Banfield Pet HospitalReviews of banfield.com

Horrible customer service!

Update: 12/29/22 A representative from Banfield asked me to email them with my concerns. I did so and as expected, got no response from them. As far as I am concerned, they are a big business only and treat people's pets as a business. Do yourself and your pet a favor and go to your local veterinarians. Unlike Banfield, they will treat your pet as a member of your family! Do not use Banfield Wellness Plan. After spending thousands of dollars to try to save our beloved pet. We canceled our plan because our companion passed away and Banfield tried to charge us an additional $459.00 because we renewed our plan, not knowing that our beloved pet would pass away. If you use Banfield, just know that you will not be able to talk with a vet and you will not be with your pet when they are being examined. Your pet will be taken to a back room and a vet tech will talk with you. If you love your pet - do NOT use Banfield!

I’ve been worn banfield for about 5 years and honestly I believe they are all about “money”. I took my 5 year old yorkie in for his annual comprehensive and they called me stating they needed to extract “a few” of my babies teeth. A few sounds like 3-4 at most. I go to pick him up and they removed 11 of his teeth, literally leaving his canines and I feel that was totally unnecessary he’s still technically a baby! I pay for the monthly plan and still pay a ton of money with every single visit! They fell u certain tests are needed when I truly feel they aren’t. I just dropped my puppy off for blood work and they call me saying they did other tests WITHOUT my consent stating my fee will be $300 at pickup! I told them I did NOT authorize those certain tests and they tell me, “someone said they spoke with you” NO… No one called me whatsoever! I will definitely be canceling Banfield all together and find my baby a professional local vet. Banfield is a SCAM! All about money! I’ve had enough! Im DONE!

We have three dogs on Banfield plans, and Monday at 2:30 in the afternoon two of them were suspected of ingesting spilled antifreeze. We tried to call ahead and did not get through, but since in these cases time is of the essence, into the car we went. Unfortunately, though the staff at Banfield were courteous and seemed to want to help, they had no vets available at either of their Pet Hospitals in town. We ended up calling the ASPCA pet poison control ($95 fee), and visiting another local vet for tests ($700, most of which was just the visit and exam) and found out the dogs had not drank a significant amount after all. While we are relieved they will be ok, this whole experience goes to show that these plans and facilities have serious limitations over traditional vet care. When you have an emergency, good luck! It’s ironic because we thought this was precisely the kind of situation where having Banfield plans would be helpful. Routine care you can budget for after all. Now, on the subject of that, since Covid, our Banfield facility has switched to a “drop off” service model. Gone are the days of being able to come back to the exam room with your pet and meet your vet. Instead, your animal likely sits in a cage for hours while they deal with high volumes of patients. You have no idea how your animal is being treated and there is less chance to ask questions. It really seems to have gone downhill. Finally, want to cancel? Well, good luck with that too. It’s notoriously difficult. In conclusion, consider carefully if being obligated to a yearly contract with automatic renewal is wise when: 1. Clinics seem to be increasingly understaffed. 2. Care is high volume, drop off, impersonal, and practically limited to preventative treatments. 3. Savings is represented based on inflated costs of routine exams, shots, etc. 4. You are not likely to save money if you have an emergency, and may find yourself scrambling to find care at a new vet who doesn’t know you or your pets. Think carefully about these plans and their hidden costs and limitations before signing up!

Worst experience ever.As a first time pet owner went signed up for the wellness plan and they also signed me up for monthly medication for my pets. Almost 1 year later only received one month of meds while being billed monthly.I have been trying to cancel this contract for the last 3 months and its the same runaround. The cancelation number they give you can never find anybody. It's a joke would not recommend this company to anyone. Worst experience and even worse customer service.

