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should I send this?

I've been having a back and forth email discussion with one of my clients who thinks her vet bill was too high. The background on this final email, which I have not sent, is that she said her horse's bill for dental work was higher than her mother's recent visit to the dentist, and the "overhead for a dentist's office is higher than the overhead for a vet's truck, yet the vet charged more than the dentist". I'm so angry I just want to kick her out but have been trying to be nice. She's not backing down from her position that the bill was too high though and I'm running out of patience. I'm not sure what I am supposed to do about the vet bill anyway... say "gee, you're right! I'll pay your bill and change vets for my entire herd of sixteen horses just because you want me to!" Here's what I wrote and saved as a draft: It was probably unfair of me to call my vet out for your horse before you knew the full background regarding vets in this area and my relationship with this particular equine hospital. I've been riding in this area for nearly 30 years and working as a professional for over a decade. Most of this time has been spent in public boarding barns so I have watched nearly every equine vet in the area at work. The very reason that I use ZZZZZ is that they do NOT do what you described. I have witnessed numerous other vets ordering every test and prescribing every medication possible, just because they figure horse owners have deep pockets. However, ZZZZZ knows that my clients are not "Cornerstone" clients (check out the board and training rates there!) and always ask before doing anything expensive. When we were diagnosing Oliver's lameness, the vet called the owner in the middle of the exam to discuss options and prices before going any further with the diagnostics. There is only one other vet who I like and trust to work on my horses. He tends to run hours and hours late, however, so I no longer use him. My time is worth money and I just can't afford to wait three, four, or five hours for a vet to show up. When I moved to my current location and called ZZZZZ to give them my new address and they told me that I was just outside their practice range. Their hospital is located in Gresham, over an hour from my farm. I asked them if there was a vet in my area that they could recommend and they told me there was not, which was what I had expected since I pretty much know everyone. There are so few vets who are willing to do horses any more and my area is definitely lacking. Then they told me that they would be willing to continue to treat my horses but would need to charge $90 for a vet call, which is only $10 more than their usual call. $80 is in line with other vets in the area, by the way. The vet I mentioned above who I like but runs late charges $75. I gladly pay the $90, knowing that they are punctual, the quality is there, and the vets in the practice are willing to work with my budget and the budgets of my clients. When I find a good thing, I am fiercely loyal. My dog's vet used to be a large animal vet but changed his focus when he realized how little money he was making. He told me he thought about it, and he could either spend his entire morning driving to one farm to diagnose a non-specific lameness in one horse, or he could stay in his office and see ten to fifteen dogs in that same period of time. The answer was simple for him, and he got out of large animals. A human dentist is in the same situation. (Although I went to my dentist recently and definitely paid more for my visit than you had to pay for Maggie's!) When you look at what a medical practitioner makes, you have to think about how many patients they can actually see in an hour. Again, large animal vets are not getting rich off of us. As far as pricing horses outside the range of people goes, I hope you realize that my own rates are very much on the low end for our area. I've had several of my colleagues tell me to raise my rates for lessons and training or people won't take me seriously. I hesitate to do it because I know I have several families who would struggle if my rates were much higher. Horses are a luxury item and will never be accessible to everyone, but I try to at least keep it in the range of a normal, middle to upper-middle class family. I don't really have an agenda in mind for telling you this, but please realize that the extra you feel you spent on the vet has more than been made up for in my low training rates for Maggie. If you feel that you can find a better trainer for the money, or that you would be better able to sell Maggie yourself, please feel free to do so.

Morgan Mon, 03/02/2009 - 13:58

I didn't read the whole thing in detail but as far as her arguement about the people dentist charging less, it's rediculus. She only looks at the cost of a building v. truck??? One of the big factors (and I've had to look at this as a farrier) is TIME. A human dentist has people walk in to their apointment and spends just enough time to get the job done, before moving on to the next. Vets and farriers doing farm call have the time in the truck to account for as well, not to mention fuel costs. horse teeth are a lot bigger too. :P It's also more dangerous, just by the fact of being around a horse. And most vets also have an office to keep up just like a human dentist would in addition to the truck. (my vet doesn't but that's just him lol). She clearly has no clue about how vets come up with what they charge.
I've met a few people like that in trimming, I just tell people what I charge and they can hire me or not, it's up to them. I'm not going out of my way for anyone.
I must charge at least $35 plus small trip charge for my trimming service, because I spend about the same amount of time and mental effort giving a good barefoot trim as a farrier would to shoe, I just don't have to pay for the shoes or equipment for shoeing is all, every other cost is the same on my end. The farrier who only charge a small fee for "just a trim" are just clip and rasp and done without detail and make their main money from shoeing so they can afford to charge less. And most people are fine with what I charge, in fact I find I have been getting [i]tips[/i] at the first trim when they see the results :S. And people are just happy that I will trim their barefoot horse at all, other farriers won't even come out for trimming a single horse. :hammer I will even likely be raising my fee slightly for new clients once I've built up a decent client base , have more experience, and finished certification.

