I think you are quite right to complain and what is it with their attitude lately not all of them I know but some of them seem to think we are stupid and feel they need to point it out to us in the loudest way possible.

Wouldn't wait to calm down before doing the complaint do it now while you are still fuming.

Ok, what d'ya reckon then! Mind you, I've calmed down a tad! Lol!

COPY OF MY INTENDED THREAT!
Re: My appointment booked for Saturday 2nd May at 9.20 am

I needed medication for my 10yr. old gsd who suffers with a serious skin condition, without which he would have suffered extreme itching which has been ongoing since his birth, and hundreds of pounds have been spent at your Hospital during the past 4 years since rescuing this dog, so they are more than aware of his history etc. and although he has not been seen since September 2008, he has been doing fine with a change of medication at that time. I WAS prescribed my medication over the telephone, and I collected this on Friday the 1st May, and because the vet had told me I would have to make an appointment for him to be seen because it had been six months, I duly made this appointment for the very next day at 9.30, i.e. today.

I arrived for my appointment at 9.05 am. giving myself plenty of time before my actual appt. of 9.20, and the veterinary surgeon on duty had just finished with her previous appointment, and then disappeared from the surgery, so I sat and waited, and there was NOBODY ELSE in the waiting room apart from the people just leaving and this was 9.10am. At 9.25 am. I was still sitting quietly and in came another couple with their greyhound, so I asked them what time their appointment was, just in case it was BEFORE mine so that I knew how long I might end up waiting, and they told me their appointment was 9.30, so I knew I would be before them because mine was 9.20 and it was then 9.25 am. The reason I was so concerned, is because I had specifically made my appointment for a Saturday when I knew a friend of mine would be available to be at my house baby sitting my new puppy who had never been left without her companion, and I expected to be about half an hour maximum, with only a 5 minute journey. 9.30 arrived and out came the vet from the surgery and she called in the new arrivals rather than myself? I stood up and asked her why I wasn't first because MY appointment was in fact 10 minutes earlier than theirs, and was told that I would be seeing a different vet who was currently on an emergency. I sat back down and had in fact seen this other vet to'ing and fro'ing from reception to the surgery itself when there was nobody in there before she called in this other couple, so she didn't look exactly rushed off her feet to me???!!! She actually came into the waiting room at one point and administered some medication to a couple with a cat in a cage, so where was her "emergency" she was dealing with then, because she didn't seem to be in any particular hurry when handing over the medication to the couple with the cat????

By 9.35 the couple with a greyhound who had gone in, came out, as apparently it was only a matter of having some stitches removed, but again I was NOT called in. I asked the receptionist just how late this other vet I was seeing was running, because quite honestly, I could do without waiting any longer, I was NOT an emergency, there was nothing wrong with my dog and I could come back another time. The receptionist then gave me a lecture about emergency cases, and I said to her that I did understand all of this because I myself had been in the very same position with another dog of mine. I also said that on the two previous occasions I had visited the surgery over the past month with my new puppy, I had ALSO had to wait one whole hour before I got to be seen and dismissed, so what is the point in this appointment procedure you have then??? I was again told that she didn't know how long I would be waiting because the other vet I was seeing (for some strange reason!) could be tied up indefinitely, so I decided I would go home. On getting up to walk out of the door, out came the vet on duty, who lectured me about the 6 months ruling and I would NOT be getting my medication for my dog unless I waited, but I kept trying to make her understand that I HAD IN FACT GOT my medication, it was no big deal that I was leaving, and it was no big deal that I could make another appointment!!! She didn't seem to grasp this fact and insisted that I stayed, but I wasn't prepared to waste any more of my precious time arguing the case with her, so I left in a very angry state!

