Thank you for entrusting the care and attention of your pet to Paws Indoors Ltd. By accepting our services and/or purchase of goods, you contractually agree to Paws Indoors Ltd. Terms of Business as set out below. Please ask for further explanation/ clarification if required.
New Clients
We accept new clients who have completed our registration form online or over the phone and live within our catchment area. Registration is not confirmed until at least one pet has been booked in for a registration visit or regular consultation/vaccination. By registering, you give permission to Paws Indoors Ltd to contact your previous vet/s for any relevant medical history.
Consultations
Appointments can be booked between 9 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Any appointments requested with less than 24 hours’ notice are made at the vet’s discretion and will incur an additional fee. At the vet’s discretion, appointments can be made for a Saturday morning between 8.30 and 12.30.
Appointment times cannot be guaranteed. We will do our best to arrive within half an hour either side of the agreed time and, where possible, will keep you informed of any delay. Emergencies – as judged by the vet on clinical, welfare or humane grounds, are always given priority, and in some cases, this means that less urgent appointments will need to be rearranged. We will attempt to do this with minimum disruption to existing appointments. Still, we cannot be held responsible for the consequences of appointments being cancelled or delayed owing to attendance at an emergency, road traffic or weather conditions. We reserve the right to charge a full consultation fee if we attend your premises at the agreed time and either you or your pet is absent.
24 Hour Emergency Service
When the surgery is closed, Paws Indoors clients can source emergency cover at Norwich Night Vets. You should call us on the usual telephone number, and this will give you the telephone number of our emergency service provider. Norwich Night Vet provide cover between 6.00 p.m. and 08.30 a.m. Monday to Friday, after 12.30 p.m. on Saturdays and all day on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Norwich Night Vet do not make house calls. Any fees charged by Norwich Night Vet should be settled with them directly at the time of treatment.
Inpatients
All inpatients are cared for at the static site in Hempnall. The duty veterinary surgeon checks them regularly throughout the day and night. The frequency and timing of checks will be based on the condition and level of care required by your pet as judged by the vet. Pets in the hospital are not monitored continuously except when under or recovering from anaesthesia.
Fees
All fees, diets and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee levels are determined by the time spent on a case and according to the drugs, materials, consumables, and diets used. Details of our fees and the cost of prescription medications will be provided on request. In giving instructions, either in person or by your agent, for an animal to be treated, you will be responsible for our charges. An itemised invoice is generated for every consultation, procedure, or transaction. Wherever possible, we can give an estimate of treatment costs. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate – often, a pet’s illness will not follow a conventional course.
Settlement Terms
All fees are to be paid at the time of the consultation or when a pet is discharged home unless account terms have been agreed upon in advance. Where account terms are agreed, an invoice will be sent and should be settled within 30 days. Any invoice not paid within 30 days will incur an additional fee of 1.5% in respect of administrative costs.
Should it be necessary for further reminders to be sent, additional charges will be incurred. After due notice to you, the client, overdue accounts will automatically be referred to our Debt Collection Agency whose charges will be added to and payable with the invoice debt. Interest will also be charged on the full amount at a rate of 5% above the Bank Base Rate from the date the debt was incurred until payment is received.
Any account unpaid, any cheque returned by our Bank as unpaid, any Credit Card payment not honoured, and any Cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in any discounts being removed and the account being restored to the original sum with further charges added in respect of bank charges and administrative costs together with interest on the principal sum. We accept cash, cheques, credit, and debit cards or can provide you with bank details for payment by BACS.
Inability to Pay
If, for any reason, you are unable to settle your account as specified, we ask you to discuss the matter as soon as possible with the director. Please note that instalments or part-payments of any account may ONLY be sanctioned with the express permission of the director.
Pet Health Insurance
Paws Indoors Ltd strongly supports the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents. It is your responsibility to choose a policy that provides the level of cover that you require. Some companies offer annual policies and exclude ongoing conditions at the end of the year. It is the opinion of Paws Indoors Ltd that lifetime policies provide the best cover for pets. Unless otherwise agreed in advance, it is the responsibility of the client to settle our account directly with us as detailed in the settlement terms above and to reclaim any amounts covered by their policy from the insurance company concerned. Paws Indoors Ltd accepts no liability if your claim should be rejected in part or in full, and any outstanding invoices remain your responsibility. There is a fee for processing an insurance claim form for each new condition, but not for continuation claims. The fee is £25 (incl vat). This is not usually covered by insurance policies.
Prescriptions, repeat prescriptions and medication
Please give five days’ notice of your requirements for repeat prescriptions. If you prefer to receive a written prescription to be filled at a local or online pharmacy, this will be provided. The cost of a written prescription is £19 (incl vat). All veterinary practices are required to adhere strictly to current legislation and may prescribe POMVs only for animals under their care. (The majority of veterinary medicines fall into this category, including many flea treatments and wormers). It is a legal requirement and in the best interests of your pet that before we prescribe medication, we must ensure that we have examined your pet within a suitable time frame. Depending on the medicine and the individual case, this will usually be between 3 and 6 months, up to 12 months, for routine preventive health care. Newly arising conditions, even if similar to what a pet has had before, will require an examination before medicines can be prescribed. We are unable to give a refund against returned medication, but we can accept it back from you for safe disposal.
