It took me months to get over my biggest anger and disgust to be able to write this review.We have 2 green cheek conures and brought them to Serrano for check ups etc. When we had decided to relocate ... Read More
It took me months to get over my biggest anger and disgust to be able to write this review.We have 2 green cheek conures and brought them to Serrano for check ups etc. When we had decided to relocate abroad, we needed some help from the vet for health checks, microchips etc.The first thing we needed to do was have the birds microchipped. The vet KNEW we needed to bring these birds to another country and therefore needed a special chip. The vet inserted a chip in each bird that was only recognized in the USA. We called the vet and told them about our problem. Their solution was to just insert a second chip in these birds. Our birds are small so putting 2 chips in each of them would be barbaric so we opted not to do that.We asked the vet if they knew a place through whom we could ship the birds abroad. The vet gave us a phone number of some lady that had a very poor website with hardly info on it. We emailed her with questions about her services. Since she didn't respond, we asked her again. We tried calling her but she was not answering her phone either. So that wasn't successful,Through a lot of Googling we found a bird shipper called Avico Logistic Services in LA. They instructed us what we needed to do for them to be able to ship the birds on board of the plane with us.So back to Serrano. The birds were quarantined. The vet knew when we were leaving and so knew when we needed our birds back. By the time our departure date got closer, we started to get worried. No word from the vet yet about test results etc. Without test result for bird flu, our birds were not allowed to fly. Two days before we leave, went to the vet. They told us they had just sent the bloodwork to the lab and they're waiting for a response. TWO DAYS!!!! Our birds were quarantined longer than we wanted to because the vet didn't have results. We were so upset because we knew there was a chance we would not see our birds again. The front desk of the vet suggested we would book another flight. Our flight was paid for and booking a new flight 3 days later would have meant we had to pay for 2 completely new tickets. We were baffled they even opted this. They didn't do their job, why are we suffering from it. At the end of all, the vet even wanted to charge us for a fax they'd sent out to Avico and extra boarding time. Oh they also wanted to charge us because we took their valuable time. Dude, this is your effing job!One day before departure. Vet told us there was still no results. They said they had called the lab but nobody could speed up the process. The day of departure, we went to pick up our birds anyway at 6:30 am from the vet's office because we were flying out and didn't want to leave them with that vet. Avico, the bird shipping company told us we weren't able to bring our birds with us due to the mistakes of Serrano. Luckely for us, Avico did meet us in LA where the drop off point was. Crying hysterically we left the USA and left our birds with Avico. Avico had argued with Serrano, the same as us to make the vet understand that this was an emergency. Avico tried to work together with the vet but to no avail. The staff reacted very uninterested about our situation and were very rude to the owner of Avico. The only vet that showed some compassion while we were crying was Kristy but she was the same vet that inserted the wrong chip in our birds. Then, Avico texted us right before boarding our plane, that they had found another vet who would make and sign the health certificate and the birds would be shipped 3 days later to us. Without Avico we would have not have our birds with us. If they would have stayed with Serrano, they would have been sold to someone else. We are so grateful to have our babies with us, but in no shape or form thanks to Serrano. This was one of the most traumatising things we have ever been through. As I stated in the beginning of my review. I needed time away from what happened before I could write a well written review about all this. This is so important for people to know. Especially if you ever have plans to move outside of the USA. Don't use Serrano. Use a vet that Avico recommends to you and endorses. VETS: Scott & Kristy Read Less