Client Service Agreement

These terms set out what you can expect from us and what we need from you. They apply from the first time we see your animal, whether or not you have been here before.

We send you a link to this page when you book. If you go ahead with the appointment, you accept these terms. You can also accept them by ticking the box on our registration form, by signing a printed copy, or by telling us at reception - we will record it either way. If your animal comes in as an emergency we will treat it first and sort the paperwork out afterwards.

This page is the same for every client. The details specific to you - your animals, your address, your contact numbers, and any limits you have asked us to apply - are held on your client record. Ask us any time for a copy, and please tell us whenever something changes.

These terms cover every animal listed on your client record. When you get a new animal we add it to your record, and these terms apply to it from then on - you do not need to sign anything new.

If we have not seen any of your animals for 24 months, this agreement lapses. Your animals are no longer under our care from that point, including for after-hours cover, and you will need to register with us again. We will try to contact you before that happens.

We review these terms with you at least once a year, and sooner if what we do for you changes.

3 Stone Vets is a locally family-owned mixed practice caring for companion animals, farm and dairy animals, and cats boarding in our Moggy Manor cattery. We provide consultations, preventive care, diagnostic imaging, laboratory testing, surgery, dentistry, hospitalisation, and the authorisation and supply of veterinary medicines - from our clinic at 923 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu, and on farm visits across the Waikato.

We will refer you on where your animal needs care we cannot provide in-house.

We will accept instructions from anyone who brings your animal in and tells us they are acting for you; we do not check that authority independently. You stay responsible for your animal's welfare and for the fees, whoever brings it in. Tell us if there is anyone we should not accept instructions from and we will note it on your record.

Our clinic is open Monday to Friday 8:30am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm. At any other time, call 07 870 2696 and you will be put through to our vet on call. Always call before you travel, so someone is there to meet you.

Some services may not be available after hours, and cover can differ between companion and farm animals. If we are unable to attend, we will help you find the nearest appropriate care.

Veterinary treatment always carries some risk, including the risk of complications and, rarely, death. Before any procedure we will explain the likely benefits, the risks, the alternatives, and the estimated cost. We will not go ahead without your agreement.

If your animal needs urgent treatment to relieve pain or suffering and we cannot reach you in time to ask, you authorise us to do what is reasonably necessary to protect its welfare. We will try the contact details on your record and tell you what we have done as soon as we can.

If there are treatments you do not want us to carry out, or a figure you want us to check with you before we go past, tell us and we will record it and work to it.

Our fees reflect the time taken, the complexity of the treatment, and the materials and medicines used. All prices we quote are GST-inclusive. Our fee schedule changes from time to time, so we do not publish it here - ask at reception or call us and we will give you current prices for anything you are considering, including the consultation fee that goes with any medicine we supply.

We give you an estimate before treatment wherever we can. An estimate is our best assessment at the time, not a fixed quote - the final cost can differ if complications arise or your animal's condition changes. We will contact you before costs go significantly past an estimate, unless that would delay urgent treatment.

Payment is due at the time of service, unless you hold an approved account with us. We accept EFTPOS, Visa, Mastercard and bank transfer. We ask for a deposit before major procedures and overnight hospitalisation, and it comes off your final bill.

If your account is not paid by the due date we may hold off on further non-urgent services, charge interest on the overdue amount, and pass the debt to a collection agency, with reasonable collection costs added to your balance. Please give us at least 24 hours' notice to move or cancel an appointment; late cancellations and no-shows may attract a fee.

Please talk to us early, and before treatment starts if you can. There are usually more options than people expect, and they are easier to arrange before a bill exists than after.

We will always provide emergency treatment to relieve pain and suffering, whatever your ability to pay. Legal responsibility for your animal's welfare stays with you as its owner or the person in charge of it, under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

The clinical records we hold about your animal - consultation notes, diagnostic images, radiographs and laboratory results - are owned by this practice.

You can ask for a copy at any time. If you move to another practice we will send your animal's records on promptly once you ask us, and we will not hold them back over an unpaid account.

We collect personal information about you so we can care for your animals, manage your account, and keep in touch with you about their treatment. We handle it under the Privacy Act 2020.

Our Privacy Policy sets out what we collect, who we share it with, how long we keep it and where it is stored, and how to see or correct it. You have a legal right to ask us - or any other business - to correct information that is wrong, incomplete or misleading.

We provide veterinary services with reasonable care and skill. Even so, veterinary treatment carries risks that cannot always be avoided, including unexpected complications and the death of an animal. A poor outcome does not by itself mean something has gone wrong.

To the extent the law allows, our liability for any loss arising from our services is limited to the amount charged for the service concerned. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as loss of production, breeding value, or competition earnings.

If you are a consumer, you have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 that cannot be excluded, and nothing here affects them.

Tell us. Most concerns get sorted out quickly once we talk, and we would rather hear about it than not.

• Start with the veterinarian who saw your animal, or any of our team.
• If that does not resolve it, contact our practice manager on 07 870 2696 or [email protected]. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and aim to respond in full within 20 working days.
• You can contact the Veterinary Council of New Zealand at any time about the professional conduct of a veterinarian, at vetcouncil.org.nz. You can also seek mediation, or take the matter to the Disputes Tribunal or the courts.

Please raise concerns about a particular service or product within 30 days, while the details are fresh. We will still look at a concern raised later.

You can end this agreement at any time. Any fees you already owe stay payable.

We may also end it, with reasonable notice and in writing, provided your animal's welfare is not compromised. We may end it immediately for serious or repeated breach of these terms, abusive or threatening behaviour towards our team or other clients, sustained non-payment, or an irreparable breakdown of trust.

If your animal is part-way through treatment we will either transfer its care or give you reasonable time to find another practice, and we will still provide emergency care to relieve pain and suffering until you have registered somewhere else. Where we have authorised named people to hold or give restricted veterinary medicines, withdrawing that authorisation is ours - tell us promptly when any of them leaves or changes role.

Our team is here to care for your animals with skill, courtesy and respect, and we ask that you and anyone who comes in with you treat them the same way. We do not tolerate verbal abuse, threats, physical aggression, discrimination, harassment, or damage to our property. Where that happens we may end services immediately and, where warranted, involve the Police.

To protect the privacy of our staff and other clients, please ask before recording audio or video anywhere on our premises. You are welcome to photograph your own animal.

If we provide services to your farm, some extra terms apply. They cover the property and stock we are responsible for, who on farm is authorised to hold and give restricted veterinary medicines, the treatment policies we agree with you, your disease-control programmes, and biosecurity.

Because these depend on your property, your stock and your team, they sit in a separate farm agreement rather than on this page. Your veterinarian will go through it with you and review it at your annual consultation.

Two things worth knowing in advance: medicines we authorise you to hold can only be used as the authorisation says, by the people it names - so tell us promptly when any of those people leaves or changes role; and if another practice also provides services to your farm, tell us, because we need to know what has already been supplied before we authorise anything further.

We review these terms at least once a year. If we change them in a way that affects you we will let you know by email, and the change takes effect from your next visit.

The version on this page is always the current one. Ask us if you would like a printed copy, or a copy of the version you accepted.