Review Time
As a former client of Peak Vets, which was once a great vet practice, I sadly know all too well that once Linnaeus (owned by Mars Inc.) took over Peak Vets (after one of the owners, Steve, left following a dog sadly dying alone in overnight 'care', according to a senior vet there) standards dropped and prices rose. One of my greyhounds suddenly started limping on one front leg at age nine, and I was assured it was arthritis by James. I just knew it was cancer, so I insisted on an MRI. He put in a non urgent referral. I got it upgraded to urgent, and they found an aggressive malignant tumour. She died a couple of weeks later. Another greyhound went in with a small pressure sore on his foot. They wrapped it in heavy bandages and vetwrap, which put more pressure on it and made it far worse. Then they wanted to cut the poor dog's toe off! I spent two months healing it with Manuka honey and then applying a colloidal dressing, used by the NHS, and wrapping in lightweight gauze every other day - cost a small fortune. They also had another greyhound under anaesthetic for three hours for a dental, which is far too long (I have the vet records). She died of kidney failure 6 weeks later. Linnaeus are still very aggressively pursuing me for payment for that treatment via their amoral and incompetent debt collectors. I was with Peak Vets almost from when it was set up by Steve and Greg, for around 15 years, and I must have spent £30-40K with them during that time as well as generating thousands more by sending the people who adopted dogs off me there. I wish to god I'd left sooner. I'm surprised that not only have the good vets that know all too well how Peak has changed since Linnaeus took over are not only still there but are also leaving 5 star reviews online. Shakes head. I was assured nothing would change. Hard lesson to learn.
I have concerns regarding the recent changes at my veterinary practice. Since the new management took over, the pricing structure has become increasingly unreasonable. For instance, if a pet undergoes surgery, additional costs are charged for what should be standard post-operative care, such as fluids. This was billed as an optional extra at an additional cost of £60.Moreover, my dog has an ongoing medical condition, and I complete all the required details online for insurance purposes. However, the vets charge a £10 fee simply to confirm the treatment was provided, stating that compiling paperwork is necessary. Upon speaking to my insurer, I was informed that for continuous claims, the approval process only involves a straightforward confirmation, making this charge appear unwarranted.These practices are deeply frustrating, and I am now considering alternative veterinary options in my area.
Tried to get a written prescription every month for 100 Apoquel allergy tablets for my dog which has been done before for me. It’s actually cheaper to purchase 100 on line than 90 which would last 3 months.I was told to use one of her free consults to see a vet for a 1 minute conversation to be able to write up a prescription I don’t want to use the free consult just for something trivial like that. Beware of Spinney Vets Kettering road they don’t care about their patients or owners.They just want me to pay 29.00 out each month just for a prescription.
Pets n Vets used to be great until it was taken over by Linnaeus. The money men have moved in that's for sure! Flu and enteritis cat booster £72. Used to be less than this for 2 cats. Puppy vacc course £91, a bit more reasonable. Cat dental for 3 teeth out >£1000 and insist on 2 visits instead of doing it in one, like other vets do. Trying to push you towards a health care plan for flea, worming and vaccinations when most of it isn't needed and is cheaper online. The staff do a great job and are lovely but the drive to make a profit is greater than the desire to do what's best for the pet and owner. Any excuse to squeeze more money out of clients. Their excuse for such extortionate prices is overheads and things increasing in price, which is true in part but certainly not to this extent. A puppy vaccination for DHP cost £37.50 in Lincolnshire and the vet is independent. You would think an independent would charge more because they won't have the buying power of the big corporates. But no, the corporates are way more expensive, the services provided have got worse and the shareholders are greedy for their dividends. The entire profession needs a complete over haul and price capping introduced. Opportunity for a new quango - Offvet!!
WHAT CAN I SAY WORDS CANNOT CONVEY MY DISTRESS AND ANGER AND I HAVE TO WRITE THIS FOR EVERYONE WHO AS A PET DOG. OUR DOG IS QUITE A RARE BREED AND IS SHALL WE SAY A GOOD AGE. OUR VET PRACTICE WAS ABOVE EXCELLENT UNTILL THEY JOINED THIS DISGUSTING MONEY MAKING ANIMAL EXPERIMENTAL COMPANY. ON TWO RECENT OCASSIONS MY DOG WAS TAKEN TO THEM THEY FOUND SOMETHHING MY DOG DID NOT HAVE WHICH THEY WANTED TO "INVESTIGATE" BEING A RARER BREAD AND OLDER THEY WANTED TO KNOW AND LEARN MORE FOR THEIR OWN SELF SATISFACTION AND LIKE A TRUSTING FOOL I WENT ALONG WITH THIS. FOLLOWING THEIR INVESTIGATIONS I WAS TOLD YOUR DOG IS FINE?????? I FOUND BY TAKING MY DOG TO ANOTHER VET OUT OF MY AREA THAT BOTH TIMES THEIR DIAGNOISE WAS WRONG. I HAVE 60 PLUS YEARS OF DOGS, ALL MUCH LOVED. I HAVE BREED DOGS, I OWN A KENNEL BREED NAME AND I HAVE SHOWN DOGS. I HAVE ALWAYS USED THIS LOCAL VET FOR MANY YEARS. SO HOW CAN THEY BE ALLOWED OR THINK I AND OTHER PET OWNERS ARE GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS. I CANNOT BE THE ONLY PET OWNER WHO HAS HAD THIS EXPERIENCE. ALL THE YEARS I HAVE BEEN WITH THESE VETS I WAS ASKED FOR MONEY UP FRONT ON ONE OF THESE MISDIAGNOSED VISITS HAD TO PAY NEARLY £2.000 FOR INVESTIGATIONS. THEY OVER THE YEARS HAVE HAD THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF ME. I THINK IT IS TIME THIS LINNAEUSGROUP WAS INVESTIGATED FOR THEIR TREATMENT AND MONEY GRABBING ATTITUDE. MY HEART BREAKS KNOWING THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO'S PETS ARE LOVED AND ARE BEING RIPPED OF AND HAVING TO MAKE THE CHOICE OF KEEPING THEIR MUCHED LOVED PET ALIVE OR HAVING TO SAY GOODBYE BECAUSE OF NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD VET FEES. DO NOT USE ANY VET WITH CONNECTIONS TO LINNAEUSGROUP.
