Blacksvets Reviews 

We've been pet plan members here for at least 8 years. Today my dog was booked in for suspected pyometra, and shortly before the appointment I was called and told she wouldn't be seen because of an outstanding bill.

The bill is a £50 charge I've disputed in writing since 16th September. Staff at two branches told me at the time it was waived, and I was never asked to pay at the appointment. I emailed the practice's feedback address twice and was told today my emails hadn't been received. They later said she could come in, but the delay meant I could no longer make the appointment.

I'd expect a practice to see an animal with a suspected serious condition while a small billing dispute is looked into, not refuse care over it. I've made a formal complaint and will update this review based on how it's handled.

I have used this practice for many years with my rescue dog, Django, and for a long time I would have happily given them 5 stars.

When I first joined, Kevin was our vet and he was excellent. Django is an anxious, fearful dog and Kevin always went above and beyond to gain his trust. He was patient, compassionate and always explained everything clearly. The practice has always been more expensive than some other local vets, but I was happy to pay for what I felt was a higher standard of care. Unfortunately, I no longer feel that confidence.

My biggest concern is that Django was recently prescribed medication based on a weight that was months out of date. While waiting at the practice for the prescription to be signed off, I questioned the dose because it seemed high and weighed him myself. He was over 1kg lighter than the weight on file, and the prescription then had to be changed because the dose was too high for his actual weight.

To me, this highlights a worrying lack of attention to the basics. Ensuring an animal has an up-to-date weight before prescribing medication should be standard practice and should not rely on the owner identifying the issue.

I also feel the practice has become overly focused on Brucella. Almost every visit now seems to involve questions about whether Django has been abroad, despite this already being on his records. I have also been given information about Brucella that I felt was unnecessarily alarming and not balanced.

It feels as though a huge amount of emphasis is being placed on Brucella while fundamental aspects of patient care, such as accurate weights for medication dosing, are being overlooked.

There are still some lovely staff members at the practice, but recent experiences have unfortunately left me questioning whether the quality of care still justifies the premium prices.

It feels a shame to write this. Blacks vets were great, however over the last 2 - 3 years they seem to be more profit focussed.
Surprise items on bills, tactics of staff (including layering in the guilt-trip to push unneeded tests) and quotes that are unclear with “estimates”.
Administration and record keeping is a little lacking and there is often confusion and misunderstandings… It is interesting that errors identified in records between vets or administrative staff seem easy to explain, yet issues identified by the pet owner can never be explained, are dismissed (as the written record is non-changeable and therefore cannot be challenged) or just met with an apology and awkward smiles.
It must be soul destroying for vets who genuinely care for animals and want to make a difference, as their performance seems to be managed on their profitability instead and how much they can try and make out of each short appointment- potentially preying on vulnerable clients who may not question their practices.

I had to take my pet here out of hours in an emergency. Unfortunately he had to be put to sleep. I waited in the consult room while they got him ready to put to sleep and was upset and crying along with my child. When another member of staff came in waving the card machine at me to pay the bill before my poor cat had even been put to sleep.! No compassion at all! Before this, as soon as I arrived, before even looking at my cat I was given a printed out estimate of £1500 when the only info I'd given them over the phone was my details and my pets details and the problem. This instantly put me off and made me feel like money was the only thing they were bothered about! If it hadn't have been for the fact my pet was in a critical condition I would have taken him elsewhere instantly at that point. Will never take another pet there. I was disgusted by the lack of compassion and sympathy and the main focus being what things were going to cost.

I used Blacks Vets because a family member worked there and received excellent care for our Boxer with special thanks to Vet Kevin for all his care. Since my family member left all I can say is 'awful'. We booked an appt at the Sedgley branch for a routine appt and when we arrived the branch was shut for refurbishment no one had bothered to tell us even though we received email and text reminders for the appt the day before and on the day. We are constantly having to go to the vets to collect routine medication which we pay for in advance because they changed their rules and stopped giving 6 months at a time which coincided with the 6 monthly nurse checks and now only give 3 months supply as if they think we have nothing better to do than keep travelling to the vets every 3 months let alone have a wasted journey. We made another appt online and received reminders again about the appt only to be contacted and told the appt had been cancelled and if we wanted to use Sedgley branch which is more local than Dudley we would have to wait until at least the end of June. Dudley is awkward for us to get to. I then received a reminder on 5 June for an appointment that I was advised was cancelled the day before. At the beginning of May when this happened I wanted to speak to their Practice Manager (I know her name but will not put it her but she knows who she is) who refused to speak to me and told a staff member to tell me to put it in writing which I did. I have not received a reply over a month later despite several chasers. They have acknowledged the complaint and sent one email saying it was taking longer to respond but the time has passed well past their publicised response time probably because there is no revenue for them from this communication only good customer service which is clearly lacking. Blacks is owned by Linnaeus and I have now contacted the VP of Linnaeus in the UK to pursue on my behalf as I am sure she will be extremely interested in the lack of service they seem to provide and looking at the pathetic 2.4 out of 5 score they have on here it is more widespread than just my own complaint.

