Appointment & Cancellation Policy
Quality medical care, in a compassionate and timely manner.
That is our goal at River City Animal Clinic. No-shows and late arrivals inconvenience those patients who need access to veterinary care, so to help keep appointments on time we provide multiple text and email reminders for all clients.
A veterinary–client relationship is built on mutual trust and respect. We strive to be on time for your scheduled appointments, and ask that you give us the same courtesy. If you are unable to keep an appointment, please call us at least 24 hours in advance to reschedule or cancel, so we may help another patient needing treatment. This can be done through our electronic reminder emails, texts, or by giving us a call.
Please call at least 24 hours in advance. If you reach us after business hours, leave a voicemail — you may also use our text messaging services or email. Early cancellation allows another patient access to timely care.
Please arrive 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment so your pet may benefit from the full exam time. A grace period of 15 minutes is granted for unforeseen delays while travelling to our clinic.
For all drop-off and surgical appointments, we request that your pet be picked up by 3:50pm. We close at 4:00pm and like to provide quality work-life balance for our hardworking employees.
The details
Cancelling or rescheduling
If you need to cancel an appointment, please call at least 24 hours in advance. If you reach us after business hours, please leave a voicemail. You may also use our text messaging services or email to inform us of cancellations. Early cancellation will allow another patient access to timely care.
If a client misses an appointment or scheduled procedure without cancelling ahead of time, or attempts to cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, a $75 missed appointment fee will be applied to your account. This amount will need to be paid prior to scheduling or receiving any further services or products. It will be processed for the missed appointment and will not go towards your future invoice.
Arriving late
We ask that you arrive 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment so your pet may benefit from the full exam time. A grace period of 15 minutes will be granted for unforeseen delays that you may encounter while travelling to our clinic.
If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for an appointment, we will offer options of being seen as a work-in (exam fee of $85.00) or rescheduling the exam as our schedule permits. We strive to ensure clients and patients are seen in a timely manner, and appreciate your punctual arrival.
Missed appointments
A “no-show” outpatient appointment is when a client misses an appointment without giving notice. Failure to be present at the time of a scheduled appointment will result in a text or email that a missed appointment fee of $75 will be charged to your account. This amount will need to be paid prior to scheduling or receiving any further services or products. It will be processed for the missed appointment and will not go towards your future invoice.
This is to ensure that our time is being best spent helping patients. No-shows result in another pet being unable to receive care.
Future appointments: if you have already missed 1 appointment, you will be required to make a deposit for the exam fee of $75.00 for all appointments going forward. If three appointments have been missed, we will be forced to terminate our veterinary–client relationship.
Surgical appointments
A “no-show” surgical appointment is when a client misses an appointment without giving notice. Failure to be present at the time of a scheduled appointment will prompt a missed appointment fee of $200.00, which will be charged to your account. This amount will need to be paid prior to scheduling or receiving any further services or products. It will be processed for the missed appointment and will not go towards your future invoice. If the client misses three appointments, we will be forced to terminate our veterinary–client relationship.
Families with more than one pet
For families who have multiple pets, to provide the best experience we limit families to bring in no more than 3 pets a day, during multiple appointment times. This ensures that the veterinarian has ample time to discuss each of your pets’ concerns and needs with you, without being overwhelmed with information or additional veterinary care.
We also require a deposit of the $75.00 exam fee for each pet you are bringing in that day, when you schedule the appointment. This deposit will go towards your bill the day of. However, if the appointment is missed or cancelled the day of, then the pre-payment fee will be forfeited.
Late pick-up
For all drop-off and surgical appointments we request that your pet be picked up by 3:50pm. Since we close at 4:00pm and like to provide quality work-life balance for our hardworking employees, there will be a late pick-up fee if your pet is with us past 4:05pm. This additional charge will be added to your invoice for an additional $15.00.
Questions about anything here? Call us at 803-973-4491 and we will be glad to go through it with you.
Questions, or need to change an appointment?
If you are unable to keep an appointment, please call us at least 24 hours in advance so we may help another patient needing treatment. You can also reply to our reminder emails or texts.