Class Action Lawsuit Says Banfield Pet Hospital Didn’t Deliver Promise
By Dominic Rivera
A class action lawsuit filed by lead plaintiff Gregory Pero against Banfield Pet Hospital alleges it does not deliver the promised discounts and savings under its “Optimum Wellness Plan,” which covers more than 1 million pets nationwide.
“Banfield aggressively markets, advertises and sells the plans that purport to offer deep savings and discounts for preventative pet care services and related pet care products,” class action the lawsuit states. Pero alleges that Banfield did not provide the promised savings and discounts, instead upselling unnecessary pet care to its clients.
Banfield’s Optimum Wellness Plan charges a one-time membership fee of $49.95. There is a monthly payment, which according to Banfield could come to about $32 for an adult dog under the cheapest plan. There are reports that pet owners are paying even more and racking up bills when they take their pets to Banfield, according to the class action lawsuit.
Pero’s adult dog is under the mid-level plan costing him $479.40 per year. He says Banfield promised a “minimum annual savings” of $1,008.61. He said that he would have never signed up for the Wellness Plan of he had known about its true costs. He also allege that Banfield “routinely inflates medication costs and tacks fees onto lab tests, further overstating the plans’ benefits.”
“In truth, many plan clients save nothing and others save far less than promised. The savings depend on Banfield providing bundled pet care products and services over the course of an entire plan year. However, Banfield does not actually provide all of the bundled products and services to plan clients and/or the clients do not need all the products and services, and as a result the purported savings evaporate,” the Banfield Pet Hospital lawsuit states.
“Importantly, if the client cancels during the plan year any savings may be wiped out, leaving the client with little more than a history of overpayments. The advertised minimum annual savings also ignore the costs of unnecessary pet care products and services upsold to clients, as well as bogus ‘hospitalization’ and ‘professional service’ fees that Banfield assesses on top of other charges for services supposedly rendered.”
Banfield outlets are located in PetSmart stores but is not named in the lawsuit. Mars, the maker of M&Ms, Twix and Skittles, as well as Pedigree and Whiskas pet food brands, owns the majority stake in the company.
In his class action lawsuit, Pero alleges that for the past four years, “Banfield has misrepresented — and continues to misrepresent — the nature and amount of savings and discounts to be realized through the purchase and use of the wellness plan.”
Aside from asking that the lawsuit be certified as a class action, Pero is seeking damages for unfair business practices, consumer law violations, fraud and intentional misrepresentation.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
554 thoughts onClass Action Lawsuit Says Banfield Pet Hospital Didn’t Deliver Promise
Last year we brought my son’s dog in for routine shots and a check up. Our son had just deployed with the Navy for what we thought was going to be about 8 months. We decided to get the advanced health plan which included spay service. My son wanted to wait until she was 2 to get her fixed and that would have been right about when he would return to make the final decision if he was going to spay her or breed her. The advanced plan would also cover anything the dog would need while he was out on deployment. Our son ended up a year out on deployment with almost no contact due to the nature of his service. He finally returned to his regular duty station overseas and we again had contact with him. He told us that he was going into off-base housing and wants to ship his dog to him and to go ahead and spay her to prepare her for the trip and military requirements. We called Banfield THE SAME DAY we heard from our son. Exactly a year after the beginning of the Advanced care plan. They told us it was too late to get her spayed (due to scheduling) under the plan we had paid for and that they had rolled it over to a lesser plan the day before (without our consent). They gave us a number to call about the situation. We called the number and they said the hospital has to handle it. We called the hospital back again, and they gave us another number to call. We called that number and they set up a three way call back with the Murrieta Banfield. It was confirmed that the hospital there in Murrieta could honor the service, but the Murrieta office told us it would cost us about $1000.00 to add it back onto the plan. We asked how much it would be just for the spay out of pocket and they said it would be the same, almost $1000. (Under this plan we got and paid for a year, we are already out over $1200 and ALL previous services had already been covered) The main hospital on the third line said that the additional cost did not sound right. The main hospital asked to speak to the manager, who happened to be out of the office for next hour. I was assured I would get a call back from the manager that day. I did not get a call. I called once a day every day asking for the manager, and every day they tell me she is out today and will be back the next day. Today is seven days since I was assured I would get a call back from the manager whom the main office said had the discretion to honor the plan. They simply collected $1200 and provided no service – they have already collected on the lesser plan which they rolled over without our consent – and still they will not honor the service that was covered.
I am currently going through the situation with them right now. I have 2 pets. I continue to pay $159.00 monthly each and when I see the vet there is a $500.00/$1000.00 charge each time. I have asked to cancel it and paid $700 to cancel. Now I have another bill that I thought was a mistake and they say the cost is $700.00 to cancel the plan or they will send me to collection. I asked for them to stop it and I can make a payment once I get back on my feet due to a car accident and beginner stroke and they said no. With a plan I spend $10,000 in one year with both dogs plus the monthly bill of $159.00 for each dog. I do not know what to do other then allowing them to send it to collections.
On June 30th 2026 I called to cancel my wife’s plan for her dog that passed last November. You would think with no other pet on the plan that the plan would be canceled automatically, that is not the case. I was told I would have to have my wife on the phone in order to cancel. This was after I told them she is under hospice care and can not speak or function. I was still told she needed to make the call and would have to pay over $200 for the remainder of the way. She is in hospice care WTF!!! Needless to say I went off the on the person I was talking too. Less than 24 hours later she passed. They will never see one red cent from me. This is a horrible company, horrible policy!! Not sure if I have a case or not, but the way I see it they at the very least owe my wife’s account $449.70.