Vets4Pets Review
Vets4Pets Northampton (St James)
Summary
Vets4Pets Northampton (St James) comes highly recommended. Decent value with friendly and honest staff. Being a 24 hour vet is also a factor in why you might consider registering with them.
When you first become a dog owner you need to think about which local vet to use. Other local dog owners who have lived locally are always a good source of information. Failing that most of us are likely to turn to Google and check out the reviews. Archie our Border Collie is actually registered with a couple of local vets. One of these is Vets4Pets Northampton (St. James) which is the subject of this review.
Vets4Pets Northampton – Why we registered with them
Vets4Pets Northampton was not actually the first vet we registered with. When I started this business I originally offered a home boarding service. Part of the council requirements to obtain the licence was to be registered with a 24 hour vet. As it happens Vets4Pets Northampton in St James’ Rd, is my local 24 hour vet. We therefore registered with them. Since registering with them I’ve discovered a number of other dog owners I know are also registered with them. Almost everything you hear about them in passing is positive.
Vets4Pets Northampton – What I like
I’ve already mentioned that this is a 24 hour vet which is handy if you ever needed a vet in an emergency in the middle of the night. They have free parking and I’ve never known the car park to be completely full. The staff are always friendly and the advice given seems honest. Honesty is important as some vets will ask you if you are insured the minute you walk in. It’s as if the pound signs are visible in their eyes! Vets4Pets Northampton explain the options, but importantly also the chances of success. They won’t push you into expensive blood tests if experience shows they are unlikely to reveal the problem.
Another example of their honesty is that they give you the option of just buying the prescription from them. Most medication can be obtained far cheaper online.
So are there any negatives to report? To be honest I’ve not found any personally. They do seem to be part of a large chain of vets. Online reviews of other branches of Vets4Pets are less than glowing. It’s probably fair to say it’s the staff at the St James’ Rd branch that make the difference. We have certainly been happy with the care we have received for Archie and like the long, flexible opening hours.
I use Vets4Pets St James and would highly recommend them. The staff are helpful and friendly to both pets and owners. They also have an option to pay on interest free plan on higher bills I think over £200, this is great if you don’t have pet insurance but care about them enough to take them to a vets. I get a regular prescription from them and order meds online.
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for commenting and the useful information. I’ve spoken to a number of pet owners in Northampton and lots seem to use Vets4Pets in St James and I’ve still not heard a bad word about them.
Thanks again,
Gary
Northampton Dog Walker
You might be surprised to hear what Vets4Pets advertised 24/7 cover actually means to you & your pet.
In mid June our 14.5yr old dog was diagnosed with terminal cancer by the St James branch in Northampton.
It was decided not to put her through chemotherapy & instead she’d be given steroids for the last few months of her life.
Sadly on 07/9/21 she took a turn for the worse. At approx 3:30am on her way back in from the garden she collapsed on the threshold of our patio doors half in & half out of the house. She had to be carried into the house & placed in her bed.
Obviously it was now time for us to do the right thing to prevent her from suffering any further. And waiting until later that morning would have been cruel.
We called Vets4Pets & were told they’d be waiting for us. We arrived at around 4am & were met by a Vet who wanted an explanation of why we were there.
She could have spent some of the previous 30 mins looking at our dogs case file. Thus preventing the need for us to explain the story through floods of tears.
Anyway…
Onto the real reason for this review. We were under the impression that one of Vets4Pets big selling points was their 24/7 operation.
They bang on about it enough with banners inside/outside their premises & in their press/online advertising.
Apparently they have a vet onsite at all times. So in an emergency there’s no requirement to wait whilst a Vet makes their way to the practice.
That sounds great doesn’t it 🙂
I think it’s also safe to say that as the Vet is onsite. Most customers wouldn’t expect to see an emergency call out fee on their bill?
Well, that is kind of the case but not quite. Vets4Pets obviously realise that charging an emergency call out fee when they claim to run a 24/7 operation. Would cause them problems with disgruntled customers.
So they call it an out of hours consultation fee instead 🤔
In short we were charged £300 (instead of £100) to have our dog put to sleep. That additional £200 out of hours “consultation fee” was presumably charged for the Vet to ask us what was wrong & why were we there? 😏
When we asked Vets4Pets to justify the additional £200 charge. We were told to pay the bill in full within 7 day. Or they would pass the matter to a debt collection agency.
These people seem to care more about their bank balance than they do about the animals in their care. And if you ask them to explain what is obviously an unreasonable charge. You’ll be threatened with legal action.
So please bear in mind that if you take your pet to them before 8am. An additional £200 will be added to the regular charges.
Thank you for taking the time to read this & I hope it was helpful 🙂
Hi Jez,
Interesting to hear your experience with Vets4Pets. I guess it depends on what the additional £200.00 is actually for. As you say if they have a vet onsite then it can’t really be described as a call out fee. They seem to be saying it’s out of hours fee. Many will feel it’s reasonable to have a higher fee for ‘unsociable’ hours, whether a service costing 3 times the amount is fair is up for debate. It would be interesting to know from Vets4Pets whether each service has it’s own out of hours rate or whether it’s flat fee.
If Vets4Pets happen to read this they have right of reply and perhaps they would like to address clearly what charges there are for out of hours.
Gary