A Horrible Experience at the Vet

[Anonymous]

Sorry, it was a set up for failure once she accepted the later appt (the one that coincided with her infant's naptime). Any doctor appt NEVER takes 'just ten minutes' and if they do, count yourself lucky. You should've suspected nothing would be swift since the vet office had said they were overbooked. We don't know why they overbooked. for all we know, they were fine until one of the vets called out sick, family emergency, what have you.

I totally disagree with taking her before other customers who arrived on time for their appt. As they say, two wrongs don't make a right.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- they had no idea I was the person they had overbooked and re-scheduled. Toward the end, when I was about to walk out but didn't for the sake of the dog, I said, "When you called me this morning and said you had overbooked, I tried to accomodate your mistake by coming in this afternoon. I wish you had tried to accomodate my mistake by slipping us in instead of making us wait." Their mouths dropped open, and one of them got up and went in the back to talk to the vet. It's possible she said, "that lady who just won't leave no matter how badly we treat her is unravelling in the waiting room." But I don't think so. I think she said, "Um... the woman with the two small kids that we've been making wait for close to two hours because she was late, uh, it turns out she's the one we overbooked and rescheduled. What should i say to her doc?" They immediately began making chit chat with my four year old, asking him how old he was and if he was in school, saying it was important for him to listen to his mommy and be a big help to me, etc. -- all the small talk you would expect from an adult in close proximity to a four year old, but which, with an amazing display of willpower, they had managed to do NONE OF for close to two hours. They obviously thought, "Oh, s**T, we made a mistake by treating her so badly when she's the one we rescheduled." But even if they hadn't overbooked my appointment and asked me to come during a difficult time of day, even if they didn't 'owe me one' they still shouldn't have treated me like they did. A different kind of person would have smiled, even if she didn't mean it, and said "I'm sorry (even if she didn't mean it) but because of the time, the vet won't be able to see you until the very end of the day. At this point, that will be quite a while. I don't know if you're willing to stay that long with two small kids, but if you are, we have some crayons and books in the corner for your older son." Or something. Instead they acted like, 'We don't care if we get repeat business from the likes of you, who show up frazzled and late and then come begging for bandaids.' No one deserves to be treated like that, especially in front of their kids. Some day my kids will be older and I'll be able to do things like arrive on time and look presentable, but in the mean time, i still deserve to be treated with common courtesy.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried looking at all the sides of this? When someone calls and says that they are over booked, and mention rebooking later in the day, or next week, often they are hoping you will choose next week. There could have had several real emergencies, or deaths today. The staff was busy, making calls, changing appointments, and probably a bit frazzled themselves. Then in walks this woman, 40 minutes late, with a ton of gear and, maybe, when asking how long the wait would be, wasn't asking as nicely as she could have. Then makes a ton of noise, has a screaming kid, comes and demands some bandaids.

I would assume this was a bad time for everyone involved.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- I don't want to waste any more of everyone's time with this, but just for the record, I didn't even ask how long the wait would be until we had already been there for a full hour. I guess, as you suggested, she was hoping I would reschedule for next week but I didn't think of that then. (They weren't understaffed, they had overbooked the slot.) Anyway, I'm glad it's over. Thanks for all the responses.

[Anonymous]

OP, copy this thread and send it to your vet. Mark the letter personal, so that the vet sees it. Then get a new vet. Sorry about that. The receptionists seem to be the problem.

[Anonymous]

vet called gave you a time to be there, You had to know they were tight because they said they were "overbooked". They gave you a choice, you showed up one hour late. Your fault. I worked in a med field that had scheduled appointments, we would not even consider seeing any one if they came in pass 15 min's late. It is too disruptive to the others that showed up ON TIME. Sorry, but there are two sides to this. Now the rudeness is another story all together. There was no need for that. I do not think they needed to entertain your children but being polite should be the only acceptable option for the receptionist

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a horrible experience, but...you were late and you can't expect to be accomodated just because you have ansty kids. I have kids similar in age to your's, and I have to say that I know their limits. When it comes to vet appointments, my husband and I usually take turns using leave from work to handle it -- and we don't usually bring the little ones along. Ditto with many other such appointments that entail long waits which are typically not fun for kids. It sounds like you are a SAHM, in which case you may be on the hook for such duties -- but if you have a spouse, then I think you should coordinate schedules in the future so that you can avoid such terrible experiences. Or, always schedule appointments first thing in the morning or immediately after lunch so that you don't end up waiting so long to be seen.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live? I have a great vet in Alexandria who is open until 7pm during the week and on Sats until 3pm.

[Anonymous]

What vet was this?

[Anonymous]

I have another perspective. After waiting for an hour and they were being rude, why didn't you just pack up and go home? Why stay? You were miserable, the kids were miserable, the dog was probably miserable -- you should have gotten up and left. I say this because I've been in similar situations and I have gotten mad and upset and later I've realized I gave them all of the power. Next time leave. It was not an emergency visit. You were inconvenienced, but it was not the end of the world if you had left. Find a new vet closer to home with evening hours.

[Anonymous]

wow. OP, I completely agree they should have been more civil and accomodating to you, especially given the circumstances. Yes, I think they should have slipped you in. Making you wait until the end of the day was poor on their part - especially w/ 2 little ones. Yes, I do think having 2 small children with you makes a difference. Doesn't make you a better person - but does mean that waiting in a small space with little to occupy you for hours on end will be significantly more difficult than for the average person dropping their pet off solo. We were all little once - those w/ particularly small children should be cut a little slack. Can't most people sympathize with having been there at one point?

[Anonymous]

My "rule" has always been... if you're late, you can't complain.

Now, realistically, you can complain about poor service, and the receptionists being rude... but it sounds like a whole slew of things went wrong here, some of which fall on you.

If I had gotten there on time for my 2:30 appointment, I would probably have been a little perturbed by you cutting in front of me and making ME late. The perturbed-ness probably wouldn't have lasted long, because, as you said, we've ALL been there before, and sometimes stuff happens and you're 45 minutes late. But I don't think you should expect to be accomodated in those situations.

In short, the whole experience sounds stressful and awful... but would I ditch the vet? Well, I wasn't there to see exactly how rude the receptionists were, but it may be that your stress/frustration about the situation has colored your perception of what really happened. Just something to consider.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the lateness was the problem. I don't know if you had a cell or not but you should have called and explained that you were lost and asked if it was ok for you to still come in.

As far as the staff goes.... I understand that not everyone likes their job. I understand that not everyone has a wonderful day every day. What I don't understand and absolutely don't tolerate is when you take it out on me. You're working in a professional capacity and if you can't treat me in a professional manner then you will not be getting my money again.

You should find a new vet and when you do, let your old one know exactly why he's losing your business.

Also, which vet is this?

[Anonymous]

OP I sympathize- they messed up your appointment- you didn't want your dog to suffer more and so agreed to sooner than later- but only since THEY messed up- if your being late would have meant waiting htat long they should have told you at first- I appreciated honesty in places so that's where they failed.. as for the vet- any dr will always just shove it back to the admin staff- i've seen that many times- so they will just focus on your medical issue..

I would go somewhere else- vets are a dime a dozen here and it's just not worth it to be treated poorly- regardless if you were late- and particularly since they had messed up YOUR schedule for their own schedule incompetence.. I don't know if you wouldn't have waited an hour even if you had been there on time based on what you said.. best of luck and don't let the cranky responses get to you- there are tons of vets- you got shafted by the reschedule and not being direct (etc treatment) on how long you'd wait..

[Anonymous]

Blow them off and take your business elsewhere.

There has GOT to be a better vet closer to you. If you get treated like crap, at least you're close to home.