Banfield Pet HospitalReviews of banfield.com

Most recent in-person experience...my pup was sick and the vet prescribed medicine. Picked up the medicine. The label on the bottle said tablet. The contents were caplets. Called vet. They had somehow given me the wrong med in the right containter. Tried scheduling his shot appontments. Their system was down for 2 full days. Now...I am trying update my billing...that system is down. They are a freaking hot mess system wise and staffing wise. If I drove...I would find a different vet. My pup does like the vet...that helps...but have to jump through hoops to get to her.

The membership plan does help as long as your animal is alive. At the moment they’re dead. You still are billed for services that you can’t use because your animal is dead. There’s a class action lawsuit about it. The hospital in Duncanville would Schedule 36 patients for drop off and expect for all of them to be done by 1 PM leaving the receptionist to work an 11 hour shift without a lunch (because the technician doesn’t want to cover them) and having nonstop people working by themselves. Appointments that are made online for same-day or next day appointments often are double booked at the same time that somebody actually has an appointment which is why you’ll see that your appointment is not actually there. Your pet will be in a cage all day long and will have urine all over its feet and a lot of technicians. Don’t care to give it water because they know it will pee all over itself. The veterinarians would have their cars broken into so many times that they would have to stop working at this location so therefore they did not have an actual vet assigned to them permanently.

Every time I use the app to schedule an appointment, it’s cancelled or moved without my consent. They are just terrible for routine care which is annoying because my monthly payment is supposed to cover routine care. I would cancel the membership but Banfield is the nearest vet to me and the cancellation price is outrageous.

Went in for a couple of immunizations for our cat that were due, and got a very hard sell on signing up for an expensive annual treatment plan that I considered to be "over the top".

Visited in Vandalia, OH. I am hoping to get started with a new vet but I have doubts whether this will be the one. First impressions: I walked in the door and was hit with STRONG cinnamon spice air freshener. It's a little thing, but my eyes were burning and I don't see how it can be good for the animals. No one was at either the check out or check in desk and many people were waiting. One person finally came out to handle both desks, so it was still slow. I over-heard someone in another room explaining that there was currently no permanent vet in the practice, just "experienced vets" filling in, which was a little concerning. I told the front desk why I was there & mentioned a couple of minor things to have checked, none of which seemed to reach the techs or Dr who did the exam. It was the same when I checked out, having been told there would be no need for a booster shot, then being asked about scheduling the booster. I had to sit through a hard-sell for the wellness plan several times, from each person I saw, which took longer than the actual exam. Positives? It is easy to book appointments on line & there is not a long wait for one. The employees seem to care about animals and could maybe do better if not in a setting where they are pressed for time & expected to be salespeople first.

Same complaint as others about "unexpected changes" in cost. While the staff at the Banfield location in Longmont, CO, are exceptional from front desk to technicians to the veterinarian whom I spoke with on the phone - friendly and pleasant, caring, understanding, and competent, I brought her in for a cleaning, was quoted 1 price for labs and wound up paying more than double that because they neglected to tell me that that price was only for in-house labs. On top of that, the cleaning couldn't be done. Was initially quoted just under $500 for a dental cleaning for my cat plus a coupon for a free initial visit. Then quoted $191 by the vet for labs when they had concerns and couldn't do the dental yet after all. At no point was I told that the necessary DKT sedation with my cat would be another $130-ish, nor that the labs being sent out would be $234 and change, that the $191 was for the in-house labs only. The vet DID say the RBCs could be "because of stress" but were too low to put her under. OK, but I would've appreciated knowing the itemized costs upfront, especially after specifically inquiring about cost for "the labs," meaning ALL the labs, when the vet called me with news of her CBC results. I would've held off on the labs being sent out since her bloods were fine 2 months ago with another vet, and the vet acknowledged the the low RBCs could be "just stress." $558 later, the cat still hasn't had a dental cleaning. I take some consolation in the fact that, had we had the dental done with a probable extraction, the bill would've been over $1000, but now we're looking at a third higher cost because of costs that weren't shared with me ahead of time. TLDR: My fear-aggressive cat hadn't been to the vet in 3 years (too long a story for this review), but with nearing 8 years old and having slightly bad breath, as well as starting to go outside in both an enclosed pen and a catio regularly, I knew she should at least have vaccines updated and get a dental cleaning. I took her to the shelter vet a couple months ago where we'd adopted her from, and they had to sedate her to do an exam -- which I expected because she really does become a tasmanian devil at the vet -- and okayed her for a dental cleaning, but they wanted $200 down just to schedule the cleaning, and it would be 2 months out. That had me looking elsewhere. Found Banfield nearby and thought I'd try them. Should've read the reviews first. I took her to Banfield not even 2 months from the 2 visits with the first vet, and Banfield wanted to see her twice also to do an exam and blood work all over again, even though I had her records giving her a clean bill of health 2 months ago (bloods and urine). Because the exam was free with a coupon, I decided to go for it, although this would be extra stress on the cat ... and myself. Sure enough, they couldn't do an exam on her for the initial visit but then said they'd do everything at the dental cleaning. They didn't let me know that doing DKT premed sedation wasn't part of her exam at about $130 total. Added to that was the cost of the "Super-Chem" that the vet did not share with me. At least they did check her mouth out, and she "isn't that bad" per the vet and only has one cavity, but that probable extraction will be $600+ on top of the dental, so we're looking at over $1000 for her eventual cleaning and extraction. I'm on Medicaid and have already spent almost $1000 in 2 months between the 2 vets, so this will simply have to wait, but because of the lack of complete disclosure about all the lab costs, especially when I'd specifically asked, I will not be returning to Banfield. It's back to the shelter vet for us.

I took my dog to update her shots and the tech came in without her record asking me what shots she needed. She didn’t seem to understand that is the purpose for the record. She never explained why she didn’t have the record and never went back to get it. The front desk clerk obviously heard about my complaint and went back to get my dog most likely discussing my dissatisfaction because she took a bit longer than usual. Understand the customer is why you have a job and make it a point to keep the customer satisfied. That’s called appreciation.

If you have a wellness plan and you pay monthly, be aware! You must change your payment method for each pet plan individually. Updating the main account does not flow down to each account. Then they charge $20 when the payment fails. The conversation below is with a customer service rep who offered no help and proceeded to explain how funds have to be in at a certain time. Duh! When a payment method is changed and a the old one deleted, it should not still be active on the pet plan pages. I gave 3 stars because the plan and the gets are good. The company itself sucks in technology and customer service.