Banfield Pet Hospital
reviews and complaints

7/20/2015
Noticed a pending charge on our account from banfield.

A phone call turned up the following;
Both cats are deceased and listed as deceased in the banfield pet hospital system. However, it turns out that they renewed the plans after the pets were in the system as deceased. Also billed us for radiology on a visit when no radiology was performed. And to top it all off, they have refused to refund us for auto renewed plan even though it shows the pets as deceased prior to the auto renewal date.

A full refund of all charges for penny since january 1st 2015
A full refund of all charges for george since may 26th 2015

My dog had been sick for a week and was not eating. I took her in for a check up Saturday morning and the hospital kept her all day. They asked me to follow up after a week and she would probably get better by then. Two days later she died. Im so upset because I had my dog on the wellness plan for over two years and I thought her health was good and if she had a problem, the hospital would take care of her.

So I take my healthy bulldog to Banfield for his neutering surgery. Then the Dr calls me asking if it was okay to pay extra fees for extra anesthesia. I was okay with it as long as he comes out of the surgery still healthy and well (I didn't know that so much anesthesia is dangerous for bulldogs; the Dr should have known). 20 minutes later I receive a call from her telling me that she has bad news and that he couldn't breathe during the surgery and so he passed away! I was in shock and couldn't believe that because it's supposed to be a really easy surgery! (I've never heard a dog that has passed away from a neutering surgery.) So I googled about anesthesia and found out that it is very dangerous for bulldogs to use extra anesthesia.

The Dr in Banfield should have known this information since bulldogs are very sensitive dogs! I'm really mad at them and I would want to sue them for that! I took him to them healthy and happy and there was nothing wrong with him! They overdosed him with anesthesia! I really miss him! RIP Nacho xoxo

I contacted this facility 4 times for the office manager over a week and a half. I finially get a a call back and she was "unable to help me". I took my puppy to their facility under the wellness plan. He went in for a shot (which i was never informed on what kind of shot) they also gave him a urinalysis for a urinary problem. I specifically asked for them to call me with the results. This was back on january 19th and I still have yet to find out what the results said. I was told to schedule an appt for 3 weeks to follow up for the urinalysis, which I did. I had to cancel the appt due to ice and said I would call back to reschedule the appt. At NO time did anyone, not even the doctor tell me that the injection he received at the January 19th appt was TIME SENSITIVE. The managers statement was "By us telling you that you needed an appt in 3 weeks, was us telling you that he was suppose to be back by a certain time." UUmmmmmm NO! I work for a doctors office (for people) and If we told them that answer we would be sued! Now i have to pay for the 2nd injection because only 2 are covered and the 1st shot had to be given twice. Then spoke with coorprate and got absolutely no where. Needless to say I will never recommend them to anyone!

This is concerning Banfield Vet in Alabaster Al. We had been taking our minature schnauzer to Banfield for 5 years, the last 2 years we have not had a regular vet, as they keep changing. In September 2014, I took my dog to see the vet for his bad breath, the Dr didn't look at my dog except to say that I needed to brush their teeth, then was told to try the Arm & Hammer breath freshner in my dog's water bowl. The smell has never gone away, so December 17, we took my dog back to Banfield because we now noticed a large lump on the roof of his mouth. the Dr walks in, a different one from the Trussville, AL office, Dr Ezierah ( ? ), she proceeds to just try and pick up my dog, without letting him get to know her or her him, he backs away, I pick him up, put him on the table, the Dr tells me I am not qualified to hold his head while she looks at his mouth and needs to take him to the back, she leaves with my dog, and then returns, to tell my husband and I that she needs to do surgery on my dog to remove this "growth" as it looks to be cancer, and send it off for analysis, and then starts to speak to us about chemo and where is the best place to get it, I then stop her and say, " I'm sorry, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" This woman has never even introduced herself to us, but wants to cut on my dog and put him to sleep!REALLY! So then we go to the front desk to make an appointment, the day we choose is booked up with other Mouth Mass Removals from this same ignorant Dr. That didn't seem right to me, so I contacted another vet clinic for a second opinion, the "mass" on the roof of his mouth is normal, it is just inflamed, as for the bad breath, my dog has had an infection behind his front teeth since SEPTEMBER! which is now on antibiotics for, and has cleared up the breath, but now may loose his 2 front teeth from the infection that I was told to freshen his breath with a liquid in his water. The se people are the most incompetant group on individuals I have ever seen, and this woman calls herself a Dr? She needs he license pulled, because I can bet you those other mass removals, we unneccessary, just as mine would have been. This is completely unprofessional, and my dog will NEVER grace Banfield with his presence again. After 3 weeks on antibiotics, the infection was so severe, my poor dog had to have his 4 front teeth removed last Friday with his new vet. Due to the pain and suffering for myself and for my dog, I believe we do NOT owe this company anymore “blood” money.

