linnaeusgroup.co.uk Avis 18

I used to love my vets practice in Uppingham, and I still think the staff are great. Really friendly and professional. However, their charges since Linnaeus took over are absolutely ridiculous. I won’t go into the £2,500 we have paid in the last few months for 2 operations under general anaesthetic and a procedure under sedation for our dog, which is just becoming unsustainable and, frankly, way overpriced but, following the most recent operation on his eye, he required antibiotic eye ointment and then eye drops. These are the same as we humans use for conjunctivitis. Firstly, I was charged £23.04 for a tube of ointment that is available over the counter at around £7, this in itself was outrageous but the eye drops are another story again! Similar to the eye ointment, the drops are available over the counter in any pharmacy. e.g. I have had them for myself from Tesco before for £11.99 and most recently managed to purchase some online for £7.99. What did the vets try to charge me for exactly the same product in exactly the same 10ml size?……£44.24 - a 454% mark up!! How on earth can this be justifiable? I understand that the government is capping vets prescription charges, for just this very reason, but this isn’t until next year. I believe under the new cap I would have paid £21.00 for the first prescription relevant to a round of treatment, followed by £12.50 for any further prescriptions under the same consultation thereafter. More reasonable but still very high compared to prices elsewhere and they are still making money on these prices! It seems that our vets being taken over by huge companies, in this instance Mars Veterinary, are now more about money and greed than animal care. Their goal is apparently ‘A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS’. I think this should be changed to a ‘BETTER WORLD FOR VETS’ if they were to be absolutely truthful. Mars / Linnaeus…’PADDING WALLETS, ONE PET AT A TIME’….

Since this awful company took over my local vet practice the prices have got absolutely ridiculous. I work in the pet industry and I used to recommend my vets to all my customer . Not any more. Shocking how these big companies are allowed to do this. Needed to get some metacam for my dog yesterday and my vets now charge £38 for a 32ml bottle. Looked online and can get it for £5.96 😡 for gods sake how are you allowed to do this to people and more important you obviously couldn't care less. If i used your price margines in my business I wouldn't have any customers 😡😡😡😡😡😡

These bought our vets practise. My pets vets in Leigh. I’d been with them for years when it was a privately owned practise. Unknowns to me the practise was sold around covid times. When o started having issues with my dogs I took him in only to find they had hiked the prices to ridiculous prices. The vets were a family owned and it didn’t seem to have the same family feel. My dog had a lump. 3 separate occasions I had to take him back for this paying 3 times a consultation fee. When they finally decided to biopsy it we were booked in for the procedure again we were charged a consultation fee. It turned out he had lymphoma. I told them straight up I could no longer afford their prices. We were given pain relief (gabapentin) and referred to the PDSA. He was given only gabapentin to treat his symptoms. 3 weeks it took me to get into the PDSA because I repeatedly had to ask for his medical records to be sent. In this time my dogs lumps got bigger and bigger. When we finally got see someone he was put straight on to palliative care and was given steroids. Within days the lumps had reduced massively in size and he was himself again untill the treatments stopped working. Why the practise don’t start him on the same I’ll never know. They also didn’t tell us about a heart murmur they had picked up. The new vets told after he developed breathing issues and we rushed him in we were not told therefore we had no idea we had to look for those symptoms. My other dogs had a cancerous tumour eveything well but when we got him home he had developed a red raw rash on his underbelly. I repeatedly had to take him back for medicines for the skin issue they had caused the is cost me hundreds. Again eveytime I brought him in I had to pay for a consultation. So they messed up and then charged me to fix their mess this ontop of a wound infection

Charged us double for spaying our cat. We paid £240. One item was a MPS medical shirt costing £48 which you can buy the exact same one for £17 online.

