Unfortunately our experience at Anchor Animal Hospital was below then average. Our experience with Anchor was one that was mixed feelings but ended up being lower than our expectations after a followu... Read More
Unfortunately our experience at Anchor Animal Hospital was below then average. Our experience with Anchor was one that was mixed feelings but ended up being lower than our expectations after a followup. We visited Anchor with our cat who had a urinary infection that I found is very common for cats. We suspected that was the issue so without waiting for the cat to be in more pain we brought her to Dr. Kim with high hopes based on his past reviews. We previously were treated very well by Dr. Choi a few years ago before he sold his practice to Dr. Kim. On a positive note, the Dr gave us a well informed diagnosis and also included xrays and a ultrasound to back up his findings. But a few things made the experience uncomfortable. Our main complaint is about the post-op customer service. After our cat was given a catheter, and sent home we encountered an issue. We realized that our Female Cat was given a Catheter that had stitches that were not sewn well. It was similar to a Male Catheter that was straight rather than the balloon type. Well after a few hours, our cat that was confined in a cat kennel, and an E-Collar, had the Male Catheter all over the floor and it just fell right out. This was a result of bad stitching. So we realized this and the next day we called the Dr. When we called we expected that if we let them know about it the Dr. would make it up to us and not charge us for a re-visit, or at least a discount due to the stitching problem from the original visit. Well to our suprise the Dr. stated that he would charge us another full visit fee, plus the new cost of a Catheter, plus the cost of Sedation and more. We asked him if we could avoid the visit fee since we were just there the night before and it fell out due to the stitching but he declined. Secondly, we were unhappy with the Dr's initial billing estimate for the treatment of the Cat. His initial estimate was for almost $900. He advised us that the cat should be hospitalized for 3 days but we declined that due to our finances and the stress it would place on the cat. Now I know that some owners will pay whatever a Vet tells them too but we are very cautionary and try to do things 1 thing at a time, and like to see how the outcome of each step goes, rather than a shotgun' treatment approach. We decided to decline the hospitalization and perform the other necessary steps first. Luckily we did and brought the bill down to $350. Of course it meant we lost a little sleep and had to keep the Cat in a kennel to monitor it but it was well worth not hospitalizing her all alone causing more stress for 3 days to her. Good thing we did as she started feeling better within 24 hours! Note that its up to each person how comfortable they are in treating their cat rather than having the vet do everything so it depends on your confidence level but with enough practice you can also reduce your bills with a little extra work. Thirdly, his office has complete security surveillance in Every Room of the building, that includes video cameras in PATIENT ROOMs. Usually most places only have them in their lobby and reception area for security reasons but having video cameras in the patient rooms felt intrusive to our privacy. I couldn't tell if they were video only but honestly with today's technology they could have been both audio & video recording and look the same. Now I can understand that an owner would be cautious due to theft or other reasons but having them in the patient room where pet owners divulge private and intimate details about their finances, their family situation, or other personal info seems very Intrusive. Yes, the owner does have a sign on one of the lobby doors stating the premises has surveillance but I didn't expect that in the patient room. Overall, I feel that our experience and review of Anchor could have been much better if they treated us with better customer service after the visit and had been more understanding regarding our complaint of the faulty procedure that was performed and paid for. We were told by Dr Kim that the Catheter would last a full 3 days but in reality fell right out after a few hours. Read Less