A grieving woman who recently lost her beloved rescue dog is in a state of shock after picking up his ashes.
Helen Power, 55, was confused when the box containing two-year-old dachshund Bert's ashes was labelled with the wrong name.
Instead of 'Bert' written on the note, it was labelled for 'Bais Power', reports Liverpool Echo.
Helen, from Huyton, assumed she had been given the wrong ashes, despite paying for a private cremation with Vets Now, Woolfall Health.
She 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 Bert's name was written down incorrectly during the initial emergency phone call, and this continued throughout his case notes, resulting in the wrong name on his ashes.
Bert was rescued from the streets of Hungary when he was two-years-old, and was transported to the UK after Helen decided to adopt him.
Despite being severely underweight, Bert seemed in good health at first. He picked up house training quickly and got on well with Helen's three other rescue dogs, Kevin, Melli and Oscar.
But after just four weeks, Bert began vomiting and having fits. The vet kept him in for a day and ran tests but couldn't work out what was wrong.
Helen, who is a sheltered scheme manager, 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."
Do you have a dog story to tell? Contact nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
