Lying veterinarian

I just need to complain a bit. My cat is on Buprenorphine (a pain killer) and I ran out today. I called in a refill to the compounding pharmacy I get it from last week but it won't be here for another 2-4 days. So I called the vet's office but they were out. To make a long story short I got another vet that I've seen before to refill a prescription which was very nice of him. Most vets won't do that.

So I went there to pick up my 15 syringes and the vet comes out and tells me that he's going to give me a break on the price from what he normally charges for a Buprenorphine injection. He's going to charge me $11 per syringe! My regular vet had told him that they usually charge me $11 for the drug, $1 to draw it up in the syringe and 50 cents for the syringe. But that's for ten doses, not for each dose. He thought that they charge me $12.50 per dose when in fact they charge me $23.50 for ten doses which I told him. Well, he didn't believe me and said that there was no way he could match that because that would be less than his cost since Buprenorphine is such an expensive drug. He was getting noticably annoyed when I insisted that I just normally pay $23 and would not pay him $165 for five days worth of meds.

He finally agreed to match their price but he told me that he was doing me a big favor as he was taking a loss on it. According to him the other vet is probably able to charge less because they get the drug from the manufacturer, who currently has it on backorder, while he gets his from a compunding pharmacy which he said costs more. Interestingly though, I find out that the "expensive" compounding pharmacy he gets his Buprenorphine from is the exact same one that I get mine from. I get mine in a 30ml bottle which is the smallest they offer and that only costs me $98. 30ml gives me 150 doses. It adds up to 65 cents per dose!

All this time he's telling me that charging me $11 per dose would be giving me a break and charging me the $2.30 per dose that he finally did was "shooting himself in the foot" - a huge loss. Obviously he's lying! Buprenorphine is not a cheap drug but it's not that expensive. $2.30 per dose is not below cost. He still made a $15 profit on the sale. That may not be a lot but it's certainly not a loss.
I looked up the retail cost of the brand name drug on the internet (not the generic that I get) and that would just cost $1.80 per dose so there is no way that he could be telling the truth about his cost. I hate it when people lie to me and take me for a fool. I understand that a vet office is a business and are there to make money. I understand there there will be a mark-up on meds and I don't have a problem with that. Just don't lie to me. I do rescue and have for years so I've been to quite a few vets. I know how things work and how much things cost. Clearly he didn't know that and thought he could pull a fast one on me. I hate that.
He said that he did this favor for me because he was hoping that I'd bring my cats to him too, not just my dogs. But now I don't know if I can trust him.

Anyone else ever experienced something like this?

Wow, that's crazy! No wonder people find it so hard to trust vets these days. It really is all about the money as opposed to the wellbeing of the animals.

I've never caught a vet in a lie, but there ARE some vets who have huge price differentials around here. I know one vet who charges $60 for a rabies vaccine and another who charges $15.

I hate vets that care more about money than the animals. We went to a place that used to be very good. All the vets their cared about the animals, and their prices weren't that bad. Then the vet who owned the place sold it, and left. All the good vets there followed. We stayed because our vet stayed. There was a time this vet cared about the cats, but he turned out to be just as bad as the people who bought the place. Now all that place cares about is money. They do nothing for the cats, but have no problem taking money for doing absolutely nothing. They used to have a booming business, couldn't even find a place to park at 1 time. I think we were 1 of the last 1's to leave. I doubt they'll be in business this time next year. I now find it very hard to trust any vet. Just wish we left sooner maybe Lynxx would still be alive now if we did.

Franklin needs b12 shots. If I buy the prepared, single dose shots from the vet they are $17 each. The vet wants him to get i shot/week. I told him that the price was out of my budget, given that i could probably get the 25 hypos and a vial of b12 for $17. He has agreed to sell me the vial and the needles much cheaper. All I had to do was ask nicely.