USDA APHIS Veterinary Services — Attraction in New York

If I could give this review 0 stars I would but it does not give me that option. Keep in mind this review is for the men working the front desk/office staff and security.... not for the Veterinarans who I in fact did not actually get to meet. I was informed(misinformed) that since I was traveling outside of the country I would have to make an appointment within 72 hours of travel, which left me one option to make the appointment for Friday since my family and I would be traveling out of the country on Sunday for business. One of our dogs is a service dog and the other is not and we chose to bring both since we would be residing out of the country for more than 3 months. My appointment was for 10:30 and I was running late because we hit traffic so I called to inform them I would be late which is when I was told "were going to advise you not to come". You have to understand that this was simply not an option for us because we have an international flight on Sunday night and we were told that we needed our health certificates to be endorsed which maybe takes about all of 5 minutes the most???? I then asked to speak to someone higher who then explained to me that I actually could have had this paperwork done within 10 days of traveling and that nobody in their staff would tell me otherwise!!!!! WRONG! Clearly incompetent people working here. I advised them that I would get there before 11:30(closing time)and all I needed was some paperwork and they again stated that I should not bother coming because they were "completely booked". I arrived at the office before 11:30 and they actually had an obnoxious security guard named Joe there waiting for me and one person in the waiting area, who was their last appointment at 11:00. Joe immediately told me that I had to leave the premises. Keep in mind I am a 100 pound 5'4 24 yr old woman and all I needed was some simple paperwork to be signed and stamped. This is simply unprofessional, incompetent behavior. I myself am a liscenced health care professional and never in a million years have turned down a patient in need. I'm not sure why the men working the office staff are so absolutely miserable. We eventually did our own research and got everything taken care of without the help of these incompetent, rude people here. If you can avoid going here and bringing your dog here I would do so at all costs. Get your health certificates from another USDA veterinarian and mail it to the Albany office for endorsement to avoid this type of unprofessional behavior. It is simply embarrassing and sad to say that these type of people actually work for our...

In February 2017, we were shipping our dog from the USA to the UK and had decided to book directly with BA after looking at various prices and companies.

We were meant to fly on Thursday but snow closed the USDA office in Albany and we couldn't get our health certificate checked in time for the evening flight. USDA at JFK offered us a next day, morning appointment at very short notice.

We got there just ahead of our appointment time and found it very full, not because they were under-staffed but because they were desperately trying to help everyone they could. From the time we were greeted by the lovely security guard, who talked us through the sign in sheet, to getting our dog's paperwork stamped, they could not have been more friendly, helpful, or sympathetic to our complicated flight.

When a misunderstanding with our vet tech caused us to think we'd have to re-do the certificate at a local vet, who was USDA accredited, they went out of their way to help us by printing off a sheet of names and offering to help with anything we needed.

When we raced back in with 12 minutes to go before office closing, misunderstanding cleared up, they made sure they got our paperwork completed in time and that we could make our flight.

I can't praise them enough: they were kind, helpful, approachable, and very efficient. I watched the security guard chase after three sets of people who had left some of their paperwork behind, smiling each time. She just wanted to be sure their animals could fly.

They were...

When I asked my vet which route I should take(mail to Albany or make a JFK appt.) he said the people at JFK are nasty. Boy, was he right. Save yourself the headache and mail your papers to Albany. When I spoke with a man in Albany a few months ago he was so kind and incredibly helpful. The people who work here might as well be replaced with robots. They’re unable to answer a question outside of their script. I kept trying to make an appointment and the horribly nasty man on the phone kept telling me I have to come within 5 business days of my travel, ok understood. So I wanted to make an appointment within 5 business days. He would not let me and only kept repeating “5 business days”. So then I asked him, you’re telling me I have to call when I’m within 5 business days and you’ll grant me a same day appointment or next day? And he said we can’t guarantee availability??? So why won’t you let me make an appointment?. Then goes back to the script. Just so rude and horrible. Why would I wait until the last minute to go and something goes wrong and you can’t even guarantee I’ll be seen? Then I have to scramble and probably end up driving to Albany? It’s not a hard job. These people are just miserable. Get your paperwork done by your vet 10 days before travel and then overnight mail it it Albany. Best...