I've been going to this Bartell's pharmacy for a couple years now and have had several medications go through them. Today they messed up with a vital medication. Here's what normally happens with this drug (for chronic nervous system pain): My doctor sends in the prescription (60 pills--taken twice a day for a month). Bartell's tells me it is ready for pick up. I pick it up. I request a refill. When it's out of refills and I request it, Bartell's notify's me of this and then reaches out to my doctor for a new prescription. Rinse and repeat. It's been going like this for several years with no changes
Here's what happened this time: I request a refill. Bartell's tells me it is ready. When I get there, I am told that I have reached the end of my prescription and there are only 20 pills left, so that is all they can give me. This is unusual and has never happened before, but I took the 20 pills. I assumed that they would reach out to my doctor for a new prescription as they had done pretty regularly for several years now.
I sent my doctor a message Friday afternoon to ensure that the prescription had been requested. I called Bartell's multiple times on Saturday and could not get through, so I ended up not being able to take the med on Sunday. I called them multiple times on Sunday with no answer. Monday morning rolls around and I feel like I have been hit by a freight train. I call Bartell's to make sure that the prescription is getting filled today.
They tell me my insurance has only authorized this specific med in 20 pill prescriptions and I have to call my insurance to figure out why. I call my insurance. They say that they said no such thing and call Bartell's to try and figure out where they are getting this info. The lady from my insurance gets through to Bartell's but says that they could not hear her. She tries three more times with the same result. I go into Bartell's. When I mention that I spoke to my insurance, I am told that it had nothing to do with my insurance and I just reached the end of my prescription. All that's left is 20 pills so that's all they can give me until I get a new one. I say, I was told that 10 days ago already. They tell me they never gave me 20 pills 10 days ago (WHAT?). Another lady says she was the only one taking phone calls all day and never spoke to me. I said that's not true.
Then they say that they did give me 20 pills ten days ago and somehow deleted that fact. Which means they have to take back the ones they just gave me because I need a new prescription I don't have but give me a 3 day emergency supply until I can get the prescription.
None of this makes any sense nor is in any way acceptable. I've been at this pharmacy for years, taking this specific med for a least a year. For the entirety of that time, they have contacted my doctor for a new prescription when it runs out. Now they decide to give me 20 pills, tell me my prescription has run out, don't contact my doctor for a new one, tell me my insurance won't cover more than 20 at a time (lie), back pedal and tell me I just reached the end of my prescription, tell me they never gave me 20 before (lie), tell me they never spoke to me literally 3 hours previous (lie), give me 20 pills, admit they messed something up by not noting they gave me 20 pills before, take those 20 pills back, give me a 3 day supply, and say "it's really crazy back here right now."
All the while, every single person is treating me with distrust/suspicion and has a "not my problem" attitude. I'm being being straight up lied to and feel gaslit. Never once did anyone just request a new prescription from my doctor like they have been for years! Someone messed up and, instead of fixing the problem or admitting fault, they just kept passing it on. No one along the way admitted saying or doing the wrong thing and just resorted to lying to passing it on to someone else.
I wasn't treated like a person experiencing immense chronic pain. I was treated like a nuisance. After I get my full prescription, I'm finding a new pharmacy.
