Does your vet keep you waiting?

[JDgreen227]

Yesterday I took one of our cats to the vet we have used for fifteen years, I was a few minutes early for the appointment time and ushered in and that cat was seen by the vet and was on my way home in twenty five minutes. Today I went back with another cat and was a few minutes early this time, and the receptionist asked if I minded waiting a "few minutes" and I told her no. The "few minutes" became fifteen until my pet and I were ushered into the exam room, and the assistant took the cat out to weigh him, returned him to the exam room, then we sat in the exam room for another forty minutes waiting until the vet herself finally showed up. I was very polite to her and said I didn't mind waiting for nearly an hour past my scheduled appointment time because they likely had a good reason, but my pet was terrified enough from a trip to the place and he certainly didn't appreciate having to stay there for nearly an extra hour.

What I found most irritating was that none of the staff was considerate enough to tell me what the delay was or give me some idea of how long I was going to be kept waiting. What do you do when such a situation occurs, and does it happen to you very often?

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Only once, but then we have a lot of vets in Oklahoma.

 

[murphy1244]

I leave after 15 minutes.

 

[EarPlug]

You could aways ask the staff about what the delay is after 15 minutes. It could have been an emergency that just came in. Last time I went to the vet a dog with a rattlesnake bite on the face arrived just before me. I chose to wait.

However, I did walk out on my MD when he was 20 minutes late for the first appointment of the day.

 

[creekbend]

We have used our present Vet for around 6 years. We have always made an appointment and for most of that time, everything has been punctual. But when we took our inside dog to the Vet around 2 months ago, we waited. Just as we were checking in at the front desk, a lady rushed in the front door screaming that her dog was hit by a car. The staff rushed the dog through a side door and took care of the emergency. There were two Vets working that day, and we only waited about 30 minutes. The staff informed us of the anticipated delay. My Wife and I stayed in the waiting room trying our best to console the injured dog's owner. BTW, the injured dog had both back legs broken, but was expected to survive. In my opinion, treating the emergency was more important than our dog receiving the scheduled shots.

 

[bigbull338]

vets are going tobe late no matter what you need done.an most vets i know quit messing with cows todo the easy high dollar cats an dogs.we dont use a vet for anything unless we have to.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Our vet does large and small. Sometimes we wait or sometimes we get cancelled out for routine farm calls. Sometimes the emergency is at our place and others wait. Our vet has come out to the farm to put down an ailing dog to bad off to travel so we could then bury him on the property. Sometimes we wait at the office when we take a cat or dog in, sometimes not. We also do not happen to have a lot of vet options. We are thankful for what we have.

 

[Natureboy]

You could aways ask the staff about what the delay is after 15 minutes. It could have been an emergency that just came in. Last time I went to the vet a dog with a rattlesnake bite on the face arrived just before me. I chose to wait.

However, I did walk out on my MD when he was 20 minutes late for the first appointment of the day.

Take pity on the MD, he probably had to stop at the carwash on his way in because a bird crapped on his Mercedes.:laughing:

 

[Bird]

However, I did walk out on my MD when he was 20 minutes late for the first appointment of the day.

Some years ago, I went to a doctor who was very late the first time I saw him. Now I know they can have an emergency so I didn't say anything. The next time I had an appointment, I sat there reading magazines for an hour, got up and left. The next day someone called from his office to ask how come I didn't show up for my appointment. I told her I was there; the doctor was the one who didn't show up. And of course I never went to see him again.

My wife had a little cancer surgery 9 years ago and has been going to see a medical oncologist twice a year ever since. She doesn't want me to go with her because she's afraid I'm going to say something she'll regret:laughing: because he has NEVER been less than 30 minutes late, and an hour is about normal.

 

[brin]

I have had to wait almost every year...usually wait in the lobby for 30 min. so if my appointment was for 9:00 AM, I am taken back to an examining room at 9:30 and then it is another 30 min to 1 hr. wait in there...I never leave because I have already made the effort to go to the appt. and I would just have to scheduler and do it again. My Doc. always apologizes....she goes to the hospital early every morning to check her patients there...so often she is delayed...

I think with this new Health Care law...we all better get used to long....long waits...130 Million uninsured will be competing for appointments and Doctors are quitting and retiring....that is the reports I have heard on the news.

 

[studor]

Both my Vet and my Dr. (yes they are different people) have kept me waiting. Frustrating as it is, I understand that sometimes s**t happens and waiting is part of the deal. I have always found that my dog gets much quicker service than I do. In our Canadian system waiting is part of the deal, walking out is done at your own peril.
Waiting in retail stores for a cashier -- now thats a whole different frustration

 

[zzvyb6]

Nope. I only schedule regular appointments for the very first one of the day. We go in, we get weighed, we head to the waiting room. The Dr. reviews the 'patient' history and we get shots, exams and results. I have 4 dogs so the routine has to go pretty smooth.

