DocTerra Mobile Veterinary Services is a 24-foot all-mobile veterinary clinic in North Carolina. The clinic provides the same veterinary care as a brick-and-mortar practice for all pets, large and small: dogs, cats, birds, turtles, rabbits, horses, farm animals, and even ostriches. The vet team drives to patients’ homes and farms for wellness checks, emergency care, surgery, dentistry work, lab tests, and radiology. DocTerra uses Covetrus Pulse, a cloud-based Veterinary Operating System, to manage their practice.
Dr. Terra Stines Smith opened the clinic in 2018. It is truly a family business, with a 10-person staff that includes her husband, mom, dad, sister, and brother. Tristan Blair, Terra’s sister, has been the practice manager since 2020 and is responsible for client communications, appointment scheduling, prescriptions, medical records, post-lab outreach, and collecting payments.
Read on to learn how DocTerra streamlined payment acceptance, saved time, received outstanding customer service, and saved more than $200 monthly in processing fees by switching to PayJunction.
PayJunction is so much better. There’s no way I would return to the other provider.
Hear how DocTerra saved $200 a month by switching to PayJunction.
Before: A Bumpy Road for Payments
As in a traditional veterinary practice, DocTerra Mobile collects most payments in person at the time of service.
Veterinarians and Vet Techs run a client’s card on an integrated payment terminal, and the transaction information flows into Covetrus Pulse and is stored securely in patient records.
Tristan, the Practice Manager, collects patient payments over the phone, typically for prescriptions, lab work, or post-appointment charges.
Challenges With The Previous Provider
Every in-person transaction initiated on a terminal in the mobile clinic worked as promised. However, things came up short after that. Here are a few of the pain points Terra and Tristan shared with us as they described a “limited integration” with Pulse:
Taking phone payments - There was no way to capture and save card details in Pulse, so doing a recharge required playing “phone tag” with customers, wasting time and delaying cash flow. Once on the phone, Tristan had to log into the payment provider’s portal and manually enter the information. Next, she would log into Pulse and manually record the payment when the transaction was approved. Working across multiple tabs and double-keying payment details was inefficient and prone to keying errors. Tristan told us she would spend 15-20 minutes chasing down clients over the phone to collect one payment.
Balancing the books - DocTerra’s external bookkeeper did not have access to the payment provider’s portal. Therefore, Terra had to download and email transaction reports monthly, which was an “annoying and time-consuming process.”
Getting help - Terra and Tristan reported terrible customer service from the provider and told us that representatives hung up on them often. Terra said: “Getting a real person was very frustrating. We’d wait hours for a call back to help solve a problem. It was so impersonal. We felt like a number.” Often, they would be transferred multiple times during a call, requiring them to repeat the issue with each escalation.
During: On the Road to Recovery
Hesitancy about Switching Providers
Even though Terra was not happy with the current provider, she feared change and didn’t take steps to research other payment processors, stating, “They don’t teach the business side of running a practice in vet school.” She questioned whether the clinic would save money and had reservations about onboarding and staff training, doubting that changing providers would be easy.
In late 2023, PayJunction contacted Terra to discuss how our No-code Payments Integration® would benefit the DocTerra team. While initially hesitant about switching, Terra was so frustrated with their current integrated payments provider that she agreed to a demo. Using our free browser-based solution, we showed how payments could be initiated and completed in minutes without leaving Pulse*. Terra appreciated the personal approach of “real conversations with real people.”
Up and Running in a Few Hours
The transition to PayJunction went smoothly. PayJunction’s implementation specialists used our No-code Payments Integration browser extension to initiate payments without leaving Pulse with a few simple clicks by quickly mapping fields required to run a transaction, including amount, invoice number, and customer information. Then, they instructed what to do post-approval, such as close out a one-time purchase, update customer records, or email a receipt.
The cloud-connected terminal setup was easy, too. As Terra told us: “It was so streamlined and intuitive. The staff and I didn’t need much training. We were up and running on Day One.”
