Sarah Harper was surprised to learn she would have to keep making payments on her cat’s “wellness plan” even after the cat was dead. She was told that she had signed a one-year contract and would have to honor it. Though the service sold by Banfield pet hospitals is packaged like and sounds like insurance, it’s not, it’s a payment plan. The media kit Banfield sends to reporters explicitly says “wellness plans are not insurance policies.” The contract does say that owners will still have to make payments even if the animal has passed away. However, brochures provided to consumers don’t say anything like that, instead saying things like it’s, “”the best preventive care your pet needs to maximize its life,” and that after you enroll, “your pet is on its way to a happier, healthier and longer life!” Catveat emptor.
Up a tree over dead cat’s health plan [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks to David!)
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@dcartist: Actually, they are being asked to pay ~$275.00, which is the cost of the plan according to the article, for the $350 dollars worth of services rendered to them. They saved almost $100 with the contract.
@snarkysnake: “sucks that your cat died. however…”? what’s wrong with you? what if this were life insurance for someone’s daughter, would you say “sucks your daughter died. however…”???
what’s the idea on paying for something that you don’t need? a contract is in place to protect both parties. it wasn’t created with the idea of one party oppressing the other.
I’m going to go ahead and call you a moron, and I don’t think I need to go to Webster’s to get that definition, since everyone knows what it means. just like the word “contract”. do me a favor, though, and pull up the one for “pony up”, is that something about buying a horse? what about “big guy”, are you saying he’s fat?
@GitEmSteveDave: If you truly don’t know or don’t understand the concept of fine print, then I think we’re done here.
Regardless of the specifics of this particular case, I think this ‘a contract is a contract, too bad’ thing is getting out of hand. It seems like every time you make a purchase of any significance these days you’re handed a multi-page adhesion contract printed in 4pt font. Then, if the seller manages to get something over on the purchaser in the contract it’s too bad for the purchaser.
For purchases like real estate, sure these are complicated, so the contracts are complicated, so people should understand them. Likewise, if you’re party to a contract wherein you actually got to negotiate terms (imagine!), by all means you’re responsible for what you’re getting into. But why do the terms of a $300 purchase have to be so obfuscatory that people get ambushed by fine print?
As long as purchasers are going to be subject to the scourge of adhesion contracts require them to be understandable. There’s no reason someone should have to spend 20 or 30 minutes reading some corporate legal department crap in order to avoid getting screwed on a commonplace transaction.
@csdiego: I am asking YOUR definition of what fine print is? I admit I haven’t seen a copy of the contract Sarah signed. Since you seem to have, please describe how this was fine print. I would appreciate a link to the agreement, or to the scanned copy of it, so that I can understand it better.
Consumerist: Thank you for not posting dead cat picture this time.
@dgcaste: Given your example, if that person agreed to pay a yearly premium in installments, and his daughter died, then he should not have to pay the rest of the premium, even though the insurer provided the services as per their side? As I said earlier, let’s say the person paid up front for a year of insurance in one payment, and the insurance company decided that they didn’t want to fulfill their end. Would you be saying “Have a heart for the insurance company”?
@GitEmSteveDave:
Correct. It is also Sarah’s prerogative to let the world know about it so that Banfield loses business accordingly, because it is a stupid idea.
A contract is a contract. The owner should have continued taking the cat to the vet, as long as her contract was still in force. After all, the vet only “put it to sleep” right? “Hey Doc, ever since you put Fluffy to sleep, she seems a little listless and smells funny. Do you mind taking a look at her?”
Over and over. Until it makes sense for the contract holder to get out of the contract.
If the “contract” was a “payment plan,” then they should say that up front, in big letters, not fine print. From what I’ve read here so far, it feels like deceptive marketing to me.
@kc2idf: I agree. Paying things in installments is stupid. Not reading you contracts is stupid. If she had paid the ~$275 up front, would this have been a problem? According to the article
This is where my frustration comes from. If she had paid up front, then I don’t think there would be all of this outrage. But they chose to pay it off in installments. B/c they did that, now the company is evil. If they had taken a loan to pay off the plan up front from a bank, would the bank be stupid because they wanted the loan repaid?
