Update: I am so thankful I followed the advice of my TRUSTED vet. Stevie received wonderful care at the Dogs and Cats vet group in Bowie. The difference was night and day. Without going into specifics, WeCare should not ever be a choice for any animal. Predatory practices at a time when I was most vulnerable. It still appears the only one at WECARE that assisted my dog was the vet tech, Mark. Please, Please do not bring your dog here. Go to Bowie. It is worth the drive and will save you THOUSANDS. It appears the receptionist was only the first glimpse of much larger issue.
Original Post:
So let me start with the positive, the vet tech that met us was amazing from initial meeting until we ultimately made the choice to follow our vets guidance and move our baby from We Care in Waldorf to Cats and Dogs in Bowie. For those who are not aware, this emergency vet in Waldorf has an abysmal reputation among vets in the southern MD area. Don't trust me however, ask your trusted vet where they recommend you take your pet for an unexpected injury of any kind. I guarantee the first words will be "not the one in Waldorf". However, we did not move her because of anything in particular with her actual care. The vet was pleasant and seemed knowledgeable. Our vet tech, Mark, was amazing. He cared. My dog was calm in his care and he himself was extremely knowledgeable and kind. We moved her based on medical advice from our vet, who does have a good reputation and I do trust.
My complaint is the front desk receptionist, Erica, who was rude from first interaction. During the evaluation stage of her injuries, they sedated her and said to go get breakfast and they will call us to go over what they find. We get a phone call pretty soon after we were seated. This was our first interaction with Erica. She said "the doctor wants you to come back". Flat tone, no empathy, but, more importantly, not an ounce of information. Is she okay? Nothing. Can we eat? Emergency return or come soon, which is a big difference. She responds with "I don't know. The doctor wants to talk to you about Stevie." Of course, we are panicked but luckily the doctor calls immediately after and explains he suspects internal bleeding and we need to prepare for surgery. Ok. Stressful but we are heading back. We meet with the doctor and Mark again. Both are kind and helpful. We had already paid about $1500 and, honestly, we were just working with the vet and staff to get her loaded into our vehicle when ERICA comes outside to say loudly "you still have a balance in here." She sounded annoyed with us. I immediately walk back inside because paying is not, nor will it ever be, an issue. I was taken aback by her tone and asked if she was the one that called us. I said I recognized from your tone. She seemed curious and asked if she had done anything wrong. I said "yes, you had no information and, most importantly, you had no empathy for what my family or my pet was going g through." She doesn't apologize, she just quickly blames the vet with "they don't tell us anything," which may very well be the case. However, I would imagine that anyone can anticipate the next couple of questions, is she okay and how soon? If you don't have answers, a simple "I'm so sorry, I'm just not sure" would have headed off all these problems. If you want to excel at customer service, you might even say "let me ask for you."
When confronted, all she does is make excuses with the same flat tone. So what do I say "it's the same tone". Of course, it escalates and I did give her the finger as I was leaving, to which she responds by loudly screaming "FUCK YOU TOO". At that point every single person I encountered came running to apologize for her behavior.
Here is my concern and, ultimately, my personal review:
1. Emergency vet care is expensive.
2. For anything expensive, ensuring you have a good medical reputation should be important to the owners, and I'm sure it is.
3. I am someone that would have left a positive review, even ultimately choosing to follow my vets advice and transfer. My interactions were positive. I wouldn't have had anything negative to say.
4. Empathy and kindness will get you everywhere with me but definitely when my pet is injured and you represent the establishment to care for her.
5. Money is hard earned and I do believe they are over priced but that wouldn't factor into me writing a review because I chose them knowing this.
6. The receptionist or front desk person is your first interaction with your customers in ANY profession. Having someone that doesn't care, can't handle tough situations, can't apologize, and disrespects your customers should be raising a red flag to the owners.
7. If the owners should read this, I am certainly open to any discussion to help shed clarity for them. I do work heavily in rescue and Waldorf is an area that would benefit from close, trusted care from a reputable emergency vet. read more