Beware of banfield at the deptford petsmart. They killed my dog by giving her too much oxygen and causing her to have a seizure and die. She did not need oxygen just because she was breathing heavy from her heart disease. I took her in for a check up, nothing else. I did not authorize oxygen and even told them I did not want the mask on her. They did it anyway, then had the nerve to charge me! Like I will ever pay them a single cent more sincle they killed my dog! I sure as hell wont trust them with my other 2 dogs.

Its a shame that sara garrison and amber karwacki are so negligent and give all of the vets there a bad rep because dr jan oliver is amazing. She is normally the only one I let touch my dogs. However, she wasnt in yet on the morning I took my poor baby in to be checked. All I was doing was getting her checked for free since all of my dogs have there highest wellness plans available.

I walked in with a very much alive dog for a free visit and walked out with a dead dog and over $300 in charges for stuff I did not consent to and specifically told them I did not want done to her. They stressed her out so bad, then they killed her!

I have had so many people write to me telling me that the same vet killed or harmed their pets too. I am reporting my story to the media, attorney general, craigslist, [redacted].com, pissedconsumer.com and every other review website I can find to warn people about these two criminally negligent so called doctors. One of them (Sara garrison) looks about 12. How much can she even possibly know?

Please do not take your pets here for any reason!

Hello:

I am writing this note encouraging people to stay far away from Banfield and their "Wellness Plan". We adopted a dog and enrolled in the plan to provide proper care for the animal. Unfortunately, the animal needed to be returned to the shelter for various reasons. Yet we are still required to pay for his "coverage" for the next four months (at 44 dollars and some change per month). This place is a rip-off. Stay away from these people. And for those who read this be advised: Most Texans act in this manner. If you live here move away.

My Name is BOBBY ALEXANDER SR **** On 10-0814 I had an appointment with banfield pet hospital @ four pm I arrived at my appointment at 3:48 this is the time I reported to the receptionist desk at which time she stated "the doctor is very busy and it would take a few minutes, so I said ok, and I waited for 15 minutes at which time I came back to desk and asked if I could be seen, and she stated not yet and I said ok .at 4:22pm Iresponded back to the desk and was turned down again at this point returned at 4:37pm and they told me they could see me now and I asked how long would this service take she stated one hour or so which means Iwould not get out of this office until 5:30 or so, but however I had plans that I had to take care of and I was very upset. The next morning Icalled the office to compliant and the receptionist told me the doctor who handles the compliants would be in at 9:am adn woul give me call soon as she walked. The time now is 11:42 I have not received acall yet, and I"am very upset all I want is be treated fairly like every other member who comes their for servie. It seems to me that all BANFIELD cares about is receiving your money and does not give a dame about the paying cutomer

I've been a client for about 4 years over the 4 years I've been going
Staff have always been friendly and over worked but always friendly
Management was okey and friendly as well.
I've noticed over the last few visit I've gone since new management
Some staff seem to be treated different and unfair
Seems to be favoritism in work environment .
Work environment seem hostile and unfair . I feel
Bad for doctors and staff . Unhappy staff make unhappy clients
Staff need to be equal
Just to add
There is one employee that storms around
Is very unprofessional with language. Very out spoken
New worker very Rude and told me I was making the wrong medical choice for my pet

