Banfield Pet Hospital

The worst vet I’ve ever been to!!! So commercialized. It’s way too corporate for them to actually care about your pet. I’m a pet sitter and the owner asked me to take their pup in because of a rash. Banfield let me make the appointment and I told them the COMPLETE situation. When we got there they would not see the dog because I wasn’t on the account. I offered to pay out of pocket but they turned away this sick dog. The owner was on a flight then. There was no issue when I made the appointment and told them I was the sitter but when I got there with a pet in distress they would not help. I stood in their “reception” area for 20 minutes waiting to be checked in. Very slow and incredibly unprofessional. You must lack morals and ethics to turn away a sick pet.

My recent poor experience with Banfield was enough to make me leave after 13 years. I will never be back nor will I support PetSmart in the future. My dog became deathly ill over Memorial Day while we were out of town requiring us to rush him to an emergency vet. After being emitted immediately upon arrival he had to be kept overnight. Once stable we brought him back home to recover. Two days after getting home he still wasn't eating or drinking on his own... His breathing was labored... He wasn't moving... He had to be syringe fed water and baby food... He was basically lifeless... So I took him into Banfield to have a set of labs done and to be checked out. I was given nothing other than a dog food recommendation for another brand of the same type of food he already wasn't eating. Nothing to make him comfortable even though he was in obvious pain. I was told to go get an ultrasound for a possible very rare tumor. My dog was dying and they offered nothing and took little time to speak with me as I stood there holding him crying. I took him to another vet a few hours later. The vet and staff were empathetic and kind. The vet sat with me in a private room, listened to my concerns, and gave me multiple options and differential diagnoses (she did not believe he had the rare tumor). We also discussed the possibility of saying goodbye due to how sick he was... Which I greatly appreciated since one of my primary concerns was his quality of life and pain. We decided to give him pain meds and a few things to lower inflammation based on his labs. My husband and I decided to give him a week to see if there was any improvement. He didn't seem to be recovering so we called to schedule a time to say goodbye... And then the next morning he stood up on his own for the first time in 2 weeks! He then very very slowly started to recover. Today he is back to his normal self! I am confident my dog would have died had I not taken him to the other vet. I write this because my experience got worse. I decided to cancel my plan with Banfield after 13+ years of them being my only vet due to the lack of empathy and detail we deserved. I called corporate and was told I needed to speak with the manager at the local hospital I had gotten care at for any changes to my account to take place. My concerns were forwarded and I first received a call from the vet which led nowhere so I still needed to speak to the manager, Stacy. I had the opportunity to briefly speak to Stacy nearly a month ago now. I kindly shared my concerns and interest in wanting to discontinue and she asked if she could contact the vet I got a second opinion from to see what they had done to help. I said yes and let her I wasn't going to change my mind about discontinuing and was told to expect a call back after she "looked into it". A week later I hadn't received a call so I reached out and left a message... I got no call back. I called 5 times over a two week period leaving either messages with the team or on the voicemail with no call back. I called the final time today, Friday, after calling Tuesday and being promised I'd get a call back that day and receiving no call. The person who I had to speak to to handle my account wasn't respectfully calling me back. After speaking with Stacy today, nothing is being done and the charges I accrued since Memorial Day won't be reimbursed. After over 13 years that's what I got. My dog almost died, they recommended new dog food and a chase for a rare tumor, there was nothing given for his comfort, no conversation about what else could be wrong, no attention to his labs from the ER vet, and no refund for payments accrued when I was disrespectfully not receiving a simple call back. I will never return to Banfield. I will never recommend them. I will never shop at PetSmart in the future.

I'm writing this review as part of my life's mission to make sure nobody uses not only this Banfield but all banfields in the future. Be warned that the wellness plan for pets is one of the most misleading scams you will ever experience. The plans usually come with one or extremely minimal amounts of services and they will often run them simultaneously without asking you so that one of your visits seems like it's very affordable and the rest will be extremely costly out of pocket. They routinely overcharge for medicine, almost never answer the phone, and seem to exclusively employ people who must take cigarette breaks as often as possible, probably to deal with the woeful underpayment situation. They will say whatever it takes to make you feel like they care about animals, but that is absolutely untrue. If it were true then the bottom line wouldn't be more important than the animal's health and it very often, if not every single time is. I would encourage anybody to undertake additional cost to go to any private veterinarian that you can. Literally any other veterinarian would be better than the greedy underachievers and scam artists who work for Banfield. This place is barely above the standards of a third world country and they would sooner rob you than take your pets temperature. There are some decent employees but it does not offset the manipulative and unempathetic approach the corporation takes towards it's patients. Remember, this is a corporation, they value your money and your money alone. They do not care about you, unless they are the first corporate entity in history to do so, however a lack of accreditation by the better business bureau and overall review score should definitely deter THAT possibility from entering our reality any time soon. Go anywhere else, for your pet's sake. Any reply to this post by the company will be obvious AI generation which will further prove my point in how few shits they give. 1 star, because Google is too kind and will not permit a lower score. Rest assured they deserve a 0 in everything but subterfuge, in which they excel. Please direct your attention to the response below. A canned reply as predicted, validating all my points. Hilariously, and unironically their email alias for their AI run customer "care" line is called Banfield Cares. I could die laughing, seriously. UPDATE 12/17: THEY STILL SUCK! After calling all day and leaving not 1 but 3 messages for the Dr I never got a response, until I called a different Banfield and they did this drs job for them. Even amongst other Banfields which are part of a gigantic, uncaring corporate entity, this location stands out as especially terrible, what an accolade.

My cat Carlos and I love the staff here at Banfield Walnut St. in Cary. They are all so very caring and friendly, they take care of Carlos like he is their own. He only goes to 2 Banfield hospitals and this is one of the 2. So this will tell you a lot because I am very picking about where my fur baby goes. Just like I am about my human babies.

We will not be back to this Banfield. And will probably leave Banfield completely. The front desk is rude and they are unorganized. I made a drop off appointment and they said to drop off between 9-10am. We arrived at 9:05 and no one was at the desk for 10 minutes. Then they put us in a room when we needed to get to work. Literally made us wait because they said "we were late to our appointment". After begging someone to take our dog for the DROP OFF visit we finally left after 45 minutes. Late for work. Not to mention at a pervious visit they took and never returned our $90 leash and collar. Some vet tech at this Banfield has a really nice training leash at home on their pet. Never again.