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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
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288 thoughts onClass Action Lawsuit Says Banfield Pet Hospital Didn’t Deliver Promise
My dog will be going to another vet today, not in Banfield. I feel neglect on Banfield part, and believe I am losing her today… I am very angry when I read thru her medical records I obtained from them yesterday, as found something I wasn’t told, and found care she needed that states I declined and I did not. I was never told an option for said needed care.
My dog passed New Year’s Eve 2023. Before she died I was taking her to Banfield weekly and was notified of the plan for $65 a month to get test and that I could opt out anytime. We signed her up and each time they could tell me nothing. After she passed we notified Banfield to cancel her plan and was notified we had to ride it out for a year. It has been the worst as since the beginning of the year they keep calling so her shots can be updated and I have repeated told them she passed. That is a horrible reminder along with the monthly charge for her wellness plan she cannot use.
I feel that Banfield misrepresents savings and their care is as expensive as
Private practices without the level of care. I also question the legality of charging for deceased pets. I was never notified of this change although they allege I signed on their portal. I have never used their portal.
I will seek legal advise as well.
Banfield never diagnosed my dog with lymphoma. She had lumps on her body that they said were fatty cysts. By the time she lost so much weight, her spine was showing, they took X-rays and told me that if I paid extra for the plan that included X-rays, I wouldn’t have to pay for them. She died 6 days later and they’ve been hounding me to pay for a full year of the wellness plan that I unknowingly started 6 days before her death. This company is evil.
How do we join the lawsuit? Both my daughter and I were misled by them with wellness plans and extra costs, they even tricked my boyfriend to sign up for a wellness plan telling him that he was signing a consent for for them to pull urine from the dog to do a test when he was sick at an emergency call. There service is absolutely horrible and there front desk staff was always so nasty to us. We had to cancel the card they kept charging even after we called them out on what they did and changed vets the following day and had them transfer all of our records over. I’m not even sure my daughters puppy was included on the puppy plan she got for him, nothing seemed to be covered when she took him in and it was always so much money when she took him on top of paying for the plan.
Banfield had Not delivered any of the things that they say are included in the Wellness package that I am continuing to pay for every month !! The only thing we got is some flea medication that does not even work it only makes my dog Scratch and Bite himself continuously !!
PLEASE ADD ME TO THIS CLASS ACTION SUIT !!
I would like to join the class action lawsuit. My dog has a medical condition that was serious and Banfield wrote it off as not serious although Banfield took x-rays, hospital procedures and tests and found to be nothing. I took my dog in two days in a row and Banfield said, “oh the dog isn’t coughin as much as the day before. I finally took my dog to the hospital after one week of no relief and my dog had gotten worse. I found out the dog had a serious medical condition that needed immediate attention. Banfield did not give my dog the preventive he needed. I am not confident of trusting any of the vet doctors at Banfield. I incurred over $1,500 in bills, however I got the answers I needed that were not forthcoming from Banfield.
I am in a similar situation. I have already met with one lawyer, and have a meeting scheduled with another.
I need a lawyer
I need a lawyer as well. I want to start a class action lawsuit with BANFIELD for Malpractice.
They gave me no service that was promised and charge an out ragous late fees I have oaid over 600 dollars for there services that were not rendered I would like to find out how to join this lawsuit and get at least the .money back I’ve spent minus the one service they did preform this wellness plan is a joke
Oh my at the things I need to discuss..They let my dog die.Noe I find thi gs on my other dogs reports that noo e ever mention,like low hemogloblin