I worked for Mars, Incorporated for several years, and one of the core messages I proudly shared was how deeply committed they were to ethics and creating a better world for pets. That belief genuinely aligned with my own values.
I have now been with my current veterinary practice for over 25 years. When Linnaeus took over, I was initially pleased and optimistic about the future. However, I’m disappointed to say that things have steadily declined since the acquisition.
The people on the ground remain dedicated, compassionate, and wonderful to work with. Unfortunately, the increasing layers of bureaucracy and corporate process have made it harder to focus on what truly matters — delivering excellent care to patients and clients.
It’s disheartening to see the gap between the values that were communicated and the reality we are now experiencing.
What is really sad that it has made me say no to sharing any data for reasearch

Terrible. Only money orientated. Completely ignored the state of my pet to the point of him being at deaths door after 10 days of revenue raising with stressful unnecessary tests. Over medicated with wrong meds and wrong dose amounts. He was so far gone by the time I got to a good vets I now have to put him to sleep. AVOID this avaricious corporate group (owned by Mars) if you care about animals then get your pet to a better vet! They should be struck off!

As a former client of Peak Vets, which was once a great vet practice, I sadly know all too well that once Linnaeus (owned by Mars Inc.) took over Peak Vets (after one of the owners, Steve, left following a dog sadly dying alone in overnight 'care', according to a senior vet there) standards dropped and prices rose. One of my greyhounds suddenly started limping on one front leg at age nine, and I was assured it was arthritis by James. I just knew it was cancer, so I insisted on an MRI. He put in a non urgent referral. I got it upgraded to urgent, and they found an aggressive malignant tumour. She died a couple of weeks later. Another greyhound went in with a small pressure sore on his foot. They wrapped it in heavy bandages and vetwrap, which put more pressure on it and made it far worse. Then they wanted to cut the poor dog's toe off! I spent two months healing it with Manuka honey and then applying a colloidal dressing, used by the NHS, and wrapping in lightweight gauze every other day - cost a small fortune. They also had another greyhound under anaesthetic for three hours for a dental, which is far too long (I have the vet records). She died of kidney failure 6 weeks later. Linnaeus are still very aggressively pursuing me for payment for that treatment via their amoral and incompetent debt collectors. I was with Peak Vets almost from when it was set up by Steve and Greg, for around 15 years, and I must have spent £30-40K with them during that time as well as generating thousands more by sending the people who adopted dogs off me there. I wish to god I'd left sooner. I'm surprised that not only have the good vets that know all too well how Peak has changed since Linnaeus took over are not only still there but are also leaving 5 star reviews online. Shakes head. I was assured nothing would change. Hard lesson to learn.

I have concerns regarding the recent changes at my veterinary practice. Since the new management took over, the pricing structure has become increasingly unreasonable. For instance, if a pet undergoes surgery, additional costs are charged for what should be standard post-operative care, such as fluids. This was billed as an optional extra at an additional cost of £60.

Moreover, my dog has an ongoing medical condition, and I complete all the required details online for insurance purposes. However, the vets charge a £10 fee simply to confirm the treatment was provided, stating that compiling paperwork is necessary. Upon speaking to my insurer, I was informed that for continuous claims, the approval process only involves a straightforward confirmation, making this charge appear unwarranted.

These practices are deeply frustrating, and I am now considering alternative veterinary options in my area.

Tried to get a written prescription every month for 100 Apoquel allergy tablets for my dog which has been done before for me. It’s actually cheaper to purchase 100 on line than 90 which would last 3 months.I was told to use one of her free consults to see a vet for a 1 minute conversation to be able to write up a prescription I don’t want to use the free consult just for something trivial like that. Beware of Spinney Vets Kettering road they don’t care about their patients or owners.They just want me to pay 29.00 out each month just for a prescription.