Ownership of Records
Case records, including laboratory results, radiographs, and similar documents, are the property of and will be retained by Paws Indoors Ltd. Copies with a summary of the history will be passed on request to another veterinary surgeon taking over a case or a referral centre. Case notes may also be passed on to Insurance companies on request, as this is a stipulation of your contract with the insurance company. The care given to your animal may involve specific investigations, such as taking radiographs or performing ultrasound scans. Even though we charge for carrying out these investigations and interpreting their results, ownership of the resulting record, for example, a radiograph, remains with the practice.
No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed upon in writing and signed by the director. No agent or person employed by or under contract with the practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way.
Paws Indoors Pet Health Club, Consultations Included plans, terms and conditions.
1.Paws Indoors Consultations Included plans are a subscription service designed to help you budget more easily for veterinary treatment and to offer you an at home veterinary service at an affordable monthly price.
2. Your subscription constitutes an agreement between you and Paws Indoors Limited. Subscriptions are only available for registered clients. We will only register you as a client if you fall within our catchment area.
3.You can apply to join one of our plans by telephoning the office. The contract for the plan comes into existence, and your subscription starts, when we confirm to you that we have accepted your application and have received your first payment. Full details of what is included are available from the practice.
4.Subsequent payments will be collected by VetSuccess by monthly direct debit.
5.We use VetSuccess Limited to collect Direct Debits on our behalf, and your bank statements will show payments to VetSuccess. For the avoidance of doubt, your agreement is with Paws Indoors. VetSuccess Limited merely provides support to the practice, which includes transferring your payments.
6. The monthly subscription fee for your pet will be determined by its age and health status.
6.1 Your subscription is specific to your pet identified in your application and treatment will only take place at the address we have registered for your pet or at our premises on Broaden Lane in Hempnall. Your subscription cannot be used for any other pet or transferred to another pet.
6.2 Where your pet’s age is unknown or unverifiable –by microchip, previous vet history or vaccination documentation, the vet will make an estimate of your pet’s age, based on a physical assessment and details of the pet’s history.
6.3 When a dog reaches age 10, or a giant dog breed reaches age 5*, or a cat reaches 12, they will be moved on to the consults included vitality plan. Visits for the following monthly injections are only included on the consults included vitality plan – Librela, Solensia, Cytopoint, Osteopen. Pets who are diagnosed with diabetes or other demanding chronic conditions such as cancer or severe skin conditions may, at the vet’s discretion, be ineligible to continue on the standard consults included plan and will be required to upgrade to the vitality plan.
*Paws Indoors will supply a list of breeds that we class as giant breeds on request.
6.4 Your subscription can only be used at the address we have registered for you or at our premises in Hempnall. If you move out of our catchment area, either permanently or temporarily, e.g. to go on holiday, we are unable to attend to treat your pet.
7. Of course, your pet can still receive treatment outside of the consultations plan and these will be charged in accordance with the practice’s normal fees, terms and conditions.
Your subscription does not include any of the following:
7.1 Any treatment, drugs, medications or general health improvers (such as, but not limited to, vitamins or ‘nutraceuticals’) that is not expressly included in the published details of the plan that is deemed clinically necessary by the vet in the event of illness (short-term or long-term) and injury;
7.2 Any food products (including, but not limited to, prescription and special dietary food);
7.3 Treatment provided by any other practice, or provided by Taverham Vets or Norwich Night Vet, who provide services for Paws Indoors when we are closed or when an animal is hospitalised there following out-of-hours treatment.
7.4 Any treatment that continues after your subscription has been cancelled.
7.5. Limitations of the consultations included plans.
The complementary unlimited consultations cover both healthy and unwell pets and can be conducted by either a vet or a nurse, depending on clinical need.
Additional investigations and procedures, prescriptions, or treatments beyond these consultations are charged at standard prices. Specialist, referral, or out-of-hours consultations, are not included.
Grooming procedures, other than claw clips and minor matt trims are not included.
Claw clips will not be offered more frequently than once every eight weeks unless the vet deems that there is a clinical need.
Regular visits to administer daily medication are not included.
Where additional personnel or sedation are required to ensure adequate restraint of a pet, these will be charged at normal rates.
If a clinician is asked to examine another pet at the same appointment that does not have a subscription, then a regular consultation fee will be charged for that pet.
Transport of your pet to or from the surgery for further treatment is not included.
Return of your pets’ ashes subsequent to a private cremation, with our cremation services provider is not included.
Our clinical team’s time is finite, and subject to availability. The clinic may have to move or re-book your appointment if the member of the clinical team you are booked to see is needed elsewhere for an emergency or is unavailable on the day.
Appointments to see your pet will be made according to the urgency of its condition, as assessed by a clinician. Urgent or life-threatening conditions will always be given priority over less urgent cases.
