Fox Valley Animal Referral Center, S.C

On June 13, [redacted] called Fox Valley Animal Referral Center (FVARC) with an emergency situation regarding her dog *** [redacted] had chewed on a firework containing some type of explosive material that was unknown We recommended an emergency exam and consult with a veterinarian and advised them to call Animal Poison Control(APC) before coming to the hospitalFirework/explosive ingestion is not a common animal emergency that we treat on a routine basis and APC would have more information on treatment options which is why we asked them to call We told Mr& Mrs [redacted] the cost of the emergency exam & consult fee and from that point it was their decision to come to FVARCThe [redacted] ' made the decision to come to FVARC for emergency consultation with *** [redacted] examined [redacted] and performed a thorough physical exam which included body condition scoring, assessment of hydration status, ears, eyes, abdominal palpation, heart and lung auscultation, lymph node palpation, mouth, gum and teeth evaluation, skin/haircoat evaluation and examination of the urogential and rectal areas [redacted] found no significant abnormalities other than sutures in the right inguinal region [redacted] explained why she recommend calling Animal Poison Control and also stated we could call on their behalf She stated that it is our job to give owners all options of care which is called informed consent At the time of consult [redacted] offered the following options of care:Animal Poison Control Consult via phoneEmemsis inductionActivated Charcoal administrationGastric protectantsMr& Mrs [redacted] declined options through and chose to go home with stomach protectants At the time of discharge the owners stated that they were not going to pay for [redacted] 's services or for the medications, so [redacted] completed the case summary and discharge paperwork for [redacted] and they left the hospital without paying for services rendered On 6/25/Mrs [redacted] spoke to a member of the administration team at FVARC regarding her concern over the emergency exam & consult fee which they refused to payDuring that phone conversation we stated that they were aware of the fee prior to coming into the hospital and that services were rendered including a consult with a DVM and a thorough physical exam No other treatments were done for [redacted] in accordance with the owners wishes In good faith to our clients we agreed to split the fee in half which was agreed upon by Mrs [redacted] On July 21, Mr [redacted] called FVARC regarding the fee for the emergency exam & consult, he stated that because we "would not budge" on the refund he would be filing a complaint with the Revdex.com We stated that we did agree to split the fee in half We stated that the fee was for the emergency exam & consult which was performed and it is reasonable to expect a fee for any service that were completed Mr [redacted] stated that he would pay the $57.50, but would call the Revdex.com and state that we perform unnecessary services I have to respectfully disagree with this statement Our job is to give our clients every available option for emergency care We do not force clients to come through our door and in fact we always inform our clients of the cost of exam and consult over the phone so that they can make an informed decision on what is best for their situation Mr& MrsHieptas were given that information over the phone and decided to seek emergency care for ***, services were rendered a fee for those services was chargedWe are saddened that we could not come to a resolution that the [redacted] ' were content with, but we do not feel it is reasonable to provide free services