Shocking Service and a complete ******* TAH veterinary animal hospital

I am writing this as a really angry and frustrated customer.

This company is inadvertently targeting a certain demographic of people and robbing people of their hard earned money for simple quite basic services. They are riding off the medical veterinary fraternity by insinuating that they are doing the most expensive and thorough treatments, when in fact these are just thrown around randomly regardless of the actual cause or root of the problem, so as to expect people to pay an enormous amount for their services. The average cost of a consultation is R1500 - R3000. How is this not being questioned or investigated, as it is not possible for animal health care to be so expensive. Not even human medical health care is this expensive.

I took my cat for a consultation at TAH Rosmead Kenilworth on Wednesday 4 January 2023, as she was showing signs of diarrhea.

We went into the doctors room, he took her temperature and told us that she had a very high temperature and needed to go for some tests to rule out certain concerns, as well as get a sample of her stool to be tested. Not once did he discuss what this would cost, or even ask us if we have the funds to pay for it. He then asked us to either go and grab a coffee as it would probably take about 45 minutes to get all this done.

When we returned we had to wait another 15-20 minutes before we were called into the room and explained what the diagnosis was. Not a very concrete diagnosis, he gave her 2 vaccinations and 2 antibiotics that we needed to administer. Overall there were no real issues that he could see, so he narrowed it down to a type of gastrointestinal infection. Saying it should clear up within a few days. We then left and waited to settle the bill, only to be told that we needed to pay R3000.

How can a consultation to the vet have set us back that much. I would have understood if this was the bill for an operation or stitches. I was so shocked and completely taken aback that I just payed without thinking. What if I didn’t have the money to pay? What would have happened then? I am sure there have been people who in fact have been turned away, as they did not have the funds for their animals to be seen to by this practice.

I did query the bill with the gentleman receptionist but he just stared at me blankly and said that the blood tests were what made this bill so hefty.

The doctor just went ahead with the blood tests, not even discussing the absolute need for these. And didn’t even ask my permission, no signature or paperwork was signed authorizing this.

I am beyond furious and upset, I called the evening of the 4 January and was told that I need to wait for the branch manager to contact me. Called COB the next day as no one came back to me and was told that the vet needs to contact me to explain what had happened. It is day 3 and still no one has had the decency to contact me.

I have given TAH veterinary hospital a fair amount of time to resolve this issue and they are clearly not interested in the bad service that they are offering hard working people, I am forced to take this further and make this public knowledge.

I feel that they are only interested in the monetary aspect and not the customer satisfaction.

I will definitely not be bringing my animals back to this establishment and will be spreading the word fast and furiously on all social media platforms as well as all other platforms.