More Sleaze from Banfield Pet Inhospitable
After being subjected to the attempted deceptive Wellness Plan tactics at Banfield Pet on Thursday and having them abuse my cat earlier today, I opened today’s mail to find yet another example of their tactics. After repeatedly telling them that I was not renewing their plan today’s letter informed me that my credit card was approaching its expiration date and that they needed the new expiration date for my card to continue to use my card for my wellness plan payments.
Hel-lo…..you need my permission to continue to use my credit card which you do not have. My credit card does in fact have an end of August expiration date but fortunately it turns out, it also has a new credit card number since I never received the new card. I assume the number change is the problem that they are having using my credit card…I am guessing that an expiration date wouldn’t have stopped them from charging my card for continuing their Wellness Plan beyond my cancellation request.
My favorite part? "It’s our vision to treat your Pet like family, and we thank you for entrusting your Pet’s health to us." Their vision is my pet and my family’s nightmare. Apparently their tag-line is "Treating Your Pet Like Family". They must have some crazy family!
As an aside, when we adopted one of our cats the adoption people suggested that we have a RFID tag implanted so she would not get lost but not to use the one’s from Banfield because they didn’t "work". A google search for RFID turns up lots of interesting information on this Banfield fiasco…it seems Banfiel’s RFID tags couldn’t be read by the animal shelters . Whoops!
Ban Banfield Pet Hospital
My son suggested the title for this post….On Thursday, I knew I would be writing a post about Banfield Pet Hospital that would discuss their poor customer service and the misleading tactics that they use for their so called Wellness Plan. Yesterday, when their corporate staff seemed willing to right the situation I imagined a different post. TODAY’s post that I am actually writing is about the completely unacceptable treatment of our cat, TJ.
A brief search of the Internet uncovered quite a few complaints about the Wellness Plan, bad service, misleading tactics and mistreatment of animals. This is what happened to us.
We purchased a Wellness Plan last year when we adopted TJ. Over the course of the year, the plan hardly seemed worth the price plus importantly the care at Banfield at Sunset Hills, Mo. was of questionable quality. I informed them on a visit there on 6/26 that I was not renewing the plan. I watched them enter that in the computer. Nonetheless, several weeks later they called and inquired about the renewal and I again told them, no thanks. They REALLY push those plans! If only they treated pets with the same passion that they used for selling products and plans.
A postcard arrived from them postmarked 7/22 informing me to bring TJ on 8/4 for a comprehensive exam, vaccinations, and 2 tests ALL of which the postcard told me were covered by the plan I had all ready paid for this year. It couldn’t have been stated more clearly. So…I took sweet fat TJ in on 8/4. Heather, a Banfield employee immediately informed me that my plan with Banfield had actually expired on 8/4 and that my charges for these services would be $173.00. Huh? I come in for services that they have told me are covered by a plan I have all ready paid for on the day they set up for me to come in and they tell me I missed the expiration day?? Suffice it to say the conversation with Heather deteriorated from there! I left with TJ.
A message awaited me upon my arrival at home…yes of course they had my cell phone number. Heather informed me that maybe they could cover the worm test. I went to the web site and got the corporate phone number, called Sunset Hills back and said I was giving them one more chance before I called their corporate office. They gave me the phone number of their "customer advocacy" department. I called, stated my issues and faxed off a confirming note with the postcard attached.
Several hours later I received a phone call from Aaron who said this was his responsibility and at the end of our conversation agreed to honor the postcard and to set this up at another Ban field. I was not interested in returning to Sunset Hills. And that would have been the end….
This morning I took J into another Ban field location on Manchester Road and there the real problems began. First of all, they also tried to charge me for the services but that eventually got straightened out. I left J with an uneasy feeling. About 2 hours later they called and matter of factly informed me that TJ was ready to be picked up and that I should be sure and bring his carrier because he had gotten so upset that he had defecated on himself and they would not be able to clean him up.
Upset at what? TJ has been to the vet many times and though he doesn’t like it, he has never gotten "upset"…I asked more questions. What do you mean you can’t clean him up? He is so upset they said that he is trying to bite us. OK, TJ has NEVER been upset, never bitten anyone. They tell me I should come immediately. As my kids would say, "DUH!" Needless to say, I was furious and worried. What had they done to TJ?
Well, we arrived at Banfield they took the carrier and returned with TJ inside. He smelled like you know what but this cat was not angry and not looking like he was going to bite. I can only hypothesize about what kind of treatment he got and can only pray that there will not be repercussions for our sweet cat.
As my son Sam said: Ban Banfield…or at least be warned! They cannot be trusted with your pet.
Fat Cat
We have two cats, we were supposed to have one. Last summer we adopted a 13 month old part Maine Coon Cat named Michelle whose name was immediately changed by my sons to Tiger. They insisted she looked like a Tiger. She was meant to be a kind of starter pet….the kids really wanted a dog but being unconvinced by their promises to take care of a dog, I agreed to start with a lower maintenance cat. Not that I had ever had a cat before, or had ever met a cat that I especially liked, or in fact didn’t love dogs…it just seemed that at this time and place, a cat sounded like it made sense for us.
Well, Tiger apparently felt otherwise. She departed out the front door after she had been with us for about two weeks. We searched, put up "Lost Cat" signs but no Tiger. My younger son was heartbroken so we adopted a 9 week old kitten who was promptly named Tiger, Jr and called TJ. About a month later, our next door neighbor called and said that she thought our cat was living in her back yard and in fact she was. Her extended visit next door remains as mysterious as her departure but that is why we now have two cats. Two cats who seem to despise each other.
TJ, the kitten, grew up this past year….and then started to blow up. He kept getting fatter and fatter until the only way to describe him was FAT. Sweet, lovable, adorable, but a chow hound. Well…I wish that was where the story ended…but although we were concerned with his ever increasing girth as well as his newly lethargic lifestyle it was more in the context of discussing the fact that he was fat versus the harm in his being so fat. But then he started making these strange choking sounds every once in a while…we took him to the vet. The verdict…a very fat cat with a heart condition. TJ is now officially on a diet…prescription weight loss food and vets orders to lose 7 pounds. 7 pounds, you ask? Yes, it is a whole lot of weight. And TJ does not like his diet. He sits by his bowl and cries. We all feel bad for him. But, we adore our cats (who would have guessed) and we don’t want to lose him. So, we pat his head and tell him it is for his own good. Poor TJ.
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