Rating veterinary practices

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Glen McIntosh — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:45:42 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]My, personal, bad reviews or complaints can, if I'm honest, be put down to my bad or lack of communication with the client, even if what I said was correct and "adequate".[/quote]

In most cases, I think I can say the same. It is usually either suboptimal communication or finance that results in complaints or poor reviews. So it is possible to take some learning from almost all complaints/poor reviews, even if it is just that I have not communicated finance issues with the client adequately. The complaints that I feel particularly self righteous about are those concerning cases where the owner complains that "all he talked about was money." This will never be the case in fact, and it is usually an objection made by bad debtors/potential bad debtors - clients who are going to pay their bills want as much information about costs as I can give them. In those cases, if there is no bad debt then I have communicated well. If there is a bad debt then quite clearly I haven't talked about money enough!

Can't say that I would take much heed of the "good vet guide". Despite what the website might say, this website has been created by persons who refuse to accept that sometimes there are poor outcomes for patients in veterinary medicine and that veterinarians are not miracle workers. They want the vets they perceive to be "bad vets" to be punished, and this "guide" is just another way of doing that and at the same time giving voice to like minded people. The comments on this site are unlikely to be constructive.

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Anthony Todd — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:26:55 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]It is certainly quite intriguing if you look at any particular hotel how the opinions posted can vary from one extreme to another[/quote]

Yeah, but if you read the reviews in toto there's usually things that are valid and could be improved.

Read any review of any service industry and it usually boils down to lack of or poor communication, and things go down hill from there.

My, personal, bad reviews or complaints can, if I'm honest, be put down to my bad or lack of communication with the client, even if what I said was correct and "adequate".

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:41:36 GMT

[quote user="Rob Reid"]

We have a policy were we don't see Japanese Akitas - someone tried to phone and register 3 Akitas with us and we refused, leading to a review accusing us of being breed-racists (which of course we are I guess haha!!)

[/quote]

Our only Akita tried to commit suicide last week by eating two bars of dark chocolate and a dozen paracetemol tablets. Must have realised that vets all hate them and had a personality complex.

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Vikki Halliday LLB — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:40:48 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]anyone with half a brain can usually spot that kind of thing a mile off.[/quote]

Hmm, unfortunately that may apply to a number of clients.

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:07:49 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]Unfortunately review sites are rarely useful.[/quote]

Except for those review sites written by professional journalists, I couldn't agree more.

[quote user="Bob Russell"] It is always worthwhile googling your own practice and area regularly to see what others see![/quote]

Very good advice. Don't forget that whilst you might dismiss a negative review on a little used website run by crackpots, it can still be damaging if a snippet of the review ranks highly in search engine results for terms that your potential clients use to find you.

In many cases, the simple solution is to ask a friendly client if they wouldn't mind saying something nice on the review site, thereby pushing the negative review down the list, and providing some balance.

Some would recommend going and giving yourself a nice review. I wouldn't. Apart from being uncomfortable with the idea, anyone with half a brain can usually spot that kind of thing a mile off.

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Bob Russell — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:06:54 GMT

Unfortunately review sites are rarely useful. How many people will hunt out a review site to say their vets are 'OK'?I can see how powerful a bad review could be but not sure what we can do about it. Thankfully most of our clients come 'word of mouth' but things can change easily.

Moderators are unlikely to have a clue whether reviews are meaningful or spiteful!

It is always worthwhile googling your own practice and area regularly to see what others see!

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Rob Reid — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:17:48 GMT

[quote user="Laurence Webb"]I can't se any signs of the Toon Army, just the normal Wurzels[/quote]

Probably just as well after Saturday's result....

...I notcied that about practice information as well. If you put in our location it brings up some practices in Wales!

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Laurence Webb — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:13:11 GMT

I've noticed that our practice information is incorrect on the site - despite being in Somerset and showing our correct post code for some reason it says that we are in Tyne and Wear. I've just checked out of the windows, and I can't se any signs of the Toon Army, just the normal Wurzels

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Rob Reid — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:30:51 GMT

Definitely agree with the point so far that these 'guides' have to be moderated carefully. It is very easy for people to have a grudge against an individual and create a lot of negative press, I always take online guides with a pinch of salt.

Goodvetguide is not the only such tool for rating vets - other online tools rate them in the same way other businesses can be rated. We attracted a 1-star review a few years ago on such a guide. We have a policy were we don't see Japanese Akitas - someone tried to phone and register 3 Akitas with us and we refused, leading to a review accusing us of being breed-racists (which of course we are I guess haha!!) Therefore, our whole practice was rated as 1/5 stars by these people despite the fact they have never even set through the door.

Balanced reviewing in the same way as the Daily Mail and Panorama.....

