Should I be hot about this?

[Simkie]

Wow, I’m surprised at all these vets who don’t require a card on file. Around here it seems they all do, and they email the invoice with a “contact us or we’ll charge your card tomorrow” note.

@red_mares I get your frustration that your personal info was shared, but I think you gave up the right to be irked about it when you paid late, and then tossed the next invoice without looking at it.

Get a card on file with the vet, make sure you look at everything they send you, and confirm your best contact info with them.

[candyappy]

@RedHorses

The clinic failed to send outstanding balance invoices. The clinic failed to call regarding an outstanding balance. The clinic also failed to send the client the outstanding invoice when directly asked to do so by the client. The client can’t pay an overdue account if the provider won’t tell them what is owed.

I realize we all do things differently but why wouldn’t the client just pay the bill right then instead of asking for a second outstanding balance invoice? I mean at that time they are aware they owe to the vet?

My vet prefers to bill me after and on farm procedure. I used to pay at the time of service but they want to be sure everything is correct and on the final bill. So I usually give them a couple days and then call and pay my bill. I still get an invoice at the end of the cycle but this way nothing gets lost in the mail.

[RedHorses]

@clanter

wasn’t it said that the vet office did call the phone number on record and had sent a paper invoice that was trashed ?

The vet sent ONE single, solitary invoice to the OP prior to telling the trainer three months after the work was done. They called the OP after the OP called after the trainer mentioned the outstanding bill.

[NC001]

I’d be annoyed. I’ve been with my vet longer than I’ve been with the current trainer.
In general I don’t like professionals telling my trainer things and not telling me. Our farrier told our trainer about something to do with our horse which I was never told (was not really trainers fault she had a life event occur the same time). Next time farrier came there was a problem because that info was never given to me. Saddle fitters, body workers, etc do the same thing sometimes. I hate it. I dont always get the whole story and its my decision not my trainers on what to do. Our vet is very good about confidentiality so I dont worry about that with them.

[trubandloki]

@NC001

In general I don’t like professionals telling my trainer things and not telling me

In this case, the vet did tell the OP. The OP tossed out the invoice.

[RedHorses]

@trubandloki

The short version of this is - it is not the fault of the place not being paid when you (general) do not pay. They should not have to send you endless forms of communications in only the way you like for you to pay them.

I didn’t say they had to send endless communication in the client’s preferred form. I did say that it is basic business 101 to send out outstanding balance invoices (usually monthly) and attempting direct person to person contact just in case life happened to the client and they missed paying. Ignoring an outstanding balance for months before talking to someone other than the client is bad business. If you’re owed money, you remind the debtor as step one.

I’m not saying the OP is faultless for chucking the first invoice unopened, or failing to catch that they were also included on the email to the trainer. I’m saying the vet clinic is lacking basic business sense when it comes to collecting payment. Just look how many people have offered alternatives to how this clinic does things.

[RedHorses]

@candyappy

I realize we all do things differently but why wouldn’t the client just pay the bill right then instead of asking for a second outstanding balance invoice? I mean at that time they are aware they owe to the vet?

If you read the OPs posts carefully you will see that the vet looked after a number of horses belonging to different clients (who are not all present at the time) in that visit. You will also see that the OP accidentally tossed Invoice #1 (March dental) and in the middle of June their trainer informed them the vet was complaining about an unpaid balance. The OP had no other invoice before then - no outstanding balance invoice for April, or May. No phone call until after the OP called after hearing from the trainer. No email until after the OP called and asked for the information on amount owing.

Your vet wants to write up the billing at the office later (and probably have an employee handle the actual pricing/invoicing/records update/etc in order to spend less of their valuable time on minutiae). Why do you think this is unusual? Especially for a vet dealing with a trainer’s client owned group of horses.

I don’t know about your vet, but vets around here don’t have set rates for dental care. It varies depending on how much work is needed, how much sedation is used, etc.

I’m not sure how the OP doing stuff wrong means the vet clinic didn’t do anything wrong. The OP did something wrong in tossing the invoice, but the clinic was also wrong in how they handled it. If that original invoice had been lost in the mail, no one would be blaming the OP because the clinic failed to contact the OP prior to telling the trainer. If the clinic had sent an April outstanding balance invoice the OP would have paid it weeks ago. Basic Business 101.

[candyappy]

@RedHorses

I’m not sure how the OP doing stuff wrong means the vet clinic didn’t do anything wrong.

I don’t think anyone said OP did anything wrong? I certainly didn’t say that. I guess I am having a hard time understanding why someone would get so " hot" ( to use OP’s wording) about the whole thing.

@red_mares

I called last week requesting an invoice when I found out I owed money.

