From: llyons@next.com (Liza Lyons)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Advice Needed:  Vet Taking Advantage ?
Date: 22 Jul 92 19:47:36 GMT

Everyone:

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to find an outstanding event horse in  
Seattle who was being sold at a very reasonable price.  It was a *huge*  
decision for me to purchase a horse, and an even bigger one to travel from  
California to Washington given the additional costs.  

After weighing the pros/cons, reviewing a video and endless phone conversations  
with the owner, my trainer and I ventured up North - and immediately fell in  
love :-)  Following this trip, I worked with my local, highly competent vet  
(who in turn worked w/ Davis to obtain references) to coordinate a pre-purchase  
exam with a Seattle-area vet which was designed to include xrays (navicular  
series and hocks), pulse and respiration verification, clinical soundness,  
blood test and a general exam.

The first - and BIGGEST - mistake I made was in not obtaining a quote for  
services before the exam was conducted.  I left it to my vet to coordinate all  
the arrangements and naievely assumed the cost would be consistent with - or  
lower - than the expensive vet bills in the high-rent district of Woodside, CA.

A day after the exam was completed, I received a brief voicemail from the vet  
telling me that he thought the horse was a good candidate in almost these  
words.  Within a week, I received the x-rays and a terse, illegible, incomplete  
report on his observations.  The x-rays (about 20) were of such poor quality my  
vet could barely read them (he commmented that it was pretty clear the WA vet  
rushed the job), and the report did not provide data on some of the key  
questions we posed.  For example, he didn't bother to even put the horse on a  
lunge line (he trotted him up and down a driveway), so he was unable to comment  
on respiration or effectively respond to my vet's questions about his clinical  
observations vis a vis some bone changes in the right hock.  Furthermore, his  
flexion test results were not clear and ultimately did not match w/ my vet's  
findings after they were explained.  

Basically, it looks like this guy spent no more than 30 minutes with my horse  
for which he charged me a whopping $605 plus $20 for a health certificate.  I  
almost dropped dead when I received the bill.  My vet normally charges $300 -  
$400 for a similar exam (conducted in ~ 1.5 hours in a thorough, professional  
manner complete w/ re-takes if the xrays are bad).  As a data point, he charged  
me only $100 to spend more than 30 minutes on the phone researching vets,  
coordinating the exam and discussing the results in addition to a 45 minute  
head-to-toe exam including flexion tests once the horse arrived.

Thankfully, my horse is WONDERFUL and I was fortunate to find him.  However, I  
still owe more than $600 to a vet that - I believe - took advantage of the fact  
that I would not be a repeat customer.  I'm interested in opinions about  
whether this seems out of line, and if so, how should I handle it?  A lawyer  
friend has suggested that I write a check for a *reasonable* amount and mark  
"Payment in Full" in the notes section.  If they accept the check and cash it,  
my obligation is complete.  I'm not thrilled with this tactic since I don't  
want to be confrontational (and this will undoubtedly lead to confrontation).  
I'm also reluctant to involve my vet in suggesting *reasonable* costs since he  
would be caught in the middle, although this was my trainer's suggested tactic.   
I just HATE to be in situations like this :-(  

Liza and Kinsale (the four-legged love of my life - don't tell the cats !! )
llyons@next.com