Too Exhausted To Think Of A Title, Sorry

Get ready for a saga.

Once every few months, I make the twenty-minute drive to [Pharmacy Chain] to pick up the one medication I buy there because it’s cheaper. I have been doing this for around a year without a problem.

However, one time, I request a refill and schedule it to be ready at the end of the week but my schedule changes, I come by the pharmacy a day too early, and my prescription, understandably, isn’t ready yet. The health crisis has just started to get serious so we’re trying to avoid leaving the house as much as possible.

I call to ask about having my prescription switched to delivery.

Employee #1: “I’m sorry, but we can’t do that on our end; you have to do it online.”

I go online and look for a way to switch my order but can’t find one. I ask chat support.

Chat Support #1: “You have to cancel the order before you can switch it to delivery, which you can’t do online. You’ll have to do that by calling the pharmacy.”

I call the pharmacy a second time, wait on hold for twenty minutes, and then get disconnected. Later, I call again, wait on hold for twenty-five minutes, and get disconnected.

I’m trying to stay patient because I know the health crisis has everyone in chaos. Later in the week, I call [Pharmacy Chain] for the fourth time and speak to the pharmacist.

Pharmacist: “I’m not going to cancel your order just to fill exactly the same order again. You should change the order to express delivery online.”

Me: “I was told that I can’t do that.”

Pharmacist: “That’s ridiculous! There has to be a way for you to just switch it. I recommend that you go back onto the chat support line and ask explicitly about ‘express delivery.’” 

I go to the chat a second time, but when I ask about express delivery, the customer service rep, who clearly just started the job today, copies and pastes five paragraphs of pre-written scripts about everything vaguely related to express delivery. She even includes instructions you’re not supposed to actually say to the customer like, “Assist patients with enrolling in Rx Text Messaging if they are not enrolled.”

I ask again about switching to express delivery.

Chat Support #2: “You should just fill your prescription a second time.”

I tell her there likely isn’t a big enough supply available and repeat what the pharmacist said to me about there being a way to switch it. The SAME chat rep then says:

Chat Support #2: “Good afternoon! I am happy to check on that for you.”

I think we are getting somewhere because she says:

Chat Support #2: “I have just put this back into your file for you to set up express delivery.”

But when I ask what I need to do now, she goes back to vague scripts. It sounds like I’m supposed to call the pharmacy again to sign up for their express delivery program, but before I can ask a clarifying question:

Chat Support #2: “Sorry I couldn’t help you further.”

And then, she ends the chat. A search of their website produces no further information. 

At this point, I’ve wasted several hours trying to get my already-filled prescription to be delivered to me. I do not want to call the pharmacy again, so my boyfriend offers to just make the extra trip to go pick up the medication at the store. Before we leave, on a gut feeling, I check my [Pharmacy Chain] account just to make sure it isn’t already on its way in the mail or something. Nope, it’s not in the mail. It’s much worse.

They deleted my order. Not canceled. Deleted it. There’s no record of it ever existing.

Given I spent the first half of this saga trying to cancel my order, I accept this and just put in for another refill. But when I check my prescription status later in the day, there’s no record of my order. The website says to — guess what?! — call the pharmacy if this happens.

So, for the fifth time, I call the pharmacy. [Employee #2] takes my details, types on the computer silently, and puts me on hold. [Employee #3] answers, takes my details again, and types on the computer silently some more.

Employee #3: “Yeah, we can fill that for you.”

I get no explanation as to why my order disappeared in the first place. 

Me: “How I can put this new order through express delivery?”

Employee #3: “You have to do that online.”

WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT BEFORE?!

Me: “And how do I do that?”

Employee #3: “I don’t know. In fact, if you figure it out, could you call back and tell me? My coworkers and I are totally in the dark about it.”

Despite my better judgment, I go online, attempt a third time to refill my prescription, and immediately get an error that my prescription can no longer be filled online. 

It says to call my pharmacy for help. Nope. Not gonna do that.

To my surprise, I later got a notification that my prescription was filled. But was it from the first, the second, or the third attempt at refilling it? I was so done with [Pharmacy Chain] that I decided to ghost them and buy my medication somewhere else.

I submitted two complaints to the chain about this whole situation. One received an automated email response saying that someone from management would follow up in a few days. No one ever followed up. The second never even received a confirmation. 

Epilogue:

AN ENTIRE MONTH AND A HALF LATER, I received an unexpected package. It was my medication from [Pharmacy Chain]. 

Fin.