Intake Veterinary Services Limited

How To Pay and Terms & Conditions

How To Pay

To pay your account you can:

Terms & Conditions

This statement details the Terms and Conditions of our veterinary practice, Intake Veterinary Services Ltd. Some aspects of the Terms may not be relevant to you, and we request that you ask for further explanation/clarification if needed.

Accounts

We do not automatically offer credit accounts. All new clients will be expected to pay at the time of treatment including for emergencies and out of hours call outs. Normally we will be happy to review payment terms with clients on an annual basis and clients may then be offered a credit account.

Settlement Terms

Normal clients: clients without a credit account will be expected to pay at the time of treatment. Failure to do so will result in a non-payment surcharge being charged for each and every visit. This non-payment surcharge will be waived if full payment is received within 1 working day of the vet’s visit.

Credit account clients: clients with credit accounts will be expected to fully clear invoices within 30 days of invoicing.

Late payment: should your account not be settled within the time periods specified above, then reminders will be sent by text, email or letter. Additional fees in respect of administrative costs may be added (this may be waived at the discretion of the Directors). Should it be necessary for additional reminders to be sent, further charges will be incurred. We reserve the right to add interest at 2% per calendar month on unpaid invoices. After due notice to the client, we will pursue County Court Judgements against the debtor and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt.

Any cheque returned by our Bank as unpaid and any Cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in the original account being restored to the original sum with further charges being added in respect of any bank charges and administrative costs.

Fees

All fees and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee levels are determined by the time spent on a case and according to the drugs, materials, consumables and travel costs used and incurred. A detailed fee note is available or can be requested for all transactions with us.

Estimates of Treatment Costs

We will happily provide a written estimate as to the probable cost of a course of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate.

Inability to Pay

If, for any reason, you are unable to settle your account as specified, we ask you to discuss the matter, as soon as possible with a member of staff. Please note that instalments or part-payments of any account may ONLY be sanctioned with the express permission of Suzanne Yeend or David J. Parkins.

Animal Health Insurance

Please be aware that it is the client’s responsibility to settle your account and then reclaim the fees from the insurance company, unless an alternative payment structure has been arranged in advance. Completing insurance claims will incur an administrative cost which is not covered by insurance companies.

Complaints and Standards

We hope that you never have recourse to complain about the standards of service received from Intake Veterinary Services Ltd. However, if you feel that there is something you wish to complain about, please contact Nick Freeman, Suzanne Yeend or David J. Parkins in the first instance following up your comments in writing if you wish to do so.

Ownership of Records

Case records including radiographs and similar documents are the property of, and will be retained by Intake Veterinary Services Ltd. Copies of a summary of the history will be passed on by request to another veterinary surgeon taking over the case.

Ownership of Radiographs and Similar Records

The care given to your animal may involve making some specific investigations, for example taking radiographs or performing ultrasound scans. Even though we make a charge for carrying out these investigations and interpreting the results, ownership of the resulting record, for example, a radiograph remains the property of the Practice.

Out-of Hours Service

The Practice operates an out-of-hours service for emergencies. This can be accessed by phoning the office number (01434 606033) and pressing ‘1’. This will divert your call to the duty vet’s mobile phone.

On call vets may be unable to answer (if they are out of mobile range or in the middle of another emergency). If this is the case, please leave a message and keep trying every 15 minutes or so.

Individual vets will either leave a message on their mobile phone letting you know if they are away from work or their phone may be diverted directly to the office phone.

Please do not expect on call vets to respond to text messages or other social media. If you need us, please ring.

Note that we do not offer out of hours and emergency cover to anyone not registered with the practice.

Variations in Terms of Trading

No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by one of the Practice directors. No agent or person employed by, or under contract with, the Practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way.