This is a somewhat unfortunate review, as I found Tina Taylor to be very friendly, and as far as I could tell, a very good vet. But the overall experience was unfriendly, and completely counterproductive.
I went there to take care of my two older golden retrievers, and they are really great dogs. Everybody loves them. They have arthritis, and I wanted to get accupuncture, which I had used before. I first tried to get an appointment there about a year ago.
When doing so, I asked about accupuncture and the receptionist said "we'll see about that", or something that sounded "disempowering", or at least discouraging-- "just leave the thinking to us".
I insist on collaboration. Frankly when I see people in professions who hesitate to answer me, I think they don't know what they're talking about, so I continue to ask questions.
So I didn't make that appointment, and a year passed and I finally did make an appointment with Dr. Taylor, who had been specifically recommended to me. I didn't have much of an objection to their manner, then, but it still lingered in my mind.
Dr. Taylor wrote a prescription but their price was three times petmeds prices. They charge you to get the prescription, triple charge you for filling it, (seriously, their price was literally three times what Petmeds gets for it) then add a dispensing fee to that.
I asked if I could have Petmeds call them to confirm the prescription and they rudely and absolutely said "no", with no further explanation.
So I took the prescriptions with me and found that Petmeds doesn't accept faxed prescriptions from the customer, but that I needed to mail them in. Time was short, so I went back to the office and asked if "just this once" they could fax them to petmeds, because "just this once" petmeds had agreed that they would do this over the phone. The people at the desk said no, they couldn't do that, and offered no explanation. Naturally, I'm thinking that this office wants to keep the retail end of their "professional" practice as a good cash flow generator--and that was more important to them than taking care of my dogs.
The office staff had shown no willingness to help me in any way with this, so I asked them to ask one of the doctors if they could make an exception. I expected to know what the reason was, at least, and why that reason would completely over-ride my need for haste, at that point. And I would have accepted a real answer.
But I was taken aback when Joni Samuels, another doc there, not even the one who treated my dogs--and I'd never seen her before--came out, looking impatient and frustrated. I asked if they would do it, and she said bluntly, with (again) no explanation: "no". She was not forthcoming with any more information, but I persisted, and she said that her attorney "wouldn't let them" as they have "no way of knowing if they're licensed in California". I later found their license number in about 15 seconds, by googling it--it's patently unbelievable they can't find if a pharmacy is licensed or not-- so being outspoken, I told her that didn't seem like a good reason and that it shouldn't over-ride a patient's need for care.
Samuels then accused me of treating her staff with "unpleasant" conversations. She was standing in the middle of the reception area, with her entire staff and other patients listening in, when she made this accusation. I had only spoken with any of them twice, and neither conversation had been unpleasant. I had just asked questions, and apparently that isn't allowed there.
I felt totally disempowered and disrespected for caring about how my dogs are treated, and for even being involved in decisions. Samuels was rude and abrasive to me in public, and she was wrong in her accusation, and I didn't get my meds and taking care of my dogs was the least of any of their concerns.
I'd only spoken twice, with her office and with Dr. Taylor--who is the one losing a customer over this--and I'm always friendly when taking care of my dogs. It's the major joy of my life.
But not here: Joni Samuels took the time and effort out of her busy day to humiliate me in front of her entire office staff and reinforce whatever complaint they had, without once telling me any information about why they don't deal with a less-expensive alternative, and without once saying anything about the complaint that her staff allegedly had about me.
I think this practice is self-serving over the needs of the customer and the animals, and I was badly treated for absolutely no good reason other than that I questioned them--politely. They obviously discourage questions and collaboration. So I went to another vet. I'm sorry Dr. Taylor has this office staff and partner, but as long as she does, I won't go there. read more
