1-800-Pet-Meds
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Personal, Pets, Rants
I work at a veterinary clinic, and a very busy one at that. Every day we get at least one call from 1-800-PetMeds, or one of the hundreds of other companies that offer “low” cost pet medications.
If you are someone that uses one of these companies, please stop. They have to be one of the most inconsiderate companies I’ve even had to deal with. They call and ask to verify a prescription over the phone. Each time we tell them that we don’t verify over the phone, and that they need to fax us the form, we’ll sign and fax back. Each time they ask for our fax number, which they then “put in the computer.”
Next step is to send us a fax every 5 minutes, to 30 minutes, to once an hour until they get a reply. I’m guessing they think we have a vet sitting around doing nothing except waiting for Pet Meds’ faxes to come through to authorize. Usually they get sent back within a couple hours, but their fax machine somehow loses faxes, so we end up with another 20 requests for John William’s dog Snoopy and his prescription of Heartgard. So we have to waist more time trying to fax back the form again. Some have taken over 5 tries for them to receive, when it says it went through just fine.
But the single worst part of it is their commercial with Betty White. She says that you should buy your medications from 1-800-PetMeds because its cheaper than your local veterinary clinic, and that somethings are needed year round. Heartgard, in central New York is not needed year round. Heartgard’s main use is to prevent heartworm, which is transmitted via mosquitos. Since mosquitos are only around in the summer, its not needed in the winter.
Being a few dollars cheaper than your local vet isn’t all that great. Prescriptions help with keep other costs lower at a veterinary clinic. If you are buying medications at other places, you are taking income from your local vet. Besides, if you have an emergency at 2 in the morning with your dog, if you call Pet-Meds, they aren’t going to give you any help.
Support your local Veterinary Clinic, boycott Pet-Meds.