I am very disatisfied with your current appointment system, this is not the first time I have lost one hour of my prescious time for a 10 minute appointment, it has happened on numerous occasions of late, and for this very reason I am now changing my vet. Of course I understand about emergency cases, but every single time, and that does not excuse the fact that the actual vet on duty was NOT dealing with the emergency, no, she was seeing people who had an appointment 10 minutes AFTER me!!!! I am changing vets, purely because, I did not like the fact that the couple who had an appointment for TEN MINUTES AFTER MINE were called in first and I was left to sit there and wait for some other vet, why I don't know,when my dog would only have taken 5 minutes for a quick check over, afterall, as I have stated earlier, there is nothing wrong with my dog, he eats, he drinks, he's lively, he plays with the puppy and he gets 2 half hour walks a day which he can more than cope with and yet he's 10 years old and living on steroids due to his horrendous skin condition, so a quick check over would have been all that was required to comply with the law, the same time that it took, if not less, than taking out that other dog's stitches! My dog did not need diagnosing, we have done all of that 3 years ago when I was told they could never cure him, they could only keep him comfortable, and when Andrew Ketteridge re-introduced the steroids to him, both he and I knew that we were sending this dog down on a slippery slope, but have no choice, and being a very responsible dog owner myself, I would know when the time had come that he had deteriorated in any way to visit a vet. Today was not that time, today was all about complying with an unnecessary law in order for him to get a repeat presciption of his low dose medication, it would have taken a matter of 5 minutes. Five minutes which ended up totalling 15 minutes of MY own time by stupidly, although politely, getting their early, TWENTY MINUTES of waiting for a vet who might never see me, and 10 minutes travelling = total 45 minutes for absolutely nothing! I am, afterall, a PAYING client, this was not a free consultation either!

I trust you will now understand my reasons for leaving what I considered to be a very good veterinary practice, but there are other 24-hour services available to me which I will now persue.

They were dam right rude.
Am I missing somthing here - do you not PAY for this service (which is usally overpriced anyway.) How dare they treat you this way.
Go girl give em what for.

Fantastic l;etter!!!!

Oh Aitch that must have been really frustrating, if i understood it right all the vet had to do (To comply with the law) was look at the dog and sign off the medication you had already received the day before, simple. I think it sounds like this locum didn't understand what the law requires and was trying to act like you had not already received the medication, why she would do this I don't know but like everyone else i would say get your letter off to them and give 'em hell.

Well done I think you may get an apology, I will be surprised if you don't.

Well I think you covered all your bases there H. Good job!!!
you go girl!!!
Elaine xxx

Thanks guys! It's the principle of the thing isn't it and although it pains me to change vets coz they're a hospital with facilities 24/7 I feel I must! I have a lovely vet group which is highly rated and has been for donkey's years and yet I've never tried them, so I will. Then again I have one on my doorstep, and although he saved Cassie's life many years ago, he doesn't have any bedside manner and he doesn't have 24/7 and one awful, awful night we had to wait from 3am in the morning after being seen and sent home, with her smearing blood on all the walls in a terrible state (ate rat poison!) there was nobody to help her until their other operation facility opened at 8.30 am. next day so I just cannot change to him, I need 24/7 care for my dogs now since that episode.

I could also tell them about the way she was with the receptionists when they were trying to tell her she also had 3 clients to see couldn't I???? Hmmmmmm, I'll ponder on that one!!!!

Oh H, I can fully understand your anger, I would have been furious as well why do these people think they can treat you like that, the trouble is too many people put up with it, and it's not on.

I'm glad you're changing vets, and the letter should get the point across perfectly, unless they are so dense they don't get it

Thanks Christine, I've just got to smooth it around the edges a bit and maybe add a bit (lol! I don't do "brief" very well as you can see), but I'll try and condense it a tad, otherwise it might get binned before it gets read properly hey?!!!! I'm actually sitting here wondering whether it's BECAUSE I haven't been there for the 6 months that they might treat ALL their clients like this who are in the same boat perhaps? A form of "we'll teach you", especially as they charge £29 per consultation!!! Yes £29 for a quick feel of Georgie!!!!