Don't let your vet have all your money - visit this site and save pounds (petdrugsquick.co.uk)

Member Name: wearsidelass

Product:	petdrugsquick.co.uk
Date:	31/01/05 (1869 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saves you a lot of money

Disadvantages: Your vet will charge you for the prescription or signing of the online prescription form

For all of you who have pets, this site is a little gem.

I have pet insurance but, unfortunately, one of my dogs, Molly, contracted dry eyes when I was insured through Tescos and, consequently, after 12 months’ claims, Tesco refused to pay for any more treatment – Molly needs Optimmune eye ointment for life and you can only obtain this via your vet. I changed pet insurers and took out the best policy I could so that both my dogs are covered for life for all ailments but the insurers made an exemption against Molly’s dry eye treatmet.

So, for the past two and a half years I have been paying for the Optimmune and dry eye tests. Now this has amounted to quite a substantial amount of money. Each time I visit the vet to have Molly checked (he insists he will not keep issuing tubes of Optimmune as he has to check her eyes) it costs me £18 consultant fee, £38 for one tube of Optimmune which lasts maximum 6 weeks (I tried to squeeze 8 weeks out of each tube but this wasn’t really feasible) £5 dry eye test, £3 for a bottle of liquid tears (this helps the Optimmune to spread around the eyeball) PLUS VAT on the whole lot and I think I paid just under £70 at my last visit. Now this is quite a bit, especially having to go every six weeks!

However, earlier this year, I was reading a review (sorry but I can’t remember who it was) and the lady happened to mention that she found an internet company which dispenses prescription medication for pets. She also said that she approached her vet and he matched the price for the medication as indicated on this website. I took a look at the website and was impressed. I then consequently totally forgot about it until recently.

Molly was due to have another tube of Optimmune so I decided to look on the internet site and find out how much it would cost and how the system worked.

I first of all logged on to: www.petdrugsquick.co.uk and was taken straight to their home page. This shows their telephone number and email address together with a listing of Pet Drug Categories and Special Offers. There is a Quick Search button and at the bottom of the page a login section. If you want to order via the internet then you must register and use the login facility.

I typed in “Optimmune” in the search section and it immediately took me to the page for this product. It showed me all the necessary details and I did have my tube of ointment to hand to check that it was correct. What did surprise me was the actual cost - £22.20 (ex VAT) as opposed to £38 (ex VAT) from my vet. A saving of almost £16 per tube! I was astonished and bewildered as to how my vet could warrant charging £16. After all, this website are making a profit at selling the ointment at £22.20.

I then decided to check another product that I can only purchase through my vet – Frontline – and found that I could purchase this for half the price my vet charged.

That was it. I was totally annoyed now and felt that I had been ripped off by my vet.

I telephoned the number given on the website and a very pleasant lady answered. I was told that the Competition Commission had recently been investigating Prescription Only Medicines (POMs) and that it had recommended that veterinary surgeons should be able to supply medication against a prescription issued by a different vet irrespective that the animal was not being treated by him/her.

As a result of this investigation pet owners can choose to purchase their pets’ medication from a different vet – very similar to our system of prescriptions issued from our doctor – it is our choice where we have the prescription dispensed. But now, vets can widen their client base and some are carrying significant stocks to appease the widening client base.

So, how do I get Optimmune cheaper?

She told me I needed to get a prescription from my vet and that he would probably make a small charge for it. I should then either order via the internet or telephone and payment would be taken from my bank straightaway. I then had to send off the prescription to them and, on receipt of this, they would send out the medication to me by post. I was told that a pharmacist visited them each day and checked that the medication ordered matched the prescription and only then could the order be dispatched.

I had spoken to my vet by phone about this website and told him that I would be wanting a prescription when I next visited. He wasn’t happy about this at all and was astonished at the price at which I could purchase the Optimmune. He told me that he couldn’t buy the Optimmune in for that price and couldn’t understand how they could sell it at such a low price. However, he quoted me £4 for each prescription.

So, I duly telephoned his receptionist and requested a prescription of 2 tubes of Optimmune. She was baffled but I told her I had previously spoken to the vet about it. I visited the vet 24 hours later but no prescription was ready. After about 10 minutes of waiting, my vet came out to see me about this request. He tried to tell me that Molly got it under my insurance policy! To which I reminded him about her case and he remembered! Could I go back the following day and the prescription would be ready (his wife had to type it). I offered to go into his office and type it myself but he politely refused my offer of help. Next day arrived, went to the vet, prescription typed but not signed. My patience was wearing very thin. After much ado, prescription signed and the receptionist wanted to charge me £7.50. No way I told her, I was quoted £4 and I wouldn’t pay a penny more. If I didn’t get the prescription for £4 I would take my custom elsewhere. I was really furious. Vet came out, checked Molly’s notes saying there was no mention of £4 for the prescription. I asked him if he was calling me a liar to which he said “of course not, I will honour £4 charge”. Prescription received.

Arrived home and duly registered on www.petdrugsquick.co.uk and proceeded to order the Optimmune. A prescription form is raised showing your order and you are actually supposed to print this form (after payment has been made) and then take it to the vet to authorise before sending it to Pet Drugs Quick. However, I printed the form and attached the prescription from the vet and sent it off. Three days later I received two tubes of Optimmune. I was charged £1.50 for postage and package but, even allowing for this and the £4 vet fee, I saved £26.50.

This website sells medication for all types of pets including cats, dogs, horses, pigeons etc. It also sells pet foods and to be honest the list is so massive that I couldn’t possibly list everything.

What I can tell you is that this site saves you money. Products such as Frontline cannot be claimed through insurance so all of you pet owners out there can save yourselves money by getting a prescription for Frontline (or similar) from your vets and purchasing it through this site. I know that when my Frontline runs out for my pets I will certainly ask for a prescription and save myself 50% of the cost I had recently paid to my vet!

I don’t mind anyone making a profit but I do think that some of our vets are just taking our eyes out and coming back for the sockets! They now we love our pets and we will pay almost anything to keep our pets healthy but now help is at hand and our vets don’t have the monopoly that they used to!

So, I can only say to you pet owners that you should try out this website.

Drop me a line in my guest book if you use them and also the reaction of your vet.

Pet drugs Quick is a subsidiary of FarmPharm, a limited company with a board of directors composed of veterinary surgeons and pharmacists
Contact:
pet drugs Quick
Suite One
Cockenzie Business Centre
Edinburgh Rd
Prestonpan
EH32 0XL

Tel No : 01875 815 500
Email: info@petdrugsquick.co.uk
Web: www.petdrugsquick.co.uk

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