Banfield Pet Hospital at 6960 Amador Plaza Road, Dublin, California.

If you're reading this because you are considering taking your puppy to Banfield at Amador Plaza, Dublin... DON'T! I got the 1-year puppy plan and the whole experience was terrible. After that, we took him to a different place for his 2nd year shots and the difference was so obvious. The Banfield people lack the training, confidence and are just so disorganized.

Here are some details:

1. Don't fall for the free initial check-up. That is nothing but sales talk. They will even use scare tactics on you to get you as a customer.

2. The vet told us to keep our puppy inside the house until all shots have been completed. Being first time dog owners, we believed him. Now that we got more educated, we realized that this is so wrong. There is window of time when a puppy learns to socialize. If you miss that, it shuts on you. You can read about it and it was confirmed by a seasoned dog trainer in the area. You can also watch a video of Paul Owens (dog whisperer) on YouTube showing puppies being touched by different people so they learn to socialize. Our dog became fearful of other people because of this bad instruction from the vet. Ironically, when the vet noticed that, one of the solutions offered was a medical treatment to get rid of his fear-aggression. Terrible way to do business.

3. We had our puppy neutered and was supposed to get a microchip at the same time. They forgot the microchip. Then the cone that they put on our dog was too small that he could actually lick his wound. I took him back and asked for another cone but they didn't have the right size.

4. In one of the reports they gave us as part of the Wellness Plan, there was a schedule of preventive care. The onus is on you to stay on top of that. You won't get a reminder from them (unlike the new place that we now take our dog to). If you forget then they get away without providing the service.

5. I was shopping for a heartworm dewormer. Most of them tell you to ask your vet on how often you should give it to your dog. This is not covered by the puppy plan, however, consultations are. So, I called Banfield to ask. I was basically told that only their dewormer works so I should take our puppy to them. Really???

I called their HQ to cancel the plan because it was on auto-renewal. They offered me 2 months free for the 2nd year. I didn't take it.

Bottom line, rating = zero star.