Fees and payment - All charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Orchard Veterinary Group strongly supports the principal of pet insurance. Please ask for details. Please be aware that it is your responsibility to settle our account. We are happy to process claims free of charge but are unable to negotiate with an insurance company on your behalf. As well as cash we accept all major credit cards as well as cheques when accompanied by a banker’s card.

Copies of our fee list are posted throughout the practice, we are happy to discuss cost at any time.

We would be pleased to provide written estimates as to the probable costs of a course of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate can only be approximate, often a pet’s illness will not follow a predictable course.

Settlement terms - To help our business run smoothly and keep costs down we ask that payment is made at the time of consultation, the discharge of your pet or upon collection of drugs/diets.

Should an account not be settled within 10 days a reminder will be sent incurring an accounting fee in respect of interest. Should it be necessary for further reminders to be sent, further interest charges will be added to your account. After due notice, overdue accounts will be referred to our debt collection agency and further charges will be levied in respect of administrative costs incurred in collecting the debt such as production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls, home visits etc.

Any cheque returned by our bank as unpaid, any credit card payment not honoured and any cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in the original account being restored to the original sum with further charges added in respect of bank charges and administrative costs together with interest on the principal sum.

If for any reason you are unable to settle your account as specified we ask you to discuss the matter as soon as possible with a member of staff. Please note that we DO NOT offer credit. Installments or part payments of any account in cases of genuine hardship may ONLY be sanctioned with the express, written permission of a partner and may incur interest charges.

Medicines & records - It is illegal to supply prescription only medicines to animals which are not under our care in law. This means that we may need to see an animal before dispensing some repeat prescriptions. If you would like a written prescription we are happy to issue one.

Radiographs, clinical notes, laboratory results, referral reports and similar items remain the property of and will be retained by Orchard Veterinary Group. No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by one of the practice partners. No agent or person employed by or under contract with the practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way

Complaints - At Orchard Veterinary Group we try to work to the highest standards of customer care and clinical quality. We hope that you never have cause to complain about the standards of service we offer but if you have any complaints, suggestions or comments please contact the small animal partner or our practice manager in the first instance.