Then the flood can begin: all the pet owners who want to talk about how smart their kids are, how beautiful their butt-ugly first grandchild is, how their cat loves catnip, how they can't understand why it crapped in the waiting room, their husband won't walk the yorkie because he's drunk, what the weather is and where they had their hair done.

Have not experience the cell phone priority problem yet, but the answer is simple: just start talking back to them as if their conversation was so important you just had to give them free advice on whether to put the peanut butter or the jelly on the bread first. All this for their 23 year old Harvard student larvae....

 

[JDgreen227]

OP here, don't mind so much waiting IF they have to attend to an emergency but the decent thing to do for a client who is waiting is let them know what is going on. I did not want to leave my kitty alone in the exam room because he was already stressed and my leaving would have made it worse. Hmmm, have a 3 pm appt. for my third cat on Tuesday, if I have to wait more than 5 or 10 min in the exam room with no explanation this time I am packing him up and walking out the door. My feelings are, I have been a regular customer all this time, always show up early for appts, always pay bills before leaving, and in general am an excellent customer. Their call....

 

[brin]

I agree, whether it is us or our pets the very least the Doc or vet could do is have their staff keep us informed ...it is awful sitting for so long with no idea when your name will be called...

 

[bigtiller]

First come first serve here. But there is only 26,000 people in the county, so there is probably less pets than in your area.

 

[newbury]

I think with this new Health Care law...we all better get used to long....long waits...130 Million uninsured will be competing for appointments and Doctors are quitting and retiring....that is the reports I have heard on the news.

So you go to the Veterinarian for Health Care?
Or does the new Health Care law now cover animals?

Thought this thread was about "does your Vet (erinarian) keep you waiting?"

For our animal doctor needs our local Veterinarian sometimes gets emergencies, but they are only 1 mile away. So I call, make an appointment, sometimes weeks in advance, then about 15 minutes before the appt. I call and ask if they are "running on time". Occasionally it's been answered with "No, the Dr. had to XXX, so she will be a bit late", so I adjust. I have had the unfortunate experiences of shot cat's, car hit dogs, dogs which "got into something", and similar. Those times we'd make a quick phone call and tell the Vet we had an emergency coming in. I was always thankful emergencies took priority.

At least in the Veterinarian Clinics I've gone to there are not people bringing in animals with a sniffle to "emergency care" for support by the taxpayer and sucking up expensive emergency facilities.

 

[JDgreen227]

I agree, whether it is us or our pets the very least the Doc or vet could do is have their staff keep us informed ...it is awful sitting for so long with no idea when your name will be called...

Hey Brin....I will be a smarta** as usual and say I will never know when my name is called as I cannot hear, and most certainly none of my cats are going to know either....:laughing: what irks me is that in the situation I posted about I used my smartphone to text the office manager/receptionist at my vet's just before leaving for the fifteen minute trip there to let them know I was on my way and would be there early for my appt. yet they didn't take the time to respond and let me know there would be a delay. If I were going to be late I would certainly let them know and I would offer to reschedule but it seems to me that should go both ways. ESPECIALLY when their practice is strictly payment upon services rendered and no forms need be submitted to an insurance company for reimbursement.

 

[Ductape]

Back when our dog was young, we would dred taking him to the vet. It was like going to the used car place..... always high pressure to sell, sell, sell. Never just a simple appointment, they always had to sell us more. Always needed another poop sample to test, etc. We tried to purchase a generic heartguard through them, and it turned into a guilt trip ..... 'Don't you care about your dog enough to pay the extra for a brand name????' Every time I walked out of there my cornhole was burning.

We had tried to get into a more local vet with a great reputation, but he was always booked up and was never taking any new patients. Thanks to my wife's aunt, a long time customer of his, he agreed to take us.

I don't think it would be possible to be happier with a veternarian than we are. We have never waited an unusual amount of time, but if we did, I know it would be for a good reason. He does large animals and is sometimes called out on emergencies. Just this year he raised the cost of an office visit from $35 to $40, and frankly, he is still cheap IMO. Two years ago our dog tore his ACL. Thankfully, our vet performs the surgeries in-house. We may not have been thrilled to pay for the surgery, but we paid two thousand less than others we know where their vet sends the dogs to an emergency center 20 miles away for the same surgery. His surgery was just before Christmas, and our vet gave us his personal cell phone number with instructions to call him if our dog was having any trouble after surgery, even if it was on Christmas day.

I just can't say enough good about our vet. He drives a clunker of a car, and clearly in his profession out of love for animals. He is now in his fifties, and I fear the day he decides to retire. There is no way he will be replaced by anyone like himself.

 

[Bird]

What timing!!!! We needed the vet today for our chihuahua. My wife called the vet we've been using for several years and the young lady who answered the phone said they were booked solid; earliest appointment would be two and a half days from now. So I figured if she didn't have time for what has been a regular and good paying customer, I won't be having time for her anymore. So we changed vets today.