Mercy Animal Hospital

Reviews 3

CY

Cynthia Reeser Constantino

I have spent many hundreds of dollars at Mercy Animal Hospital over the years, and have recommended them to my family and friends, but after a recent nightmare experience with them, I will not spend another penny there. Brandon McKim is patronizing and made it clear to me that he did not want or need my business, and he suggested that I find another vet. I have never been treated so disrespectfully or unprofessionally by anyone. I brought my cat in for a declaw of one claw that had grown back after a previous declaw. After I dropped my cat off for the surgery, the vet tech called and said they found one other claw and asked for my permission to have the two claws removed. I gave permission to have the two claws removed. The tech mentioned that my cat was due for updates on her vaccinations, and I gave approval to have her vaccinated for whatever she was due for. After the surgery, the vet tech called and said "the surgery went well. We actually found five claws." They removed five claws when I had only consented to the removal of two. Of course, this resulted in more charges. (Why bother asking for my consent at all?) When the tech told me this on the phone, I said that I had only approved the removal of two claws. She said that I gave her permission to remove as many as necessary. I reminded her of our conversation, and told her that I would only pay for two. When I arrived to pick up my cat, I was billed over $600. I couldnt believe how much they charged for such a simple surgery! I contested the bill with the person at the front desk, and she said I would have to speak with someone in the room when I went back to pick up my cat. When I spoke with that person, she said she had nothing to do with billing and would have to talk with her "general manager." She left the room and was gone for 30 minutes. Then the vet who removed the claws, Brandon McKim, entered the room and the first thing he said was "Im sorry youre upset." I let him know I was not upset but had a question about the billing. I tried to describe the situation and he continually interrupted me. I could not finish a single sentence. He kept talking over me and saying that he was right next to the vet tech when she called and claimed that he had heard her ask me for approval for all five claws. The entire time, he had a smirk on his face. I kept trying to finish a single sentence, and he would raise his voice and talk over me. I could not believe how unprofessional he was. Finally, I said calmly, "Please let me finish" and he said, "You know what? I can see Im not getting anywhere with you. I dont have time to waste butting heads with you. You should find another vet." I turned and picked up my things to walk away and he started laughing. He said "bye now. We dont need your business." Im too dumbfounded by what happened to be angry. I dont understand what prompted such a reaction, but Im telling everyone I know not to waste their time or money at this vet. I had also requested that my cat receive IV fluids during the surgery, and when she came home, I noticed that they had not given her IV fluids (they shave a portion of the cats fur from the arm when they do this), and yet I was charged for the IV fluids.

A

A Private User

My dog has seen both Dr. Fuqua and Dr. Trammell for his vaccinations and regular visits. Dr. Fuqua is excellent. He is very kind and is wonderful with the animals. Dr. Trammell also seems nice enough when you interact with her for only minutes at a time at regular visits for your pet, but please, beware- she is certainly NOT pleasant to deal with if your worries or concerns do not agree with hers. My husband and I encountered a HUGE problem with this when boarding our 16 week old puppy with them. We boarded him in one of the $45/night rooms that are equipped with webcams that allow you to monitor your dog while you are away. When inquiring about their boarding policies, we were made to believe that our dog would receive "plenty" of attention, will be taken out "several times a day" and will be fed according to whatever directions you provide. Thanks to our webcam access, however- we found none of these statements to be true. In a 24 hour period, my puppy was taken out of his concrete-walled-room ONLY twice, both times prompted by a call to complain about it. Not leaving the room often might have even been alright with my husband and I, had someone come in to simply say hello to him every once and a while. He only received human contact TWICE in 24 hours! Also, they did not follow our feeding instructions and often left him without water for long periods of time. On the second of 5 days, we received a call from the office to advise that they wanted to move our puppy to a regular kennel because he was "miserable" being locked in the room. I explained that OF COURSE my dog was miserable, as he had nearly NO human contact for 24 hours! They brought Dr. Trammell on the line who was extremely defensive, argumentative and very unsympathetic to our concerns. She once stated that the reason my dog was not taken out was because it was raining, to which I responded that "going out" was not my only concern. I told her it would have made a world of difference if someone had merely stepped in to pet him for a moment. After hanging up with her, my husband and I talked it out and came to feel that perhaps we had been too irate with her- after all, it was not HER fault that when her staff said "plenty of attention" and "several times a day" we took it to mean that our dog would LITERALLY be given a lot of attention and be taken out more than two times. We thought we should apologize since our dog still had three days left under her care. When we called to apologize, we mentioned NOTHING about the situation again, we simply told her we were sorry if we were irate and that what we were expecting must have come from a misunderstanding... instead of accepting an apology or offering one in return, she began to argue again and become defensive. Never once in our two conversations did Dr. Trammell ever say that she was sorry that we felt that our pet was not receiving proper. The only actual apology I received was "Im SORRY that it rained outside!"

SY

Sylvia Ross

I hate to be what seems to be the one dissenting voice among all the rabid praise for Mercy Animal Hospital, but like most veterinarians in this money hungry country, the almighty dollar is more important to them than saving your pooch. I tried to explain to the staff that I was on a fixed income, but they just got a glazed look in their eyes and ignored what I said as they charged me $297 to neuter my older dog. They wouldnt even discuss my setting up a payment option - and this was right before Christmas. I guess I could have waited to neuter my dog, but an irresponsible neighbor was letting their little dog - which theyd had for years - run around in heat while all the neighborhood male dogs followed her 24/7. My dog never slept, never ate, and rarely could I catch him and make him come inside, so I was afraid he was going to get sick if I didnt have him neutered. Then they lost his leash and collar that had a GPS device on it and accused me of losing it myself, but I know that he was wearing it when the vet tech took him back. Then when I got him back, he developed a bad cough which quickly spread to my other two dogs. They told me I couldnt make partial payment on medications, either, so needless to say, I didnt not have a merry Christmas. But Mercy Animal Hospital did. Oh, yeah, also they tried to charge me $70 at first for his meds and I raised hell about it; come to find out, somebody had "entered the wrong amount" and it wound up being about half that much. Dont know if the person who entered the wrong amount was trying to make a little extra money or not, but I really dont care. I dont trust these people. I think its abhorrent the way veterinarians and medical doctors gouge their patients. Ive done research and vets and medical doctors in Europe make about half as much as they do over here. Thats not to say that theyre poverty stricken; they live a very comfortable life, but theyre just not able to splurge and buy their kid a Beemer for his 16th birthday like they are over here; they just have to settle for a Fiat.