Veterinary Medical Center of CNY

Reviews 3

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Jessica DeCook

I have had way too much experience with this hospital over the last month. A month ago today my cat suddenly became ill, paralyzed and in pain. We brought her right to the VMC. We walked through the door and they came right out and started emergency treatment while I signed the consent form to do so. They do not do anything without providing you the facts and figures (high end and low end of every bill). She ended up passing away a half hour later from an aneurysm in her heart. Nothing they could do but they certainly tried! The vet bill for emergency treatment (catheter, ultra sound of heart, IV fluids, pain meds, and cremation) only totaled $419.00 I was devastated with the loss of my sweet kitty, and they were so understanding and sympathetic. The nurse even shed a tear hearing our pain. They let me sit with her as long as I wanted, and then surprised me with impressions of her paws in clay after they took her. It was the best thing anybody could do in that situation. I cherish those impressions. I dont know if they realize how comforting that is for a grieving family. A couple weeks later I received a sympathy card from them in the mail. Very touching! I took her sister to our vet the next day to get her heart checked and they detected something and advised me to take her to the cardiologist for an echocardiogram. I made an appointment (which was almost a month away because he is only there Saturdays for those procedures). That was the only down side, because I wanted her in immediately. Once at the appointment, I was overwhelmed with how KIND HEARTED the cardiologist was. He was very sympathetic with the situation of her sister dying. Couldnt stop complimenting her temperament and beauty. And you could feel he was being genuine. The echocardiogram was a bit pricy at $345..but thats less than human care without insurance, and I cant put a price on vet care for my fur babies anyways so that was ok. A week ago my 5.5 lb Maltese hurt his leg. I took him right there and got x-rays done. He was diagnosed with a congenital disorder called medial luxating patella. there are different grades. His un-hurt knee was only a grade 2 and did not need surgical correction. His hurt leg however was a grade 4 and was permanently dislocated. It definitely needed surgical repair. There are no other treatments. The vet bill for that with the xrays was $600 and some odd $$ the surgical consultation was $95 and the surgery was between $2,000 and $3,000. However, that is because the surgery is in depth. They needed to take a bone saw and make a groove for his knee cap to sit in because he didnt have one, they needed to cut away a tendon that was stretched too far, and then straighten his tibia and place some pins in there. He got that surgery done today, and he should be coming home tomorrow. They called me right after he got out of surgery and updated me. And they are 24 hrs so I can call whenever I want and get an update. They put a technician on the phone and give me a thorough update. I did have to get care credit to pay for everything with all of my pets. Which was a life saver. My ONLY negative feedback would be that they should offer in - house payment plans. Some people dont qualify for care-credit and would be forced to pay all of this out of pocket or put their pet down or they would suffer. They definitely should offer different payment and billing options.

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Margo Kanas

I had a miserable experience at this place one year ago and will never return. My dog went in for emergency Bloat surgery. And though they did save his life, what followed was more than one post-surgery misdiagnosis, rude staff, unexplained billing procedures, and a slew of other problems. I give this place one star because of the first day my dog was there and operated on, and because his life was saved. You can’t put a price on that. But after that first day, it was downhill. My dog was given medications without my consent, some of which adversely affected his recovery. One of the medications caused extreme bloating, which I later learned was from water consumption. Had I known that beforehand, I would not have felt compelled to rush him back to the hospital where they insisted they needed to board him overnight. Rather than explain the water consumption factor to me, instead the hospital took full advantage of my already raw emotional state and insisted they needed to put my dog on IVs, do a Sonogram, and take additional tests. The following day I was slapped with a $1,700 bill on top of my already astronomical $5,000 bill from the initial surgery. All that was wrong with my dog was that the medication he was taking caused extreme bloating from water consumption, and yet do you think they’d be honest enough to tell me that in the first place and save me the time, worry, and expense of the needless follow-up visit? No, of course not! Because that place is all about the almighty DOLLAR. On top of my fury over the $1,700 bill and the other above-mentioned matters, which in the interest of time I can’t even expand upon here, I was also outraged that the administrative staff never told me that I was paying by the hour. I just assumed that it was a day rate, such as is the case with checking in and out of a hotel. I didn’t realize that every hour was costing me upwards of $100. A technician actually apologized to me over the phone about that, saying “Sorry, they should’ve told you that.” But unfortunately, the apology came a few days too late, as the monetary damage had already been done. I tried fighting these people via the New York State Attorney General but unfortunately got nowhere. I even talked to private attorneys who empathized with me, but told me that it wasn’t the type of case that I would easily win without spending more on attorney’s fees than the actual amount I was hoping to get back. Care Credit was also useless, as they didn’t even review my dispute, and instead sided with the hospital. But that doesn’t surprise me, seeing as they (Care Credit) were on the losing end of a Class Action lawsuit that resulted in their loss of millions that they had to credit back to their customers. I ended up receiving a $300 credit on my Care Credit bill a few months after the surgery because of that Class Action lawsuit. What a nightmare this whole experience has been! It took me a whole year to finally be able to put my fury into words and leave this review. Even the Shamrock Animal Fund won’t deal with Veterinary Medical Center of Central New York, for reasons they would not give. I guess that should tell you something.

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Lisa Stone

I brought my dog Sophie in for acupuncture because she was having neck problems. I was met by a welcoming staff and caring doctor who talked to me at length about what she thought would benifit my dog and she spoke to a surgeon about my case because of her symptoms and amount of pain. We did proceed with acupuncture to treat her pain for the moment but the doctor suggested we set up a consultation with a surgeon. We did just that. The following week we went to the hospital and again we were met by a friendly warm staff. The receptionist asked a few times if our dog wanted a blanket. She was professional, kind and friendly. We met with Dr. Robinson who thouroughly examined our dog Sophie and explained what would possibly need to be done. We agreed to bring her in to take care of a herniated disk in her neck. The day she was taken in we were given an estimate of the cost, I was consulted from the time she had a mylogram and her diagnosis was confirmed. Dr. Robinson let me know what he was going to do and approximately how long this would take. We were given phone calls every step of the way to let us know how she was progressing. I went down in the evening to visit Sophie and was met by staff who filled me in on how she was doing. Which I appreciated very much. Each day at I received updates on Sophie and the staff answered all of my questions. I picked her up today. The price stayed within the low end of the of the quote. I have read some reviews that were very negative and thats a shame. I almost did not bring my dog here. The care that my dog received was top noch. Thank you very much to all the Doctors, Techs and receptionists you made Sophies stay pleasant and put my mind at rest while she was in your care! Thank you!