Why I’m Changing Pharmacies

Today, I wrote to the manager of the pharmacy I have used exclusively for nearly ten years,  to explain why I am transferring my business. As an example of horrendous customer service, I thought that my excerpted letter would make a good blog post. Items in [brackets] are redactions or additions I have made for the benefit of my blog readers.

Dear Pharmacy Manager:

You will be receiving a call from [new pharmacy], transferring all of my family’s prescriptions. This includes the prescription that I turned in today for Migranal. [New pharmacy] will fill that prescription.

 Having been a loyal customer of [this] pharmacy for the better part of ten years, I want you to understand why I am transferring my business. As I describe my experience, please understand that I use “you” in the sense of “someone at the pharmacy,” and not specifically you, the manager, as I am sure that you cannot be aware of the poor customer service that is being rendered here.

I called in a refill on a prescription for Mucinex-D on the evening of Sunday, 18 April. When the automated refill line told me that the prescription was expired, I requested that you call my physician to have a refill approved.

 On Monday, 19 April, I called in and requested a refill of my Migranal prescription. Again, it was expired, and I asked the pharmacy technician to contact my doctor for permission to refill.

 On Wednesday, 21 April, I called to see if I could pick up the prescriptions and was told that they were not ready. No one mentioned any problems to me.

 On Friday, 23 April, I came home from work to find a message on my answering machine stating that you needed a new phone number for my doctor, as you were unable to contact him at the number you had on file. I called and spoke with a pharmacy technician, giving her the correct number. [Incidentally, my doctor’s number has not changed in the six years I’ve been a patient, and I have called his office three times in the last week with no problems whatsoever.]

 On Monday, 26 April, I again came home from work to find a message requesting a new phone number for my doctor. Again, I called and spoke to someone and gave her the same number. We had a lengthy conversation in which I described the above series of events and asked why it took a week to tell me that there was a problem filling my prescription, and why the person to whom I spoke on Friday had not relayed the new phone number. The person I was speaking with kept repeating that she was new and didn’t know. I assured her that I didn’t blame her, but that the issue should be addressed. I also told her that I had seen my doctor that day, and would just bring in the new prescription.

 Today, 27 April, I came to the pharmacy at 2:10 p.m. to turn in the Migranal prescription and pick up the Mucinex-D, now an urgent need, as I had used my last tablet this morning. I was then told that this prescription had not been refilled because the doctor had denied it. When I asked why, in eight days,  no one had called to tell me this, the technician said that “some temporary people were working last week and probably didn’t know.”

 This excuse is totally unacceptable. When a patient requests a prescription, it is basic customer service to communicate with that person if the prescription cannot be filled. I realize that it might not seem urgent to someone else, but migraine relief and the ability to breathe are crucial to my ability to function at my job, and I find it very disturbing that there was so little concern  shown over the complete lack of communication, not to mention the inconvenience of my having driven to the store on my lunch hour to pick up a prescription that wasn’t there. And I shudder to think what the results would have been if this were a more vital medication.

 Because of the very poor handling of these two requests and the complete lack of communication, I no longer trust [this] pharmacy to meet my family’s medical needs in a timely and efficient manner. I am, therefore, transferring all of my business to [new pharmacy], effective immediately. I deeply regret the necessity, and hope that you will be able to use the above information to address the problems and protect your other customers.

Interestingly, the manager at my new pharmacy had called and transferred my prescriptions within fifteen minutes of my call to her, and had called me back to say that she did not have the Migranal in stock today, but would have it for me by 14:00 tomorrow afternoon. Now that’s customer service.

Tags: customer service, medical issues, True Stories