Banfield Pet Hospital

Our dog Onyx is going to be 2 years old this month. We used Banfield the whole time. The staff is great. I like how they call when Onyx is ready and explains everything they have done. We pick him up and they go over everything in writing. We love how they take care of our baby. He's happy and so are we.

Been using Banfield for the past 20 years or so. I move a lot so the convenience of transferring to a different one is as easy as making a phone call. My pets always receive great care and their communication is always great.

Generally positive experiences with Banfield over the past 14 years. Two issues more recently: My dog lost two teeth during cleaning and the veterinarian did not report it to me. When that happens it looks as if somebody is trying to hide something or did something wrong even if that didn't happen. Secondly, I was placed on hold a few days ago for 11 minutes, forced to listen to that witless advertising track the whole time. I finally called on my second line and the receptionist picked up right away while I was still on hold on the second line. Today, June 22nd 2023, I held for another 16 minutes listening to that mindlessly repetitive advertising. Once again, I kept that phone connected and called them back. Once again they answered on my other line as I listen to the first one. Banfield needs a modern phone system that arranges for callbacks or people who do so when messages are left. To their credit, more recently they've been quick to return calls. My time is valuable too. More recently, staff was quick to regenerate several years of my dog's records upon Direct request. I thank them for that. Additionally, kudos to Dr. Huggins for her skilled and professional treatment of my doggy. 3.75 stars.

Took my 11 yr old dog here for check ups and see why she was needing to go to the bathroom a lot. Was told had UTI for the second time in months. Medicine seemed to help some but problem was still there. Asked if needed an ultra sound but said probably needs another round of medicine and urine sample. No stones or bacteria found but decided to keep giving her medicine. Problem continued and over a 24 hour period started peeing blood. I decided against taking her back to Banfield and got an ultra sound from another nearby vet. Turns out had tumors and one on her bladder restriction her flow. Nothing the vet could do but tell her would be best to put down. Bladder tumor got to point was cutting off urine flow. So instead of having time to prep and not allowing my dog to get to this point we had to suddenly put her down that day. After this I decided I wanted nothing to do with banfield so wanted to cancel our other dogs plan and use another vet. After waiting an hour on the phone to speak to the wellness customer service she told me that I could not cancel because I was not the one that opened the profile as my GF was. So over the last 7 years of our second dog they have taken my money, allowed me to drop off and pick up my dogs, but when comes to canceling they would not allow me to. They would take my money, treat me like an owner, but now when doesn’t profit them they dont acknowledge that he is my dog as well. The customer service woman allowed me to cancel out other dogs plan due to death but said with him being allowed I could not. Agreed with me that she can see I have been paying and scheduling visits and the only thing she could say was for my GF to call back and wait another hour or put in a request online which everyone knows if they aren’t picking up the phone we should have no confidence in receiving a call back. If you want to end up feeling like a bad pet parent feel free to use Banfield but after this entire experience I will never give them another dollar! DMing an Instagram/Facebook account will not help treat a dog that passed. Instead of retroactively trying to “help” something based off a bad review just do better!

Please read this before choosing this vet. We have taken our pet here for years. Before the COVID pandemic, we have no complaints. However, post-pandemic operations have gone downhill. It is near impossible to get an in-office visit for your pet, and the only other option is a drop off time at 10 a.m. or earlier. When you do this, they keep the pet all day until near-close time. When asked for a later drop off time, we are told they don’t provide them and 10 a.m. is the latest. When you drop the pet off and ask what time they will be ready, the on-duty doctor always has surgery’s until 12-2 p.m.- so it’s hard to tell when the pet will be ready. We have also been told that “when we have the adequate staff” the pets are taken outside and given water (but they never seem to have the adequate staff). They also have zero grass outside, so where are they taking the pets out to even if they do have the staff? When our pet comes home, they drink a whole bowl of water- so is water really offered to them? What is the excuse to keep animals for 6-10 hours without water, without food, and without bathroom breaks? These are just operational complaints. On the more personal side, our pet was taken to the Gastonia Banfield hospital for the same issue over several months (bloody stool and sensitive stomach issues). The first doctor left no notes and recommended that if the issue persists, that we can revisit and move to the next step. Upon scheduling the second appointment, we stated that it is a follow-up regarding the first appointment and we’d like the same doctor. When we picked him up, the same procedures were followed and the same tests performed and the same conclusion was reached (with a different doctor). When we stated that this is not the first time being to the hospital for this issue, we were told that the first doctor left no notes and we had to pay (for a second time) for the same services and conclusion. The second doctor was amazing, left notes, and even went as far as to recommend a specialist for our specific issue. Our most recent situation was 100% negligence and could have been avoided. Our pet was having a negative reaction to a monthly medication. When we made the appointment, we asked that a note be made about his reaction and that we would like to explore other options. After the pet was dropped off, the doctor called and told us the option of a 6-month injection or 12-month injection. We chose the 6-month injection since we planned to switch vets after the end of the year. Not only did the doctor fail to advise us of the side-effects of this injection but also that nearly half of all pets have a reaction to it. The side effects of this injection are the same issues that we have been taking the pet to a specialist to for MONTHS. Upon picking up the pet, we were told that we had to renew our yearly subscription to pay for the injection- THEY GAVE HIM THE 12-MONTH INJECTION!!! The night of the injection, our pet had to go to the emergency hospital for dehydration, bloody stool, and trouble breathing. The next morning, we went back to Banfield regarding the reaction (as the instructions stated). Banfield told us that they didn't have the appropriate staff to treat his issues as the doctor had 6 surgeries and didn’t want him sitting in a kennel until the afternoon- they recommended that we should go back to the ER. For the next 36-hours, our pet was hospitalized for to SEVERE dehydration, throwing up, and bloody stool. After this issue, we contacted the vet for reimbursement and the location manager called us back to talk about our issue and why we were choosing to leave this vet hospital. After expressing our concerns, we find out that there was never a note left regarding his recent reaction to the monthly medication. So on top of the front desk agents AND doctors not leaving notes, they kept our pet for 6+ hours in an inadequate environment, did not advise us of medication side effects, and disregarded our decision on the 6-month injection. We will not be revisiting this vet.