#Consumer checkbook android#

'Veterinarians have very big price differences from practice to practice for the exact same care,' said Brasler. 'So spaying of a 6-mont-old cat, the lowest price we could find in the Boston area was around $200 for that procedure and the highest price was nearly $1,100.

And realize most plans don’t cover pre-existing conditions.īond Vet Pet Primary and Urgent Care on Keeping Your Pet Safe This SummerĬonsumers’ Checkbook also evaluated more than 150 veterinary practices in the Boston area and found big price differences. If you are buying pet insurance, read the fine print, because not all plans are created equal. Avoid companies that charge high premiums and copays. 'For a dog that was really unlucky, the less than 5% chance of having a pet that just needed a lot of expensive care, we found that that was really the only case where any of the pet insurance plans made sense for us,' said Brasler. 'On our analysis, we found that the vast, vast majority of pet owners, they'll do better without insurance than with it.' But if your pet needed a high level of medical care, you may benefit from insurance. None of the policies that Checkbook looked at were determined to be a good deal for pets that had low or moderate levels of health problems. That's when your pet actually might need expensive veterinary care.' 'The real reason here that pet insurance often is a bad deal for pet owners is that most of the plans are priced to get really expensive, $250 a month or more is what they'll cost when your pet reaches age 10 or so,” said Executive Editor Kevin Brasler.

#Consumer checkbook android#

Get the NBC10 Boston app for iOS or Android and pick your alerts. People can fall out of trees, limbs can fall on people etc., so you want to be sure they have both liability and workers comp insurance.' In fact you should ask to see certificates of insurance, and call the insurance carrier to verify the coverage is still valid.Stay informed about local news and weather. Krughoff says, 'A lot of things can go wrong.

Krughoff says, 'Who is going to take care of the debris afterwards? Are they going to cut it up into firewood and split it up? are you going to keep it? Do they take it away? All the details of what's going to happen in both doing the job and afterwards.'īefore any work is started be sure to check the company's insurance. Included in a bid should be specific language that deals with what's going to happen with the wood and debris. For jobs that aren't pressing, consider having the work done in winter, when companies are less busy and there is less debris to haul away.Get itemized, written bids to be sure you know what is being offered.Because estimators don't always show up as promised, consider arranging for more companies to come to your home than you actually want to see then call and cancel appointments when you have enough estimates.Keep in mind that, usually, it is possible to mark trees and leave instructions so that you don't have to be home when the estimator comes. Be prepared to leave a number where you can be reached in the evenings or on weekends. So that's why it's important to get several itemized bids. According to Krughoff, 'For one particular tree removal job that we priced from a large number of firms, prices ranged from $2,000 to more than $6,000 for the exact same tree, exactly the same finished result.'

When Consumers' Checkbook evaluated 73 area tree services on everything from performance to cost, they found big differences. Good tree firms, particularly after a storm, are plenty busy, they don't have to go knocking on doors,' says Robert Krughoff, President of Delaware Valley Consumers' Checkbook, an independent, nonprofit consumer organization. 'Don't go with some firm that just goes knocking on your door. You have a tree that falls in your yard, on your house, or is on top of your car and someone knocks on your door offering to get rid of it. PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If this week's storms have left you with a downed tree or having to tackle dangerous limbs, 3-On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan shares some advice when hiring a tree service.