DO NOT USE THIS VET!

I moved to this vet when our old fear free vet retired, as when I spoke to them they said they could manage an anxious dog. My GSD is very anxious in unfamiliar places, which gets worse in small rooms where she can’t pace. We saw a good vet the first time, who sat on the floor with her and spoke to her until she was ready for him to approach her- he has since left, and everyone else there just sees us as cash cows - they don’t interact with her, don’t even bother saying hello, just come at her with a needle and act surprised when she growls and tries to hide behind me; all they’re interested in is getting through the appointment as quickly as possible so they can make more money. These people do not care about their patients, only the money they can make off their owners.

Biggest rip off ever, please avoid this place paid £5300, our dog had gastroenteritis, itemised bill,when we had things like paracetamol £12 on it ,absolutely ridiculous,

They don't care for the wellbeing of your pet, they just want to force you to pay as much as possible to get as much money in their pocket as they can.
When you do complain, they don't reply within the time their website claims they will.
If you call and they say they will get back to you, they never will. The manager has been off sick about three or four times this year and the complaints manager is apparently never in work...
If they try to keep your pet in for longer than the initial visit, I would advise telling them you don't have insurance so they know they cant scam you out of thousands. Thousands of pounds for my pet to be given constipation tablets and come no closer to knowing what the initial issue was.

Do not use this vets. Find an independent vet if you can. Save your money and get good care for your pet anywhere else.

We've been with Blacks since 1981 and cannot fault them for their care and kindness to the numerous pets we've taken. Most recently my lunatic Lab who decided to eat stuff she shouldn't. I know that they will have looked after my furry baby as if she was their own. Had frequent updates one after surgery and then two more the morning after. Cannot fault them and I know the aftercare is amazing so I have no worries at all. Yes they are expensive but you really cannot put a price on 24/7 care, the ability to take a seriously ill pet in after hours and the care and kindness that they show even when you have to make the most heartbreaking decisions. Wouldn't go anywhere else.

Terrable service left waiting over a hour to see a vet to have rabbit pit to sleep
Stressful day made even worse

Please do not use this vets.
They are more about making money than showing any sort of compassion or care to your pets.
We took our dog who has been ill, not eating etc, we then paid for a CT scan and as it was not good news, they said they can operate but this may not sort the problem. To try and give the best chance to our dog we decided to go ahead with the surgery. After being told that our dog was seriously unwell, the receptionist then came with the card machine, shoved it under my nose and demanded I pay for the treatment in advance. There was no compassion, no thought of how we may be feeling just about ensuring they get their money. They were asking for around £3000, any average person doesn’t have that money to hand over straight away. I explained this and the vet came out stating if it is not all paid in advance they will not treat our dog. I took the money in the next morning and they operated but unfortunately he could not be saved. It was a devastating time for us and the way we were treated by this vets added to the pain. I would assume that those that choose to be a vet do this because they care, so if you work there I would ask yourselves are you really achieving everything you set out to when choosing this career.

Please stay away from this vets, there are much better and kinder vets around Dudley.

I found Toddy as a six-week-old kitten, drenched in a rainstorm and thrown away like rubbish. I took him in, and for the next eight years, he was my shadow — always there through some of the hardest times of my life. He somehow knew when I needed a cuddle.

When he suddenly became ill, we took him to Blacks Vets on a Thursday. By Tuesday morning, despite everything, I had to make the heartbreaking decision to let him go. In just a few days, we spent around £2,500 on tests, treatment, and care — we did everything we could.

