Just to preface, I understand that it is difficult to run a business and that people are truly…read moreinvested in the care of our pets. That being said I strongly believe that if you work with pets, you should have customer service practices and protocols in place.
I was recommended to have my cats teeth cleaned and saved up for the procedure which ultimately ended up costing $1,478.29 for one of my cats that needed two teeth removed. On the day of my cat who needed teeth removed (this was her first experience with anesthesia and her first surgery) had surgery performed at 3:42PM (the office closes at 6PM). They additionally administered ketamine and buprenorphine at 5PM and had me pick her up at 5:30PM (the office closes at 6PM). She initially meowed at me at the clinic, and as soon as I got her home, she completely crashed. I tried calling the clinic multiple times and they were at that point closed. She was completely unresponsive to sound and touch, so unconscious that she urinated herself, and was shallow breathing with eyes open and tongue out. The discharge instructions I was given had one line about monitoring for vomiting, diarrhea or labored breathing, but this was not discussed with me during the discharge, and could be enhanced with a more detailed handout about things to look for during recover. I was in shock, traumatized and spent the entire night crying because I thought my cat was dying. And luckily I had a vet friend who let me know to look for a heart rate of 140-160 beats per minute and for open mouth ragged breathing. These things could easily have been in their own handout and reviewed before discharge so it would have been clearer to me what to look for and when to go to the emergency vet.
They then left a generic message the next day asking how she was, and I had left messages about her state the night before that felt like they had not been listened to. So I returned their call and shared about my experience, so they were aware that I was deeply upset and traumatized by the situation. When I went in for a follow up visit, it felt like the vet tech knew that I was upset and yet they kept me in the public waiting area instead of bringing me into a room to ask me how I was feeling. So I started crying in the public waiting area, and was left there while they went back to get Dr. Dittrich. I want to uplift that Missy (front desk) was kind enough to see me crying and offer me tissues and a waiting room to sit in, but that was not offered to me by anyone else on staff that I interacted with. I then told Dr. Dittrich that I was not happy with the service, and she said she would connect with her business partner to discuss options.
Two days later Dr. Dittrich called me and let me know they reviewed the chart and felt like there was nothing wrong, even though they had said to me they would not send animals home in that condition. And when I said "I did think you were going to bring back options from your conversation with your business partner", she became very hostile and yelled at me "What do you want? What are you asking for? You want the whole thing for free?" At which point, I replied "I truly thought the whole point of you checking with your business partner and reaching out to me would be to offer me a list of options, as discussed, of customer grievance plans." It could be the next annual visit for free, it could be 25% off of the services, it could be so many things, but to have no customer grievance protocol in place, and to not have a budget to accommodates for grievances, even something nice like a standard practice of a urn for people whose pets pass, or a small percentage off of a future visit, seems easy and standard.
I will also acknowledge that they now have a practice manager Emily, who I felt like listened to my feedback. But when it comes to running a business, it seems simple and standard to have handouts to send families home with about when to reach out to emergency services, it seems straightforward to have customer grievance policies in place, it seems easy to train staff on when you see someone crying to offer them a room if one is available, and when I called Jason answered and asked me with a bit of hostility where I was calling from, and I was like "my house?" It just feels like the customer service has a lot of room for improvement, and I am hopeful for future customers that Emily has the support needed to create systems and protocols to make sure other clients are not treated with the same level of hostility that I encountered.
And totally minor, they no longer offer nail clipping or sanitary trims as a part of wellness checks which is a bummer.