We are often asked for an account (or credit) from our long standing clients, and the length of time our clients have been coming to us is often mentioned as a means to access ‘çredit’. Unfortunately, the length of time our clients are with us is not a precursor for us extending them an account or credit. Throughout our many years of being operational we have been let down by even the loveliest of clients. They would promise to pay us in instalments and inevitably, we would be left chasing their account and then ultimately, a bad debt and we simply can’t sustain debts. We realise the majority of our amazing clients would never do this to us but we decided a long time ago, that it was more important for our focus to be on pet care rather than on chasing accounts and for any clients not able to pay their (larger) accounts, we now refer them to Vetpay.
One of the hardest things we encounter is upset clients or even aggressiveness towards our staff when we mention we are unable to offer an account for the treatment of unwell or injured animals. We get told ‘we don’t care and if we did care, we would look after the pet’ however there is more to it than that and all our staff are in their job for the love of all the animals we see and do not deserve this mental pressure. Medicare for pets unfortunately does not exist and the reality is, our clinic has overheads like any other business.
Part of being a responsible pet owner means considering how you may pay for unexpected costs or even costs associated with an ongoing illness that may require regular treatment and costs. You may wish to consider various levels of pet insurance or alternatively, putting regular savings away to accommodate these unexpected situations.
We do not mean to offend and would really appreciate it if you didn’t ask our staff if you may pay for our expertise in assisting your pet at a later time.