Sara Mon, 03/02/2009 - 14:17

I know... I brought up the issue of time in the third paragraph of the letter. Sorry, I know it's long! I had a lot more to say and that's what I pared it down to. :shock:

I also thought about the issues of potential danger, and the vet's full hospital that they maintain in Gresham that has stalls, indoor arena, etc which I'm pretty sure cost more to build than her dentist pays to lease a small office. It was getting so long though that I was afraid my client would stop reading.

Right now I just want the vet-whiner gone. She already whined about the price of board being higher than in California, but in California she was pasture boarding and here she has a stall. In fact, these people have LAND and if they wanted to pasture board they could take her home. They are with me specifically so their pony can be indoors and they can ride indoors but compared that, money-wise, to a California pasture.

This is the same pony who arrived with worms, by the way, and I was almost tempted to ask if her vet with the super low fees was the same one who was deworming the pony before, and whether he got his degree out of a Cracker Jack box.

Monsterpony Mon, 03/02/2009 - 16:10

Is her cost for the human dentist before or after insurance? Either way, she should stop complaining. If she didn't get the teeth done, then she would be paying a heck of a lot more for feed when Maggie can no longer chew.

Sara Mon, 03/02/2009 - 16:41

[quote="Monsterpony"]Is her cost for the human dentist before or after insurance? [/quote]

I had thought of that too but didn't want to insult her intelligence too much. And what she would really end up complaining about is the board and training she would have to pay forever and ever because no one will buy her pony with her head tipped sideways to the right! The head tipping problem... solved with dental work. Now the pony goes up for sale.

critterkeeper Tue, 03/03/2009 - 10:56

Sounds to me like your client is one of those 'hang a sign around the pony's neck and stake it out beside the road.' mentalities that we occassionally see around here. :BH :hammer

Sara Tue, 03/03/2009 - 11:07

The thing is that she's not! Both vehicles I've seen her come in are expensive and she wants (and can expect) decent money from selling this pony. The pony isn't going to fetch hunter pony prices but she's not low end either. Maybe the owner is just one of those people who wants to stop spending any money at all on a horse once it's for sale... she's detached herself from ownership.

TwinCreeksFarm Tue, 03/03/2009 - 15:46

I don't reccommend you kick her out, but I don't think I could personally hold my temper! She would get a verbal lashing just because she's ignorant (well I say this now, but if I were in the position I think I could hold it in). I like your letter, it nicely states what'd you like to tell her (withholding the choice words you might have for her).
She sounds like someone who just doesn't understand, and probably complains about everything. I agree, sell that pony quick!

supaspot60 Wed, 03/04/2009 - 18:05

I agree - take off the last paragraph and send it , if that does'nt work then set Rabbitsfizz onto her :HB :hammer

Sara Sun, 03/08/2009 - 15:52

I'm very bad on the phone. :oops:

Oh, and she started the email conversation by emailing me to complain about the bill.

NZ Appaloosas Mon, 03/09/2009 - 19:38

Emailing is like letters--easy to keep a copy of, and to keep track of what the other person says...unlike phone calls. Make sure you print out and put into her file a copy of each email she sends and your responses. When push comes to shove, paper trails can be mighty powerful.

Diane

Sara Mon, 03/09/2009 - 22:12

Very true. In the past I was able to use emails as a legal "paper" trail to prove an agreement that the other party tried to go back on.

TwinCreeksFarm Wed, 03/11/2009 - 18:58

Was just thinking -- where's missmagus at? Can anybody get in touch with her to tell her where we're at?

accphotography Wed, 03/11/2009 - 20:17

MissMagus... is that the one from Norway (is it Norway?) or the owner of Hollywood White? I can't recall. If it's the former, no clue sadly. Shame, I'll miss her.

ACC

Sara Wed, 03/11/2009 - 22:33

[quote="Paintlover"]Well, the good thing is most people use the same username for the forums they join. So I googled MissMagus and I found her here,
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/forum/p…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or here is her website,
http://www.forgottenlane.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:toast[/quote]

I did the same thing and found her at a black horse but I don't have an account there any more :)

Sara Wed, 03/11/2009 - 23:52

Meavey may have been from the Netherlands. :?:

This is hard!

Oh... jilmavi? Was that her?

And what about the Canadian woman who spoke French... was that Zoom or something like that?