East Bay Veterinary Clinic

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Ben Saundersvia Google

3 months ago

I'm really disappointed to be leaving this review and for the past three years have had a great experience with this vet, but the last two trips have been so incredibly disorganized, frustrating, and disrespectful of our time that I have to strongly recommend alternatives to East Bay Vet. I'm not sure if they've had a ton of turnover with admin or what's going on, but I've now shown up for two appointments (no small feat given our cats are incredibly car anxious) to be turned away for scheduling mistakes. There's been absolutely no make good from the clinic for either of these, they don't seem to care for our business and we won't care to give it to them. So on Monday, we had our two cats Bebop and Juice scheduled for a checkup at 3 and 3:30. I have trouble finding parking on Grand and wind up getting into the hills, so I end up checking in at 3:10, knowing 10 minutes hasn't been an issue ever previously especially since they're running late by this time. I'm told once I arrive that while the official grace period is 15 minutes for vet appointments (notably not posted anywhere on their website), for a 2 cat appointment it's only TEN minutes. I'm a little perturbed, but I figure hey, lets at least get one checkup done (Juice is the one pissing everywhere anyways), and the person at the front desk says all good they'll call when ready. A few minutes pass, eventually another admin comes out and after whispering in pretty audible whispers with the person I spoke with around our late policy, comes to me and says that there's no way to convert a two cat appointment into a one cat appointment. I'm a bit confused since I'd remembered the scheduling being 30 minutes apart, but the admin insists to me that it was only 30 minutes for both cats. I didn't have the emails handy since my wife scheduled, but I checked back later and confirmed they were scheduled for a full hour (see screenshots). I'm pretty frustrated, I have pee to clean from my backseat where Juice got really stressed, I walk out and start trudging back with my two carriers. It's not great and I'm in a pretty bad mood, but, to be fair, I was a little late, and it's been a good relationship so far. We end up scheduling for Saturday (today) 10:30AM, I make sure I get an early start to account for the farmer's market, it's a longer walk than I expect but I get in at 10:35, well within the boundaries. We drug Juice with the gabapentin this time (spoiler alert, he still pooped himself), starting the prep ritual around 9AM. When I check in, the front desk says I don't have an appointment for today, and asks if maybe I accidentally booked at a different location or for a different date. I bring up the confirmation emails for this morning, she mutters "what is going on with appointments today..." so I assume this isn't specific to just me. She breaks the news to me that the online scheduler accidentally offered a time with no vets available. She says according to the notes they notified me of this yesterday, I ask her how they notified me and she says she doesn't know. No unread email, no unread text, no missed phone call, there's been absolutely no outreach from the vet clinic. She suggests we reschedule for a later date, I walk out the door. We're going to give Grand Lake Veterinary a shot (been good for our friends), bit of a waiting time so we're probably back to VCA in the meantime. If anyone from East Bay reads this review: 1) Make your late policy explicit either on the website or in confirmation texts (better yet, both!) 2) Fix your online scheduler, in the meantime set up consistent practices for text/email outreach to apologize for misschedules. 3) Have some basic respect for your clients. I am by far not the only pet owner who has to take significant pains to get their pets to the vet. Mistakes happen, insanely easy to offer a make good of $50 off the next appointment for the sake of retaining a client. If you read all the way through, great job! Mostly my venting but hopefully you found this somewhat helpful.

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Lindsey Swansonvia Google

3 months ago

This is the second time I’ve had a great experience at East Bay Vet Clinic! I think it’s easy to get compassion fatigue when you’re working in this industry and I just appreciate the love the staff offers to my pup. They rightfully understand that he is baby (he’s 9) and also the cutest dog in the world. I like my professionals to be on the same page as me about these things. Absolutely recommend them. They did a great job with his shots and also clipped his nails! Really enjoy them.

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Sonya Goodpastervia Google

4 months ago

Our 8 week old puppy had a great 1st experience at the vet. We came in with pages of questions and each staff member went over and beyond to answer our questions as 1st time puppy parents. Can't see myself taking our puppy anywhere else in the future!

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Ericka Gvia Google

5 months ago

We originally came in as a same day emergency for a rescue we were temporarily fostering last year, and now, we have graduated to officially returning patients! Our furry one is an old lady who had never been to the vet before- and we very much appreciated there was no judgment from the team about the state she was in originally, everyone was just happy we brought her in to start the road to recovery.

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Jessica Hernandezvia Google

6 months ago

Dr. Ossiff takes the best care of my dog. Him and his staff are always so thorough, careful and thoughtful. I have been coming to East Bay vet for over 4 years and will keep coming.