Terms and Conditions

1) Appointments and consultations. All appointments and examinations with the vet will be charged a fee. Clients and their pets are attended to by veterinary surgeons and nurses during consulting hours by appointment. The charging process is based on the allocation of appointments, or/and the consultation process, with or without a pet present. Urgent cases will be seen outside consulting hours during the day, but a higher fee may be applied. A higher fee may also be applied if clients arrive at the surgery without an appointment.  All prices are inclusive of VAT at the current rate. 

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2) Out of hours and emergency care.  We do not currently have provision to care for pets outside normal working hours.  Our out of hours and emergency care is provided by Vets Now Peterborough, Byre Veterinary Surgery, 32, Papyrus Road, Peterborough, PE4 5BH.

 

3) Estimates. Oakdale Vets will provide written estimates of costs for procedures and treatments, please note that an estimate may only be approximate. However, we will do our best to keep clients fully informed of costs during the course of treatment.

 

4) Payment. All fees are to be paid for at the time. The practice accepts credit and debit cards and cash payments.

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5) Payment terms – insured pets. We do not accept payments direct from Insurers (with the exception of VETSURE incurance policy holders) but request payment of fees when incurred. Clients will be requested to make a claim to their insurers for direct payment to the client and to have their insurance payment made directly to them.

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6) Medicine returns. Unfortunately, once medicines have left the premises, we cannot accept their return for credit, refund or swap unless under exceptional circumstances.  

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7) Second opinions and referrals. We are always open to seeking second opinions from other colleagues and/or referring pets for specialist care.  If this is not raised with you and you wish to pursue a second opinion/referral then please do not hesitate to discuss this with the vet or practice manager. When another veterinary practice requires the details of a patient’s history for the purposes of a second opinion, a patient referral or if a client has changed practice, then the records will be passed directly to the second practice and/or to the client at the request of the client. ​

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8) Reminders. We aim to send vaccination reminders annually, usually by text, however, we do this as a courtesy service and there is no obligation on the practice or the staff regarding the consequences of failure to provide such reminders or for owner not to have acted upon them.

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9. The practice strictly follows the terms and conditions set out by the Data Protection Act 1998. Client information is kept on a secure online database which is protected by a case sensitive passwords. Third parties will not be given access to your personal data without gaining consent beforehand. Only employed staff members have access to information kept by the practice and owners are free to request access to their information at any time. To ensure information is accurate, we do ask that clients keep us up to date with changes of address and telephone.

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10. Debt Recovery Charges

 

In the event of non-payment of any invoice in its entirety within the required period, further administrative and debt recovery charges may be applied to your account and referral to Debt Recovery can take place forthwith. Please note that upon referral to a debt recovery agency of our choice, you will incur additional fees. You agree to reimburse us of all debt recovery charges we incur in the pursuit of recovering the debt due to the additional correspondence, phone calls, reports, administration costs and other debt recovery actions. You contractually agree to pay these additional debt recovery sums and interest as a result of your non-payment under the agreed payment terms.

 

If the account remains in arrears 30 days after referral to the debt recovery agency, we reserve the right to commence legal proceedings. You agree that you will be liable for any additional debt recovery costs thereafter as well as legal costs. You agree to be liable for our legal costs on an indemnity basis in addition to the principal sum and interest. We reserve the right to not undertake any further commercial dealings while the debt is outstanding and we can suspend the provision of any further goods and/or services until the outstanding sum is paid in full. Please note county court judgments can impact your credit rating. Interest will be applied at 8% above the Bank of England base rate.

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