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Edward Jones — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 09:45:35 GMT

For information: "Justice 4 Ted" is a facebook page which is related to http://www.goodvetguide.co.uk

From what I've read so far, the atmosphere seems more positive than negative. Although "Justice 4 Ted" is obviously quite inflammatory there is little mention of this on the good vet guide website. So far there seems to be only a few reviews, and of the ones I've found there were about eight 5 star reviews, one 4 star, one 2 star and two 1 star.

I've got other things to lose sleep over before this!

Re: Rating veterinary practices

J G Wray — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:32:38 GMT

[quote user="Eamon McAllister"]The VDS could rate veterinary practices based on the number of claims handled in a given period. They could even offer a "no claims bonus" which could be retained or donated to the VBF like the loyalty discount. [/quote]

About 5 years ago someone wrote to the Veterinary Record asking what the value of the PSS was. They compared the PSS to the Solicitors schemne Lexcel. One of the gains from being in Lexcel is reduced indemnity insurance fees for solicitors. The then Pres RCVS refused to get involved in any measure of the value of PSS or claim a reduction in liabilities consequnet upon PSS practice.

To this day no one at RCVS is prepared to apply a commercial or professional measure to the scheme. This would be "evidence".

JGW

Re: Rating veterinary practices

jd2008 — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 05:07:50 GMT

Didn't Marc Abraham start something similar a few years back. Seems to have faded into obscurity somewhat.

It seems to be the done thing now that anyone who has a perceived bad experience at a vet starts some sort of 'campaign/crusade' to protect the public from the teeming hoardes of unscrupulous vets that apparently exist. All very easy now thanks to the bl**dy t'internet

Should this site take off I can guarantee that the number of bad/nasty/malicious reviews will outnumber the good reviews by a signifcant multiple. Unfortunately it's human nature to shout loudest when you want to complain rather than praise.

Reading the site I was amused to note that one of the criteria they suggest reviewers use is whether the practice asks for some form of payment up front. The obvious implication being that any practice that tries to obtain some sort of financial security before embarking on costly treatment is "bad".

So how are the public going to rate us? Will it be our winning smiles, cheapest fees, payment plans, waiting room displays or clinical success rate, equipment levels and quality, range of services?

I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. My ex-practice was the subject of what can only be described as an internet hate campaign set up by a disgruntled ex-client . One section of the website contained a forum and one of the threads encouraged disparaging stories about the practice. Reading the comments it wasn't difficult to identify the clients/pets involved and it was almost exclusively bad-debtors who commented. It's also quite remarkable how twisted a clients version of events can be

These sorts of sites would be a great idea if the clients felt some sort of moral obligation to tell the truth. That's just not the case unfortunately.

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Rob Loxley — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:41:55 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]I know TripAdvisor, where people rate hotels etc., has been very controversial.[/quote]

Wasn't there talk of a class action against TripAdvisor?

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Eamon McAllister — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:13:05 GMT

The VDS could rate veterinary practices based on the number of claims handled in a given period. They could even offer a "no claims bonus" which could be retained or donated to the VBF like the loyalty discount.

Re: Rating veterinary practices

bob lehner — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:34:58 GMT

[quote user="Vikki Halliday"]

Absolutely appalling idea as I don't think the "moderators" will be able to cope with the amount of unsubstantiated rubbish that people will want to moan about.

[/quote]

Yes - I think these sorts of consumer-driven sites can be very dangerous. I know TripAdvisor, where people rate hotels etc., has been very controversial. Some hoteliers have apparently been put out of business by unfounded and malicious reports - some apparently posted by their rivals/competitors. Of course you can also post (or get your friends to post) glowing reports about your own business. Trip Advisor say they moderate things effectively, but it would seem the system is open to abuse.

It is certainly quite intriguing if you look at any particular hotel how the opinions posted can vary from one extreme to another - often difficult to believe you are reading about the same place !

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Vikki Halliday LLB — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:48:45 GMT

Absolutely appalling idea as I don't think the "moderators" will be able to cope with the amount of unsubstantiated rubbish that people will want to moan about.

Fine if all we did was sell wormers and flea products, then people would have a level playing field on which to judge customer service, however as people's pets are such a personal and emotive issue, I can't see many posts being truly unbiased and objective. If clients lose an animal no matter what the circumstances, I can see this being used as an outlet for their grief and anger, and also in many cases as a justification for their denial that there was anyting they could have done themselves, i.e. not left the 18 year old cat who was persistently PUPD until Chrostmas eve before deciding tey could wait no longer to attend to him, and then wondered why the reception at the practice they had not visited for the last 6 years was somewhat frosty at 4.30pm...............

If there were a service where vets could rate customers however...........

Re: Rating veterinary practices

Louise6732 — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:07:57 GMT

Correction - I've found the website!

Would still be interesting to hear what others think of the idea?