Low Cost Clinics.

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Arlo Guthrie — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:52:14 GMT

Trident, could you please ring me on 020 7183 2511, or email me: arlo@guth3.net

I can't seem to reach you via other means!

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Trident — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:21:16 GMT

Sometimes being too cheap can be counterproductive. Often when consumers buy something - if it is too cheap, they suspect they are getting a product or service of poorer quality. Classic consumer psychology is that the more you pay, the better you think it is. As a result, most people end up choosing something priced somewhere in the middle as a halfway house.

Would you honestly go to a human surgeon for an operation or dentist, who is charging much less than the average. You would assume he/she may be cutting corners and most people wouldn't risk their own (or their loved ones) health in those circumstances.

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Martin Jones — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:39:59 GMT

The pay up front for the lifetime of the animal is quite an old one, as I recall. It's fairly neutral ethically, and as you say, probably makes good business sense for most practices. Sod's Law dictates that if we were to try it, no client would miss a jab and all their animals would live forever - and to be fair, we probably would break even on cost of jabs, but not on the time involved. Each to their own.

I'm just trying to remember if my own (11yo) dogs have had as many as 6 follow up boosters in their lifetimes. There was definitely one in the parvo outbreak last year, and then the year before that, but then it all gets a bit fuzzy. Definitely whenever they need to go into kennels. Oh dear.

Martin

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Laurence Webb — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:30:48 GMT

Actually, thinking back, our vaccination rate wasn't quite that bad. It was closer to 1 puppy to every 6 boosters and 1 kitten to every 4 or 5 boosters, but still not what I was expecting to find.

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Laurence Webb — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:09:47 GMT

I read something on Moneysavingexpert that suggests vet4pets also run a scheme where you can pay for the primary course then another £8 and get a dog's vaccinations covered for the rest of their life. Here's a link to a post in their forum on it http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=14197079&postcount=5

At first glance this sounds like a silly system for a practice to run, but a few months ago I had a look at our rate of boosters compared to 1st vaccations with disappointing results - we were doing far fewer boosters than our rate of puppy/kitten couses should suggest. For every puppy vaccination course we only did 4 dog boosters and for cats it was 1 kitten course to 3-4 boosters. This was looking at vaccination rates over 1 year only so may have been an anomally for that year and not true of the practice over 5 or 10 years. Generally I view our clients as being a pretty vigilant and loyal bunch so the fall off was quite a surprise.

I'd like to believe it's because our practice is growing at an astonishing rate so we've got loads of new owners with puppies/kittens coming to us but I suspect this represents some owners who vigilantly vaccinate each year, some who have the primary course done but either don't have any boosters or who stop after a year or two plus others who vaccinate sporadically (eg if the pet has to go to a kennel/cattery).

Our answer was to introduce a 'Pet Health Club' where owners pay a monthly fee which covers vaccinations and flea/worm treatment, in the hope of maintaining loyalty and encouraging people to continue routine preventative health care. We also work hard to try to bond clients to the practice in other ways.

It may be that Vets4Pets have concluded that many people will pay the £100 but forget to carry on having vaccinations/move to another vets/move house so they will make more money on average by getting the money up front but expecting to have less bonded clients. I assume that a large chain like this will have done it's research and been confident that it's good business practice.

I don't think the 'pay once for all of your pet's vaccinations' is a model we'd introduce to our practice, but it's another example of clever marketing.

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Martin Jones — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:49:28 GMT

[quote user="Laurence Webb"]

What we can do is learn from these practices how to market ourselves better.

[/quote]

Agreed. What you have here is a really nice website, and a clear statement of intent. There's inevitably a little spin - emergencies: we're here for you day and night (when in reality, clients are directed to Vets Now) - but on the whole it's impressive, there's thought involved and they don't come across as poor quality.

I don't like the idea of cherrypicking practices, but am safe and comfortable in the knowledge that in our area, practices are too geographically distanced for this to work (and, I rather suspect, we're cheaper than everyone else - but even we couldn't do a dental for fifty quid all in, unless the owner were on charity rates, and even then it would be pushing it).

Martin

Re: Low Cost Clinics.

Laurence Webb — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:08:39 GMT

I had a quick look at the site and I think they are able to offer the advertised prices so cheaply for 2 reasons

1) If they are not providing a fully equiped surgery with X-ray, ultrasound, in-house lab etc then overheads will be much lower. If they only offer neutering then their surgical equiptment may be fairly limited too. The site you linked to does appear to have good facilities ("Our Coventry clinic is fully equipped with laboratory, radiography, hospital, surgical suites, dentistry and ultrasound facilities") so I wonder if their fees for other services are higher. Many practices use the 'bread and butter' service charges to subsidise the provision of other services. Are these operating the other way around?

2) I suspect the catch with the advertised dental prices may be in the phrase "*terms and conditions apply". I can't find the terms, but I suspect that these prices cover descaling only and that extractions would be charged at an appropriate rate on top.

It's unrewarding to get too het up about these practices - they exist because there is a demand for them. As a consumer I shop around for the business that will provide me with the service I want for the best price. Customers find it difficult to compare the quality of service between practices (to most people a vaccination is just a vaccination and a neutered pet is nust a neutered pet).

What we can do is learn from these practices how to market ourselves better.