I had the strangest, and most hurtful, customer experience of my 42 years with All Pets Hospital. I came here after our family rescued a Lab, only to find she had the dreaded Heartworm (HW) disease. T... Read More
I had the strangest, and most hurtful, customer experience of my 42 years with All Pets Hospital. I came here after our family rescued a Lab, only to find she had the dreaded Heartworm (HW) disease. Treating HW disease, it turns out, is extremely costly (Over $1,000 when all is said & done if using the fast-kill Immiticide treatment), is very complicated w/ dosing & course of treatment, is very lengthy, & is very hard on the dog physically. I had significant concern & anxiety due to these things, but wanted to do right by this beautiful, sweet animal that my children, husband, & I had fallen in love with. The only issues I can think of when racking my brain as to why this clinic has treated my family so hurtfully are - 1.) Dr. Braden was wonderful our (only) visit with a vet, & assured me that I would receive a phone call each step of the way to walk me through the next step (the steps are numerous & complicated). The phone calls never came, so I called myself to ensure I was doing the right thing, & mentioned to the receptionist that I was not receiving the calls as I was told I would; 2.) I work in health care & have a Master's degree in a health field. I've always been the type to thoroughly research all health care when it comes to my children, myself, & my pets. I was told by Dr. Braden that the HW disease treatment protocol that my dog would undergo was the exact protocol followed by the American Heartworm Association (AHA). Upon researching, I found that there were several steps at APH that were inconsistent with the AHA protocol. I called & expressed my concern to the vet tech Brittany. I told her I was concerned only because I did not want my dog to go through this very costly treatment & her body go through so much trauma & have the treatment fail. She promised she would call me back. I patiently waited for the promised call for close to a month & it never came. I called back myself & Brittany said that she had spoken w/ the vets & they had missed attending the AHA conference the past year & had missed the current updates in protocol. She assured me that the old protocol was one that had proved very successful over the years at APH; 3.) Due to the expense of the HW, I asked if APH would mind allowing me obtain a Rx to order their recommended Multi-Advantage HW prevention drops from a pet supply co.; I was told that this was fine, so I've done this for the last 1.5 yrs. Treatment steps & kennel rest continued for months & then in July 2014, I brought my dog in for a final HW test & blood work. She was tested negative & her bloodwork looked wonderful. I couldn't have been any more thrilled. The vet tech who gave me the results then recommended she be spayed. I was aware that she needed to be spayed, as she had already been through a messy heat cycle, but I wanted to 1.) give her body a rest after such a traumatic experience, esp. considering she would have to undergo general anesthesia & now had a weakened heart; 2.) APH wanted over $400 to spay her & between the HW treatment combined with my chronically ill daughter's overwhelming ongoing medical bills, I was in a strained financially & my wallet needed a break too.5 months later, in Dec '14, knowing my dog still needed to be spayed & having experienced her 3rd messy heat cycle, I was still in a strained financial position, so as I was driving by the clinic one day, thought to stop & speak to the office manager Jill to request a discount. It never hurts to ask, right? Jill agreed to give me a 20% discount on the spay. I was very grateful & told her I needed to save up a few more months & would call to make the appt.Late Feb '15. I called the clinic & spoke w/ Jill. I reminded her of our conversation in Dec & she stated she remembered, & scheduled the surgery for me for March 13.I scheduled the day off work for my dog's surgery. THREE DAYS BEFORE THE SURGERY, on March 10, I received a letter stating that I was no longer welcomed at All Pets, w/ zero explanation as to why!! I was shocked, devastated, & extremely confused. My husband happened to be home as well & we decided it must be a terrible mistake. Several times I had called the clinic there were two of us w/ the same owner name & the same dog name, & I always had to explain which one I was. I immediately called & calmly spoke with Jill to discuss the terrible letter I had received & asked if they had me mixed up again with the other client, as I myself had no problems with the clinic. To my shock she confirmed that it was intended for me. I asked why? What was the problem? She refused to give me any further info & promised to have a Vet call me that day. I waited for that call all day at home, & nobody ever bothered to call me! I called the next afternoon, & all Jill would say is that she passed along a request to call me. My dog was scheduled to have surgery the next day. I asked again what the problem was, & she then said it was relate "communication". She refused further detail. Read Less