The Banfield Pet Hospital in Daytona Beach is nothing but a scam to get you cash.I took my dog there for an ear infection, it was on a sunday the only place open.They diagnosed him, prescribed medicationat a cost of $149.00.Yesterday when i went to take him outside i noticed his ear bleeding, so i called, they said no problem bring him in .So i didand thats when they tried to screw me to the wall. They examined my dog, and the tech said she wouldbe right back with a plan.When she came back in the room she told me my dog needed surgery right away at a cost of$1360.70 to$1700.87. I told her she was out of her tree, but before i could leave they made me pay for the office visit$33.95.So i paid for the same diagnostics twice.So when i left there i went to Val-u- vet around the corner .They diagnosed my dog, treated him with a shot of penicillin .and cleaned his ear for$86.60 The dog is feeling better, im happy .The lesson is Stay away from Banfield Pet Hospitals .This one needs to be investigated by the state of florida

We took our puppy in to Banfield in early February when she was almost 8 weeks old. I had read about the wellness plan online and it sounded like a good way to get preventative care at a manageable cost. And although we now know that Banfield is not owned by Petsmart, at the time it seemed like we could trust them based on their affiliation. The first visit seemed fine (except for the 1 1/2 hour wait from our original appointment time), we were told that based on her breed and small size they recommended a diphenhydramine injection prior to all shots to avoid allergic reactions. It would be an additional $19.95 each time. We agreed, she had her corona vaccine that day and did fine.

The following week she was given the DHLPP vaccine, after the diphen. injection at a 4:30 appointment. We took her home and within 15 minutes she vomited and her face began swelling. We rushed her back and they gave her more benadryl, steroids, and fluids through an IV. We were also charged for emergency care, with a bill totaling $113 for the return visit. Even though she was improving rapidly, they were closing and insisted they leave the catheter in and we take her to an emergency animal hospital they referred us to. Thankfully the doctor there seemed reasonable. In fact he told us that based on his phone call with Banfield earlier, he would not have recommended bringing her in to the emergency hospital at all unless her condition worsened through the night, which was unlikely given her improvement. He removed the catheter and sent us home, no charge.

We were then told by Banfield that our puppy would need to be dropped off for all day "monitoring" for every vaccination, even the corona which she already tolerated fine. My husband an I both telecommute on different days of the week and are easily available to monitor her at home, which is less than 5 minutes from Banfield. But instead we had to leave her there in a cage all day, and pay for "petnurse care", "doctor's supervision", and "hospitalization ward fee", which does not include any medications. For her second DHLPP vaccination, she was first given the benadryl injection and also the steroids BEFORE the vaccine. She had no reaction, we left $110 poorer, but glad she was okay.

We brought her in for her rabies vaccination last week, and at 10am they called us to tell us she had no reaction and was doing fine. Imagine our surprise when we picked her up that afternoon and they handed us an invoice for $170 without comment. When we asked, they told us she started having "a reaction" around 12:30 (3-4 hours after the shot) and needed benadryl, steroids, iv fluids... They never called during the day to tell us anything about this. After we got her settled down in the car, I started to look at the invoice more carefully. They had given her another DHLPP instead of the rabies shot! My husband waited in the car while I went in to talk to them. They acted like this was no big deal and they would just reschedule her rabies. Really scary. At no time did any vet come out to talk to us about her reaction or the mix up.

At this point I had already done quite a bit of research on Banfield and the DHLPP vaccination. So the next day I called to speak directly to the Banfield vet. I told her that it was my understanding that puppies were protected after the third DHLPP vaccination and given her reactions, was she done with those? She just kept repeating that "distemper was so important" and that our dog still needed at least one if not two more over the next 6 weeks. No where can I find that 5 is the standard practice. She explained to me that they could try given steroids before the vaccine to prevent a reaction, something I thought they were already supposed to be doing based on our invoices!

I had had enough. I research a few local vets and made some phone calls to those that were the most reputable. I learned that the "L" portion of the vaccine, lepto, is thought to possibly be the cause of severe allergic reactions and is never given by either of the offices I spoke to. It is not a life threatening disease and they had not seen cases of this here in over 20 years. Why is Banfiled still given this vaccine to low risk dogs, and WHY CONTINUE GIVING IT WHEN THE POOR DOG IS HAVING SEVERE VACCINE REATIONS?! I asked about their policy on "monitoring" pets with vaccine reactions. They explained that as long as the shot was done early in the day and someone could watch her she SHOULD be at home, and in fact the anxiety caused by being kept at the vet all day can actually help bring a reaction on! I was also told that they give the three DHPP vaccines and that is it until the boosters. So in their opinion our puppy only needed a rabies shot and would be done for the next year.

I canceled her appointment at Banfield, and took her to the new vet for an exam and rabies shot. The vet was great and it was much more personal. She had an exam, a benadryl shot, a rabies shot, and 6 months of heartworm meds for under $60! To compare, we paid under $8 for the benadry at the new vet, Banfield's "member" fee was $18. Banfield sold us ONE heartworm pill for $10, 6 months at the new vet was $20. INSANE. We have already spent more than $600 ABOVE AND BEYOND the wellness plan costs in less than two months.

Please don't misunderstand me as I have spent a lot of time talking about $$ because it is easy to quantify. Our puppy's health is our primary concern. I have no idea what all of these steroids and the unnecessary vaccinations have done or will do to her small body. I am incredibly angry that she has been put through all of this. At this point we can only move forward and tell ourselves that at least we put an end to it when we did. We will continue to pay our contract until it ends. She will be spayed at the new vet and we will never set foot in another Banfield "Hospital" again. I just hope this story along with so many others can keep other pets and their owners from being taken advantage of.