Banfield is a deceitful corporation! I took both of my cats for check-ups one had worms and the other one was a regular check-up they charged me to de worm both of my cats and then stated they had given them both shots "in the back room" they also charged me to collect, inspect and throw away both of the cats poop. For both cats it came to almost 600$ Please go somewhere else they don't inform you of any procedures they do (didn't do). Also one of my cats lost his fur and had a large scab in the area his de wormed shot was given...my other cat didn't have the same reaction although they stated they gave my other the same shot . Not to mention I called six weeks ago to cancel my membership and they still charged my credit card another monthly fee. I've been on the phone waiting for a representative for over 20minutes now!

This post is for Banfield Pet Hospital Brandywine Wilmington De
We took our dog Kyra a four year old Parsons Jack Russell a pure bred
to Benfield because they have an affordable yearly plan.
Last year (2013) we took her for her vaccinations Lyme Disease and another vaccination. When we brought her home she had an allergic reaction and they told us to give her allergy meds, so we did She had a large lump on her leg and she was in pain and she snapped at us, which she has never done.. The Doctor R…. told us last year she can`t have two vaccinations at a time, do one vaccination a week apart for next time.
On Sunday May 18 2014 my husband went to pick up heartworm medicine single dose for my dog. The receptionist said she has to come back for a heartworm test. My husband gave Kyra the heartworm medicine that following day. I called to make an appt for Kyra for the Heartworm Test and have her nails cut. Tuesday May 20 th I brought her in drop off. I put on the Check in Paper She had a biscuit to eat this am and SHE CAN NOT HAVE TWO VACCINATIONS AT A TIME WHEN THEY ASK IF YOUR DOG EVER HAD ALLERGIC REACTIONS THAT IS WHAT I WROTE. JUST EXTRA INFO THAT WE GIVE SAME FOR HUMANS WHEN WE GO TO DR.
When I went to pick Kyra up that day with my daughter, The nurse and the receptionist came out said they gave her Lyme and Bortedell vaccination today, I said I didn`t know you gave her the vaccinations and she said yes we will keep you up to date on what she needs. They never gave her allergy medicine gave the two vaccinations that day never asked me if they could go ahead and give her the vaccinations. They were negligence on their part not paying attention to the check in sheet. Dr R… and Dr O… were irresponsible.
We brought her home and she was never the same dog. Laying around not drinking Leg Shaking, just not the fun loving dog we had up till that day. This is a Jack Russell they play they jump they bark! We waited a day I called Wednesday afternoon I called the hospital and told them that my dog was not right something happened. They said to give her an Adult Benedryl pill and we did. No change the next day I called and said we are coming in something is wrong She just layed in the cage. My daughter and husband dropped her off at 130 pm they were told that the drs were at lunch. At 230 they