Customer Story
"Our Phone Calls Have Dropped — and Our Team Got Their Breaks Back" — Village Vets Tallaght's Journey with Vetstoria
Products: Direct Booking (Online Booking)
The challenge
Village Vets Tallaght opened as a brand-new greenfield site. From day one, the team was hit with a really high volume of incoming calls and demand from the local community. With no clinic in the surrounding area offering online booking, the front-of-house team was under constant phone pressure — making it hard to be present for the clients standing right in front of them, and even harder to take scheduled breaks to recharge.
The solution
Vetstoria was implemented from the outset to streamline scheduling, give clients a way to book on their own terms — including outside opening hours — and free the front-of-house team to focus on the people and pets in the building. The platform also gave Tallaght a way to stand out as a new clinic in a competitive area.
The results
📞 A reduction in incoming phone calls, freeing receptionists to focus on clients in front of them.
🕛 Staff got their lunch breaks back and started leaving on time.
📈 Growth in clinical capacity over the years, supported by online booking.
🌙 Out-of-hours bookings are now a steady source of new and returning clients.
🐾 Improved hospitality — clients walking through the door feel greeted, not waiting.
🗓️ The only clinic in the local area offering online booking.
☎️ Minimal training required for the front-of-house team to go live.
‘Some of the benefits we've seen for our staff since we started using Vetstoria is that they have an awful lot more time to dedicate to their other daily tasks. What that means is that they're able to get their lunch breaks and able to leave on time at the end of the day. And certainly at the start of the day, they're facing a lot less pressure initially when the phone lines come on, because people have been able to book online.’
‘Vetstoria gave us a way to stand out from day one.’
Tallaght opened as a greenfield Village Vets site, in an area where no other clinic offered online booking. From the very first weeks, the team faced a wall of incoming calls — and saw an opportunity to differentiate.
“We’re in an area with other vet clinics that didn’t have some of those features available. So it was an opportunity for us, especially as a new part of the community, to attract new clients and patients, and a way to stand out amongst the other clinics in the community. Vetstoria helped us with that.”
‘As the clinic started to grow, the volume of calls was our biggest challenge.’
The phone never stopped ringing. The team needed a way to manage demand without burning out front-of-house staff or compromising the in-clinic experience.
“As the clinic started to grow, the main challenge we faced was a really high volume of incoming calls, and the online booking system really allowed us to manage that demand and make it easier for our front-of-house teams and our clients as well.”
‘Our call volume has dropped noticeably.’
The numbers tell the story — but the day-to-day impact runs deeper than a percentage.
‘Our calls since getting Vetstoria have reduced considerably, which means that our teams get their lunch break, we're able to focus on other duties within the clinic, and we can deal with those emergencies if they come through the door. It also means our phone system is freed up for emergency calls and queries from our clients.’
‘How easy and accessible it made us — that's what stood out.’
For Lauren, the deciding factor wasn’t a feature list. It was the simple fact that Vetstoria made Tallaght available to clients whenever clients needed them.
“The main thing that stood out to us when it comes to Vetstoria is how easy and accessible it made us to our clients and their pets. Having this system in place means that our clients can book appointments when the clinic isn’t open, or when our phone lines are very busy, or when it just pops into their mind as something they need to do.”
‘Our clients can choose their preferred clinician.’
Customisation matters in veterinary medicine — continuity of care isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s central to outcomes. Vetstoria flexed to support exactly that.
“One of the main customisations we’ve made within our clinic is the ability for our clients to choose their preferred clinician. This just makes it much easier for our clients to get continuity of care and to make sure they’re booking appropriately when it comes to getting their pet seen.”
‘The staff really enjoy it — it gives them back their day.’
When the phone stops ringing every two minutes, receptionists can finally do the rest of their job. Lauren has heard it directly from her team.
“The staff here in Tallaght really enjoy the Vetstoria system. One of the main things they feel about it is that it really frees them up to focus on the patients in front of them and the clients that come into the clinic on a day-to-day basis.”
“With Vetstoria, our call volume has reduced, our clients are able to book on their own end, and in turn, that allows the receptionists to give care to the patients that are here rather than being on the phone making appointments when they don't necessarily need to be.”
‘Clients feel greeted, not put on hold.’
Hospitality is one of those things you only notice when it’s missing. Lauren sees the difference every time a worried owner walks through the door.
“The Vetstoria system benefits our clients in that when they walk into the clinic, they feel that their needs are being met immediately, rather than being placed in a waiting position while our front-of-house team are stuck speaking to someone on the phone. Especially in times where our clients are coming into us stressed or worried, it’s really important that they feel they’re being greeted by a member of the team and given the full attention they deserve.”
‘One of the biggest things that attracts new clients to us is how easily accessible Vetstoria makes our clinic. Any time of the day or night, clients can go on and book an appointment and come to see us.’
‘We're the only clinic in our area that offers this — and clients stay because of it.’
The retention story is just as strong as the acquisition story. Once people experience booking on their own terms, they don’t go back to phone tag.
“As a result of implementing Vetstoria in the clinic, it has definitely led to improved client retention. Within the area we’re based, we are the only clinic that has the ability to book online, and that has made us much more accessible to the community. Even to clients who maybe weren’t originally part of our practice, the availability to book online has definitely been something that has drawn them to us — and then kept them within our clinic.”
‘'Our younger clients expect this — Vetstoria lets us meet them where they are.’
The way people book everything else in their lives has changed. Veterinary care had to catch up.
“How the needs of society as a whole are evolving and changing — Vetstoria has allowed us to keep up with that. A huge amount of our clients within this clinic are of the younger generation, and they’re so used to booking other appointments online. Vetstoria has allowed us now to offer that to them when it comes to booking appointments for their pets.”
‘Vetstoria did the implementation. We barely had to train anyone.’
Going live didn’t disrupt the clinic. Vetstoria handled the back-end build, and the front-of-house team only needed light coaching on the edges.
“When it came to training to use the Vetstoria platform, we just had some basic in-house training on rescheduling appointments and what to inform clients on. But for the most part, Vetstoria implemented everything for us, and there was very little training that we needed on our end.”
‘Vetstoria scaled with us.’
Tallaght has grown substantially in clinical capacity. The operational stack has had to keep up.
“Since we opened a few years ago, we’ve grown massively — from a small clinic to a much larger one, with a huge amount more support staff.”
“Having systems like online booking with Vetstoria just means we're able to give a lot more time to our receptionists to deal with all of their other responsibilities outside of just booking appointments.”
‘Pet owner feedback has been universally positive.’
Whenever Lauren asks clients how they found the online booking process, the answer is the same.
“Since implementing Vetstoria, we’ve had really positive feedback from our clients and pet owners. We generally will always ask them when they have made an online booking and they come to our clinic how they found the process, and their response has always been positive.”
If anyone was looking to implement an online booking system, we would 100% recommend Vetstoria.
Vetstoria’s real-time online booking drastically reduces phone calls and keeps you in control.
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Vetstoria’s real-time online booking drastically reduces phone calls and keeps you in control.
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Alan Gallagher | Head of Client Experience, Village Vets
Alan Gallagher is Head of Client Experience at Village Vets, where he oversees client experience across 35 veterinary clinics in Ireland. He has been working with Vetstoria for nearly eight years and meets monthly with the Vetstoria customer success team to align on group performance, identify growth opportunities, and roll out new features across the network. Alan is the operational engine behind how Village Vets keeps the client experience consistent across every site.
