Where do I begin?! In February, my disabled sun conure had an accident which led to him having two of his toes amputated on his bad leg. I was given an estimate of the surgery and was told it wouldn’t... Read More
Where do I begin?! In February, my disabled sun conure had an accident which led to him having two of his toes amputated on his bad leg. I was given an estimate of the surgery and was told it wouldn’t be more than $1,200. They even added a “laser therapy package,” which I blindly accepted because I just wanted to save my sun conure.
After surgery, I went to pick him up and pay the bill. I was then told it would be more than I was quoted initially and closer to $1,400 because they had to administer fluids from the loss of blood and bandage him, which is absurd because if surgery is being completed, bandages are necessary to cover the wound, so this should have been in the original estimate.
I understand this is a business and they have to make their money, but excluding items in a surgery estimate only to add them later on because the patient or customer has no choice is not the best business practice.
This is where the nightmare begins. My bird was handed to me by Dr. Torres, with a bandaged foot, an oversized E-collar, and some “felt/fabric” pieces with a hole as an alternative. He let me know that they did not have an E-collar that fit him and that I could order one on Amazon/online (except there was no delivery of E-collars for the next two weeks and we were not even told what size to order).
After paying so much money for surgery and putting my bird through all this suffering, as well as myself that had to take days off work to watch him, it is unacceptable that we were not given the proper safety equipment after the surgery.
The first time I took my bird in for laser therapy, it wasn’t until I had already arrived back at my house that I was messaged about an outstanding balance of $48 for bandages that Dr. Torres had to replace. At no point was I informed that I had to pay for bandages again, and it is ridiculous that the cost of bandages would turn out to be more than the laser therapy itself. Again, another piece of information withheld since the beginning. The worst part, that same night, the bandages came off, and I had to bandage my bird myself to prevent him from getting to his stitches. Of course, I disputed the charge for the bandages.
After everything was said and done, I felt blindsided because this is not something I expect from a veterinarian practice. I am disappointed because VCA South Dade has been my bird’s vet for the last six and a half years. Read Less