We adopted our golden retriever October 2, 2021 in the middle of COVID. We adopted her then not because of COVID, but because we really wanted her. We didn't research veterinarians at all, since we thought they all must love animals.
Living in Bellmore, we visited the South Bellmore Veterinary Group. From the first visit, we hated the place. It is filthy, chairs are ripped, walls chipped and floors dirty with reams of cans and bags of dog and cat food resembling a warehouse. The "reception" area with its high desk, allows very little visibility and ensures no interaction with pets entering the office. Unless your pet jumps up to say 'hi', which ours always did, there is no courtesy of a greeting or hello for patients and their owners. They do have signs prominently displayed here though indicating CASH ONLY, AMEX NOT ACCEPTED. Additionally, if you use another credit card there is an outrageous fee. During our first visit, we were unaware of this policy. As we handed an AMEX card, we were greeted with eye rolls, moans and an "OK, just this time, ugh". They dont accept checks either. They claim their 'machine' (check machine?) broke down two years ago with no apparent intention to repair it.
Frustration mounted when they would whisk our dog away to a back room for her shots. We were never allowed to attend with our dog and subsequent communication with the doctor was non-existent. Visits became more dreadful each time. The 'tech' would claim our dog "expressed" herself in the back room and we had no idea what this meant or why the dog behaved this way.
As our golden retriever reached the age of two, we decided she was fully matured and a good time to spay her. (We actually learned this from our groomer who owned five retrievers and always welcomes our questions.)
We informed Dr. Rosen and Dr. Franco we were waiting until she was two years old. Their reply was 'the world has enough dogs. We are glad to take her parts out. People do not want golden retrievers anymore because they shed. Instead they want doodles".
Our spay was scheduled for February 7th, 2024. I informed the receptionist she is due to go into heat at this time and was concerned about excessive bleeding resulting from going into heat in combination with the surgery. Their only concern was for us to provide the cash deposit ASAP for half or $800, which we did.
Four days before the scheduled surgery, we received a call from this vet informing us this week of the surgery was "Dental Week". As a result, we would have to reschedule. Well this turned out to be a lie. After putting me on hold, they said "your dog is large (73 lbs) so TWO doctors would be needed to perform this seemingly routine surgery. They claimed this requires major abdominal surgery , her vessels are big and they WOULD HAVE TO SEARCH FOR HER OVARIES, that Dr. Rosen is not comfortable performing this alone and she would require Dr. Foley's attendance. This was all news to us, previously the receptionist told us Dr. Rosen alone would perform the surgery.
Dr. Foley got on the phone and told us we should be thankful, there will be two of them and Dr. Rosen is doing this on her day off, and we should reschedule. At this point, I was not comfortable talking to this crew, much less allowing them to touch my pet.
Our last visit was Saturday February 3rd after Foley (the owner of this establishment, incidentally) told us to come in to get our records and deposit. There, the receptionists told us to come back Monday. Frustrated, we insisted on waiting an hour for the office manager to come in and write us a check (yes they want cash, but you get a check). In tears, we had to tell them she was going into heat around the date of the scheduled surgery and our research on-line indicated this is the worst time for surgery due to the possibility of excessive bleeding. They were very cavalier and said "oh, we will have to talk to whoever scheduled you". If they are professionals, we should not have to tell them this, but they just don't seem to care.
To South Bellmore Veterinary Group, please do not respond, apologize, fight back or CYA for the internet to see. We don't want to hear from you. You are a disgrace. Wwe will tell everyone in person not to patronize your establishment and judging by the other complaints on-line, you should be shut down, quite frankly. read more