Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Emergency Animal Clinic of Topeka's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Emergency Animal Clinic of Topeka

  5501 SW 29th St STE 3 Topeka, KS 66614-2479

• 

  Emergency Animal Clinic of Topeka

  839 SW Fairlawn Rd. PO Box 4025-66604 Topeka, KS 66606

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/13/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Date of Transaction: Aug. 30, 2024
  I paid $1329.84
  Dispute:
  Issue #1: This charge is 4X what the services should cost. My pet had: an office call, x-ray, lab work, and a shot (for stomach irritation). I was sent home with nausea treats and 3 cans of dog food.
  Issue #2: I was told at one time, they "had to get the doctor on the phone" to complete the treatment. I did not EVER see a Veterinarian. I was charged $180 to have the X-Rays sent off to be read. If a doctor was in the building, wouldn't they be able to "read" the X-rays? I felt forced to have X-Rays taken although I really did not agree. The X-ray was taken to "see if the uterus was inflamed" yet I was told by the person on the phone that the uterus was not visible in the taken X-Rays. If trying to see the uterus, wouldn't this require an ultra sound rather than an X-Ray?
  Issue #3: I am female and have lived in the area only 2 months. I was forced to stay in my car the entire time - 3.5 hours. The area was dark and unknown to me. I was terrified as I could not see my pet and was scared in the parking lot as I was alone. I was not allowed to step foot in the building.
  
  In conclusion, I feel they used my emotional state to force every service they could possibly charge for as I care greatly about my pet. Every charge made was highly inflated. If one is in the position to be a certified veterinarian, aren't they qualified to read an X-Ray? Holding customers over a barrel just because "you are the only service open" does not feed back to performing every possible test to run up a bill for pet owners. I was treated very unfairly with this bill amount along with the isolation in a dark Topeka parking lot at late hours of the night.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/21/2024

  In response to this complaint, I would like to address that our facility is curbside only for security reasons.  We ask everyone to wait in their vehicles for staff security while we bring the pets in to examine and create estimates.  After examining and getting estimate approvals, we in no way require owners to wait in the parking lot after getting approval, they may leave and run errands, go home to wait, etc. We stated on initial phone call to this client our curbside protocol, it is on each parking stall, on both our facility doors and on a large sign in front of our building.  If clients have an aversion to our curbside policy, we offer them maps and phone numbers to K-state in Manhattan and Blue Pearl in KC. 

  Our in house doctor, ***** ********** DVM created an estimate with a board certified radiology specialist consultant, which the client signed.  We sent those radiographs out to be interpreted by this specialist, **** ****** BVETMED, MRCVS, DACVR .  I have provided a copy of that in the attachments along with the signed estimates.  We go over cost beforehand and produce the estimate before any treatments are performed to allow for clients to decline those charges.  

  Our prices are comparable and often times less than the emergency facilities in our state.  Kansas City emergency prices in comparison to us are much higher and often times Kansas State University is slightly higher than we are, as we are the only emergency veterinarian in Topeka, there are no companies to do a direct comparison in our city, however our prices are fair considering we work nights, weekends and are open all holidays.   We encourage and recommend this client to call Blue Pearl in Overland Park Kansas and The Overland Veterinary Emergency and Specialty group, and K-State University to compare their prices to ours. 

  When we did our follow up call on 08/30/24 to check on their pet, the client did not state they were concerned with our care or prices.  We also have not received a formal complaint directly from the client as we would've been happy to discuss their concerns. 

   

  Thank you,

  Emergency Animal Clinic of Topeka

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/06/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid ******** I was told my dog was in way worse condition then he was and I was not aloud to see him to make any decisions for myself. I felt pressured and taken advantage of to leave my dog with them over night unnecessarily. I got a very different report from my vet and hour and half later. I want ****** refunded to me.
  
  
  On March 16th 2023 I took my dog to the Emergency Animal Clinic because he collapsed after being out in the snow.
  
  About twenty minutes of Jake being inside, they call me and tell me he is doing really poorly and really struggling to breathe. They are going to put in a catheter to administer meds and fluids, which they never used. They send someone out to my car and present me with a ******* bill for service. I ask to see my dog and told if they bring him out it is a refusal of service. The vet over the phone is telling me how bad Jake is and he needs to stay in the clinic.
  They call and wake me up at midnight and ask me for a verbal DNR if he codes. I am now even more stressed and again ask to see my dog and was refused again.
  
  When I arrive to pick him up the next morning they bring him out to me and he is in the same condition he has been in for the past eight months. No where close to the condition they led me to believe he was in. They left the catheter in his leg, which by the way they never used to give Jake any meds or fluids. I had to pay my vet to turn around and remove it!
  I feel mislead and taken advantage by them over stating Jake’s condition and being forced to make decisions about his care without being able to see him.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2023

  Good afternoon,

  I would like to first respond to the treatment plan.  We start with an estimate, the estimate was from $******* to $*******.  No where on the estimate was there IV fluids listed or IV medications.  I have provided a copy of that estimate in the "forms" section with the clients signature.  Our treatment on the estimate included Oxygen as the patient presented with Pale Mucous membranes, had collapsed, was in respiratory distress and an enlarged heart with a grade 6 heart murmur(enlargement confirmed with radiographs).  The board certified radiology report is included in the Radiograph section of the chart for this confirmation.  Secondly, I would like to state that our technician did stay over past the 6:30 am pickup time due to her concern over Jake's continued abnormal breathing and she communicated that to the owner via telephone that morning. Checkout time logged for Jake was at 7:04am.

  We get advanced directives for every patient that is staying in our facility overnight.  The client left our parking lot to go and get the information for Jake's current medications as she did not bring those with her and couldn't remember the milligrams or dosages.   Normally we require the client to stay in our parking lot until the advanced directives are established, however the doctor did need those medications so we allowed her to leave. We did call later to get those advanced directives and to go over pickup times as we do for each patient that is staying overnight in our facility.

  Every patient that is hospitalized gets an IV catheter.  This protocol is a safety measure.  We need direct access to a vein when a patient is critical.  Jake was considered critical with his breathing issues and heart.  Documentation for his critical state is in the treatment plan and the estimate for "Hospital Care-Intensive".  On the discharge instructions(also signed by the client) included under the "Forms" documents I have provided, we state that there will be additional charges at your primary veterinarian and that we have left the IV catheter in place as Jake was stilled considered critical when leaving our facility.  

  All of our conversations are recorded and I have reviewed all 8 conversations that were had with the client and to provide the accurate information that I am relaying to you today.  There was a 9th conversation for the initial complaint about the money on 03/31/23.  In the conversation, Merica spoke with our Lead Technician over the phone and stated that if we gave her some money back that we could "call this all good" or she would be filing a complaint as she doesn't have the money to eat this month. If she would have told our staff that she was on a budget in the beginning then we would have offered her multiple ways to pay as we do take **** ****** and ******* *** as payment plan options.  No where in any of the initial 8 calls that I went back and listened to did she state she had financial concerns to any employee.

  Please let me know if I can provide any further details.  

  Thank you,

  Bryce *******, DVM