@captbobalou: OK, will someone please show me the copy of the contract everyone has seen where all of this “fine print” is? I admit I had to really search, but in looking at this page [www.banfield.net] , buried DEEEEP in the third paragraph, they do say that it is not insurance, and that it can cost as little as $.40 a day. And I’m sure they give you an option when you purchase the plan to either pay all now, or pay in monthly installments.
@GitEmSteveDave:
Agreed. Seems fairly black & white. They even let you cancel, but they only ask that you pay for the services you actually used. Malpractice or poor care is a separate issue, which there is not enough information in the article to judge.
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And not to cast blame or anything, but the family is telling a sob story about the emotional upset of having to pay after losing a cat… yet the family was willing to write off the cat’s life after less than $400 workup of the seizures. Doesn’t sound like they went “full court press” to save the thing, try out an array of anticonvulsant medications, or maybe even a CAT scan (sorry
) to find the cause…
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ARTICLE:
…monthly payments could be required “if the total amount of services rendered by Provider prior to cancellation (valued at Provider’s full retail prices) exceed the sum of monthly installments retained or recovered by Provider…
…ConsumerAffairs.com, a popular consumer-advocacy website, includes numerous complaints about Banfield, ranging from overcharging to alleged malpractice. Other sites make clear that the company’s wellness plans are often mistaken for insurance.
@dcartist: Well, I could understand them doing it if the cat had epilepsy, and required constant supervision. If they both work, had no one to watch the cat, and there was a chance of the cat having a seizure and either suffering injuries or even dying, it’s almost humane to let them die while in a good way. It’s a quality of life issue. As with my cat S’mores, she was in shock from being trampled, and just to clean the wounds fully, they would need to anesthetize her. It would have entailed bringing her out of shock w/o too many pain drugs because she was weak, getting her strong enough to handle the anesthesia, putting her under(which alone could kill her), cleaning the wounds out, and then bringing her out of the anesthesia(which could also kill her). Then the hard surgeries would follow(leg amputation, repairing internal injuries, repairing bones), and they could not give good odds on her living a “nice” life, let alone surviving. She had a great life, was happy, and not feeling any pain at that point. That’s why we decided to let her go then.
As for the complaints, losing a pet is hard, and I think people try to blame others during their anger phase/denial/bargaining phase(s). Unlike people, it’s hard to know exactly what an animal is feeling or where it hurts. Complications are common, and people need to find someway for it to make sense that their pet died. I tried blaming the horse I believed step on my S’mores, but I realized after that it just happened.
@Jaysyn: You’d probably find a mandatory binding arbitration agreement in there somewhere. Companies like these love to protect themselves, but couldn’t give a rat’s ass about their customers.
Well I think you touched on an excellent point… Guilt (over not going ‘full court press’) is really a major issue when it comes to letting pets go, and I think that amplifies the anger/denial/etc. stuff for blaming others.
It doesn’t sound like $375 is much of a seizure workup, but it’s a reasonable choice to NOT investigate further.
[www.Banfieldsucks.net]
So, wait, Banfield is a national chain? I always thought they were local because we have a freeway called “The Banfield Freeway”… Such an odd name for there to be no connection…
Huh, I guess they just started here:
[www.banfield.net]
“Banfield, The Pet Hospital® was founded in 1955 with a commitment to making human quality medicine accessible to Pet owners. In our hometown of Portland, Oregon, Banfield became known for its legendary client service and life saving veterinary medicine.”
Banfield is terrible, took my cat in with failing kidneys to be put down, he was 12 years old, he’d had a good run. Was informed that they weren’t ready to do that yet, $1200 later I had to take him into the humane society which I should have done in the first place.
Lesson learned: If you have an old pet and it’s time to walk them down the green mile, hard as it is, don’t take them to Banfield. Either take them to a trusted local vet, or take them to your local humane society, you will save yourself a lot of heartache from lost hope as well as a big chunk of change.
