I wish I could give Barton Height negative stars! After being clients for over 5 years we brought our sick kitten in on Sunday for an emergency visit and cannot believe the horrid, uncompassionate way we were treated! We were told my cat s stomach was lodged in his chest and he needed surgery in order to save his life. They initially quoted my husband $1900 - $3200 and stated they would not operate without us paying at least 50%. As it was a Sunday evening and our resources were limited we offered to pay what we could (approximately $700.00) with the remainder in the next few days. They refused. They kept the poor baby overnight on oxygen and charged us $460.00 for his care for the night (again, we had to pay upfront). We went home to see what we could do to secure funds for the life saving surgery. We received a call later that evening from the hospital asking for them to do another more detailed x-ray so that they could confirm the diagnosis. We consented. Later we received a call stating that the diagnosis was confirmed, that they could not do the surgery that they would have to call their specialist in and the price was now $3900 and stated that the traveling specialist wouldn t do the surgery without payment in full upfront! We asked to speak with the specialist and were told it s not negotiable . We eventually did speak with the specialist who told us the payment up front was not his policy, but that of Barton Heights. Barton Heights refused to work out payment with us so we waited until morning to see if we could pool resources to save our kitten. Well, next morning we received a call from Barton Heights with a new bill of $900.00 for our baby s overnight care. My husband balked and refused to pay as we had already been told the bill would be $460.00 which we had paid. He was put on hold and told there were some discrepancies found and that the bill was $500 and if we didn't pay it they would put us in collections! Again my husband balked and was put on hold again for some time. When they came back on the line they informed my husband that the kitten had just died so we owed them $200+ dollars for an x-ray and cremation. Bottom line, this practice does not care about the animals that they purport to help, but only look to increase their bottom line. We have pulled our records and will utilize another, more compassionate vet for our other animals. Thank you Barton Heights for devastating my children and teaching them that there are people out there who have no compassion and are only out for a buck!
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