she didn’t witness to begin with! What an epitome of unprofessionalism! We’re not rich. We’re ordinary working people like I’m sure most people who attend this vet are, so all we wanted to do is let the Vet know that the food can be purchased elsewhere for cheaper. We don’t have the time or the money to be travelling to and from this vet all the time and we doubt other people do either yet they were happy for us to do so AND pay more for the food, just so it would profit them. We have given them years of service and they took over £400 off us for blood tests, medicine and that dog food and now they no longer want our custom? It’s disgusting! Oh and they didn't tell us the dogs treatment would cost us £400, they just did it and then told us. Who even has £400 spare in their account? Not us. We had to use a credit card and as a result, we've got in debt because of interest and the insurance not covering us (even though the vet apparently confirmed that what we wrote in our claim letter was true?). Now we have to find another vets and this was the only one local to us and they have the cheek to say they care about animals? Read Less

Bianca's review cont. This practice clearly want customers who won’t question their ridiculous prices or treatment. We’re sorry that we want to get our moneys worth when we attend the vets because we care about our dog and can’t make regular trips due to working, we’re sorry that we ask lots of questions and we want all the information we can and it gets annoying having to explain things to us because we’re not a vet and we’re sorry we want to save money where we can because we have other financial commitments! We’re just trying to get by like everyone else! We only informed the practice because we couldn’t bare the thought of a pensioner coming in and getting ripped off, spending what little money they have purchasing products from this Vet to ensure their pet is in good health when they could save themselves a great deal. We still don’t believe the staff will pass this information along which is another reason why we’re leaving this review. Not only are they awful for how they’ve handled the above situation and treated us but some of the people who work here are highly misinformed and incompetent. Upon receiving the letter that they no longer want our custom, we had to call them straight away as we were concerned. We were booked in for an X-ray for our dog and we had only just dropped off our claim form. We called up and the girl on reception said they wouldn’t be doing our X-ray anymore and that the Claim form hadn’t been sent yet but they would do it this week (this was on the 16th of August and they said the same thing last week). Then we called up again to say we would just collect it ourselves and post it if they didn’t have time because we need the money back asap, all of a sudden, the Vet got on the phone and told us “No, actually I sent it last week”. Again that’s a bit of a big mistake to make and two completely different versions of events. Either the staff are poorly trained/misinformed/just made up an answer to get us off they phone or they were lying to us again!! he worst thing of all this is we praised this Vet. We thought she did a great job with our dog and actually cared. She took lots of time to talk to us on the phone about his conditions whilst we were with the practice and we genuinely admired and recommended her work. Now we just feel hurt and annoyed. The letter stated that there needs to be a level of trust between practitioner and customer in order for a successful working relationship, which is the most shocking statement of all because we trusted this Vet until THEY gave us reason not to! If the receptionist had just apologised about the food situation, instead of accuse us of lying, this could have all been resolved and handled with decorum. They even told my mum to leave the room whilst they injected my dog? Why? How is trust built like that? Never have I ever had to leave the room whilst my dog is injected. At any vet! We have not been at fault during any point in this exchange, if anything we’ve handled it better than most as I know many people who don’t take so kindly to being called a liar and getting laughed at down the phone. Most people with pets see them as family and seen as though they can’t speak, we rely on vets to do this for them and this is what we get for being attentive and concerned. Read Less