Vets send in DCS UK

[OliverJames]

Good morning Beagles,

I hope you can give me some advice as this is a slightly tricky one. Last year my cat was knocked down and was badly injured. We received a call from an emergency vets at 6am to let us know they had collected her and managed her overnight. We went to visit her there and spoke to the team about her situation and they confirmed she would need to be there another night before they transferred everything over to our local vets, which was also part of their group.

They confirmed they would call me if they had any questions and the next I heard from them they called to say all went well and everything was now transferred to our registered vets.

Her treatment was complete and we paid a whopping £3,500 for the treatment. When I paid the bill I jokingly asked the Secretary to confirm that was everything and I wasn't going to get hit later...to which she replied "haha no that's absolutely everything". Fine, I was broke but she was back with us and on the mend.

Move on 6 months...I receive a random text message from DCS UK asking me to contact them in relation to my vets. Confused I called my vets who sounded baffled as my account with then was completely clear. They went away and contacted their accounts department and came back to me to confirm that we had an outstanding £850 with the other vets. Apparently they had been sending statements to an old address from the cats chip but had made absolutely no effort to call me on the number they had on their system.

When I told them that they should have called me before just esclating this they responded that the vets were very busy and didn't have the time to call me. I am now advised that I need to pay the debt collection agency, including their fees because they didn't make the effort to chase the statements that weren't being paid with a phone call. Surely they are required to make every effort to contact the customer before taking this route?

I am going to send in a formal complaint, but is there any other ground for me to push back? I think this is an abuse of the system and down right lazy if nothing else!

Thanks in advance

Oliver

[enaid]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

Hi and welcome,
Seems a bit odd that everything was passed to the other vets, info on what treatment had been given would have to be passed on. In light of this one would think the first vets would contact your vet when they had no reply to the invoices sent to your old address, if only to check on any updated details and to see if you had settled their bill.
On your final invoice is there any mention of the treatment time spent at the first vets?

[OliverJames]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

There was no mention of the emergency vets, but there were endless statements of work carried out so we didn't thumb through every line item as there was one for every pill, injection, drip and xray (pages worth) and were still stressed about the whole situation, not to mention the £3.5k we needed to find for everything.

They didn't mention the first vets when we paid up and collected her, but they are all part of the same group so my expectation would be that the final bill was exactly that! And yes, you're right they should have called the sister company, but they had my mobile number and made no effort to contact me directly.

[enaid]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

If you had taken the cat into the emergency vet yourself, cost would have been discussed before any treatment commenced, apart from the initial examination.
You said the vets picked the cat up, the night before they rang you at 6 in the morning?
You went to visit her at the emergency vets and they even then did not check your details or mention any costs?
Not nice to say and even as great a work that vets do they do not do it for free and for them not to mention any costs to you is wrong.
I would write to the CEO of the group practice explain everything, not failing to mention how upset you are about being contacted by a DCA

[OliverJames]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

Thanks for coming back again.

She was hit by a car either the night of the 26th or the morning of the 27th and was taken to the emergency vets by a member of the public. They got my contact details from the chip but because my address was wrong i never received any of the statements. I don't remember ever discussing upfront costs with them, but I'm not naive enough the think there were no charges, hence why i asked if everything was to be transferred to our practice with the cat....which they confirmed was going to be the case.

I have spoken to CAB who have advised me to contact DCS UK and tell them that the case is in dispute and to halt any further comms until we have come to an agreement on the next steps. But i really dont believe that i should have to pay anything above and beyond the statement costs because the clearly didnt do everything in their power to contact me, even though they had all the correct details within the group.

[enaid]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

When you contact DCS UK I suggest you do so in writing or email and then backed up by letter. Slippery folks are DCAs. Tell them only what they need to know, the debt is in dispute and to stop all collection activities on this.

[OliverJames]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

Done and done! Thank you very much!!

[enaid]

Re: Vets send in DCS UK

I hope you do ok with this it is as you say a bit messy and the fault not yours imo.
I also hope your cat is now happy and healthy and remains so for a long time .
Enaid x