As others have already stated, this group is out to make money. Abbey House Vets in Morley, Leeds are in this group and are just awful. And Linnaeus Group's parent company is Mars Petcare so now you know why they overcharge at every opportunity. Try contacting customer services at Mars Petcare or probably best you don't waste your time; beyond useless.
Given a quote of a maximum price of £415 for the procedure but not given any warnings of possible side effects or health problems. The final bill was over £580 without any consultation at all.
Took them to the small claims court to find all vets stick together and protect themselves like solicitors and doctors. They employ a vet to deal with claims against them and they bully their way at every stage. They even sent a barrister for the court case at £700 per hour to defend them in a Small Claims Court and who had already had a nice little chat with the county court judge before we even arrived at the court (court staff sat with us and told us what had been happening). We lost the part of the case concerning the failure to warn us of dangers from the procedure (as expected) even though the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons stated they were common, but the judge ruled the invoice total must not exceed the quoted £415.
Later we received a letter from the obnoxious manager stating they did not want us as customers and we were removed from their customer base. This is the only part we agree with and have now found the best vets in the area. However, Linnaeus continue to send us emails as we are, apparently, 'valued members of our Linnaeus practice community.' You could not make it up.

Pets n Vets used to be great until it was taken over by Linnaeus. The money men have moved in that's for sure!
Flu and enteritis cat booster £72. Used to be less than this for 2 cats. Puppy vacc course £91, a bit more reasonable. Cat dental for 3 teeth out >£1000 and insist on 2 visits instead of doing it in one, like other vets do. Trying to push you towards a health care plan for flea, worming and vaccinations when most of it isn't needed and is cheaper online. The staff do a great job and are lovely but the drive to make a profit is greater than the desire to do what's best for the pet and owner. Any excuse to squeeze more money out of clients. Their excuse for such extortionate prices is overheads and things increasing in price, which is true in part but certainly not to this extent. A puppy vaccination for DHP cost £37.50 in Lincolnshire and the vet is independent. You would think an independent would charge more because they won't have the buying power of the big corporates. But no, the corporates are way more expensive, the services provided have got worse and the shareholders are greedy for their dividends. The entire profession needs a complete over haul and price capping introduced. Opportunity for a new quango - Offvet!!

Care and compassion is non existent. Prices are through the roof. Total lack of discussion over drugs they prescribe and possible side effects.

Beyond expensive - £4000 for removing teeth in an operation that can’t have taken long. The dog was not in overnight. There is a massive rip off going on with Vets under these big companies and it needs to be stopped.

WHAT CAN I SAY WORDS CANNOT CONVEY MY DISTRESS AND ANGER AND I HAVE TO WRITE THIS FOR EVERYONE WHO AS A PET DOG. OUR DOG IS QUITE A RARE BREED AND IS SHALL WE SAY A GOOD AGE. OUR VET PRACTICE WAS ABOVE EXCELLENT UNTILL THEY JOINED THIS DISGUSTING MONEY MAKING ANIMAL EXPERIMENTAL COMPANY. ON TWO RECENT OCASSIONS MY DOG WAS TAKEN TO THEM THEY FOUND SOMETHHING MY DOG DID NOT HAVE WHICH THEY WANTED TO "INVESTIGATE" BEING A RARER BREAD AND OLDER THEY WANTED TO KNOW AND LEARN MORE FOR THEIR OWN SELF SATISFACTION AND LIKE A TRUSTING FOOL I WENT ALONG WITH THIS. FOLLOWING THEIR INVESTIGATIONS I WAS TOLD YOUR DOG IS FINE?????? I FOUND BY TAKING MY DOG TO ANOTHER VET OUT OF MY AREA THAT BOTH TIMES THEIR DIAGNOISE WAS WRONG. I HAVE 60 PLUS YEARS OF DOGS, ALL MUCH LOVED. I HAVE BREED DOGS, I OWN A KENNEL BREED NAME AND I HAVE SHOWN DOGS. I HAVE ALWAYS USED THIS LOCAL VET FOR MANY YEARS. SO HOW CAN THEY BE ALLOWED OR THINK I AND OTHER PET OWNERS ARE GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS. I CANNOT BE THE ONLY PET OWNER WHO HAS HAD THIS EXPERIENCE. ALL THE YEARS I HAVE BEEN WITH THESE VETS I WAS ASKED FOR MONEY UP FRONT ON ONE OF THESE MISDIAGNOSED VISITS HAD TO PAY NEARLY £2.000 FOR INVESTIGATIONS. THEY OVER THE YEARS HAVE HAD THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF ME. I THINK IT IS TIME THIS LINNAEUSGROUP WAS INVESTIGATED FOR THEIR TREATMENT AND MONEY GRABBING ATTITUDE. MY HEART BREAKS KNOWING THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO'S PETS ARE LOVED AND ARE BEING RIPPED OF AND HAVING TO MAKE THE CHOICE OF KEEPING THEIR MUCHED LOVED PET ALIVE OR HAVING TO SAY GOODBYE BECAUSE OF NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD VET FEES. DO NOT USE ANY VET WITH CONNECTIONS TO LINNAEUSGROUP.

