Veterinary Emergency Critical Care & Referral Center 24 Hours

Reviews 4

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Doug Ross

BEWARE Below is an e-mail I sent to VECC in February 2016 - it pretty much sums up my view of the services they offer. As background, I walked out with my injured dog after being provided an exorbitant estimate for attending to a minor injury that required stitches. Fortunately my dog was not in pain and was not bleeding, so I was able to defer treatment until my regular vet was available. (The e-mail below was in response to an e-mail sent to me by a clinic employee asking how Kota, my dog was doing.) Cindy- Kota is doing very well- cut has been stitched and a drain has been inserted in wound. I’m very disappointed in your fees at VECCNH - being a Newington resident for over 20 years, and owning several dogs, various residents have told me to avoid your clinic due to excessive charges and unnecessary tests which pad the bill. However, with Kota’s injury, treatment is less complicated if the injury is less than 2 hours old so I disregarded the advice of my friends and arrived at your clinic within about 1 hour and 50 minutes of the injury, informing everyone that he needed a few stitches (hoping that he would receive expedited and less complicated treatment within the 2 hour time frame). I was the only customer during my visit. After about a half hour I was presented a multi-page estimated charge of about $790. Such a charge is beyond excessive for what should have been a routine procedure. Thus I declined to have you attend to Kota’s injury. Your $88 charge for taking Kota’s temperature, checking his heartbeat, and briefly looking at his gums and injury is also excessive and in my mind unjustified, particularly in light of the fact that you did not prepare and provide me with the results of the exam. Anyway, my regular vet agreed to see Kota early Monday morning and attended to his injury. The charge was just under $400, and the vet advised that Kota would not have to have a $50 “wellness exam” during his annual physical next month, since he received the “wellness exam” prior to getting the stitches. You may wish to consider sitting down with your team of veterinarians and revisit your pricing policies. Absent an effort on your clinic’s part to develop a realistic fee schedule that is more in step with the community you serve, your organization’s reputation will continue to suffer, and it is likely your colleagues will have a lot of time on their hands while on duty at the clinic. Despite residing only 3 miles from your clinic, and an inclination to support local businesses, I’ve concluded that there are far better options to me as a consumer; and I’m not alone in this assessment. Doug Ross Newington, NH

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Kristen Elisa

Let me just first say, I hate writing reviews like this. I try to at least give business the benefit of the doubt. I have emailed VECC several times to handle the situation that occurred with my cat amicably and they were obstinate and refused to resolve the issue. I brought my cat to VECC twice for sudden onset of vomiting (once in June 2016 and once in August 2016) because I knew vomiting isnt normal for any pet. My cat was also yowling at night. The first visit, the vet sort of sloughed off my cats issues because of "his age". I paid a decent chunk of money to get an injection of subcutaneous fluids and some cerenia and was sent on my way. The second time I brought him in, a chem panel was done and he had elevated creatinine levels--2.6 to be exact. I found out later on that 2.6 is indicative of stage 2 kidney disease. Its fairly common knowledge amongst the veterinary community apparently. I didnt know this at the time. Its also very treatable. Nevertheless, it was again sloughed off as dehydration. It turns out his thyroid panel, for an older cat, was also abnormal, but I left there without any real answers or even the slightest indication that my cat could be suffering from kidney or thyroid issues. That, and I was $600 poorer. So my suggestion to anybody, unless maybe your dog swallowed an object or something is to go to a IM (Internal Medicine) vet at a teaching hospital like Angell Memorial unless you feel like throwing money away. The staff are nice, but the experience and knowledge just arent there. Why perform a chem panel and charge a client for it if you dont have staff that know how to correctly interpret and treat it? I did ask for a refund and was denied. Live and learn I guess. Best of luck!

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Angela Kelewae

I brought my dog to see Dr. Fiakpui (Cardiology) in April of 2014 and the experience is still bothering me two years later. First off, I had an appt set up and was already half way there (I live 45mins away) when I received a phone call that the vet was out sick that day. They didnt even call my regular phone number, instead called my work number. Luckily my work called me! I had to r/s the appt for a month later. When I went to the appt, Dr Fiakpai was completely rude and uncaring. I tried to tell her about my dogs collapsing issues and she continually cut me off asking "How long did that last-seconds, minutes, hours?" over and over. She spoke to my dog in an annoyed voice. She did not even take my dogs blood pressure at a cardiac appt. She did an brief exam and an EKG and my bill was over $400! She wanted me to do over $800 of additional testing at a later date after she told me there is absolutely nothing they can do for my dogs heart because it is caused by old age. When I refused, she was very rude and said "Some patients follow my advice exactly". When I went out to pay my bill and leave, there was no one there to check me out. I waited 20-30mins before she finally came. I was very tempted to leave without paying since I was completely dissatisfied. I will never go back to see this vet. It has been 2 years and my dog is doing just fine!

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Cindy Wood

I called VECC on Dec.8 (around that date) to ask my cats cardiologist for a new prescription for blood pressure meds since his refills had run out. When I talked to the person who answered the phone I found out that Dr. Fiakpui was no longer employed there. Concern #1-why was I not notified so I could find a replacement cardiologist for my cat? Concern #2-they would not write a new prescription. I was told to call my regular vet to have the write the script. I tried to explain to the receptionist that they wrote the script at VECC, not my normal vet. She was quite short with me and told me this was the way they always did this. And, yes, it was. Each time I needed a new script for this particular med, VECC always had me go through the process of calling my regular vet for them to tell me they did not originally write the prescription, so I had to go through VECC. Then to have me call back to VECC to ask AGAIN for them to ask Dr. Fiakpui to write a "new" script for the meds for my cat. Now I need to find a new cardiologist for my cat on short notice. I am not happy. I always took the shortness of the receptionist as just her personality. Now I question as to whether VECC really cares about my cat. He may just be an animal, but he is precious to me.

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