The Travelling Vet

This mobile vet business is going places – literally

Several years ago, Charlotte Farr was looking for a way to achieve a better work-family life balance. Knowing it’s often best to treat animals in their own environments, she came up with the idea of starting a mobile veterinary service that would visit pets at their homes. Charlotte initially kitted out a van with a refrigerator for medicines, an examination area and other essential features and The Travelling Vet was born.

It was an instant success.

“People find it much easier to have a vet visit them than it is to wrangle their cat into a basket or coax some other pet into a vehicle, and it’s less stressful for the animals, too,” she says. The COVID-19 years delivered a further surge in demand because Charlotte didn't even have to go into people’s houses when she visited; her clients could simply bring their pets out to the van to be examined there.

Her brilliant idea has since grown, and there are now 11 people, three vans and one car involved in the vet practice.

Taking payments on the road

The big challenge was finding a reliable way to take and process payments across the South Yorkshire countryside. Worldpay provided the answer.

“Everyone wants to pay by card these days, so we need to be able to take card payments wherever we happen to be,” says Charlotte. Worldpay supplied her with five Move 5000 Terminals, one for each van and car, plus a spare.

“Each van needs its own terminal; sharing just isn’t a practical option for us,” she explains. She finds the terminals small, light and quick to charge. “They also hold their charge quite well, so we don’t need to cart chargers around with us either."

Contactless payments

The terminals accept payments via Visa and Mastercard, plus other cards such as China Union Pay, Diners Club International and Discover. Contactless is built in, so people can pay by tapping their card or waving their phone to use Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. “In this age, having this capability is really important -- especially since many people now prefer to avoid any type of contact in any way they can,” Charlotte observes.

It’s also important that the terminals issue paper receipts, particularly for older customers. Charlotte says tearing off the receipt and handing it over to her clients gives them confidence that the transaction has gone through properly.

Simple and economical

Charlotte relates that her whole set up process was very straightforward. “The terminals were really easy to use. There was little more to it than opening up the box and getting them out – no training needed. And if I can use them, anyone can!"

And it also didn’t break the bank. In fact, quite the opposite, according to Charlotte: “The surprising thing is that the Worldpay solution works out to be cheaper than our previous, lower-tech arrangement. That was an unexpected bonus.”

Evolving needs

Charlotte is looking forward to Worldpay handling The Travelling Vet’s evolving payment processing requirements. The next step is for her veterinary practice to take on web-based payments.

"We want to introduce a booking system on our website so that people can both schedule and pay for their appointment directly online. Worldpay has already set that up for us, so we’ll be ready to go when the time is right for us to proceed,” she concludes.

At a glance

Objective

Accept and process payments remotely, quickly and securely on the move across the English countryside.

Worldpay solutions

SMB Payments Capabilities; Mobile Card Machines

Impact

• Simple and quick setup
• Can accept payments anywhere with WiFi and 3G network coverage
• Easy-to-use latest touchscreen technology

“The terminals were really easy to set up."

Charlotte Farr, Owner, The Travelling Vet

Note: Not all products, solutions or capabilities mentioned in our client stories are available in all geographic regions. Please consult your relationship manager or customer care (existing customers) or sales (prospects) for more information.