OP found out they had not paid for a service done months ago and yet never just called and paid the bill ? Instead they wanted another invoice sent?

It is just miscommunication all around.

[findeight]

It is not really any big deal. Almost everybody slips up or gets involved in miscommunication in billing somewhere along the line. Long as it is a very rare occurrence, let it go. Vet has been paid. It’s all good

[red_mares]

Because I don’t have a cell phone at work (or almost anywhere else). They aren’t allowed in my workspace. Some days I do work from home. The reason I was annoyed is because I left a number I could be reached at, and they called the home number instead. I was also annoyed because of the smart ass message telling me to call the office number, when I was calling the office number.

The reason I wanted an invoice before I paid is because I wasn’t sure why I owed them money. Is it really odd to ask for an accounting of what you owe & why before paying? I didn’t recall the one dental being done separately until I saw the invoice.

[Djones]

You just sound really aggravated when this is like, .0005 on the scale.

[OverandOnward]

In my experience vet offices tend to be run less formally than what we expect as normal procedures of ‘professional protocol’ businesses.

While I get the frustration, it isn’t going to matter. They do things the way they do them. The trainer is their shortcut to resolution and contact with a client.

As has been posted already in this thread, your vet is far from the only vet & trainer who work like this. Farrier & trainer. Chiro & trainer. etc.

It is not worth feeling any kind of emotion over. It’s a matter of accepting that this is horse world stuff. It doesn’t change. Just imo.

[red_mares]

Keep in mind that I’m stuck in a boot with a partial tendon tear in my ankle for 4 weeks? 6 weeks? 8 weeks? Stupid things like a message saying call another number (the one you’re calling) because the dog can’t answer can do it to you, especially the 2nd or 3rd time you hear it.

[Djones]

And that completely sucks. I totally get the general dammit of it all.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I’m with the OP–I can understand going to the trainer if a client had been deadbeat for an extensive period of time, but breaking confidentiality after one notice wasn’t paid seems a bit much, when it would see much easier to just give the actual client a phone call directly. I would feel as if there was some subtle “shaming” involved, intended or not.

Small service providers (plumbers, doctor’s offices, handymen) can be so erratic with billing. I always say it seems the better the contractor, the worse their billing system. I have gotten multiple conflicting bills for the same service from a HVAC company, gotten doctor’s bills demanding payment for being overdue which I genuinely never received the first (even called asking where the bill was and being told by the company it was still being processed), bills sent to old email addresses, you name it…

[Displaced_Yankee]

I can honestly see this being as they had they had the trainer’s email as a point of contact (say for care instructions/scheduling) and were sending statements to that email. Trainer said “Hey do you know you have a balance with ABC vet? I have been getting statements.”

@red_mares

The reason I wanted an invoice before I paid is because I wasn’t sure why I owed them money.

It sounds like you didn’t read your first invoice then…before chucking the second one? You know the horse had it’s teeth done…right?

I just don’t see this as being a hill to die on. Boot…sure…inconvienent for you. But they also had your landline for a reason since it was provided at some point. Primary and secondary phone numbers and email addresses can be keyed into the wrong fields. It’s probably a small business…labor can be hit or miss. You just don’t know. ETA: I don’t think the vet had any nefarious reason for this. They used the channels that they had to get paid. They didn’t mean to cast you as a deadbeat out of town owner…as you seem to have taken it.

If you are otherwise happy with the vet work…let it go. Again, I am sure your trainer knows the cost of a dental appointment.

[tabula_rashah]

not as long as you have the proper forms filled out
I do it quite often for the contractors that purchase from me and we have compliance tests every few months or so for cc processing

[Simkie]

And I’m sure they were annoyed by not being paid.

Put a card, and an email, on file.

[RedHorses]

@Displaced_Yankee

It sounds like you didn’t read your first invoice then…before chucking the second one? You know the horse had it’s teeth done…right?

The teeth weren’t on the first invoice you’re talking about. They were done at a separate appointment and only appeared on the invoice the OP accidentally tossed.

Any of us told we owe the vet money when we honestly believe we’ve paid everything up to date is going to want to know what care we missed.

[trubandloki]

@RedHorses

Any of us told we owe the vet money when we honestly believe we’ve paid everything up to date is going to want to know what care we missed.

I agree with this point.

But in this case it seems like, instead of going crazy at your vet (that you again, paid late on the previous bill and now are paying late again, because you did not bother to read an invoice, it is not like it fell into the trash by accident), when your trainer says - hey Red_mares, did you know you are behind at the vets again? You respond with a simple - Oh no, what did I miss? What is this bill for? And the trainer could have forwarded the bill to you, or told you it was for teeth.

The whole situation is annoying, but to me the person who has the least right to be this angry is the OP.