We went to Coral Springs Animal Hospital to have our dog checked out after he was very lethargic and weak looking. The vet saw him and said he may have a mast in his stomach.
She said I will be right back and came back with two estimates. Truthfully, I have never seen anything like it. Normally, when we go to see our regular vet he tells us the procedure and he goes ahead and does it. Basically, she wanted to take about six X-rays of our dog. The cost of each X-ray was $60 and to add insult to she wanted $70 to interpret the X-rays.
When humans get x-rays they are normally $40/ X-ray or less and the "interpretation" is included with the X-ray. Of Course with humans, a doctor has to wait several months to be paid by insurance and there is much more paperwork involved. So we were astonished that a vet center was charging nearly double the cost of X-rays for humans when there is no insurance involved and they get paid right away!
To make a long story short, the doctor said it was over $700 to have the six X-rays done and "interpreted." I do not know if all the vets. At Coral Springs Animal Hospital are independent contractors or not, but I have never seen a vet. Hospital that was less compassionate! We felt as though they were selling us a used car: If you want Car 1 it would cost you this much, but if you want Car 2 it will cost you this much. It was all business! I suppose they are trying to fund the building of their new facility by "gauging" customers.
Nonetheless, we took him back to his usual vet who came and hugged Max and us. It was one-quarter the cost of what Coral Springs was going to charge us, and there were no sales pitches, no coming out with two estimates to choose from, no 75% deposit required before they will touch your dog, and no bureacratic forms to fill out!
Our vet recommended an ultrasound and since no other place was open that had an ultrasound he told us to go to Coral Springs. Reluctantly, we went back there and a specialist was "too busy" to see us so we spoke to a regular vet who setup the ultrasound. True to form, she came out with two estimates and we had to pay 75% of the procedure up-front.in fact, the billing lady was trying to charge us more than what the actual price the vet quoted us was. I suppose she was trying to pull a fast on us. I caught it and had her put the charges back to where they should have been. It cost over $700 to have the ultrasound done there. This was extremely high, and Coral Springs Animal Hospital's dictatorial policies are ridiculous.
This place is all about money! That is they are all about charging you as much as they can get from you! I have never met vets. That were as uncaring and uncompassionate. It seems they are not about helping your pet, but only helping themselves!
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