I was refereed to this Veterinary Hospital because I was told my cat required a heart specialist and this place provided 24 hour care. All they want is your money. Within 15 minutes they came to me with a HIGH-LOW estimate of 1,900 - $2,700. Of course I said I will do what needs to be done., They first took a $600 deposit and then told me they need the balance of the low end before I left my cat which I did (Another $1,300) First they had my cat in a cage with two huge dogs that kept barking, one was not even a patient, it was the tech's dog whom she took to work...my cat was stressed out fro, all the barking!
The scam began, they started calling me telling me they needed an Ultrasound done and it should be done now and not wait till Monday...she said it would be an additional $780.00 to do it on the weekend... I said I already paid a huge amount for 24-hour care, why is it more? the woman stated, this is our policy and the estimate only, could go higher...I asked for the doctor to call me. Before she realized that she had not ended the call with me, she told someone "I saw him drive up in a new Lexus, he can afford it, why is he complaining?" I said IM STILL ON THE PHONE AND CAN HEAR YOU! and she promptly hung up the phone.
The Doctor, Dr. Calicchio called me back and I basically told her they are treating lives like we are dropping off a vacuum cleaner for repairs and calling with up charged estimates and it is horrible....she stated to me, if a family can afford to pay for their beloved animal to get care then they should....I asked how would she feel if her child was in a hospital ill and the hospital started calling with "ESTIMATES" to charge for more things to be done...she said I don’t want to bring my family into this.
It gets worse.... I go to pick her up the following day and find out they do not even have a cardiologist specialist there and I was referred to bring her to yet another specialist emergency care hospital and start over again. and had to pay another $62.00 before they gave me my cat.
I had a specialist in Connecticut look at the reports...first thing is the Ultrasound that I paid $780 extra for to be done over the weekend was not completed or written up yet, I was told it would be done Monday and worst of all, the report stated "Cytology Pending” when I call and asked when I would receive these results) yes, I understand it was the weekend) I was told "I just reviewed your bill and you were not charged for cytology so it was not done". Here's the thing,
1. This should be included in the labs
2. If they forgot to add an EXTRA charge, which I thing they may have, they were not going to call me again after our last conversation and they simply did not do it.
My specialist in Connecticut all the reports point to cancer and I need the cytology numbers to verify... the cytology they never did from the fluid they drained from her chest. When I told to the Nurse, she told me I could come and pick up the fluid and bring it to a lab myself and pay for it on my own.
My issue with this place is they do not care about your animal and only for the money. I will day the receive nurse Tiffany was very once and the follow up calls with Dr. Bennett were excellent (I would recommend Tiffany and Dr, Bennett leave this employer as staying will only ruin their reputations as these are the only two who seemed to care about the animals. They truly did).
I still do not have the completed Ultrasound written report (Dr. Cannon seems very good at what she does, do not get me wrong, however, if I paid for this to be done on the e=weekend $780 extra. The report should be ready for me when I pick up my pet).
I also do not have the Cytology results, nor do I believe they ever did them as I was told they did not "SEE" anything unusual in the fluid.... I asked if they were cytologists, they replied no... I asked if they have he lab to do Cytology...again, I was told no... these are crucial numbers to have when looking at any fluid removed from an animal's chest!!!!
So, end result is, I paid a few thousand dollars for one night, have no results and was now referred to another specialist at another hospital .... I would have straight to the other hospital if I was informed they did not have a cardiologist on board as what I brought her there for.
I have scheduled for my precious and loved family cat to be put to sleep tomorrow s my Feline Specialist in Connecticut stated everything points to cancer and I should not allow the cat to suffer any more than she needs. And she is lifeless now since bringing her home. I am beyond devastated losing her and extremely upset that such a place as Lauderdale Veterinary Services is even in the business of dealing with lives as their bottom line is to drain all the money they can from their clients and for no results!
Lauderdale Veterinary Specialists Reviews
I was refereed to this Veterinary Hospital because I was told my cat required a heart specialist and this place provided 24 hour care. All they want is your money. Within 15 minutes they came to me with a HIGH-LOW estimate of 1,900 - $2,700. Of course I said I will do what needs to be done., They first took a $600 deposit and then told me they need the balance of the low end before I left my cat which I did (Another $1,300) First they had my cat in a cage with two huge dogs that kept barking, one was not even a patient, it was the tech's dog whom she took to work...my cat was stressed out fro, all the barking!
The scam began, they started calling me telling me they needed an Ultrasound done and it should be done now and not wait till Monday...she said it would be an additional $780.00 to do it on the weekend... I said I already paid a huge amount for 24-hour care, why is it more? the woman stated, this is our policy and the estimate only, could go higher...I asked for the doctor to call me. Before she realized that she had not ended the call with me, she told someone "I saw him drive up in a new Lexus, he can afford it, why is he complaining?" I said IM STILL ON THE PHONE AND CAN HEAR YOU! and she promptly hung up the phone.
The Doctor, Dr. Calicchio called me back and I basically told her they are treating lives like we are dropping off a vacuum cleaner for repairs and calling with up charged estimates and it is horrible....she stated to me, if a family can afford to pay for their beloved animal to get care then they should....I asked how would she feel if her child was in a hospital ill and the hospital started calling with "ESTIMATES" to charge for more things to be done...she said I don’t want to bring my family into this.
It gets worse.... I go to pick her up the following day and find out they do not even have a cardiologist specialist there and I was referred to bring her to yet another specialist emergency care hospital and start over again. and had to pay another $62.00 before they gave me my cat.
I had a specialist in Connecticut look at the reports...first thing is the Ultrasound that I paid $780 extra for to be done over the weekend was not completed or written up yet, I was told it would be done Monday and worst of all, the report stated "Cytology Pending” when I call and asked when I would receive these results) yes, I understand it was the weekend) I was told "I just reviewed your bill and you were not charged for cytology so it was not done". Here's the thing,
1. This should be included in the labs
2. If they forgot to add an EXTRA charge, which I thing they may have, they were not going to call me again after our last conversation and they simply did not do it.
My specialist in Connecticut all the reports point to cancer and I need the cytology numbers to verify... the cytology they never did from the fluid they drained from her chest. When I told to the Nurse, she told me I could come and pick up the fluid and bring it to a lab myself and pay for it on my own.
My issue with this place is they do not care about your animal and only for the money. I will day the receive nurse Tiffany was very once and the follow up calls with Dr. Bennett were excellent (I would recommend Tiffany and Dr, Bennett leave this employer as staying will only ruin their reputations as these are the only two who seemed to care about the animals. They truly did).
I still do not have the completed Ultrasound written report (Dr. Cannon seems very good at what she does, do not get me wrong, however, if I paid for this to be done on the e=weekend $780 extra. The report should be ready for me when I pick up my pet).
I also do not have the Cytology results, nor do I believe they ever did them as I was told they did not "SEE" anything unusual in the fluid.... I asked if they were cytologists, they replied no... I asked if they have he lab to do Cytology...again, I was told no... these are crucial numbers to have when looking at any fluid removed from an animal's chest!!!!
So, end result is, I paid a few thousand dollars for one night, have no results and was now referred to another specialist at another hospital .... I would have straight to the other hospital if I was informed they did not have a cardiologist on board as what I brought her there for.
I have scheduled for my precious and loved family cat to be put to sleep tomorrow s my Feline Specialist in Connecticut stated everything points to cancer and I should not allow the cat to suffer any more than she needs. And she is lifeless now since bringing her home. I am beyond devastated losing her and extremely upset that such a place as Lauderdale Veterinary Services is even in the business of dealing with lives as their bottom line is to drain all the money they can from their clients and for no results!