The wasteful part of writing this review is that I know that those at the top of this company do not care about anything other than the money flowing in, often to the detriment of the care going out as far as pet owners are concerned. Judging by the poor rating on here they certainly wont read these reviews and don’t take them seriously. They are above us all it seems.

Linnaeus Group and those who own / run it are nothing short of corporate raiders. Grabbing a stake of the over £2 billion worth of UK business, buying out Vet practices and stripping them of anything that may get in the way of making money. Perhaps they have ‘Greed is Good’ blazoned across the wall of the CEO’s office just to remind everyone. From my experience this ‘So what’ attitude seems to filter down to the vet practices that they buy out. A big enough issue with the industry formula that the CMA are looking into the way all these corporations run their business’s. Their corporate greed is obvious and harmful, where going to the vets is nothing short of most of us emptying our bank accounts. Those who are unable to afford their overpriced and often extortionate fees and extras will only be in a position where the pets suffer in one way or another. Put down or given for adoption. Which in my eyes questions their ethics in the veterinary business.

My pet needs a monthly medication. Judging by the last bill £220 per month. Obviously the insurance won't pay for it. I am told ‘well you can buy it online and inject the pet yourself. Great thank you :/ an inexperienced nurse I suddenly become.

I go on line. The injection portion of the meds i need are approximately £85 for 2 vials. This company Charge £95 but only give you one vial, even if the receipt I receive tells me I should get 2. Not getting what’s on the receipt is blatant stealing. They want to charge £100 extra per month just so that a nurse can inject my pet, plus of course their ‘fee’. That is one expensive visit for a minutes worth of time. For the pleasure of me buying it on line, for someone to print out a prescription and for a vet to sign it, another couple of minutes spent, that would cost £22. That at 5 minutes time spent printing and signing comes out to is £264 per hour of work. If only everyone was as fortunate.

Then there were the pills I need. Gabapentin. A human medication that for some reason has a price explosion when the vets get a hold of it. Searching on line for pets I immediately found a price of 0.06p a pill. That for the 60 I was prescribed is £3.60. That was for 100mg. I need 50mg. Clearly further searches and phone call will give me what I need. The practice changed me a whopping £50.94 plus they only gave me 60 though the pack amount is 250.

I’ll forget about the £28 for Synulox as hopefully my dog wont need that every month.

In total I got a bill for £219.80 much of it pure greed and taking advantage of the fact that we love our animals and to fight these issues means they will not deal with you in the future. Complain and be banned.

I attempted to write to the CEO. CEO’s who do not care are made impossible to intentionally reach. I received a reply from an employee whose job no doubt is to fend of annoying complaining customers that stop the CEO from counting money that they have made that morning. I get referred ‘back’ to the vet, who had already referred me on to the company who owns them. An intentional to and fro to make our lives hell, knowing we’ll probably give up.