The wasteful part of writing this review is that I know that those at the top of this company do not care about anything other than the money flowing in, often to the detriment of the care going out as far as pet owners are concerned. Judging by the poor rating on here they certainly wont read these reviews and don’t take them seriously. They are above us all it seems. Linnaeus Group and those who own / run it are nothing short of corporate raiders. Grabbing a stake of the over £2 billion worth of UK business, buying out Vet practices and stripping them of anything that may get in the way of making money. Perhaps they have ‘Greed is Good’ blazoned across the wall of the CEO’s office just to remind everyone. From my experience this ‘So what’ attitude seems to filter down to the vet practices that they buy out. A big enough issue with the industry formula that the CMA are looking into the way all these corporations run their business’s. Their corporate greed is obvious and harmful, where going to the vets is nothing short of most of us emptying our bank accounts. Those who are unable to afford their overpriced and often extortionate fees and extras will only be in a position where the pets suffer in one way or another. Put down or given for adoption. Which in my eyes questions their ethics in the veterinary business.My pet needs a monthly medication. Judging by the last bill £220 per month. Obviously the insurance won't pay for it. I am told ‘well you can buy it online and inject the pet yourself. Great thank you :/ an inexperienced nurse I suddenly become. I go on line. The injection portion of the meds i need are approximately £85 for 2 vials. This company Charge £95 but only give you one vial, even if the receipt I receive tells me I should get 2. Not getting what’s on the receipt is blatant stealing. They want to charge £100 extra per month just so that a nurse can inject my pet, plus of course their ‘fee’. That is one expensive visit for a minutes worth of time. For the pleasure of me buying it on line, for someone to print out a prescription and for a vet to sign it, another couple of minutes spent, that would cost £22. That at 5 minutes time spent printing and signing comes out to is £264 per hour of work. If only everyone was as fortunate. Then there were the pills I need. Gabapentin. A human medication that for some reason has a price explosion when the vets get a hold of it. Searching on line for pets I immediately found a price of 0.06p a pill. That for the 60 I was prescribed is £3.60. That was for 100mg. I need 50mg. Clearly further searches and phone call will give me what I need. The practice changed me a whopping £50.94 plus they only gave me 60 though the pack amount is 250. I’ll forget about the £28 for Synulox as hopefully my dog wont need that every month. In total I got a bill for £219.80 much of it pure greed and taking advantage of the fact that we love our animals and to fight these issues means they will not deal with you in the future. Complain and be banned. I attempted to write to the CEO. CEO’s who do not care are made impossible to intentionally reach. I received a reply from an employee whose job no doubt is to fend of annoying complaining customers that stop the CEO from counting money that they have made that morning. I get referred ‘back’ to the vet, who had already referred me on to the company who owns them. An intentional to and fro to make our lives hell, knowing we’ll probably give up.This corporation are beyond Greedy, they are irreverent. It seems to be typical of what we as pet owners are made to suffer. BTW the veterinary practice in question that they own is Lida Vets in Newmarket. And though I have no issue with the vet per se, as one is as good as another in these cases, I do have an issue that they too have ignored my complaint. They mockingly do not bother to contact me as I was told they would do by Linnaeus. I’d say given this, they too do not care about animals or my pets future care, over the amounts of money they are more than happy to charge. Affordable or not.
As others have already stated, this group is out to make money. Abbey House Vets in Morley, Leeds are in this group and are just awful. And Linnaeus Group's parent company is Mars Petcare so now you know why they overcharge at every opportunity. Try contacting customer services at Mars Petcare or probably best you don't waste your time; beyond useless.Given a quote of a maximum price of £415 for the procedure but not given any warnings of possible side effects or health problems. The final bill was over £580 without any consultation at all.Took them to the small claims court to find all vets stick together and protect themselves like solicitors and doctors. They employ a vet to deal with claims against them and they bully their way at every stage. They even sent a barrister for the court case at £700 per hour to defend them in a Small Claims Court and who had already had a nice little chat with the county court judge before we even arrived at the court (court staff sat with us and told us what had been happening). We lost the part of the case concerning the failure to warn us of dangers from the procedure (as expected) even though the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons stated they were common, but the judge ruled the invoice total must not exceed the quoted £415. Later we received a letter from the obnoxious manager stating they did not want us as customers and we were removed from their customer base. This is the only part we agree with and have now found the best vets in the area. However, Linnaeus continue to send us emails as we are, apparently, 'valued members of our Linnaeus practice community.' You could not make it up.
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