Coral Springs Animal Hospital

Every conversation with the Coral Springs Animal Hospital front office and billing department has been awful, and NOT because I was ever unwilling to pay what I owe (although now I am leaning in that direction).

I paid $4000 the day my girl was put to sleep, and said I would pay $50 a month until the balance of $1400 was paid. I agreed to start paying on January 31, and yesterday, I went in person and paid the first $50 with CareCredit.

It was such a terrible experience for absolutely no reason but CSAH’s peculiar billing procedure. I have not received a bill, I do not know what services were provided for $5400. It is possible I was given a printout of some sort when I left the hospital the day she died, but I don't know where it is, if that is the case, I have not received anything since then that indicates what was owed, on what date, what services were provided - nothing memorializing the conversation or even sending the documents that needed to be signed. Why wouldn’t that information be put in the mail, so I could sign the agreement and return it?

Meanwhile, I have had numerous phone calls, right from the start. They start out ok but they end nasty. "Sorry for your loss, how will you pay your balance today?" Right from the start, the idea that I had to pay the entire amount of this gigantic bill right away, was spoken about in a way that normalized it. It took me a minute before it hit me – I can’t pay the balance all at once!

The idea that I would pay $4000 with my Discover card and then pay an additional $1400 on CareCredit with only 6 months of interest free credit is absurd, especially considering that the amount of interest-free credit is under the hospital's control! If CSAH allowed 24 or 36 months of interest free credit, it would not be a discussion. I apologize in advance if I am wrong, but I don't see how the amount of time interest free credit is extended wouldn't be under the hospital’s control.

You rude administrative staff feel entitled to make angry phone calls, and I have the evidence on my phone. Why is she angry? Because I altered the plan we had discussed, when I realized what made sense for me. The new plan is that I will make the monthly payments with CareCredit, instead of another credit card. I can set it up every month, and this is what I intended to do, until my eyes were opened.

This new plan should have been met with “thank you very much” and I should only receive a call if I miss a payment. I actually received an angry phone call today because I would not give out a credit card other than CareCredit. That is so absurd, I am repeating it.

I was angry enough before I looked at other people's Yelp reviews, referring to your cold-hearted collection processes and price gouging.

Every phone call was rude, with the exception of the few minutes it took to process my first payment. Even processing my second payment didn't stop their rudeness. The cold treatment I received when I went to pick up my girl's ashes was just wrong.

I went in to get the ashes and make my first payment. I wasn’t expecting a discussion about the payment plan. They will say "We just needed her to sign the agreement" but honestly, they did not. I didn't mind signing the paper; I had a hard time with the insensitive way I was spoken to and the insistence that I had to give them a credit card number, when I had just paid my bill and I was there to pick up ashes.

I did not appreciate being treated like I was making their job hard. They did not need my credit card number once I had just charged $50 on CareCredit and assured them I would continue to pay $50 a month until the debt is paid. How that was not sufficient is unfathomable.

I literally said "If you are going to hold the ashes hostage, I don't need to take them." The young woman said no, she was not doing that, but actually she was.

I was already so disappointed by every interaction with the admin side of this hospital, I have not only lost my desire to make this payment the highest priority every month, I intend to contact the Attorney General, and my Congresswoman.

The very first conversation I had about the balance I owed was nasty. I would have forgotten by now if every ensuing conversation hadn't been so "predatory"... and if they had kindly given me the ashes yesterday instead of turning it into a transaction, I wouldn’t be so upset. There are consequences to these actions. I have wondered since all of this started what do people do who don’t have the credit to pay these enormous bills.

My girl died because I couldn’t afford emergency exploratory surgery in the middle of the night. I did not resent the bill I ended up with until I analyzed how poorly I have been treated and now that I find out others have also been devastated by these enormous bills and the rude calls from CSAH, it has suddenly dawned on me how wrong this is.