Vet charged owner of constipated cat nearly £40 for telephone call
A pet owner was charged almost £40 for a two-minute phone consultation about his constipated cat, an investigation into vets’ prices found.
Other owners claimed they were not told the price of treatment beforehand, or were misquoted on large bills for blood tests and surgeries.
Keith Dancey told the consumer group Which? that he was charged £188.96 for a medicinal powder when he took his constipated cat to the vets.
He claimed that he later found he could have bought the powder online, without a prescription, for a fraction of the price.
Mr Dancey said that because travelling upsets his cat, he then arranged a follow-up phone call with the vet, to update him on his cat’s progress.
But he did not realise that he would be charged £36.89 for the two-minute call until he received the bill.
The Competition and Markets Authority launched a review of the veterinary industry in September, following concerns that the price of treatment had risen faster than inflation.
The veterinary market in the UK is worth more than £2bn, and nearly two thirds of British households own a pet. Ownership boomed during the pandemic, as working from home made it easier to look after a pet.
More than eight in ten pet owners think it is difficult to shop around for a new vet because prices are unclear, a survey of 2,000 by Which? found.
A third of owners said that they were often only informed about the price at reception after the treatment when they were landed with surprise bills.
Dog owner Hannah Roper said she had been charged more than she was quoted for blood tests for her Romanian rescue, Dandy, who she got in October.
She was originally told the test would cost £180, but she was given a bill of £380, which was not broken down by item, and said that she was confused by the lack of clarity.
Complicated pet treatment packages can also cause confusion over pricing.
Cat owner Emma paid £139 in a deal which she understood to cover key treatments for the first six months of her kitten Taco’s life.
However, she said she was charged extras on top of the deal, including £25 for claw clipping. When she queried these she had been charged in error.
The Which? investigation also found that it is difficult for pet owners to determine whether a veterinary practice is independently owned or operated by a larger chain.
Three vets within two miles of each other in Birmingham, all with different branding, were found to be owned by the same company.
Independent practices accounted for 89 per cent of vets in the UK in 2013, but by 2021, this number had dropped to 45 per cent.
Craig Ward, 26, lives with his two-year-old German Shepherd Theo in Leeds. He said that he struggled to find reviews of nearby vets that he could trust.
He said: “The only thing I was going off, reviews-wise, was a local village Facebook page, which was just checking which ones people had recommended.
“There’s not these massive lists, like TripAdvisor for vets. There is nothing really out there that is big and trusted that has loads of independent vets which have gone through extra checks.”
Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said: “Shopping around and getting reliable information about paying for veterinary services is much more difficult than it should be.
“That’s why it’s important that the CMA’s review gets to the bottom of this issue and ensures pet owners are treated fairly when they seek help from a vet.”
British Veterinary Association president Anna Judson said: “The British Veterinary Association welcomed the Competition and Markets Authority’s review but it is important not to pre-empt the findings.”
She continued: “It’s therefore very disappointing to see Which? magazine canvassing its readers for only negative experiences of veterinary care.
“Any conclusion it draws will clearly fail to provide a balanced and accurate picture of veterinary care in the UK and has the potential to be highly damaging to the morale and wellbeing of vet teams, many of whom are already under severe pressure going into the busy festive period.”
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