AVID Chip & HomeAgain

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

When we got Rooney from his breeder he had been micro-chipped with an AVID chip, end of story.  When we adopted Stuart from the Adopt A Golden Rescue in Atlanta they had him chipped with HomeAgain.  Imagine my surprise when I got a billing from HomeAlone saying that it was time to renew.  Renew?  For what - the chip is still in there so what am I paying for.  Well - it appears that for a yearly fee they will notify area shelters and vets if your pet goes missing and some other stuff, equally something I'd be doing myself if Stuart went missing.  Now that I know that vets don't routinely scan new patients - the chance of a micro chip being responsible for the return of a pet is very low.  It seems like a big waste of money to me, is anyone else paying the yearly fee and do you feel that it is worth the cost? 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Ron, Is that for all microchipped dogs with Home Again or just the ones who pay the yearly renewal fees? Thanks!

[Ron Carnes]

http://public.homeagain.com/membership-services.html

This will explain the Home Again services.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Looks to me like  they only have a phone service.

[Christine & Shelby]

Shelby has an Avid chip and they have been trying to sell the Home Again membership along with it. I have not signed up for Home Again... Interested to see what others have to say on the topic!

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I had a very strange thing happen with a Home Again chip, and mind you Hunter has AVID that her breeder put in for her.  We got a call in January that our dog had been found and was at the shelter using her microchip.  While I am being told this Hunter is laying next to me on the couch.  The call was from a representative of Home Again.  I told her that we were not missing a dog and did not use Home Again.  She actually argued with me telling me how inhumane it was to leave "my" dog at the shelter!!  I asked her for the family name on the microchip and she said "Abbott" which is MY last name!!  Now I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone.  She would not give me the first name (WT Heck??).  I asked what the description was and she said "liver and white",  I asked for the dogs name, size, breed, everything, and she had NOTHING.  Finally I decided ok they have my last name maybe I will just go to the shelter and see if they can help, feeling miserable for this poor dog since Home Alone obviously had their information incorrect.  Then I get a panicked phone call from my father in law that his dog Britsey had managed to break through the screen door while he was sleeping and was gone!  After we put it together the call was for his dog Britsey but they called NONE of the contact numbers he had provided and had called our number as the alternate family member number.  The representative said NONE of this to me and acted like I was the one with the problem.  Thank God she was at the shelter at our local State Park they hadn't had animal control pick her up yet to take her to the regular city pound (whheeww).  The State Park Officer had a local vet scan her and it came back to Home Again.  

I called AVID and questioned them about how they would handle a situation and what protocols do they follow.  What if my father in law had been gone for the entire day and didn't know she was missing?  What if they had our number wrong?  What could have happened?  Makes me sick to think about it.  I was pretty happy with the answers that AVID gave me and the representative suggested calling them yearly and they will go over all of your information and updating anything that has possibly changed. I have it marked on my calendar to call and go over everything at the first of the year.  

Who would have thought???!!!

[Ron Carnes]

With HomeAgain, when its initially implanted, you receive the full suite of benefits.  This includes access to our Lost Pet Recovery System, Rapid Lost Pet Alerts to shelters, HA clinics, etc.  You can immediately print lost pet posters, have access to our specialists 24x7, and a couple of key benefits, including the Emergency Medical Hotline (ASPCA), which if you are not a member, charges $60 a phone call.  This would be if you dog got into some poison, food, etc.  You can call this number as many times as you like during that year.  We also provide lost pet travel insurance, where if the dog is found we will pay to have the dog tarnsported back to you.  A key note..once you are registered with HomeAgain, you are registered for life.  Even if you do not renew this membership with the "perks" listed above, we will never remove you.  However, we feel that in order to maintain an updated database, it is essential that a company not charge everytime you change your address, email, phone etc.  There will never be a charge with HA to do this, otherwise, what is the point of keeping a database current..without so, we may not be able to reunite pet. 
 
Avid, on the other hand, charges every time you call to change your address ($6.00), but has a 19.95 lifetime registration fee.  They provide no additional services as HomeAgain does that aid in the recovery of your pet. Avid is widely considered the first one on the market, but the oldest technology.  In fact, they were one of the last to adopt the international ISO frequency of 134 mhz.  HA has been in the forefront in standardizing frequency to 134.
 

In fact, HomeAgain just reunited its 1 Millionth pet.  No other company can come close..and its because the system of proactive pet recovery works.  One reason we do the renewals is to prompt folks to update their information.  Data churns 30% every year.

As far as enrolling a HA chip in an Avid database, and visa versa, you can do that.  Why you would want to enroll a HA chip in a database that is much smaller than ours and costs everytime you update information, I don't know. We do the reverse quite often, because people want the extra services for $17.99 per year.  As far as reuniting pets that all shelters and vets receive a lost pet notice..that is not correct.  We send our lost pet notices to every pet rescuer, shelter, and vet that uses HA.  We do not have the abiliy to send to all clinics due to privacy issues.  Avid is the same way...so it boils down to who has the largest network, and gives your pet the best opportunity to be reunited..clearly its HA.  We have 50% of the US microchipping biz...Avid roughly 15-20%. 

This is a response I received from a Merk Regional Manager (companion aimal division). Again, this is a response from Home Again and not Avid.