said you can come pick Kyra up nothing is wrong, but we will give you some Rimadyll anti-inflammatory pills. Saturday I called the Hospital Manager. She said Dr O… checked her there is nothing wrong with her. Sunday We brought her in and they felt her back and she winced so Dr C… prescribed some sedative and Rimadyl and to keep her in a cage because of her back no running no this no that. They wanted 38.00 dollars for the meds and I said I wasnt paying anything. That night our baby Kyra was acting all drunk with the sedative and all so we called and said it was too much for her and the dr said to give her half a pill the next day but we didn`t. She was acting still strange I called asked what the name of the vaccinations and the heartworm med itc They said they had changed Companies this year They switched to Merck Heartworm Tri Hart I believe and the Lyme was by Merck also... She was shaking lethargic and not drinking, wanting to stay away under the bed all day. On Tuesday we got worried and took her to The Veterinary Specialty Hospital.in New Castle Delaware. She was shaking and not right the doctor kept her there for the day for 800 dollars They thought she had a disc disease but they checked her blood and that was ok and gave her an x-ray for the spine and told me you need an MRI for 3000.00 if you want to know since it didn`t show any disc problem on the x-ray.. They prescribed her Tramidol pain killer and same anti inflammatory meds. We brought her home gave her the meds evening at 6:00 we picked her up she was still in pain and out of it. On Thursday May29th She got real bad shaking wouldn`t eat or drink at all. I noticed her back leg was going stiff and she couldn`t lift her back body up We rushed her to the Hospital and right before the hospital She had a Grand Mal seizure.
We rushed her in they ran in with a paper that says we need 500 dollars.
Of course we signed the paper. They said she kept having seizures all through the night we kept her there. Of course they wanted 1300 dollars to 2200. They give you a work up the high price and the low price to save your animal`s life and they require 75 per cent. The following morning Friday May 29th Our BELOVED KYRA WAS GONE SHE DIED AT 7; 00 THEY WORKED ON HER FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES TO SAVE HER BUT SHE WAS GONE AT FOUR YEARS OLD. WE ARE HEARTBROKEN. OF COURSE WE BANFIELD STARTED A CLAIM AT OUR REQUEST WITH MERCK TO DO A NECROPSY TO FIND OUT THE CAUSE OF DEATH AND WE WAITED AND THEY SAID SHE HAD ALL THIS INFLAMMATION IN THE BRAIN SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE STOMACH THE LUNG ETC ETC ON THE NECROPSY REPORT. THEREFORE IT WAS NOT THE VACCINATION THAT CAUSED THE DEATH OF OUR BABY. A DOG THAT WAS FINE BEFORE THE DAY WE BROUGHT HER FOR HER NAILS CLIPPED AND HER HEARTWORM TEST. AND NOW SHE IS GONE. THEY WERE NEGLIGEANT IN THE FIRST PLACE I CALLED TO ASK FOR A COPY OF KYRA`S RECORDS TO BOTH PLACES AND A COPY OF THE CHECK IN PAPER AND THEY SAID THEY THROW THOSE OUT.! I DID RECIEVE A SYMPATHY CARD FROM BANFIELD BUT DR O… AND R… NEVER SIGNED IT, BUT DR C…. DID. PLEASE BE AWARE OF YOUR PET`S CARE.