This corporation are beyond Greedy, they are irreverent. It seems to be typical of what we as pet owners are made to suffer. BTW the veterinary practice in question that they own is Lida Vets in Newmarket. And though I have no issue with the vet per se, as one is as good as another in these cases, I do have an issue that they too have ignored my complaint. They mockingly do not bother to contact me as I was told they would do by Linnaeus. I’d say given this, they too do not care about animals or my pets future care, over the amounts of money they are more than happy to charge. Affordable or not.

Money grabbing cowboys

I cannot stress this enough, this vet practise is irresponsibly incompetent and down right dangerous. From my own personal experience with my very very sick Labrador, he had some sort of sepsis/ acute extreme infection. He was seizing and it was a very very serious situation that required quick medical intervention. I had never been to this vets before so i took a recommendation from a friend and brought my poorly boy here. Not only did they have absolutely no clue what was wrong with him, they performed no tests, no treatment, they didnt even get him on a fluids drip because the infection meant he wasnt eating or drinking. They told me they couldnt treat him there and i would need to go somewhere else. I managed to find another vet practise in oxford that had much better emergency care but i knew i needed to get him there fast. i was sat in the carpark for 2 and a half HOURS waiting for them to give me my dog back. i wasnt waiting for any treatment or testing, all they had to do was get him out of the CAGE they had put him in and give him back to me so i could take him to a much better vet practise. i asked several several times, begged, cried for them to just let him out so i could rush to get him medical attention. they just kept fobbing me off. As soon as the clock hit close time, they all leapt up and basically ran to their cars to get out asap. Knowing i was still there waiting. Absolutely no one in that practise actually cares about patient care. half an hour after they closed, someone finally brought him out via the back entrance. by this time he was staggering, severely dehydrated, and looked ten times worse than he was when i brought him in. and no wonder- they had locked him in a cage with no fluids, no treatments, nothing. I dread to think how many seizures he had in that cage when no one cared enough to look after him properly. By the time i got him to the other vets, they said he was EXTREMELY dehydrated, the infection was severe, and he would have to stay with them for intravenous fluids and treatment. I am so thankful that i found that other practise, if i hadn't, god knows what would have happened.
All boundary vets care about is money. They charge extortionate prices, double what i pay now at the other vets, and they will run up bills with irrelevant testing to squeeze as much money out of you as they can.
Other experiences of my two friends are even worse. both of them have switched to my vets now and they've both said the difference in quality of care is staggering. Boundary is run by a money hungry marketing business, they just want to push sponsored pet products on you, rather than provide good and decent care to the animals.
In the entire staff, only ONE vet can perform a simple ultrasound scan. That is disgusting. They told my friend he would have to wait a week for a simple scan because thats when that ONE vet is back in working. In that week, his pet would have died. LUCKILY i intervened, called my vets on his behalf, they got him in within 45 minutes for an ultrasound and didnt even need to charge him emergency prices.

If you, like me, love your dogs more than life itself, and they are your whole world, DO NOT hand over their life and safety to this vet practise. I have at least 15/20 more examples of their incompetence but i would be sat here for the next 6 weeks typing all of it out. There are much much better vet practises in oxford that have proper vet surgeons, that care the most about the health and life of the patients going in, and care much less about the money and the greedy marketing ploy of pushing sponsored products. I implore you to do your research, and go to a vet that has multiple skilled surgeons, more than one vet that can do a simple ultrasound scan, and that has 24hr care- those are the clinics you should be trusting, not this money making sham of a practise.

😠😠😠 AWFUL!!! UNPROFESSIONAL RUDE PERSON DEALING WITH PETS IN SPINNEY VETS NORTHAMPTON!!!
What the rude, toxic and unprofessional person answered the phone 23/01/24 at 10:30. She had no respect to my enquiry, didn't answer my question, refused to help and refused to tell me the price for rabies vaccine and pet passport, didn't even listen to me. In the end she put phone down on me when not finished conversation! What's this on about!!!???
Hiding pricing from customer is against the law! No pricing on website either.
I really hope this message will not be ignored by management as this is not acceptable at all!!! ⛔⛔⛔