The other day, a customer said to me with a smile on his face:
-How lucky you are to live here!
I smiled back and nodded.
-Yes… the truth is that I’m very lucky, I can’t complain… but all that glitters is not gold.
He looked at me with complicity and answered:
-What am I going to tell you…?
And that’s where his story began.
He told me that he had set up a veterinary franchise and that he had more than 50 clinics in Spain, Andorra and Portugal. Everything was going smoothly. The numbers were growing, the clients trusted him, the business was thriving. But suddenly, without knowing exactly how or why, the accounts began to plummet.
I didn’t understand anything.
-But… how is that possible? If there is a loyal customer, it is a veterinarian. We, who love our furry ones, don’t look and compare prices. When we find our vet, it is sacred.
Because, let’s face it: who goes from vet to vet looking for the cheapest one? In almost 20 years, I have only had two. Fausto and Judith. I left Fausto because Judith opened a practice in Báscara, only two kilometers from my house, while he was in Banyoles. A question of logistics, not of trust. And that’s what happens with real veterinarians: if you find one that convinces you, you stay with him.
But my client told me that in his case, the loyalty of his franchisees was not the same.
Apparently, several of them stopped paying their dues. Not one month, not two… but almost six months. As if they had come to an agreement, they stopped paying what they owed. And of course, the ball of debts grew to unsustainable levels. Medicines, accessories, machinery… Unpaid invoices piled up and dragged him down to ruin.
He denounced. But the denunciations are still there, in some forgotten folder, buried under thousands of others. And when the time comes to review them, it will be all the same. Because those responsible will probably no longer be there, but the debt will continue to weigh on him.
The most outrageous part came when he decided to do his own research. He posed as just another client, took his consulting dog to several of these clinics. And he discovered that they were all still in operation. All of them.
-What about the owners? -I asked.
-The clinics had been transferred and were now in the name of others.
The only satisfaction he had left was that at least the animals were still being cared for.
Reflection
Appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes we see the success of others and believe that everything in their lives is perfect, but behind every success story there can be sacrifices, betrayals and disappointments. The same goes for trust: in sectors where one would expect loyalty, such as veterinary medicine, money and greed can break even the strongest relationships.
However, this story also leaves us with a valuable lesson: true success is not always in the money or the amount of business you own, but in the impact you leave behind. In the end, this man lost his company, but his legacy lives on in every clinic where animals continue to be cared for. And perhaps, though it’s not consolation enough, that’s all that really matters.
From MasTorrencito we wish you a good day and may your dogs be with you!!!!
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