Vets, bills and anger

Originally Posted by tanis34

i go to a brilliant vet he is one of the old school ,doesn't get on well with people but he is great with the animals ,had to take the dog down to have a growth removed £65 pounds for the op then when i took him for the check up he only charged £6
i dunno how he maks it pay

He probably doesnt! - unless he is a one man band on his own with hardly any overheads - but as I said before when you are running a business you have to charge what is appropriate to cover your overheads - that includes me - I only spend approximately 1/3 of my working time actually painting - the rest is admin, collecting supplies, frames etc and I have insurance, accountancy fees etc etc. People often gasp when I quote for paintings but thats what it costs me to make a meagre living - if I charged any less Id be making a loss!

I do wish people who have "proper" jobs would spare a thought for those of us going it alone...we shouldnt have to justify why we charge what we do...my 'ol man gets the same attitude - (he is a self employed mechanic) and my Father used to get the same (he ran his own Architectural Practice).

I can understand why vets have a set consultancy fee - if you have an appointment system you can't book anything else into that slot in case you do need the whole consultation to deal with the situation. Also, they tend to work on averages, so sometimes it will take a bit more than the allotted time and they won't charge you extra.

At the end of the day it's like anything other business - if you don't like the service they provide/someone else offers a better deal, than you can always choose to go elsewhere in future. And if they pee enough people off they'll start to lose customers and will have to change their practices if they want to survive.

I do have a lot of sympthy for those who have to pay out a lot to treat a pet, but tbh that's what it costs to deliver. I have several friends who are vets and yes they earn a decent wage but not actually that extravagent (especially considering the amount of time taken to qualify), and those who have their own practices are constantly stressed about making ends meet, etc.