Where a physical examination is not required – as deemed by a clinician, we will reserve the right to offer first aid advice or a telemedicine consultation.
7.6 We expect you to act in good faith and we reserve the right to prevent you from booking future consultations in the following circumstances:
You book or attempt to book repeat consultations for the same condition for your pet.
You act in a manner that is rude, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, or insulting to our practice staff.
Any of the vets in our practice, in the reasonable exercise of their clinical judgment, concludes that you are not acting in good faith or that your booking is frivolous.
7.7 Our consultations included plans are not a pet insurance policy or intended to be a replacement for a pet insurance policy. We recommend that our clients take out appropriate pet insurance for their pet with a reputable insurer. We do not provide pet insurance or arrange pet insurance for our clients.
8. These terms and conditions should be read in conjunction with any additional information, including but not limited to, literature provided by the practice detailing what is included in the consultations included plans service. That literature forms part of these terms and conditions.
9. You are responsible for booking your pet’s appointments and health checks and ensuring that you comply with the advice and treatment your vet prescribes.
9.1 We will need a vet to examine your pet at least once a year to continue membership of the plan. There is no additional charge for this health check. Where a physical exam is not possible due to the temperament or behaviour of the pet, then a visual examination will be carried out.
10. Membership for each pet will renew automatically on the anniversary of the date that your pet’s consultations included subscription began.
11. We will tell you in advance in writing if there is to be a change in membership fees on your renewal date. We will always give you at least 30 days’ notice of any change in fees as a result of our annual review.
12. In between our annual fees review, your pet’s monthly fees may change in response to your pet’s age or health status. A change in fees due to a change in age or health status will take effect as soon as is reasonably practical.
12.1 We may make changes to the veterinary services and benefits under your subscription. We may do so annually when the contract automatically renews or during a contract year if any veterinary services or benefits under your subscription are no longer available and will let you know at least 30 days before the change will take effect. If you do not agree to the change, you may end the contract by letting us know at least 7 days before the date that the change will take effect.
13. Failed Direct Debit payments, g. because of a lack of available funds, cause a significant increase in administrative costs for the practice.
After a failed Direct Debit payment, we will re-present our payment request to your bank after 3-5 working days.
14. If the second payment request also fails, an administration charge of £5 will be added to your account. We will make a third and final payment request to your bank after a further 3-5 working If this payment request is unsuccessful your consultations included subscription will be cancelled automatically and you will no longer receive the associated benefits or any discounts which have been applied.
15. If your consultations included plan subscription is cancelled automatically, because of failed direct debits, your account will be reviewed, and you will be charged the full price of any services received during your subscription minus any subscription payments received to date.
16.Ending your agreement/ cancelling your membership.
16.1 You may cancel your subscription on your anniversary date (which is the anniversary of the date you joined) by giving us not less than two weeks’ notice.
16.2 If you cancel your subscription before your anniversary date your account will be reviewed, and where applicable, you will be charged the full price of any services received during your subscription minus any subscription payments received to date.
16.3 You may cancel your subscription with immediate effect if your pet dies, with no penalties.
16.4 We may end your subscription at any time for any other reason. We will write to you to let you know at least 30 days before the contract ends.
17.Unpaid bills relating to your subscription fees will be handled in accordance with our standard terms and conditions (available on request) and may be handed to a third party debt collector.
Notice
With regard to this agreement, either party wishing to give notice to the other should do so in writing. In writing includes emails, letters sent by post or delivered by hand.
When we write to you by post, we will use the address most recently provided.
If you wish to write to us, please use the email address, info@pawsindoors.co.uk or send letters to Paws Indoors Limited, Willow Fields, Bungay Road, Hempnall, NR15 2NG.
Should you have cause to complain about the service you receive, please follow the practice’s normal complaints procedure, available on our website www.pawsindoors.co.uk or a printed version can be mailed to you upon request.
How we use your information
VetSuccess Limited and Paws Indoors Limited will use your personal information (as defined by UK data protection laws) for the purpose of administering your Consults Included subscription
Both Paws Indoors Ltd and VetSuccess Limited may record and monitor inbound and outbound telephone calls for training purposes. These calls may be referred to in relation to any future queries.
We will take all reasonable precautions to ensure the security of your data. Your data will not be shared with anyone else unless there is a legal requirement to do so.
You have the right to see your personal data. If you have any queries about the data we hold, or how we use it please write to Paws Indoors Ltd, Willow Fields, Bungay Road, Hempnall, Norwich, Norfolk, NR15 2ng or VetSuccess Limited, 99 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8DY.
Paws Indoors Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales, with company number 08924465. Vat registration number 182917678. Registered office address Willow Fields, Bungay Road, Hempnall, Norwich, Norfolk, NR15 2NG.
VetSuccess Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with number 9633942. VAT registration number 115141658.
Registered office address: VetSuccess Limited, The Chocolate Factory, Keynsham, Bristol, BS31 2AU.
Correspondence address: VetSuccess Limited, 18 Albert Road, Bournemouth, BH1 1BZ.
No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed upon in writing and signed by the director. No agent or person employed by or under contract with the practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way.