I signed up at the hospital for what I thought was an annual one year plan. All documentation presents the coverage as a 12 month plan. I was there with an sick cat during covid in the parking lot and per the tech believed I would be charged only 12 payments. I have been ill and now I see the 57.90 has been charged through 12/2022. The cat was a stray that only had two teeth that were rotted and pulled and I was charged 400 more with the plan for a cleaning. The cat has not been there since May 2021 and has since passed away. I called the hospital today and the tech confirmed I had a 12 month plan and did not know why more payments were posted. She told me to call the contact number and if I did not use services for those months I would be refunded. I called the hot line again and after 2 hour wait finally spoke to someone who still will not refund me even though this is the policy that the staff is telling clients. Apparently, you cannot sign up for coverage without an auto-renewal. There is no option to opt out when signing up. The Banfield staff does not even know the correct policy terms that they are stating to clients to sign documents while under stress with an ill pet! If you call Banfield hot line, there is a minimum 60 minute wait to speak to someone. You are given an email to address complaints and no human contact to thwart attempts to get refunds. Beware:Do not believe the staff about anything they state on the policy. There is high turnover and they are relaying incorrect terms to customers while they are in duress with sick pets.

This is the first time I've had to write a negative review. It doesn't feel good. 1. First interaction on February, 2022 (can't remember exact date as I don't have receipt): Took my cat for checkup. Asked employee at counter if Wellness plan would cover the visit; Employee said the plan would not cover. I had outstanding balance because my card had expired. So, I paid the outstanding balance with different card and asked the employee to cancel the Wellness Plan. Employee confirmed the plan was cancelled. Waited whole day and at the end of the day, they said I need to bring my cat for check up next day. Paid oustanding balance, and cost of day's visit out of pocket. 2. Second interaction on February, 2022, the following day: Cat was checked up and I paid the visit's cost. 3. April 04, 2022: Received an invoice for Wellness plan, although their Employee confirmed the plan was cancelled. Thought this was a mistake and I tried calling Banfield. I didn't leave any message. 4. April 18, 2022, 10:44AM: Tried reaching out to Banfield again and this time left a message. 5. April 18, 2022, 14:42PM: Received call from a representative, who was very nice and understood my situation. Representative also was confused because I had already paid outstanding balance from before and that I paid out of pocket for February visit. Representative told me their Program manager would call me on April 20 to resolve this issue. 6. April 22, 2022, 13:32PM: Hadn't received any calls from their Program manager. So, I called them again and left a message. 7. April 23, 2022, 11:22AM: Representative apologized saying Program manager could not call because she was out sick and program manager would call me on April 25. 8. May 02, 2022, 15:24: Didn't receive any calls from program manager on April 25. I called again and left a message saying nobody called me on April 25 or until May 02. 9. May 04, 2022: I've not received any calls on this issue. But instead I got a letter stating that my account will be sent to collection. 10. May 05, 2022, 12:42: Tried calling again and was able to get their corporate number. Hoping I would be able to speak with someone to resolve this issue. I got the corporate number 888-894-7927 from representative, calling this number just played promotional questions. I called local Banfield office (Gainsville, VA) again and got a different number: 870-500-2288, this time I left a message, but again nobody got back to me after leaving a message. 11. May 18, 2022, 13:13PM: Called local Banfield office asking for Staff Director who had given me his card on one of past visit. Again, nobody got back to me after leaving this message asking for Staff Director. 12. August 30, 2022: As of this date, nobody from Banfield had called me, nor did I recieve any additional letters. I did however get a call from IC Systems (Collection agency) saying my account is in collection. I was confused thus asked the Collection agency's rep to send me a letter. 13. November 16, 2022, 15:32PM: Got credit score change (negative 59 points) alert from Transunion. Checking my credit showed IC System deducted 59 points in Transunion. It was strange to see this action after just one letter from collection agency and despite several attempts, Banfield hadn't called me. 14. November 16, 2022: Made several calls to local Banfield office and finally got a correct corporate number 888-894-7927. I was able to reach their Collections representative. Explained my issue, and Collections representative offered me 20% discount on the invoice. It was baffling to me that the representative didn't work for Banfield and showed little to no desire to understand my problem. After several minutes of talking, we ended the call. I told the representative that I will look for a lawyer for this issue. This is the shortest summary I could write, but I have notes if Banfield cares to fix this issue and asks for additional notes. This issue has taken too much of my time and energy, and at this time I am just ridiculed by how these businesses operate. I am leaving this note here for others to read and get a feel of how Banfield abuses customers' trust. This "Wellness Plan" to me appears to be some sort of scam as I've been a victim of it. I will not recommend Banfield to anyone because of this issue.

They are a rip off