I took my dog, a Jack Russel Terrier, to Banfield Hosp. in Cincinnati today. His symptoms are diareha and vomiting. I've been thru this before. The treatment (usually) is antibiotics and hydration.
A Vet at the hospital. I will call him PK, seemed competent and knowledgeable. However, the same cannot be said about his assistants. Additionally, he tried to provide shots and unnecessary testing. But, more importantly, this so-called hospital did not have injectable antibiotics. WHAT? What kind of so-called hospital that takes ER cases does not carry this staple? Needless to say, I won't be going back and I refused all the unnecessary testing/shots, etc. that would have cost me over $500.00.

I bought a puppy and took him for a check over at Banfield Pet Hospital. I was suckered into the contract that you can't terminate until they've taken 12 months worth of payments. The contract says that you are not charged for any visit but out of the 6 times that I've taken the puppy there for puppy shots, I would have paid over $500 (my cost) for over inflated meds and unnecessary treatments. After I complete my 12 months of this contract I would have paid a total of $480 more. Avoid this place, and take your pet to an independent Vet where you have the control of cost.

I will just share the letter I wrote corporate.

Date: April 28, 2014
Banfield Hospital
8000 NE Tillamook
P. O. Box 13998
Portland, OR. [protected]
Dear Banfield Hospital:
My name is Sean and I am writing to inform you of my experience at your location in Braintree, Massachusetts. On Friday April 25, 2014 at 5:30pm I brought my ten month old Siberian husky to see the vet for his 9 month routine heartworm test. We entered the building and my dog was acting as he normally does. He was hyper and excited. After waiting about thirty minutes we were called into a room and waited another ten minutes. From there a tech came in and took his temperature with which he struggled a bit, as I expect any dog would. Marissa, the tech, then took my dog Peter to the back room to draw blood. When he returned he was being dragged by the thin orange lead and not guided back by his own collar and leash. He was panting very hard and would not walk to the center of the room. The vet then came in and performed his exam as much as he could. This was very unusual, as my dog has never shown disinterest in the vet. We left with deworming medicine and were on our way. At home Peter would not go out and became incontinent. He is fully housebroken and we figured he was just very stressed out from going to the vet. The following Saturday I was home all day and Peter spent the day lying on the couch. This was very unusual since my dog goes on five-mile runs three days a week and is a typical super crazy husky. I decided to leave him alone still thinking the vet was stressful. What became extraordinarily alarming was when I found out his neck was hurt. Sunday morning when Peter woke up and went down stairs to ring the bells by the door I reached for his collar to put the leash on. He winced and cried in pain and urinated himself right in front of me. He was in pain and would not let my girlfriend or I go near him. Once he calmed down and went to lie on the couch we closely inspected him and also saw he had glass in his front right paw. Thursday night I put mushers cream on his paws and they were fine. Peter spent the whole weekend after leaving the vet at home, inside. We called Banfield in Braintree immediately and explained to them that he was hurt Friday and we needed to speak to someone. This was at 10:58am on Sunday morning. The receptionist whose name I do not have, told us that it is impossible to reach a manager and that there was only an on call vet that day. She also said that no glass is at Banfield. We were later told that there is some glass and even later told that no glass spill has been reported. This is one example of varying stories, thus creating our hesitancy and inability to trust the professional providers caring for our pet. Our entire experience was like this. It seemed everyone had something different to say and when we questioned them, they become very defensive and stopped interacting with us. This made everything very frustrating for us. Our goal was to go and get reassurance that our dog was ok, for someone to say sorry and help us. To our dismay none of these goals were met.
The call ended and we called the VCA. The VCA confirmed that we were right and that our dog’s behavior following the vet was very abnormal. At 11: 14am we received a call back and was told that the surgeon could see Peter in 30 minutes. We arrived in 30 minutes and a tech named Courtney took him out back. When she returned she said I know exactly what you are talking about. The glass is between his second and third pad; correct? She then said the doctor was taking care of it and examining his neck. We were then called into a room and asked by the vet to remove his collar so he could examine his neck. We were shocked because we had just been told by the tech that the doctor examined his neck and that he was able to illicit pain on his left side. We then wondered why he would not have taken the collar off or if he had even examined him out back. We were unable to remove his collar because the pain caused him to be very defensive. The petsmart trainer was able to get the collar off without causing any bad behavior, unlike the vet. The vet then diagnosed Peter with neck issues and began telling us that it was an underlying issue that just happened to surface itself after his exam on Friday. The only possible underlying condition in the differential was IVDD, which is more common in older dogs and specific breeds and is not known to effect huskies. All the other differentials were related to trauma, ligament and muscle injury, which was the consensus of the VCA exam as well. The VCA believed IVDD was very unlikely.in addition to telling us we were crazy to think Peter was hurt at Banfield, he said no glass was found, and that it was a lesion that they sanded down and he would need antibiotics. The vet said this lesion had been there a while, however this was not noted on Peter’s exam on Friday. Also his temp was taken and told to us on Friday and was not documented. We were never offered antibiotics, told x-rays could not be done there and to our astonishment found that the vet documented us as refusing these options. Everyone there had no concern and could have cared less about helping us. This is insane. Especially since our dog showed signs of pain and behavior changes after being there on Friday.