Afterwards, we asked for an individual cremation, so we could have his ashes and say goodbye properly. Instead, we later learned that Toddy had been sent for mass disposal alongside roadkill and wild animals. The crematorium confirmed his ashes had been scattered, so there was nothing left to bring home.

When we raised this, the practice offered a £150 memorial plaque, even though there were no ashes to place it with. Then, while we were still grieving, they bombarded my wife with weekly text messages demanding £1,176, even after our solicitor formally told them to stop. Two letters from our solicitor were ignored, and they eventually threatened debt collectors and a 25% surcharge.

After years of loyalty and thousands spent, this is how we were treated.
They made money on Toddy’s suffering, and then threw him away like he was nothing.
No family — and no animal — should ever be treated this way.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
This is not a vets that I would ever recommend to anyone. They misdiagnosed our dog, they sedated her and then said she didn’t require the procedure, but we could still claim on our pet insurance to ensure they got their money, but they didn’t do anything,, Their complaints procedure is flawed and not independent, they take no consideration into their customers and we were constantly threatened with debt companies. Not a nice company at all.

Didn't appreciate being referred to a debt collection company after one week of receiving the bill for losing my boy and being devastated. No one phoned me to talk about it and there was no help from your company when I got in touch with you. We had been with you for years and spent absolutely thousands of pounds and for the sake of about £100 you have lost our custom. You are now more like a bank than a vet and I wonder if you really do care about people's pets at all as all you ever do is talk about money. I am so glad now that Watchdog has got involved and really hope that it stops businesses like yours being able to charge what you like.

Vet is scared of big dogs.

We have a Black German Shepherd, she is lovely, the nicest dog ever. Apparentley she is agressive now..... That could be open to opinion. However what is not acceptable is our dog being returned to us covered in her own vomit, it was mostly dry so she had clearly been sitting in it for some time. All over the cone and her face, that is poor, god knows how they treated the poor girl when she was under.

First time I had visited blacks Vets Dudley, I took Franky a ferrol cats I been feeding for two and half years. The vet went above and beyond for Franky he was kind and polite and very understanding. The receptionists and nurses where wonderful polite and kind and very caring. The Vets itself was very clean and although its a Vets it didn't smell of animals at all. It was a pleasant waiting area. Any animal that was nervous or not well and who urinated on the floor staff very quickly got it up. Well done to you all for a pleasant visit for Franky and myself although I was worried for Franky it calmed me down to see what wonderful caring staff you have. The vet was wonderful explained everything to me, which helped me to understand more about Franky. 10/10 from Franky and myself a big thank you. May God bless you all and keep you safe for the wonderful work you do. Kind regards

Lovely vets and nurses and reception staff at sedgley ,Dudley and Quinton .
My dog bella had a ulcer in her eye I was very worried it wouldn't heal but finally it did . the staff even wrote out a schedule when and which meds had to be given so it was easier so grateful to them all thank you

My experience with Blacks Lye was great, After using Blacks for many years now, i'd only ever used them for my cats yearly jabs and check up's. Unfortunately we had to visit more regular due to her illness, the staff (Vets, Nurses and admin staff) were lovely, very kind and understanding. The insurance staff dealt with all my bills and claims and when i need assistance with anything someone was always there to help. When it was time to say goodbye i was heart broken but comforted and given as much time with her as i need, The fur in the little glass bottle and paw prints are so special. And just a week later i received a lovely card with some special kind words and some forget me not seeds which i look forward planting.

I moved to blacks vets from another practice after being badly treated. I had been going to the previous practice for nearly TWO YEARS!!! and I was still no further forward with what was wrong with my dog Billy. After only two visits to blacks he was diagnosed with a rare life limiting illness sadly. I was devastated.
From that moment on even with the insurance everything was dealt with amazingly. The staff are lovely, kind and understanding. The vet who I saw was so brilliant. He treated my Billy like his own. All insurance was paid out with no problems. To the point I used up my whole policy. Which due to the fact he had so much work done.
They did everything they could to keep him going.
At the end when the time came to say goodbye they treated us like royalty. Made us feel so special. It was such a peaceful passing. I was devastated. They even took a fur clipping and put it in a bottle for me and a paw print for me to keep.
If you want a good, caring, genuine vets look no further than

Please all who are insured CHECK the bill don’t just let it go through your insurance. Blacks are not open and transparent about prices and costs. Overcharge when going through insurance. Can’t wait for investigations to start!