Like so many others, I feel like I was led by my heartstrings to open my wallet, not only to come up empty but to lose my darling cat in the end!

We'd been taking our cat to Banfield for about 2 years and while the care seemed a bit brisk, the staff seemed nice and the hours were convenient. One complaint regarding overcharging was when they charged us $35 for an office visit to vaccinate our cat, not telling us beforehand that if we'd walked in between 2-3 THAT SAME DAY they did vaccination clinics without charge! We were miffed but let it slide.

Our cat had been checked every few months (he was fat and had anal issues) but hadn't suffered from anything serious until January when he suddenly stopped eating. After a day or so, I got really worried and took him in.

We took him in and after many tests, the vet diagnosed him with diabetes and a respiratory infection. The total for this discovery was over $500.

We had to bring him back the next week for a glucose check. That was another $75 or so. Then we had to bring him in the week afterwards for a glucose curve to pinpoint his proper dosage. That was ANOTHER $200 or so.

Meanwhile, our cat initially showed improvement, but then started going back downhill within 2 weeks. Four weeks after his first diagnosis, he had lost several pounds (an average of a pound a week after being on a diet for over a YEAR and not losing that much weight), he was much more listless, he was dehydrated, and he was showing increasing loss of balance and vision. We took him back and they did yet more tests on him (Another $300) and said it was because his glucose wasn't regulated. More glucose checks. Within another week, he was in even worse shape - he'd stopped eating on his own and had become incontinent and needed to be hand fed and watered. I made ANOTHER appointment and begged the doctor to see if there were any other factors or illnesses that needed to be addressed. The vet did a once-over and was like, "Well, I don't see anything." But he did need to be hydrated. That was another $80.

All this time, the vet acted cavalier, like my cat was just inches away from being cured (even though he seemed somewhat clueless as to the cause of our difficulties in actually doing so), while simultaneously suggesting that he needed hundreds of dollars of tests to "pinpoint" what was going on. This happened until I was literally out of money except for my next month's rent and said so. Then I got the guilt trip that I obviously wasn't willing to go the extra mile for my cat. I was kicking myself for sticking with Banfield by this point, but felt that I just didn't have the time or money to seek alternative care. I was stupidly optimistic that the vets seemed confident that they were on the right track, and I decided to trust them. Big mistake!

I wish this story had a happy ending, but it doesn't. The sixth week to the day, my poor precious cat was so weak and ill that we had to let him go. We never were able to stablize him medically and it seemed obvious to us that he was suffering from some other illness that the vets either misdiagnosed or just plain missed.

Even during that last appointment, though, the vet on staff had the nerve to ask us if we were "finished with treatment" (while we're crying and the cat is barely breathing) AND overcharge us for the euthanasia, including an office visit, of course! The quoted price was around $100 but we were charged over $160 in typical Banfield fashion, where they quote the price of dinner as $25 but don't let on that they'll be charging you another $5 each to use the plate, fork and knife.

After so many visits and so much money spent for nothing, I strongly suspect that Banfield isn't in the business of actually diagnosing and curing animals. Banfield is in the business of testing animals. From what I've read of the other complaints, it seems that Banfield is happy to test pets pretty much to death unless you're smart enough to go to a real vet.

I just find it hard to believe that it cost well over $1000 to essentially FAIL to treat my pet for a relatively common disease. At no point beyond the first week did my pet show any signs of improvement- quite the opposite- yet the vets acted like his deterioration was business as usual and displayed no sense of urgency in modifying his treatment or recommending alternative care. In fact, even the week before when my cat was in even worse shape and the plan was to switch medication, they decided instead to "wait and see." Basically, they waited until they could see him get put down!

I just can't wrap my mind around it. Either my cat was suffering from a common illness and the vets were too incompetent and/or financially unmotivated to treat it properly, or my cat was suffering from a serious illness and they just bled me dry until the inevitable happened. Which is worse?! Either way I was traumatized and my cat, who had the loving patience and temperament of a saint and hardly complained even when the needles were coming fast and fierce, was made to suffer for weeks. I can't even think of that without feeling my heart break all over again.

We have a new cat now and Hell will freeze over before he sees the inside of a Banfield.

I took my 18 week old Siberian Husky to Banfield to be chipped, and he came out with PARVO. He died 9 days later. They admitted he could have contacted it in their hospital, but accepted no responsibly. They also refused to treat him without payment, which I had to put out to a Pet Emergency Hospital 2 days before. No money, treatment for your dog. Not even any compassion, they let my dog die, and they could have been the cause. I even offered to pay if I could have paid in a few payments, but OH *** NO! I am on a fixed income, so I had to watch my dog pass away. Sure they are the place that quotes: "We treat you like family"

I have a wellness plan with Banfield for both of my dogs and always believed that it was like insurance, not a contract for payments. I was wrong.
Last year my son died. As a result of this tragedy I incurred several thousand dollars in medical bills before his death, in addition to funeral related expenses after wards and could no longer afford the monthly wellness plan payments. My only income is disability. Due to the extreme extenuating circumstances I tried to cancel the wellness plan, but they have refused to allow me to do so. They 'forgave' a few months payments, but have insisted on me paying the balance of the contract at the previous monthly rate. As I can no longer afford that, I volunteered to pay $20 a month until the balance is paid in full. They have rejected this too and have declined to accept my checks for the lesser payment. I wish I had been aware of all of these complaints before I signed up for their plan. They are ruthless. While they have declined to accept $20 a month, they call me repeatedly with threats to ruin my credit, threats of turning the account over to a collections agency, rude responses on the phone, and have refused to acknowledge or respond to a single letter (or checks) mailed to their home office.
There are other options for pet care available. I urge anyone reading this to use them and to stay clear of Banfield!