A Huyton woman was bewildered when the ashes of her beloved rescue dachshund, Bert, came back with the wrong name.
Helen Power, 55, a sheltered scheme manager, was confused when the box containing Bert’s ashes had ‘Bais Power’ as its label. Her first thought was that she had been given the wrong ashes, despite paying for a private cremation with Vets Now, Woolfall Heath.
Helen said: “The poor little thing had a terrible life so his identity was all he had and was so important. His name wasn’t Bais. It was Bert.
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“He was so beautiful, sweet and perfect. We thought we would have a lot longer with him. His tail never stopped wagging. He will always be in our hearts and we will always remember him.”
Vets Now said there had been human error in recording Bert’s name from the initial emergency phone call. This continued throughout his case notes, meaning that his ashes were given the wrong name.
Bert was a two-year-old rescue from Hungary. He was severely underweight when Helen picked him up at Warrington Services after his journey to the UK.
But he seemed in good health, picking up house training quickly and starting to put weight on after his four weeks with Helen. He got on well with Helen’s three other rescue dogs Kevin, Melli and Oscar.
Helen only had him for four weeks when he began to vomit and starting to have fits. The vet kept him in for a day and ran tests but couldn't work out what was wrong. Helen couldn't pay the vet bill at such short notice and Bert had to be put down.
Helen said: “I don’t think I’ll ever find out what killed him. It’s a complete mystery. It doesn’t make any sense.
“It’s so cruel. I am completely distraught.”
Lisa Maxwell, head of client services at Vets Now, said: “We take all complaints extremely seriously and as soon as the complaint was brought to us on 8th April, we launched a full and thorough investigation into this incident. We are still in the process of working through this investigation and we will update our client as to the full outcomes as soon as we are able.
“However, having listened to the recorded calls and liaised with our staff involved, I have established that Bert’s name was recorded incorrectly by us from the initial emergency call. This incorrect name was subsequently used throughout his clinical case notes, causing the consequent issues with the cremation labelling. It was entirely down to human error for which we are extremely sorry. We’re also very sorry that at no point during Bert’s stay was his name corrected on his clinical notes.
“As part of our internal investigation, we will take steps to prevent something like this from happening again.
“We express our sincerest sympathies to our client over the loss of Bert. Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is always extremely difficult. Our staff are fully trained to ensure that this sensitive time is handled with thoughtfulness and care for both the beloved pet and their family. I’m so sorry that our client’s experience did not reflect this, and for the distress and upset this error has caused.”
