ComplaintsforTopsham Veterinary Wellness Center

• Initial Complaint

  08/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This vet has aloud an employee to cancel a wellness plan, bill for services because the wellness plan was canceled( without client permission.) refused to send records to a new vet because of said money that is owed. The pet this revolves around is a sick pet who needs special food and medicine on the daily. I feel this is extremely unprofessional way for this practice to be run. This has been at the least a big inconvenience for our family.

  Business response

  08/16/2023

  Hello *****,

  I would think if you wanted to discuss this situation with me, you would have reached out, rather than through the BBB.  I will also answer this query/complaint on that site as well for completeness sake. Is the omission on reaching out to me, or someone on my staff, directly because you do not want to talk to your step-daughter who is on staff?
  
  This is what I know regarding Mables medical relationship with TVWC.  It is similar in many ways to other pet owners who are seeking vet care elsewhere.
  8/10/21: A wellness plan contract was initiated and signed at the first visit. 
  As you know, this is a 12-month contract and auto-renews unless otherwise discussed at the end of the 12 months, or before this if the plan is cancelled and nothing more is owed from the services rendered.
  
  On 7/18/2022, ***** came in for her annual exam etc again and her records state:
  Patient's wellness plan is expiring next month.Please call client for Re-enrollment. Check plan for remaining products. Yes,senior dog plan this year. Borrowed BW and *********** on 7/18/2022 -OB/AR   Started Senior plan early as nothing on Adult plan needed before renewal-DN
  A detail important to note is that Mabels heartworm/tick test was used at this time from the July 2022- Aug 2023 plan.
  
  On 6/1/2023, ***** was seen a bit earlier for this annual exam etc. and so some of the things we decided to do, we had to borrow the heartworm/tick test from the 2023-2024 Wellness Plan that you and I discussed verbally that we would be renewing. 
  
  On 6/20/23 her records state:
  Patient's wellness plan is expiring next month.Please call client for Re-enrollment. Check plan for remaining products.
  Yes to renew -OB
  
  Although there are no notes stating that you would be changing practices, since you are in a dispute with your step-daughter, we were all aware that youd be seeking veterinary care elsewhere.  As such, our next step in this situation is to look at an active wellness plan and tally up any money owed before closing out the account.  DN reached out with this email on 7/13/23.

  
  Hello *****************************,
  We have calculated the amount owed for goods and services already rendered for Mables Wellness Plan. Please note you are not being charged for services unused on the Wellness Plan, and that we have taken your previous payments into account. Please contact us to let us know how you would like to proceed with payment. We are able to continue with the monthly automatic payments until it is paid off or it can be paid in one lump sum over the phone or in person. Please find below the breakdown for goods and services rendered and payments made.
  
  Actual Amount Owed: $53.30 (heartworm/lyme test borrowed from next plan)
  Please contact us at your earliest convenience to resolve this matter.
  Thank you,
  DN
  
  Also on 7/13/23, this note was in Mabels record
  Completed Callback - Wellness Plan Auto Renew Date- Yes Borrowed flex4 from new plan-LT changing vets, stopped WP-DN
  
  On 8/1/23, you were mailed and emailed an invoice for the money owed, as discussed in the 7/13/23 email.
  
  It was not until 8/15/23, that a records request was made from the veterinary office that you were going to use.  This seems as though it was made on the very same day that you had an appointment with them, so no notice could be given to you that her medical records would be forwarded to the vet of your choice once the bill was settled.  We did however provide this vet office with Mables vaccination status and signalment (name,age etc) as soon as it was requested.
  Client Communication Entry Records Request **************** 8/15/2023 3:37 PM
  
  Client Communication Entry Vaccination Record Received- ******************** 8/15/2023 3:37 PM
  
  Because you were leaving our office, we reached out to you prior to your next wellness plan payment of 8/15/23 and turned off the auto-payments as a courtesy. 

  
  If you would like me to charge your credit card on file for the $45 that the August payment should have been for, Id be happy to.  If you give me permission, I can also take the full wellness plan pay-off payment of $53.30 and we can be done. 
  Like I said, all of this could have been discussed easily with either a phone call or an email.  I think in this case, having it written out as Ive done above may help you see that weve done nothing out of the ordinary.  I would like to apologize for the mis-communication about not continuing the wellness plans instead of respectfully stopping them so that we could settle up after a reply or a phone call based on the Wellness Plan Pay-off letter.

  
  Again, let me know if youd like to discuss this further.  Im reaching out over email because I wonder if your frustration may be alleviated a bit with this explanation and time to process it on your own.

  
  Thank you,
  ********************

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