As a veterinary clinic who’s sole goal is to provide the best possible care for all our patients and clients, it’s hard to not react to bad reviews. So here’s some perspective:

The Big Picture

People who have a complaint are three times more likely to write an angry review than customers who had a great experience are to post a happy review.

• At last count we had around 300 reviews – 93% are 4 or 5 star.
• We have more 5 star reviews than most clinics have total reviews.
• We don’t request or promote providing reviews.

No, we aren’t perfect. But it isn’t for lack of trying. We always try to learn from the negative feedback, but we typically don’t respond to bad reviews for the following reasons:

People are emotional about their animals: Someone had a bad day and is angry. People get emotional about their animals. We understand. But we aren’t going to engage in a public forum with someone who is emotionally irrational and ranting.

It’s sometimes a form of bullying or extortion: Someone didn’t get the outcome or answer they wanted so they threaten to ruin us on social media. Yes, this happens too often. It’s usually accompanied by expletive laden rants at the clinic. We don’t respond to extortion and we don’t want to legitimize bad behavior.

They’re often inaccurate: It’s difficult to address the issue when the facts presented are distorted or incorrect. It’s like the person who complained about our service but neglected to mention that they missed their appointment and that the doctors and techs stayed after closing to take care of them. No good deed goes unpunished. Veterinary medicine is also very complicated. It can’t be addressed correctly in a review or a response to a review. Correcting inaccuracies would only appear to diminish our clients’ feelings.

Our Veterinarians and Staff Care Too Much

The veterinary profession faces a host of challenges currently. One of those challenges is a high suicide rate. According to a Time Magazine article from September 12, 2019 addressing veterinary suicide, “Another soul-crushing aspect of the job that most other health professionals don’t have to deal with, veterinarians say, is constantly being asked to perform services or give out medications for free and then being cyberbullied or harassed if they don’t.” That article was written before COVID. Since COVID, the problem has been exacerbated by staffing shortages, high demand for veterinary services, and increasingly anti-social behavior by clients. Veterinarians are unusually susceptible to people’s poor behavior because they are passionate about taking care of patients and clients.

So if you come to Bayside or end up at another clinic, just appreciate the wonderful work the veterinarians, technicians, and receptionists do. You will not get the level of attention and dedication you receive at a veterinary clinic at any other healthcare facility.