Larkin Veterinary Center

Reviews 5

SI

sir entynchano

I agree with other posts here...Expensive! (RESPONSE TO THEIR REPLY BELOW REVIEW) We took our pet there once and found they are two and three times more expensive than other vets that provide excellent care for pets. After giving us an erroneous quote over the phone to get us there, they did not honor their quote and over charged us for the initial visit and the little they did to care for our pet. Then they wanted to do other procedures that other vets said were not necessary and would just cost us more money. They tried to make it sound as if they were doing our pet a favor. Additionally, their lack of integrity caused our family a lot of stress as we needed to consider whether we should keep our pet. This caused us to reach out to other vets to which we are now thankful we did, especially our children who were afraid they would lose their hairy friend. We went to another vet that is honest and the expensive surgery that our pet needed was half the cost and they did not try to sell us on trying other procedures first that would not work. We had to travel a few extra miles but it was well worth it. Caring for pets does not include over-charging your customers and putting a fear into them to try and justify your dis-honest practices! I suppose your apology did something for you because it does nothing for me. Satisfied with the quote? I was told by a Larkin employee that a procedure would be less than a grand, but my pet needed an examination first. So I paid for the examination and was then told that the procedure would be more than twice the amount quoted and the Larkin associate should have never given me a quote! What kind of business do you run? I WAS GIVEN A BOGUS ESTIMATE TO SUCKER ME INTO YOUR PRACTICE. I took my pet to other qualified vets who told me that the options recommended by Larkin would be costly and worthless so they did the surgery for less than half the price that Larkin wanted to charge me and my pet is doing fine. Additionally, Larkin charged me three times the amount that other vets charge for an expression. They performed the same procedure!! Larkin did no special treatment or a "higher quality" procedure…just charged a lot more! As for your fear free practices, Larkin scared my family regarding the surgery that my pet needed to which, as mentioned previously, another vet did and our pet is doing great for a fraction of the cost Larkin would have charged if we were not smart enough to realize that Larkin wants money more than they care for pets. Obviously, this has been an issue for years as Brent Artery from three years ago left the following review which describes our situation spot on: "Brent Artery 3 yrs ago. Larkin is one of the most costliest vets in Berks County. Beware the staff are salesmen first. Their services are very expensive, and they will sell you unneeded; costly, lab tests, return visits and expensive hospital inpatient care. They have your pets "illness" or "injury" on a fee schedule, meaning you will pay what they deemed necessary for their services including hospital stays, to "fix" your pet."

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JI

Jim Watkins

Our experience with Larkin has been a 5 star positive in every way. We have been taking our animals there for years. Since I read the previous review I felt compelled to write our own experiences. While I dont doubt the bill that person received, any vet. service is getting expensive these days (just like the price of gas). My wife at times has rescued several stray cats (most all as kittens) and right away she takes them to Larkin for check up and shots. But I must say that while Larkins doctors do recommend what they think is best type of treatment they always, always tell us what it will cost before proceeding and there were times where we couldnt afford all the tests they recommended we said no to them and they understood completely and only gave the care we wanted. Also there were times where we knew our pet needed that extra care and we didnt have enough $ to pay for it we explained our financial situation to them and they let us pay the bill off monthly and the whole time we were treated with the utmost respect from all of the staff at Larkin. There experience with animals is also 5 star positive. One time while our kids were playing with the hamster (they were very young at the time and got the hamster out without us present in the room) the hamster got a skin tare and our kids were so upset thinking the hamster might die from what they did. But the doctors at Larkin were able to stitch him up and he went on to live a couple more years. So I hope this clears up any negative views of Larkin and remember if you dont want a certain test done than ask the vet what its for and if they really need it and remember you can always say no to a test if it is too expensive. By the way-this is the very first review Ive ever written.

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TR

Travis McGuire

Dont hesitate to take your little furry family members to Larkin. They always took great care of our Kitty. We always felt they took a personal interest in Kitty’s health and quality of life. Dr. Nelson, Dr. Nigrini and (previously) Dr. Smith all made us feel we weren’t just another case. That’s, of course, taking nothing from the rest of the wonderful team at LVC. At one point or another, I’m sure we interacted with them all and never felt anything but compassion. When we finally made that hardest decision of all, to say goodbye to Kitty, we were greeted immediately and taken back to spend as much time with her as possible. My wife commented later how sweet Brenda was. She gave her a hug and made sure she was ok. It was definitely genuine; we could tell she really cared. To the entire staff, thank you all so very much. Our “little” boy, Chip, and his sister, Cookie, look forward to meeting you all soon for their check-ups. :)

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Melissa Sumar

Ive been bringing my pets to Larkin for a long time, and I feel they truly care about the animals they treat!! The doctors are very kind. They sometimes suggest routine testing for the animals, This is preventive care that is done to help prolong the life of the pets. I never feel under any pressure to spend money on any tests. Veterinary care has become more than just taking the pets to the vet once a year for shots. It has become about helping the pets to live a long, and comfortable life. My rescue dachshund was suddenly unable to walk due to a disc problem. They saw him immediately, and gave him great care. Today, he can run around, and is a happy dog!! This took about three months of care to get him to this point. Through all of this time, the doctors and staff were extremely helpful, and compassionate. I have recommended them to friends who are also very satisfied. :)

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Gail Caruso

Dr. Larkin is great! They saved my baby when she had cancer, and have kept a close eye on her with her allergies and heart condition. Shes 13yrs old and I hope to have her for many more years! The attention and detail she gives to Nissa to make sure she is not missing anything is outstanding! Dr. Nelson is also great, she too has treated Nissa and always has talked to me about alternatives with allergies and other things that have come up. Too often I hear other people talk about their Vets and they go the easy way, not giving other options, or keeping things the animal needs that only their practice will provide, which is quite expensive, Larkin and the doctors Ive dealt with havent done that, and theyve taken great care of my little girl, the nurses are great too...

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