PayJunction’s plug-in is amazing! The intuitive pop-up window (browser extension) is easy for staff to use and is by far the simplest way to take a payment
Terra called PayJunction’s support team when a problem arose regarding a transaction at a large dog kennel that exceeded DocTerra’s maximum threshold. The rep answered on the first ring and immediately fixed the issue by changing the limit, resulting in a great “award-winning” customer experience. Tristan noticed that, in some cases, the cardholder's name needed to be added to the customer record on file, making it difficult to recharge the card for a new transaction. The knowledgeable rep explained that contactless cards do not transmit the name or address field when a payment is made with a tap. Now, staff in the mobile clinic instruct customers to insert their cards the first time it’s being presented. Once captured, the information and tokenized account details are automatically stored in patient records, making future transactions frictionless.
After: A Smooth Ride Ahead
The streamlined integrated browser experience has benefitted everyone at DocTerra. Switching to PayJunction’s integrated payment processing is faster, delivers a better customer experience, and saves money.
Accepting Payments
Here’s how collecting payments is easier for Terra’s mobile vet team, Tristan, and the bookkeeper:
On the road - The terminal automatically saves credit cards to recharge future transactions, which is convenient when wrestling with an agitated dog or goat. The mobile staff reports that the device is more dependable and easier to use than their prior system. Each staff member has unique login credentials, making it easy to track payment activity.
In the office - Tristan has experienced a noticeable improvement in processing Rx and lab payments. Staff enters sales information within one tab, eliminating double-keying. “The browser extension automatically pulls in the invoice number and amount, so I’m confident it’s correct,” she said.
Card details - Captured on a terminal or during a phone payment, are securely saved in patient records, eliminating back-and-forth phone calls. Tristan quickly pulls up the patient record and charges the card on file. DocTerra gets paid faster, and there are fewer outstanding balances. Terra estimates this saves 5-10 minutes per transaction.
Closing the books - Reconciliation is faster, easier, and more secure. The bookkeeper has login credentials for PayJunction’s portal to access the clinic’s statements and reports without depending on Terra to download files and send email attachments.
Getting Help
Terra and Tristan are amazed at how easy it is to reach someone for support. As Terra said: “We don’t have to punch 15 buttons on the phone or get transferred multiple times to speak to an expert. The service reps are all knowledgeable, and it’s a more personal experience. They understand time is essential.”
This feedback was great to hear. It demonstrates that customers experience PayJunction’s core values in interactions with our teams. In this case, “Own It - Don’t pass the buck” and “Put People First - We do business with people, not companies.”
Saving Money
DocTerra has reduced monthly transaction costs by more than $200! They’ve eliminated unnecessary fees such as “Processor Transaction Risk Fee,” “PCI Compliance Fee,” and “Safer Payment Fee”. Terra and Tristan love PayJunction’s transparent pricing. Terra told us: “As a business owner, I appreciate seeing the specific transaction fees deducted from my bank account. I know exactly what I was charged.”
Reinvesting in the Practice
The savings have been put to good use. Terra told us there is more money for raises, bonuses, and fun activities. And the time savings have been applied to more staff education days. “Reinvesting in the practice helps us grow as a team,” said Terra.
DocTerra’s Advice to Other Vet Practices
The savings have been put to good use. Terra told us there is more money for raises, bonuses, and fun activities. And the time savings have been applied to more staff education days. “Reinvesting in the practice helps us grow as a team,” said Terra.
Terra and Tristan wish they had discovered PayJunction earlier. Everything promised was delivered, and then some. Here’s what they would tell other veterinarians about switching payment providers:
1. Don’t be afraid of change.
2. Calculate the time staff is spending accepting and managing payments
3. Don’t accept the status quo
4. Take the time to look at options
5. Do your research:
a. Call Customer Support
b. Read customer reviews
c. Get a live demo, including all acceptance methods
d. Get a detailed statement analysis and savings estimator
Learn how No-code Payments Integration can help your practice.
* The use of No-code Payments Integration with a browser accessing Covetrus Pulse does not indicate any partnership or direct integration with Covetrus Pulse.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and accuracy.
