Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

Thank you for entrusting the care and attention of your pet to Ambivet. By accepting the services and/or purchase of goods you are contractually agreeing to Ambivet’s Terms of Business as set out below. Please ask for further explanation/ clarification if required

New Clients

We accept new clients who have completed our registration form online or over the phone and who have booked in for a registration visit or regular consultation/vaccination. By registering you give permission to Ambivet to contact your previous vet/s for any relevant medical history.

Consultations

Appointments can be booked between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. Appointments requested with less than 24hours notice are made at the vet’s discretion and will incur an additional fee.

Appointments can be made for a Saturday morning at the vet’s discretion and need to be booked in advance.

Emergency cases are always given priority and in some cases this means that less urgent appointments will need to be rearranged. We will attempt to do this with minimum disruption to existing appointments but cannot be held responsible for the consequences of appointments being cancelled or delayed owing to attendance at an emergency, road traffic or weather conditions.

We reserve the right to charge a full consultation fee if we attend your premises at the agreed time and either you or your pet is absent.

Vaccination reminders

Whilst Ambivet make every reasonable effort to send out reminders for annual vaccinations, the responsibility to keep them up to date remains with you. Please be aware that PETS passports require rabies vaccination boosters so please keep a personal record of when this is due.

Inpatients

All inpatients are cared for at the clinic in Terling. They are checked on a regular basis throughout the day and night by the vet. The frequency and timing of checks will be based on the condition and level of care required by your pet as judged by the vet. Pets in the hospital are not monitored continuously except when under, or recovering from anaesthesia.

Fees

All fees, diets 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 diets used. Details of fees and the cost of prescription medications will be provided on request. In giving instructions, either in person or by your agent, for an animal to be treated, you will be responsible for our charges. An itemised invoice is generated for every consultation, procedure or transaction.

Wherever possible Ambivet can give an estimate of treatment costs. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate – often a pet’s illness will not follow a conventional course.

Settlement Terms

All fees are to be paid at the time of the consultation or when a pet is discharged home, unless account terms have been agreed in advance.

Where account terms are agreed an invoice will be sent and should be settled within 30 days. Any such invoice not paid within 30 days will incur additional fee of 1.5% in respect of administrative costs. Should it be necessary for further reminders to be sent, further charges will be incurred. After due notice to you the client, overdue accounts will automatically be referred to our Debt Collection Agency whose charges will be added to, and payable with the invoice debt. Interest will also be charged on the full amount at a rate of 5% above Bank Base Rate, from the date the debt was incurred until payment is received. Any account unpaid, any cheque returned by our Bank as unpaid, any Credit Card payment not honoured and any Cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in any discounts being removed and the account being restored to the original sum with further charges added in respect of bank charges and administrative costs together with interest on the principal sum.

Ambivet accept cash or card or can provide you with bank details for payment by BACS.

Inability to Pay

If, for any reason, you are unable to settle your account as specified, please discuss the matter as soon as possible with the vet. Please note that instalments or part-payments of any account may ONLY be sanctioned with the express permission of the vet.

Pet Health Insurance

Ambivet strongly supports the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents. It is your responsibility to choose a policy that provides the level of cover that you require. Some companies offer annual policies and exclude ongoing conditions at the end of the year. It is the opinion of Ambivet that lifetime policies offer the best cover for pets.

Unless otherwise agreed in advance it is the responsibility of the client to settle their account directly as detailed in the settlement terms above and to reclaim any amounts covered by their policy from the insurance company concerned. Ambivet accepts no liability if your claim should be rejected in part or in full and any outstanding invoices remain your responsibility.

There is a fee for processing an insurance claim form for each new condition, but not for continuation claims. The fee is £15 (incl vat). This is not usually covered by insurance policies.

Prescriptions, repeat prescriptions and medication.

APlease give five days notice of your requirements for repeat prescriptions. If you prefer to receive a written prescription to be filled at a local or on line pharmacy, this will be provided. The cost of a written prescription is £15 (incl vat).

All veterinary practices are required to adhere strictly to current legislation and may prescribe POMVs only for animals under their care. (The majority of veterinary medicines fall into this category including many flea treatments and wormers). It is a legal requirement and in the best interests of
your pet that before medication is prescribed the vet must have examined your pet within a suitable time frame. Depending on the medicine and the individual case this will usually be between 3 and 6 months, up to 12 months, for routine preventive health care. Newly arising conditions, even if they are similar to what a pet has had before, will require an examination before medicines can be prescribed.

It is not possible to give a refund against returned medication but it can be returned by you for safe disposal at the clinic.

In accordance with the Medicines Act Ambivet will always use a veterinary licenced product. Should this not be available then a veterinary product licenced for use in other species may be used, and failing that a human medical product. Any use of off-licence medication will be based upon knowledge of its use in animals and an assessment made of the risk and benefits involved. This is particularly common in species other than dogs and cats for which few licenced products are available.

Ownership of Records

Case records including laboratory results, radiographs and similar documents are the property of, and will be retained by Ambivet. Copies with a summary of the history will be passed on request to another veterinary surgeon taking over a case, or a referral centre. Case notes may also be passed on to Insurance companies on request, as this is a stipulation of your contract with the insurance company.

The care given to your animal may involve specific investigations, for example the taking of radiographs or performance of ultrasound scans. Even though a charge is made for carrying out these investigations and interpreting their results, ownership of the resulting record, for example a radiograph, remains with Ambivet.

Complaints and Standards

Ambivet is committed to providing an excellent service and the highest standards of patient care. Any comments that would help to improve our services are always welcome.

On occasions when expectations are not met please direct your concerns as soon as possible to the vet. Most issues can be sorted out easily and quickly at the time they arise.

If however the problem cannot be resolved immediately please contact Ambivet by telephone or email. Hopefully your concerns can be addressed personally and promptly. If this is not possible Ambivet will explain any further action required including time frames. If you are still not satisfied please put your concerns in writing, addressed to Elaine Wild. To help us to help you please provide as much detail as possible with regard to dates, times, the nature of your complaint and the outcome you are hoping for. All written complaints will be acknowledged within 5 working days, detailing the proposed actions, and you will be kept updated of timescales involved.

If it is not possible to resolve the problem to your satisfaction you should contact the professional conduct department of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons at Belgravia house, 6264 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2 AF