Interestingly enough, I stopped into the vet's office Monday to pick up some more insulin for my cat and later that night I got an email asking me to rate my experience with Coldwater Animal Hospital. I spoke my mind -- that I felt they were GOUGING for pet meds (specifically the insulin) and that I felt they had lost their focus on their mission of helping the animals and made it all about making money.\r
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Today I got a certified letter telling me that they were, effectively, ""firing me"" as their client, and they had canceled my cat's appointment.\r
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Clearly the truth was more than they could bear.\r
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Specifically, they sold me Prozinc for $193 a vial. I called another vet's office only a couple of miles away and found that they were selling it at about $140. Drs. Foster and Smith was selling it for $95 plus $25 overnight shipping (it has to be kept cold) for a total of $120 plus tax. Why shouldn't I be allowed to express my perceptions of gouging without this sort of childish ""payback?""\r
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The letter said that I had made it clear that I didn't trust my doctor's recommendations -- were that the case, we wouldn't have stayed with them for the past two decades. Clearly they need/want clients who blindly obey whatever they say, and quietly accept that they have to pay through the nose for their pets' care, without questioning why they have to pay more at Coldwater than anyplace else.\r
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But here's the thing -- now that this has happened, it has reinforced to me that they do, in fact, GOUGE for their medications. No problem -- I'll go someplace where they treat my pets, AND my money with more respect.\r
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Color me -- GONE!
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