Which Microchip Registry?

[Adrianne Matzkin]

The girls are up for their annual microchip registry renewal. HomeAgain is charging $17.99 per doodle. Anyone know of a good registry that either is free or costs less?

There are mixed reviews about ResQ chips and the company's record keeping of the pets info. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adrianne, I would be careful. This site is owned by the same people who make and sell the 911PetChip line of microchips and scanners. I'm not sure what the connection is, but I am always suspicious of things that seem too good to be true, and of course we know that "nothing in life is free".

Anyway, Jon Dyer and Courtney Cramer are the principals in both websites: http://www.911petchip.com/

At any rate, I would not rely on this "free registry".

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think at most they could be annoying with the information they have. They claim they will use the information to solicit business etc. Go know.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yeah, I just wouldn't count on them to be of much help when your dog who has a competitior's chip is missing.

[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  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%.  No shelter in the world uses Avid (or very very few..its either HA or 24 Pet Watch).  So the fact that they think all shelters will be notified is ludicus.  We drool everytime we go into a clinic that uses Avid..easy pickens.  We charge 17.99 for first year enrollment, they charge 19.95.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Gee, good thing we don't allow advertising on DK: ) I personally would call every shelter, and local vets if my dog(s) went missing. HA could  email their clients at no cost to remind them to update their information. I just think HA should make it very clear, and not in fine print , that the fee is voluntary and does not affect the data base. Also, 1 million sounds like a huge number. But that's great.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm so glad you got this opportunity to do some free advertising here, Ron.

Since my dog was microchipped by the shelter before I adopted him, (with Avid, I might add, and this is a $3,000,000 state of the art private rescue facility, I guess one of the no shelter in the world oops, very, very few who does), I really had no choice in the matter, but after seeing your aggressive advertising tactics and hearing how confused so many of your customers are, I'm really glad we have Avid. It cost me $15 to register, and they have not bothered me, pushed me to sign up for other services, or confused me once since then.

Have a really nice day.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

So, Ron, let me ask you; are you this Ron Carnes, who works for the company makes Home Again chips?

About HomeAgain
HomeAgain, offered by Merck Animal Health

RonCarnes

Title

South Central Regional Manager Merck Animal Health

Demographic info

                          Tyler, Texas Area                       |                           Pharmaceuticals                      

Current:

                          Regional Manager at Merck Animal Health

[Ron Carnes]

No I am not. I live in Olathe, Ks, That is my son and I have no financial involvement.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks for doing this F. We have Avid also. Only paid once to register and then a small fee when changed addresses.

[Rachel and Ollie]

I don't know much about all this but Ollie came with home again from the breeder. One very cool thing was their emergency help. Ollie got super sick on Saturday at 3am and I, being a new puppy owner was terrified. I called the number and they helped me figure out what to do. They even called me a day or two later to see if he was ok. That was cool.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I wouldn't have gone looking if we hadn't had a blatant advertisement posted here. So for fairness I checked. Not everything with Home Again is rosy. And their marketing practices are sleazy.

AmazonReviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Pet-Tracking-Microchip-Implant-Administration...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Goodness, only a two and a half star rating, and out of 28 people who reviewed them, about 40% gave them only one star on a scale of 1 to 5. Tsk tsk.