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BluePearl Veterinary Partners BluePearl Veterinary Partners preys on vulnerable pet owners and reinterprets conditions of contracted work Nationwide
My experience was worth the financial cost if the following cautionary tale even saves one pet owner the trouble and misery of dealing with this place.
The short of it:
Avoid Blue Pearl at all costs unless your pet has a clearly diagnosable condition and you don't mind dealing with cold and indifferent veterinarians who won't meet with you to discuss symptoms prior to examination and refuse to give you lower cost alternatives for diagnoses and care, and you don't mind having the terms of service changed, and if you are also alright with being separated from your animal and staying in the waiting room while your pet is being 'looked at'.
Wait a second...... hold the funking phone dear consumer, none of that should sound right to you because they are the classic signs of a con artist scam.
Friendly confidence (wo)man who does your intake and gets you to lower your guard when you are already vulnerable? Check. Shady impersonable care provider who refuses to meet with you and shake your hand? Check. Won't let you see their work? Check. Generally evasive, vague, makes excuses and refuses to accommodate and address your concerns when you finally get to meet them? Check. Makes suggestions for testing and treatment not related to condition being seen for? Check. Reinterprets conditions of contract? Check.
This has scam written all over it.
On to specifics:
Took my pet in here for extreme lethargy, unresponsive behavior, loss of appetite, vomiting, inability to pass urine or make a bowel movement. Vet assistant who did intake was cordial and thorough but that's where any semblance of courteous or professional behavior ended.
My animal becomes really nervous and scared without me in strange places like vet offices, and they were already sick and it's an incredibly frightening and stressful experience for them. So I asked if I could go back with them to the exam room to help reassure and keep them calm and to answer questions about their symptoms and behavior.
In turn, I was told to politely I had to wait in the lobby and like a good unthinking patron (mark) I did as I was told. Buzzers and alarms in my head start going off, I overlook this and chalk it up to, "its late, they're short staffed and they can't watch to make sure I'm not up to anything"....
My dear friends, this should've been a huge red flag to me or any of you and I should've run from this place screaming immediately with my pet in tow and peeled out of the parking.
How the h*** do we even know they bothered to do an exam if we can't be present for it?
It's a scam Sam, that's why.
No decent and reputable place would ever separate you from your fur family during an exam no matter what, shame on you and your shady practices Blue Pearl.
So the vet finally comes out to discuss the 'exam' and tells me she thinks they have a breathing problem and that she needs to X-ray their lungs. This time I actually listen to the alarms in my head and I tell this cold calculating scambot that my buddy didn't come in here with a breathing problem. This illustrates that they are going to come at you hard preying on your moment of weakness trying to get you to pay for really expensive procedures you don't need. Follow your intuition.
I told her I knew the breathing problem was happening due to stress because I couldn't be there with them during the exam. So she continues to insist it's a breathing problem, I insist it's not. At this point I get pissed because she's incompetent or lying, but I keep my cool and politely decline further testing or diagnoses. I pay the outrageous exam bill, get my buddy back, and we noped the h*** out of that den of connivance and grift.
So unfortunately my pet was still sick the next day and started having seizures, and I was busy that day and strung out from crying and staying up the night before trying to care for my buddy, so I wasn't able to make it into another local vet. But I remembered that the vet's assistant at Blue Pearl said that if my pet's condition got worse I could bring them back and the vet would see them again free of charge. So out of sick desperation I called them and asked if they could check them out again.
They tell me they can't see him free of charge for a different condition, I said it's the same condition only worse. They say it's a different condition, then I say, "Well what if I want to have him checked for the same symptoms displayed during the previous visit?" the assistant says she'd have to ask the vet on the clock and call me back. I hang up and at this point I decide I don't care what they have to say, I will not let them see my pet because they are lying charlatans trying to scam pet owners in times of need.... and neither should you if you value your wallet, time, sanity, and most importantly your pet.
Take my advice and unless you have no other option see your local vet.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike M.
Grand Rapids,Michigan,
BluePearl - Grand Rapids, MI
#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, October 31, 2014
My name is Mike Mills and I'm the Practice Manager at BluePearl in Grand Rapids. I've reviewed all the client records in the hospital software and have no record of you or anyone that fits the previously described situation. I also contacted the managers of the other four locations in Michigan and have asked them to do the same, but they too have no record of a Dan Cooper. In all Blue Pearl hospitals, client and patient concerns are one of our top priorities. We always strive to provide remarkable care for pets and to be the community's choice for veterinary and emergency care. I do not want your concern go unaddressed and invite you to contact me at our office in Grand Rapids. I would value the opportunity to discuss this matter further with you as soon as possible.