Mr. Ferguson,
On June 3rd, we came to your clinic for the scheduled euthanasia of my beloved dog, Enzo. He was almost 17 years old. Making that appointment was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I had never put a pet down before, and I was absolutely heartbroken.
When we arrived, no one greeted us. People could clearly see that I was crying, yet no one acknowledged us. My husband eventually had to approach the front desk himself to check us in. I believe Cindy was helping us, and she appeared to be fairly new, as she was asking questions of another employee.
After checking in, we were taken to an exam room. As I sat there holding my dog of 17 years, saying goodbye, I heard what I assume was you loudly using profanity toward another employee. Moments later, you walked into our room.
You did not introduce yourself or your assistant. There was no expression of sympathy, compassion, or understanding. You barely spoke to us. You did not explain the euthanasia process, what to expect, or how Enzo might react.
What I will never forget is when you said, "I'm going to give him a shot. We like them high as a kite."
I was shocked and sickened by that comment.
You told us you would return in ten minutes. During that time, Enzo became extremely limp. No one had explained that this was normal, and I honestly thought he had already died.
When you returned, there was still no explanation, comfort, or compassion. You placed the IV, which was not even secured properly, and then asked, "Are you ready?"
Ready?
That felt like such a strange and insensitive question given the circumstances.
You administered the euthanasia medication, listened to his heart, confirmed he had died, stood up, and said, "When you're done, let the front desk know."
There was no "I'm sorry for your loss." No acknowledgment of what we were experiencing. Nothing.
You also failed to explain that pets often lose bladder control after passing. As a result, my husband ended up covered in urine, and we were left cleaning it from the floor ourselves while grieving the loss of our family member.
Afterward, I walked to the front desk, confused about what we were supposed to do next. Cindy came back with us. She was the only person throughout this entire experience who showed any compassion. She sat with us, petted Enzo, apologized for our loss, and treated us with kindness.
I asked what would happen next. She said someone would come take care of him, but she wasn't sure exactly what that meant. I asked whether he would be left alone for long, and she didn't know.
So I left my boy lying on that table, wrapped in his blanket, alone.
I was devastated.
About a week later, I received a call that Enzo's ashes were ready for pickup. When I arrived, once again, no one greeted me. Cindy was on the phone, so I understand why she could not. However, the other employees made no effort to acknowledge me or the customers ahead of me.
The clinic smelled so foul of ammonia/urine that it burned my eyes.
After I explained why I was there, Cindy announced over the intercom, "Someone is here to pick up ashes small dog Enzo."
I waited. Then I waited some more. Eventually, I asked how much longer it would take because I needed to get to work. Another customer waiting to board his dogs expressed the same frustration.
While standing there, I once again heard you speaking loudly in the back. I don't know the context of the conversation, but I distinctly heard you say, "I could care less."
Sir, that statement perfectly summarizes how my husband and I felt throughout our experience at your clinic.
You didn't care.
You treated one of the most painful moments of our lives as though you were administering a routine vaccine. There was no compassion, no empathy, and no recognition that we were saying goodbye to a member of our family.
Part 2-
Mean while, without knowing the whole story FERGUSON is saying in the background "If he doesn't like it and doesn't stop talking to you like that, he can take his animals elsewhere in the future."
How do you even respond to that!? First of all, I have ALWAYS gone to Rollett except when I'm absolutely forced to go to Ferguson. Ferguson sees this company as helping for a price but that's it, his way or no way. Lets not forget that you get successful because of customers, because they pay for your services your not doing charity work AND lets not forget, he didn't personally take my baby and cremate her, so shame on him. Shame on him for what he said rather than hearing the whole story and trying to help. Maybe he would have understood and put himself in my husband's position if his wife or partner was treated the way I was by someone how would he react? My husband and I have been together for almost 20 years, I work in the hospitality industry, so he knows I'm reasonable and had nothing to gain by venting to him. I had never not paid this vet, never have I done anything disrespectful and the moment "Breezy" decided to be nasty to a grieving pet owner, we were made to feel that it was our fault and was told we basically needed to deal with it or leave this vet.
