Berks Animal Emergency & Referral Center

Reviews 3

MI

Michelle Strenkoski

On Thursday night our beloved Bandit was hit by a car and was left for dead by a dumpster. My husband and I frantically scrambled to find a vet that was open at the time of the accident. BAERC was our only option as our vet had already left for the evening. When we called the very first thing that was said was well it will be 110 dollars just to bring him in to be seen, that didnt include any treatment. When we arrived he was taken from us and we were not allowed to be by his side. Our Poor baby was frightened! He is one of our family. As we were waiting what seemed like forever the doctor came in and started saying that he needed a entire battery of tests that were going to cost a lot of money. My husband kept asking what was the bottom line how much do we need to get him started. The doctor was very rude and said that if my husband didnt stop yelling he was going to be asked to leave. My husband wasnt yelling we just wanted to know how much we needed. Well the doctor then said Ill go and work up a price for you until then you can apply for care credit. My husband said well send the nurse in so we can do that and again the doctor took his time. Our poor dog was in pain where is the humanity and caring that we had expected. Well to go on.... The doctor came back after doing tests and x-rays and said it looked like his vertebrates were broken and that he needed to stay the night until the surgeon came in the next day for a consult. We asked if we could see him before we left him there and they told us yes. At this point we were almost at 1200 dollars. We said our goodbyes to our boy and went home to wait. The next day came and the surgeon took forever to call us and when he did he proceeded to tell us that he has no idea what was wrong and that he needed to send our bandit to Philadelphia for an MRI that would cost near 1500 dollars and most likely he would need surgery that would be close to 3000 dollars. We said that we didnt have that kind of money right away could we take him home and think about our plan of care for him. Well..... To make a long story short we were told he should really stay in the hospital for another night my husband and I said no we are going to come to get him they said that we should consider putting him down since we didnt have the money. When we got there to get him our bill was 2300. Again we were told that his quality of life was going to be poor so end his life. My poor husband was crushed we took him home and made the appointment to be seen the next day at our vet and let him make the call since we trust him. Well guess what.... Our bandit didnt need surgery his spinal cord is intact his back wasnt broken. He is going to recover he is up and moving around. If we would have listened to them down at Berks he wouldnt be with us now. All they saw was an opportunity to make money not an animal that needed care. Shame on you for putting greed before compassion. Do not take your animals here.

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chelvetta clark

This facility was very disappointing. Very eager to make a buck, and not very sensitive to the family or their feelings. Our dog was hit by a truck so we reluctantly took him to BAEC. We didnt really want to because of the reviews, but we really had no choice. The first thing she said(the vet) was "whos the owner?" My girlfriend said "we all are" (we had a couple of the kids with us). She said "well whos paying?, thats who I want to speak to." Financially we werent able to afford all of the things that the vet recommended, and when we couldnt afford her options, she quickly suggested he be put down. "He is critically injured, and he needs to be treated right away", he may have this, and that, and the longer you wait, the longer he suffers" We were all upset, and didnt really know what to do, but we love our dog. I felt we were being rushed to make a very important decision (Max is family). Then when we asked for some more time to decide, we were being inhumane for not paying for the meds she offered, but she needed the money up front, and we just didnt have it. She suggested we take the dog home with meds, and turn him over to a shelter in the morning....Thank God we didnt just decide to put the dog down. Out of all the possible worst things she told us may be wrong, Max only needed stitches, and he is home resting comfortably...Thanks to a wonderful doctor who really loves animals, and not just his paycheck.....misdiagnosed again..smh the vet seemed very high strung, and money was her main focus...what was really strange was that the whole time she kept saying "the longer you take to decide, the more he suffers, you should get meds ($30 for shots $55 for a bandage), and we can go from there" then when we decide to get pain meds and take him home to get a second opinion, it took her like forever to come back and speak with us. Then as we were getting him in the car she called us inhumane, and was really rude. I wouldnt recommend you go here for a pet that you love, unless they have already passed on, because it seems like that is when they care the most, from the reviews I have read.

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Rebecca Lutz

We are so grateful for this 24/7 e.r. for animals! We came home one night, it was raining, and it was November...COLD. We found a 5 week old kitten laying in the middle of our stone driveway. It was soaked and crying, and went into shock when we picked it up. He was convulsing and unresponsive. He could hardly breathe. I called ahead to let them know our situation and that we were on our way. They told us right away, on the phone, that it was $xxx for the initial exam, plus whatever treatments, and that we are responsible for the bill. We accepted this and were on our way. The very second we walked in, they rushed us to a room, explained the paperwork, and took the kitten to go to work on him. They explained all possibilities to us, after they examined him, along with the potential treatments. After the exam, they walked us through the breakdown of potential treatments, along with the possible costs (they gave a price range, a low and a high). We were able to accept or decline each treatment, before anything was done. We appreciated this aspect very much. NO SURPRISE COSTS, nor were we pressured into anything unnecessary (we declined a few things, with no trouble from them). I was surprised too, that our bill was well under $200. That included the exam, treatment, and medication. We were very happy with this place. We didnt feel like we were taken advantage of, financially. We expected to be gouged, like a typical vet place, but were pleasantly surprised! Will definitely return if we ever need to (but hopefully wont ever have to). 2 hours later arriving, we were going home, with some instructions, medication, and a happy healthy kitty in our arms.