I drove three hours to have my dog seen at this Banfield in Montgomery after being turned down by closer Banfields. I was out of town on a trip in Alabama when my dog became very ill. The front desk assistant, Pauline made calls for me to try to help with getting my dog seen. After no luck on both our ends, she promised that if I brought my dog there, they would see him. After arriving, I met Teal, who was pleasant and helpful at the front desk. Pauline was great and Dr. Rowe was excellent. Dr. Rowe was thorough and caring. I was clearly in distress when she explained how sick my dog was. She was encouraging, very knowledgeable, and non-blaming. She even counseled on how to prevent another serious incident if possible. By the time I arrived in Montgomery, my dog had a fever of 105.9 degrees and was in danger of hospitalization. Pauline apologized repeatedly for the fact that I had to make a 3 hour drive to get my dog seen. I knew that she had advocated for me, and she was patient with me as I made multiple calls to her for assistance with locating closer Banfields earlier that day.The staff stayed late to try to stabilize my dog, and they showed me and my dog the best customer service and treatment that I've ever had from Banfield. To put their service in perspective, I've been a Banfield customer for six years and in three different states. Even my relative who helped me make the drive stated that she'd be bringing her cat by after witnessing their quality of service.

The care my pet received was adequate. Nothing special, but adequate. You can tell the staff have been through extensive sales training from the way they push the Wellness plan (starting at $500 per year per pet). They avoid answering questions about how much the items covered in the wellness plan actually cost, which is why I politely told them no each time they brought it up (on average 3 times per visit). What has made me decide to NOT use them again is the number of follow up exams they required (beyond the industry standard according to 3 other vetinarians). Each of these follow up exams was another $30 (not including medication, scrapings, etc). All 3 of the other vets said that the follow up exam is included in the initial exam costs. When this was brought to their attention, their response was "Well, YOU chose to bring her back to us.....you didn't have to." HUH? You told me it was necessary. And now that you have my money, you are telling me I was the sucker for bringing her back? Well, kudos to you. I am hoping this review keeps other people from being suckered by your glossy advertisements and the "If you really care about your pets you will flush $1000 down our toilets" sales pitches. Best advice: STAY AWAY unless you are super rich and are looking for ways to blow some money unnecessarily. There are too many other vets out there that care about animals AND humans. P.S. Please don't give me the Public Relations approved "spin" response we see below ("we strive to provide our clients and their pets with high quality medicine and exceptional client experiences on every visit"). Put your money where your mouth is and then talk to me (that means refund the last 2 visits minus the meds!).

The care given to our pet was satisfactory. However, unlike a local animal hospital, Banfield uses a national billing system that gave us no indication of a balance due before turning the invoice over to collections. My suggestion would be to use a local doctor for your animals.