We patronize the THIRD LARGEST pharmacy chain.. mostly because I have known one of the Pharmacists there for 30+ yrs and it is in our “normal path”.
I normally don’t use the drive thru.. I know that pharmacy staff HATE the drive thru and I am not really fond of using it as a customer.. personal preference…
Keep in mind that this chain has a loyalty program and we just qualified for their highest “GOLD” status for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW..
I had picked up a paper Rx for Barb at our PCP.. two blocks from the store.. and decided that I would just “drop it off” using the drive thru window.. The technician stated that I had to show a ID.. keep in mind this Rx was completely computer generated with all the necessary data points included..
I stated that I would show it when I picked it up… NO, I NEED IT NOW !
Keep in mind that we have two homes (Florida & Indiana) and because we don’t rent our beach condo, we have the option to chose FLORIDA as our tax domicile .. since there is no state income tax in Florida.
The prescription I handed this technician had our MAILING ADDRESS.. not our actual address of our Indiana home.. and I gave this technician my FLORIDA DRIVER’S LICENSE..
So the only thing that matched between the ID presented and the Rx was the LAST NAME.. but this tech .. got a license… that was not expired.. per company policy.. So he is happy… Now that he had not pissed me off enough already.. his next question was “when will you pick it up”… I told him later the this afternoon – it was currently before noon – or tomorrow… “I NEED AN EXACT TIME”.. ME being ME… I will pick it up at 12:01 PM tomorrow… and once again he is happy.. which I did not share his happiness.
So I fired off a complaint to corporate HQ via the web… my complaint was not about this particular tech but how their stupid company policy – especially for GOLD STATUS pts.. was actually deteriorating good service.. and the fact that he accepted a license that had only one DATA POINT in common with the Rx. Especially the differing addresses are 650 miles apart.
I get a call a couple of days later from the PIC… because he had got a call from his DM.. the PIC understood my concerns and position and I was not complaining about the staff..
A day or so later I get a email from the DM… and said if I wanted to talk about the issue to feel free to contact him via the contact information at the bottom of the email… of which only contained his NAME.. no phone number..
So I responded to the DM’s email … saying that I would like to discuss the situation with him and please give me a call.. and included MY PHONE NUMBER… now it has been several days since I sent that email and NOTHING !!!
As these companies get more and more dominating the market place.. what many of us “baby boomers” are use to an expected level of “customer service and courtesy “… is going down the crapper..
Filed under: General Problems
You probably cost your friend any bonus he might have got, what little bit they are willing to part with anyway. Those complaints that make it to corporate count against the pharmacy. Now I’m not saying don’t complain, cause FUCK Rite Aid. Just letting you know.
This store seems to rotate thru PIC’s .. in fact the second string RPH use to be PIC and she decided to step down a couple of years ago… My understanding is that all four experienced techs recently quit or walked out. The new male tech.. IMO .. has the personality of a Popsicle stick… I picked up two NEW MEDS for me yesterday and all he said was “sign here” … not the first word of offer to counsel.. I was within a hair to read him the riot act.. but.. I figured that it wouldn’t even sink in.. I’ve known the second string RPH for 30 yrs and sent her a email at home…”can’t you find any help with at least some personality ?”
I went through the same situation but was denied my prescription because I get all my prescriptions at a different local pharmacy. This day when I went to the Dr. I wasn’t feeling well. So decided to use the pharmacy drive thru. The pharmacist said if I transfer all my prescriptions to their pharmacy, he would fill my prescription. Mind you I am loyal to both these Stores. Is this legal? Why would I want to transfer my prescriptions with that kind of customer service. I’m appauled and confused with this new way of getting my prescriptions. I feel like a criminal. And never felt that way in my life.
But would you like fry’s with that?
Deborah.. what you are running into is the drug wholesalers are being persuaded by the DEA.. the DEA claims that this is all independent business decisions.. but we have 3 major wholesalers that control 80%+ of the market and of course, and they all started doing the same rationing of controls to community pharmacies all abt the same time.. with the same process.. pharmacy is allowed to purchase only a certain per-cent of their total Rx purchases as controls.. So pharmacies are trying to balance their ability to take care of all the pts who want to patronize them by finding it necessary to only fill control Rxs for pts that want to do all their business at one single pharmacy.