Awful.
* You can't leave a phone message. The recording actually says "this machine does not accept messages."
* Most of the staff is very pleasant, but a few people on the business end of the practice are very... not. The office manager, Dawn, made me cry when I asked if she would please hold my $900.00 check for two days so I could make a deposit that would cover the full amount. To be fair, I did buy a large supply of medication that could have waited until the check would clear, but it couldn't hurt to ask, right? Wrong. Apparently it hurt a lot. It would have sufficed for her to politely say, "I'm sorry, we can't do that." Instead, she launched into an openly angry explanation of how I don't understand her job and that the deposits must all be made at once. She agreed to wait the two days by snapping, "Next time, don't even ask!" To her credit, she did call to apologize. She was probably just having a bad day, but so was I. I hadn't planned on mentioning Dawn by name, but I see that several other yelpers already have, and her employer obviously isn't getting the message about her.
* After one doctor referred me to a veterinary oral surgeon, another said my dog's teeth are fine. I realize that differences of professional opinion do occur, but it was unsettling because that seemed like a pretty straightforward judgment call.
* I took my dog to have her thyroid checked on Monday and was told that, for best results, the blood work should be drawn "4-6 hours after her last pill" (this would have been nice to know ahead of time). So we skipped her pill on Thursday morning and my boyfriend took her back for the thyroid test. Now they tell him that, by saying "4-6 hours after her last pill," they meant the exact 2-hour window of time. No fewer than 4 hours, and no more than 6 hours. So now she has to go back a third time for the same thyroid test. Guess what?? We're not going back. EVER. I too, will be following the other yelpers to the Clocktower Animal Hospital.
* These are only the examples that come to mind at the moment. I've gone to the Reston Animal Hospital multiple times every year since 2005, and there is ALWAYS a problem.
*UPDATE: I called on Thursday evening to request my dogs' records. They told me they'd be prepared and waiting for me at the front desk by the next day. My boyfriend went there on Saturday and they can't find our records anywhere.
*UPDATE: The records showed up in the mail on Saturday. It's very nice that they mailed them, I just wish they hadn't also told me to pick them up. I just called the Clocktower Animal Hospital down the street, and they're already a breath of fresh air. I told them my dog needs a thyroid test - they scheduled me for noon tomorrow and were very clear that she needs to have her last pill between 6 and 8 am.
Good riddance Reston Animal Hospital. I'm sorry I waited so long to leave and spent SO much money there. read more