The tech was then informed that the practice owner was on the phone. My girlfriend asked that she speak to him in the room. This was for good reason. More than once did staff have conflicting things to say to us and we were getting very uneasy with the differing stories. Also, all morning nobody wanted to talk to us, and we, at this point did not trust her to tell her boss the truth. It’s not hard to believe, seeing as we were told right off the bat that no sort of manager can be reached and that we could not be helped that day. The tech said no I don't have to do that for you and hurriedly walked out the door. This instance is documented by Banfield in an extraordinarily misleading way and depicts us as threatening and hostile. Yes we were frustrated. Our dog was brought to the vet and got hurt. We just wanted an apology and for some help and for our dog to be better. Mistakes happen. We have no clue what happens behind the doors of banfield, but we trusted them and it was very disappointing to be treated the way we were. What is true in the documentation is my girlfriend rushing out the door nearly in tears talking about calling animal control. As I am writing this I am thinking of whom I can contact, licensing committees, veterinary schools, animal protection organizations, and so forth. This is how upset we are.
My girlfriend then spoke on the phone with Dr. Massoff. She thought he was clear, empathetic, and willing to help us get through this situation effectively. However we were told he would call us the next day and we never received a phone call.
Once the phone call ended the manager came in to speak with us and was very rude. She never gave us her name and talked in an authoritative tone. She said I’m not here to go over anything and your prescriptions are being made and you need to go to the VCA. This is another instance where I am completely shocked as to how inaccurate it was documented.in her note she says she enters the room and the gentlemen swore at me. The note never says what would have made me curse and I sure hope that upper administration finds this strange. I did say this is # after she said she is not here to go over anything. As I said that I stood up and said I need to leave. As I was leaving she began to yell down the hall at me as if she was kicking me out and I turned and said I was leaving you should have nothing else to say to me. Her note fails to document everything in its entirety and is very misleading. At no time did she show any concern for my pet. My girlfriend was so upset that Banfield’s staff was saying our dog was a biter, but failed to mention this to us in any of our previous visits. She asked to see the notes. The manager started with our first visit, which showed he was perfectly friendly, but she needed to make a comment about how we chose to treat him. She has no license to give medical advice and should not have taken that time to criticize us. We spent just over a hundred dollars and our puppy got better in two days rather than their suggested nine hundred dollar treatment plan when we knew it was kennel cough. Finally, she got to his six-month visit and again there was no note of aggression or warning that our pet was dangerous. I am disgusted that more than one staff member had the audacity to treat us like # and tell us our dog is a monster when we were returning because he was hurt there. When my girlfriend asked for all the records to be printed out everyone who we had come in contact with us was out back and it took her 25 min. to print out the records. We were there for two and a half hours total and did not get to the VCA until 3pm. Poor dog couldn’t get any help until 3pm and his owners were treated very poorly after he was hurt there in the first place. It is possible that Peter getting hurt was a mistake, even though we saw how he was handled Friday, and we are normal considerate people that would have gladly taken an apology and prompt care and continued to be loyal costumers.
Sincerely,

I will never bring my pets to this hospital. First week of February my son took our dog to a so call vet. Dr. Dauphin over looked or miss diagnosed the symptoms of our lovely dog she told to came back in two days if the symptoms do not improve, of course we did not go back for the lousy service we received. We took out dog to a different hospital and we were told that is noting they can do about it. We have to put our dog to sleep in part to the neglect of this vet. She could have been more proactive in her approach she could have save his life. So I am going to tell friends and family about this experience and not to bring any business to this hospital.

I had a horrible experience with this hospital, after a recent car accident when their own machine failed to take a temporary debit card after I was told it would. I lost my wallet with all of my id's and credit/ debit cards ect. I was told they would keep my acct open and they didn't they put collections on my acct but my statement although now paid now reads collections I was hurt in this accident as well as my cat and my car totaled I just think this is a despicable heartless company and what makes matters worst I was on my way to this hospital the morning of this accident when a delivery truck rear ended my car throwing me into the car in front of me. never ever will I recommend this company to anyone they still haven't did anything to help me straighten this out they should make my account read fault of Banfield not me they even told my banker their machine would take my payment instead they made it seem on my statement I was the bad one not them oooh makes my blood boil. lousy stinking rotten company to do this after what happen to me. I still have not heard a word from this company