When Praline had her transmission overhauled, I had them install a microchip thingie. When I left the vet with her, they gave me an envelope which I just came across Friday night.
Turns out, you have to send in a $10 activation fee and also a $14.99 annual subscription payment on the microchip.
I dunno why, but this sort of bugs me. I mean, what if they decide they want to charge $100 a year or something? They've already done the data entry and the info they store is a very tiny bit of information that's not charging them a whit to store - this seems a little disturbing to me.
Anyone know anything about this stuff?
What if you moved and you didn't get your subscription update info, and what if your dog is lost - will they call your cell and say you have to pay a huge fee to get the info on the whereabouts of your dog?
The annoying thing about this is that I invested $50 each in my two dogs to reduce the number of uncertainties about what happens to them, and now there's an whole new plethora of crap to vex over with regard to their well-being. Am I silly to have bothered?
harumph.
11 comments:
WOW....the shelter did our dogs, and there was just a one time fee of $15 each to have them chipped.....I have no idea what the extra charges are....that's crap. Vets and shelters everywhere can scan the necks of the animals for chips and read them....we chip the dogs at an animal rescue I volunteer for...no extra fees there either. IDK what's going on?
Perhaps you should have spent 4.99 on a metal dog tag. Than you would have $90 for shoes.
With my microchipping service, I just paid a small initial fee, I think ten-fifteen dollars per dog. If I change the info, say I move or something, I have to pay a small fee, which makes sense, but I certainly don't have to pay any kind of annual fee. I like the peace of mind of having my pups microchipped. They don't wear collars in the house, because they chew on each others and destroy them, so if they got out and ran off, I'd be SOL without the chips. Ditto if someone stole them. The first time they went to the vet, they'd be scanned and MY info would pop up.
It's a rip-off. Many shelters chip their animals for a one-time fee, and there's no annual or recurring charge. I'd ask your vet why he's using that service, and if he can't give you a good answer, I'd ignore the monthly fee business. Just have the dogs re-chipped at a shelter offering the one-time payment option, and take it from there.
I'm with the others and I paid just the one-time $15 fee. I just looked up my paperwork and it was with AVID/PETtrac. Their toll-free number is 1-800-336-2843. Also, both of my boys have collars with my cell phone # imprinted directly on them (as they weren't fans of a dangling tag and I was afraid it would fall off). Since Reese likes to try to find ways to escape, the collar has come in handy every single time he's been successful, since people can just call my cell, instead of waiting to bring him to a place that can read his chip.
Damn. Borg-pups. Reristance ris roorile; rerare roo ree rarrimilrated. Ruff!
You should have at the very least been told up front about this. That's a ripoff.
Welcome to the latest profit center... People will charge what ever the market will bear. Agree with others, call another provider; it's the same chip...
I got all mine chipped with trackers from http://www.24petwatch.com. I had them done over at Operation Kindness. Cost was $15.00 each and it's a one-time fee.
The way Jack runs off, however, I'm considering putting a ZoomBack around his neck so I can track him via GPS.
Regards,
Rabbit.
Sounds like your pups have been chipped with HomeAgain?
What usually happens is that the vet does the chipping and then submits the information to the company - meaning that the activation is usually included in the price you pay to have your vet place the chip.
When you get a dog chipped at a shelter, at a chipping event, and at most vet's, the activation fee is part of the fee you pay, and they set everything up with the company.
Sounds like your vet does not offer that. In which case one might wonder why they are charging you $50 to have your dog chipped, since it neither costs them that much for the chip nor the procedure.
HomeAgain, and probably other companies as well, offer a subscription service that is around $15 a year and OPTIONAL, not required.
A basic HomeAgain membership lets you log onto the HomeAgain website, upload your dog's photo and information, and keep everything up-to-date. Some of the things you can enter are your vet's contact info, dog's weight, gender, specific information, rabies tag number, etc.
The only options that are not included in the basic service are the emergency service (a number you call to talk to a vet to ask questions), "proactive" recovery (whatever that is), and online health info.
Everything else works just the same without the subscription. If your reason for getting the chip is ID if the dog gets lost, then you don't need the extra stuff.
What they all said. You don't have to pay the extra's, which is only good if you're motivated enough to use them.
I have to add that having my sisters dog chipped proved to be invaluable. She ran off one day, after they'd moved (but before my sis remembered to change the address)... even so, via the chip, they managed to find her and let her know where her dog was. The only fee she paid with that was the "your dog got picked up by animal control" fee.
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