Terms of Business
We aim for a simple and competitive pricing system that provides good value to our clients. We charge an hourly rate calculated by ‘work time on farm’ (naturally, social time spent discussing football, family and fun over a coffee is deducted). We aim to be as efficient as possible on farm and as you pay by the hour you will benefit from being ready for us with animals well restrained.
Clients who have regular routine work and are members of health clubs benefit from a discounted hourly rate – a reward for regular use of our services. Please contact us for the current hourly rate.
Pre-booked regular routine visits do not attract a visit fee. Emergency and ad hoc visits have a visit fee in addition to time worked. There is an Out Of Hours Visit fee which is applicable outside 8.30-5 weekdays.
Other than medicines and materials used there are no other charges added (no injection fees, examination fees etc).
There are a few exceptions to hourly rate charging (namely lambings, ewe caesareans, bull fertility testing and embryo transfer) – this is purely to simplify farm budgeting and decision making.
Telephone advice is not charged for; if there is a lot to discuss the vet will arrange for a suitable appointment to the cover the topic fully.
Medicines pricing
As a truly independent practice we negotiate our terms with all manufacturers opening the whole market to us. We have no-one dictating which companies to deal with. This allows us to access the best prices for all drugs. Our philosophy is to provide medicines at internet competitive prices – we do not build our business model around medicine sales, we would rather provide excellent health care where medicine use can be reduced.
We fix our medicine costs for 12 months, in April, after agreeing terms with our suppliers. Comparisons with several internet sites allows us to be confident that our medicines are highly competitive. Any promotions and offers throughout the year will be advertised via the monthly newsletter.
Payment
Bills are issued at the end of the month. Payment is required within 30 days to allow us to pay our medicine suppliers and staff. We are working to tight margin to keep our prices competitive.
Credit is not available – it does no-one any favours to have an outstanding account growing. If you are having difficulty paying any invoice please do not hesitate to get in touch to discuss.
Payment is accepted by cash, cheque, BACS or direct debit.
Efficiency
You can save money on your hourly rate by having animals well restrained and ready for your vet visit, this also helps our vets carry out a more thorough job. We have satellite tracking systems in our vet’s cars to allow us to be as efficient as possible and plan the working day. We have sufficient vets in the area to provide a prompt service.
A vet is usually available to speak to on the phone, if all vets are busy you can leave a message for one to phone you back as soon as they are available. If your enquiry is urgent a visit may be more prudent – obviously emergency visits must take priority.
Out of hours
We benefit from our Garstang companion animal side having a team in the building 24 hours a day 365 days a year who answer our calls out of normal office hours. Occasionally they will be too busy to answer the phone in which case a professional answering service will answer the call and deal with your query. Please ensure you make your enquiry clear and provide a name, address and phone number. Any queries requiring a vet (either visit or telephone enquiry) will be passed directly to the on-call vet who will call you straight back. If the on-call vet is busy on a callout please make sure you let the person on the phone know whether it is an urgent enquiry or not – they can then summon an alternative vet or take a message for when the vet has finished.
We charge an out of hours visit fee for visits outside our office hours.
TB testing
We deal directly with APHA to deliver statutory and private TB testing. If you wish us to carry out your TB test please contact Lanes Vets to ensure you are registered with APHA so we can receive your work list. All our vets are qualified to carry out TB testing and carry out testing to the highest standard. Statutory testing is carried out free of charge and for large tests we provide a clerical person free of charge to ensure the paperwork is completed correctly.
