How to handle customer complaints in a veterinary clinic: being right doesn't always mean winning
Complaints at the veterinary clinic are inevitable. What makes a difference is not always who is right, but how you manage the situation to maintain client trust and protect the clinic's reputation.
The reality of complaints in veterinary clinics
Even when your protocols are solid, misunderstandings and unstated expectations lead to complaints. Special contexts (e.g., pandemic, appointments with restrictions) increase the likelihood of client frustration.
Real case – When being right isn't enough
During the pandemic, we adopted a system of picking up pets from the car to minimize client access to the clinic.
An anecdote: A client called us to inform us that he was in the parking lot. He was half an hour early and we told him we would see him at the scheduled time. When the appointment time arrived, the veterinarian in question went to pick up the cat, who was in the back seat of a convertible with the top down. When she took him to the consultation room, she noticed that the cat was panting. She checked his body temperature and detected a slight hyperthermia.
To prevent this from escalating into heatstroke, she contacted the owner by phone and informed him that we would keep the cat for a while to observe him and keep him cool, ensuring that his body temperature returned to its normal range.
The cat recovered shortly after, received the vaccine, and was able to be returned to the client.
What we didn't expect
A few days later, we received a complaint from the client, who claimed that, due to our negligence, we had caused his cat to suffer heatstroke by making him wait in the car for his appointment.
Upon reading it, our initial reaction was disbelief and anger:
- What happens outside the clinic is beyond our control.
- That the owner came in a convertible and was waiting in the sun for half an hour before his appointment were not our decisions.
- The owner had not communicated any concerns beforehand and it was our professionalism that allowed us to detect the problem.
- We corrected the problem, keeping the client informed.
It was logical, therefore, to want to tell this client that his complaint was unfounded, and it would have been very easy to politely tell him to take his complaints elsewhere.
But the following question arose:
- What did we gain by telling the client he was wrong in this situation? Most likely, if he didn't feel heard, he would end up posting the complaint on social media.
- Were we really exempt from responsibility? When you have been working in a certain way and following certain protocols, it is very easy to take them for granted and assume that everyone should understand them as well as we do, but the reality is that this client had not been to the clinic for a year and had no reason to understand the process.
- What is common sense for us is not necessarily so for everyone. For anyone in the veterinary world, it would be logical to worry about the risks of heatstroke for a cat in a carrier in the sun on a summer day, but for someone whose cat goes in and out of the house and rarely has to be transported elsewhere... not so much.
Our final decision
- Instead of telling this client to get lost, we decided to respond to his complaint cordially, explaining the situation, how factors we had not considered and that were beyond our control triggered the problem, and what we would do to mitigate this possibility in the future.
- We apologized for not having informed him sufficiently about the process beforehand so that he could have planned his trip better, and we also sent him information to mitigate the risk of heatstroke in the future, along with the symptoms to observe in his pet in the future.
- From that moment on, we started paying more attention to the vehicles waiting with pets in the parking lot. We informed clients when they arrived to keep the air conditioning on, or if they arrived very early, we tried to take the pet in sooner or tether them in our waiting room.
The importance of proactive communication
Explain protocols in advance (SMS/WhatsApp/email reminders) and what to expect on the day of the appointment: schedules, how to act if they arrive too early, recommendations for pet transport in summer.
Listen before responding
When a client complains, making them feel heard reduces the likelihood of public escalation. It's not about admitting technical fault but about acknowledging the client's perception.
Transform complaints into opportunities for improvement
Review processes: do we need new summer safety reminders? Training for receptionists in identifying risk situations? Document cases to adjust protocols.
Practical strategies for veterinarians and clinical teams
- Send a pre-appointment message with recommendations (e.g., "if it's hot, do not expose the pet; keep air conditioning on").
- Train the team in active listening and empathetic responses to complaints.
- Standardize parking lot observation (vehicle/pet registration, maximum waiting time, alternative options).
- Create a complaint response template that is clear, empathetic, and explains actions taken and future measures.
Final reflection – The client is not always right, but they do have a perspective
Viewing each complaint as a learning and leadership opportunity improves the experience and reduces the likelihood of public conflicts. The clinic's reputation is better protected with empathy and action than with defense.
What would you have done in this situation? Leave us your comment and share protocols that have worked for you in your clinic.