I have been going to West Towne for about 4 years with my dog, Griffin. While I knew they had (slightly) higher prices than the Madison market, I was more than willing to pay them for the quality care... Read More
I have been going to West Towne for about 4 years with my dog, Griffin. While I knew they had (slightly) higher prices than the Madison market, I was more than willing to pay them for the quality care I was receiving. I truly feel like the staff there know my dog and understand the physical and mental predispositions of his breed. That being said, there have been 2 incidents that have me pulling away from them and unsure if I want to continue with their service, one small and one larger. The smaller: Twoish years ago, they asked me to bring in Griffin's stool sample for his routine checkup. As it turned out, they had made a mistake and he didn't actually need to get his stool checked. Cool, whatever. But despite it being their mistake, they still charged me the $8 disposal fee. I overlooked it, because this could have been due to miscommunication and it's not like that small amount of money was worth arguing over. I just kept that memory in my mind and was cautious about charges in the future. The next incident is the one that was really offputting. I adopted another dog, Benji, who had been homeless in Puerto Rico, so naturally he needed a lot of care and attention. He did visit a clinic in San Juan, which is how we found out he had a form of Lyme's Disease that he'd need medication and a few blood test for. When we got back to Madison, we took him into West Towne for a checkup and additional shots. At our first visit, we were instructed to come back in two weeks to get his blood tested after he had finished his meds to make sure the meds were successful. Great! My boyfriend brought him back at that time to get his blood tested. This is where the problem began. West Towne told us that the results of his blood test came up inconclusive because they were unable to get a large enough blood sample--because they had used the wrong needle. They admitted that, and yet said we'd have to come back in for another test--one they very clearly planned on charging us for. Since I wasn't at the appointment when this happened, I later called them to correct the situation and said, "You told us the reason you didn't have enough blood to test from is because you chose the wrong equipment. I agree Benji needs another test done, but I will not be paying for it." Whoever I was speaking to told me she would call me back. And she did--and lo and behold, the initial sample they took that was "too small" to be tested was magically large enough all of a sudden to be tested--maybe it grew--and Benji didn't need another blood test! So, apparently they didn't even really TRY to successfully test the "too small" blood sample and instead just attempted to get us to pay for another draw and test, rather than paying for their own mistake. After hundreds of dollars in care for Benji within weeks and years of me bringing Griffin in ($$$), this is the service they provide. I'm not happy and am looking elsewhere.Read Less