The Vet Clinic - www.thevetclinic.org

My dog was registered here for around 7 years and up until new ownership I felt she was well cared for , after this it felt that their prime concern was making as much money as they could. Aside from a couple of individuals the care and service was poor so much so that I found a new vet and they diagnosed the cause in one appointment. The new vets were so great that I was truly regretful I hadn’t followed my gut much earlier and left . Depending on which vet you saw depended on the diagnosis, before the new ownership my dog was happy to attend but after she had to be coaxed in , another flag I didn’t pick up on until too late .

I took a hawk to The Vet Clinic for routine worming. Mr de Vries claimed to have the necessary knowledge and experience to provide care for a hawk, but I later discovered from their records that in fact he phoned another practice to find out what to do, but he never disclosed this. He obeyed their instructions and that bird survived. However, later in 2021 I took another similar bird for worming, and this time Mr de Vries did not ask anyone what to do but simply prescribed a wormer himself without advice. The wormer he prescribed was 14 times too strong, and it killed my bird by destroying his liver and he took 5 days to die. Mr de Vries admits the killing by prescribing a huge overdose but has never apologised. In addition, as my bird sickened I phoned to use the advertised 24 hour emergency service and they told me that there was nobody who could help but Mr de Vries would be available the next day - that is not a 24 hour emergency service.

As you would imagine, I would never use The Vet Clinic again and most definitely cannot recommend them after they killed my bird.

I have used this establishment for a great many years - from the time when I lived just around the corner.

Earlier this year one of my three dogs developed an ear infection. It dragged on and on (in terms of appointments) although it did appear to heal up. However, appointments only stopped when I decided - not when the vet decided.

Said dog has no infection and no yelping whenever her ears are touched. That was some five months ago and both my wife and I felt that the whole thing had been 'strung out' so as to maximise billable appointments.

Come October, 2020 and I receive a text from a debt collection agency demanding payment for an outstanding amount, and they quoted 'The Veterinary Clinic, Leighton Buzzard' - so I rang the clinic intending to let them know that a scammer was using their name.

Imagine my chagrin when it turned out that there really was an outstanding balance! Additionally they claimed to have sent out a bill in July, a chase letter 30 days later then a Final Demand to be paid within 14 days or the amount would be passed to a debt collection agency (as it was!).

ONE letter undelivered (failure by Royal Mail) I can believe. TWO failures - incredible. THREE failures to deliver from the same sender to the same recipient is basically impossible to believe.

Apologies from them but insistence that their computer system says...

Frankly, since they changed hands a few years back they seemed to have 'dropped the ball' but out of habit I remained. But no more...