@CaptainSemantics: Banfield has a lot of complains lodged against it. (Do a search on “Banfield Horror Stories”. They tried to rip my neighbor off on a teeth cleaning for her tiny dog. They told her that it would be $100.00 when she
went to pick up her dog the bill was over $800.00. (I kid you not I saw the bill! It looked like a hospital bill for a human). They tried charge her for stuff that she hadn’t authorized AND falsified what had been done on the dog (such as it being given blood and EKG.) She finally got them down to $120.00 cause her
dog needed antibiotics for a tooth infection.
Just to clarify a few things…ALL our vet bills were paid in full before we left with Pete after each visit. Pete was almost 7 years old, and we adopted him from the Petsmart shelter (on Elston) when he was 1 1/2 years old, and at that time (5 years ago) we signed up for the first wellness plan since he had been neutered and updated on shots through the Petsmart shelter/Banfield. Last summer (2007) Pete started having seizures, so we took him to Banfield, where they could not explain the cause of the seizures or clarify whether or not he had epilepsy, which is treatable with medication, because they did not have the resources to do any of the tests. So, we had to bring him to a veterinary neurologist in the suburbs where they conducted the tests to determine the reason for the seizures-the cost of this vet was NOT part of the “wellness plan.” So, the majority of our costs were out of pocket. After a few months on the epilepsy medication Pete stopped eating and drinking, so we took him back to Banfield where they let him sit in his carrier for a couple hours before telling us that they could not do anything (i.e. they did not have the resources to run any of the necessary tests AGAIN), and we should take him to his neurologist. So, the neurologist ran more tests to check for other problems, like cancer or thyroid problems. Unfortunately, after spending more money the neurologist still needed to run more tests, and were unsure if they would have a concrete answer for Pete’s problems. After discussing the situation numerous times, my husband and I determined that Pete had been poked and prodded more than enough and we could not put him through any more stress. So, we decided to bring him home for our last goodbyes and made an appointment at Banfield to put him to sleep. Despite having not eaten for two weeks (except an IV at the neurologist) and barely having the strength to walk, Banfield insisted on giving Pete an sedative prior to the anesthetic that would put him “to sleep.” So, despite what a lot of people think…my husband and I did not profit from the plan, we in fact, despite being part of a wellness plan paid a substantial sum of money for Banfield services that did not treat his problems. Interestingly enough, after Pete’s death we received a sympathy card from his neurologist-the only thing we have received from Banfield (and they were the people who put him to sleep) was the monthly charge. We did not volunteer for this article to be released from the contract, but to bring attention to the fact that the wellness plans are nothing like pet insurance or a membership discount plan (think Barnes and Noble) and are really payment plans. It is our belief that many people purchase these plans thinking they are saving money on their pet’s healthcare and that the plan will be terminated if their pet dies, which obviously is not the case. Banfield’s policy does not allow owners to transfer plans to other Banfield locations (if you move) or transfer the policy to a living animal if the animal under the plan dies. CAVEAT EMPTOR!
I would dig up the cat and bring it to them, forcing them to work on it and honor their end of the agreement.
@jbohanon: Well, pretty much the only work to do on a dead cat is to cremate it. Most places won’t let you bury it.
@GitEmSteveDave: I don’t have a copy of our contract anymore, but we were told flat out when we signed up that it wasn’t waived at death and it wasn’t like insurance. My dog was a puppy when I bought it, so we didn’t think the death thing would apply to us before the contract was up (my dog died of a genetic issue that Banfield couldn’t really have done anything about).
I guess that was just another example of our location being better than average.
I work at Petsmart and one of my cats died a week after getting his teeth cleaned at Banfield. He never came out of anesthesia right and the day I had to have him put to sleep I had to rush him to the emergency vet because he was having such violent seizures. The day after he died I get a call from Banfield saying that a test came back saying he had cancer. They did the test before surgery. I guess it wasn’t important enough for them to check results before they went about killing my cat. I’ve heard many other similar stories of people saying they will NEVER take a pet to Banfield either from loss of a pet or failure to find an easily-curable problem to just plain gross overcharging. Please, don’t take your pets there. Ask neighbors and friends where they go, go in just to talk to the vet, “interview” them. They won’t mind if they’re any good.
@woodstock: I’m not sure I see the connection here. Your cat had a reaction to anesthesia, and eventually had to be put to sleep. Do you think the blood they took caused it?