*If Rollett reads this and agrees with us leaving because of how my husband reacted in a defensive moment for his wife who was treated unfairly for no reason, than I would like for him to verify it with me. Otherwise, I will definitely steer clear of Ferguson "I wouldn't want to give him one more dollar anyways" and go primarily to the vet that is compassionate and does this for his love of animals and not just for a buck. Rollett is the reason why I always came back. He is gentle and I trust him 100% with my animals. They can spin what happened all they want, but this is the exact recall of what happened.
Part 1- It took me awhile to finally write this, but I think everyone has a right to know who they are dealing with here. I have been a customer at this vet since Dr. Rollett and Dr. Richardson was there. 10+ years. I have never had an issue, always paid my bills and both vets (at the time) were so compassionate and you could always feel they were there to help and not just for money. However, since Ferguson has been there, this place has turned into a literal "If you don't like how you're treated here, take your animals elsewhere" type place. And.... that is exactly what happened.
Here's EXACTLY how it went.
My 14 year old Boston Terrier, my best friend, my soul dog, who went through both of the birth of my kids, my marriage, the death of my brother and the death of my brother in law with me, passed away on May 26th at home, because I called desperately 14 times between 9 am on May 25th up until she passed away and there was NO answer. When my husband went to take my dog to their facility "was when my mom could finally get through to Pam," I believe she in the financial manager. My mom spoke with her on speaker because I was in no position to talk on the phone and Pam apologized saying they were having issues with their emergency call phone line, but that we would be charged the same as what they charge at the Humane Society to cremate my dog as the humane society was the one who was doing it anyways so the fee for 0-30 lbs "my dog was under 20" was going to be $75. Fast forward to 6/5. I was dreading going to pick her ashes up because I was still emotional about it. When I walked into the doors, the first lady at the desk was very compassionate with me as I was in literal tears asking to pick my baby up. I was polite, never rude and just there for the purpose of picking her up. Then..... She came back with the small wooden box and told me it was going to be $150. I told her what I was previously told and she left and walked to the back.
Another girl came out "Already with attitude right out the gate" Her name was Breezy. I'm not even kidding defensively asked me who told me that. I had to call my mom to ask who the woman was that she spoke to and she remembered "Pam" who by the way was very nice! She left, went to the back office and when she came back, she sat down and BARKED out loud with people in the lobby "We will price adjust this time, but in the future know, the humane society up'd their prices!" I was in complete shock honestly. Sad and embarrassed is how I felt in the moment and for what reason? I told her I was sorry, I was just given the information by Pam. I paid the $75 and walked out. I honestly appreciated that they honored what Pam said, but not how they handled doing the nice deed. I was basically made to feel degraded and belittled for an error that wasn't on my end.
I got to my car with my dog in my hands and was just in disbelief that what had just happened, happened. So if I was in the wrong, I was going to make it right. So I called the Humane Society, the woman on the phone was SO nice and literally said she was so sorry for what I had just gone through. She verified it was a fee of $75 for a single dog cremation and that they definitely did not charge Blue mountain $150 for her. So I walked back into Blue mountain and told "BREEZY" that "in the future, the humane society is in fact $75 for 0-30lbs" Breezy literally said "That's not true, with the woman from the humane society on the phone." The lady on the phone, kind of sounded shocked, but said "Okay, we up'd our prices, but we went from $65 to $75 period." I said "that's what I thought, thank you for your time." and left.
On my way home, while holding my dog's ashes I was sobbing uncontrollably and called my husband to calm me down. He thought something happened to me it was so bad. When I told him what happened, he called Blue mountain vet and Breezy answered. She got defensive at first but ultimately admitted it was a communication error on their end with no fault to me and ended up apologizing to my husband (I appreciate that).
