WARNING! Serious rant ahead!

My "favorite" kitty, Tuffy, became ill a couple of months ago and his regular Vet, who is also my Boss, tried gamely to treat him with no success. She suggested that his best chance for survival was to refer him to the University of Florida at Gainesville for specialized treatment.

Now granted, Tuffy had a number of problems at the time, hyper thyroidism, anemia, a heart murmur, and the main cause of his troubles, a ulcerated tumor on his right front leg. I was only interested in having the leg amputated and clearly expressed this to the Doctor at UF. She assured me that it was "doable" [her word, not mine!] and gave me a quote of $1200 to $1500 for the procedure including a transfusion to bring his blood count up. I ok'ed the estimate and left Tuffy there. The Doctor called me later that afternoon and told me that Tuffy had a rare blood type and that blood would have to air shipped in for him. I stressed to her that my finances would not allow me to go over the $1500 limit of the estimate and she assured me that "it would be close or maybe a little over but not bad" [again, her words, not mine!] so again I ok'ed the additional cost of the blood.

Well, to make a long story short, everything went well and when I went to pick Tuffy up I was presented with a bill for $1568.60 which I paid. Speaking to the Doctor on our way out she asked me if the bill was alright and I assured her it was.

Now a month has gone by and Tuffy is doing extremely well. But when I came home from work yesterday I found a letter from UF. Inside was a bill for an additional $734.76! That brought the total up to $2303.36! Thinking there was a mistake, I carefully went over the bill and found that the initial $1568.60 covered only diagnostics prior to his procedure. All of which had been done at my Vet's office before I took him to UF. The additional $734.76 was for the operation to amputate his leg.

More than a little upset that they had gone over my estimate by more than $800 despite my clearly telling them I could not afford it, I tried to call UF to discuss the bill. The first time I got through I was put on hold for 15 minutes before being told the computers were down and to try back in an hour. The second time I got through I was put on hold again but this time, after 20 minutes on hold, I was hung up on. Trying to call back again I received a message that said they were closed for the weekend!

Needless to say, I am still steaming today but have to wait until Monday before I can try to contact them again. I am not faulting their medicine, Tuffy's blooming health is proof of their skill, and if I had been notified that my bill would be over $2000 I would have found the money somewhere. I am objecting to their cavalier attitude toward me and my concerns and their poor communication with their clients.

I personally will never use their services again and find it hard to recommend them to my clients. I guess what I am saying is -

"When dealing with the Small Animal Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville - BUYER BEWARE!

nova