I am writing to inform potential customers of the fraudulent and dishonest service given by Banfield the Pet Hospital of PetSmart in Chicago, IL. On September 17 I enlisted my 8 week old puppy into a wellness plan offered by the hospital that was supposed to be beneficial to my puppy and save me a lot of money. Little did I know that all the services that were supposedly being offered would not be available to me.in the agreement of the program, I would pay 99.95 plus one months service fee of 15.95 to start and then 11 months of 15.95 to keep the service. If at any point I decided to cancel, then the cancellation fee would be any remaining months that have gone unpaid. With this service plan, all necessary shots plus free visits for the life of the program were included for a pet six months and younger. Also, I had the option to upgrade the plan at any point to one that would include a FREE hysterectomy. The upgrade would extend the service for one year from the date of the upgrade and the fee would be 19.95 per month.
On October 8 I returned to the pet hospital to receive the second set of shots (including rabies vaccination) and the head nurse of the hospital told me that my puppy appeared to be older than 11 weeks old and instead was 24 weeks old. To my knowledge, the puppy was only 11 weeks old but since I did not think it made a difference to the terms of the plan, I didn't say anything when the nurse changed my dogs age in the system from 11 weeks to 24 weeks (putting a birth date of 4/18/05 which she later claimed that I gave to her).
On October 31 I returned to the pet hospital because my puppy was suffering from vomiting. A representative suggested that she receive blood work and x-rays in order to locate the problem and to upgrade my plan in order to save myself money. Since I was under the impression that the upgrade would include these services, I asked, if I upgrade, will this services be provided? The representative advised me that with the upgrade blood work will only be provided at no cost, one time, when the dog receives her hysterectomy (since it is a necessary procedure for the FREE surgery). I declined blood work and x-rays at that time but decided to go ahead with the upgrade and extend my contract since the wellness program pamphlet clearly stated that without the upgrade, the service for the hysterectomy would cost $185.20.
On November 16 I called the clinic and made an appointment for my puppy to receive her final set of shots and her hysterectomy. At that time I asked the representative if there were going be any extra charges and she clearly stated that the only charges would be for her medication and supplies, which would total approximately $70. My puppy received her final set of shots on November 20 but on November 26 she was denied her FREE hysterectomy. After admitting my puppy, one of the representatives presented me with a bill for $359.00 (double the cost of what the service is supposed to be without a wellness program). I asked what the bill was for and she said that since my dog was older than 6 months, she could not receive the hysterectomy for free. Now I understood why they manually changed her age in the system on an earlier visit. What I did not understand was why they charged me for a service that according to them, my puppy was too old to qualify for (Which I later confirmed on their website).
I went ahead and declined service and requested to cancel my contract with the hospital but the representative advised that I speak to the manager of the clinic before I made any decisions. Before canceling, I made numerous attempts to contact a manager and it wasn't until 3 days later that I received a call back.
When I finally received a call, before explaining the situation to the manager, I asked her at what age a puppy will still qualify to receive the upgraded plan. She told me that a dog must be 24 weeks and younger to receive the plan. I then explained the situation and told her that according to her system, my puppy was exactly 28 weeks old at the date of the upgrade. Therefore, why did they sell me a service that they knew my puppy would never be able to use. She then claimed that according to her notes in the system, I told the nurse that I found out afterward through the original owner that my puppy was actually older than what he originally told me. This was an absolute lie on their behalf because the day I purchased my puppy was the first and last time I ever spoke to the original owner. Regardless, if their system said she was too old to receive the upgrade, they should have never sold it to me.
Then the manager told me that with my upgrade, the puppy would still be eligible for a 10% discount. I explained to her that I didn't pay for the service for a 10% discount but instead so that my puppy can get her hysterectomy at no cost. I also told her that if their representatives wouldn't have lied to me about being able to provide a service that my dog was too old for there would not have ever been a problem and if my puppy's age would not have been manually changed in their system then there especially would not have been any problems. The manager then went on to tell me that I was given this information verbally when I upgraded but when I asked for a new written contract afterward not only did the representative tell me but also the manager, that all upgrades are done in the system and that I wouldn't receive paper work. How then was I supposed to know the exact terms of the contract if the representatives were deceitful from beginning to end? They hid the truthful terms and conditions in order to convince me to purchase and upgrade the contract.
Furthermore, I tried negotiating with the manager by agreeing to pay the cancellation fee of the original contract since they did fulfill those services but did not want to pay the cancellation fee for the upgraded contract since none of the upgraded services were provided or were ever going to be provided. Unfortunately, she ignored and declined negotiating with me.
Afterward, I made repeated attempts along with my mother and father in order resolve the issue but was intentionally avoided by management. The manager later made a comment to one of her employees, advising them to tell my parents that everything had been resolved and that she will not discuss anything with anyone but me since I was the only one on the contract.
Pet lovers be advised, All representatives of Banfield the Pet Hospital deliberately lied to me about any and all services being provided for my puppy and should not be trusted with any family's best friend.
Sincerely a Truly Unsatisfied Customer,
Eli
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