[BuggsBunny]

Does anyone else have trouble with WalMart, or any other pharm chain? The WalMart here shorted me 18 pills last month (6 days) and wouldn't do anything about it, then today gave me four pills when the bottle clearly said 5 pills once a week. I just want to scream!!!

I use a different pharm for my pain meds, because WalMart never has enough or the right dose, but it closes so early and isn't open past noon on Saturday, so I hesitate to change all 18 meds over to it.

Any suggestions, short of blowing up WalMart?

Thanks, Buggs

Wow. Walmart problem here too. They are NOT my regular pharm, but there was a shortage one time and I had to go there to pick up enough for the anticipated interim. How hard is this?
1 prescription for 45 pills

They gave me 30(!!!!!)
TG I noticed before I left. I almost passed out. That was by far the worst ever. Actually far worse than one time when I was given a wrong med. Seriously.

I NEVER leave a pharmacy counter without taking a good look in the bottle. Check right med name, strength, appearance and count. Sure, I can't count 90 with my eyeballs from the outside, but I do give it a rough assessment. Once home I always take them all out and count them. More than once, but that is another issue. If it's short, I call and tell them. Just so they know.

You might want to try your local membership warehouse store. Some of them have pharmacies.

[BuggsBunny]

Thanks, but I live out in the middle of nowhere. Very rural. We have no warehouse stores. I have two choices, as I mentioned in my first post. Some of my meds might be able to be mail ordered, but as I am on medicaid, i seriously doubt it.

Oops, sorry, I thought they were just the two you were using, not that they were the only two around. Yikes, that's rural alright. Better not blow up Walmart then!
Not much help here then. I only had mail order once, and it was with insurance. I don't know anything about it with medicaid, but hopefully others will.

[Rosie23]

That stinks that the Wal-Mart pharmacy is that careless.

Short of standing there and counting them or making them county them in front of you before you leave the pharmacy I don't know what to tell you to do. But possibly if you do this, they may start paying attention and fill them correctly.

[SunAngel]

I had nothing but problems with Walgreens. They messed me up so much, so I just go to CVS now because they seldom screw up. However, they are always late when they have to be there in the morning and you need to get your meds. early.

[AniManiac]

There has to be some kind of legal thing with this. I can't believe that there's no regulation about not filling prescriptions properly. When my RiteAid is low on a med, they give me the partial fill for free and charge me when the rest come in. And apologize that they are running low.

I can't say that I'm surprised WalMart would do this, and consistently. I don't necessarily think it's carelessness either. Pharma techs have to be licensed, so you're not getting completely bottom-rung employees in those positions. WalMart are jerks for abusing people, so I won't do business with them at all for anything and I don't care how good the deal is (they're putting small business under right and left and have abusive labor practices.) Obviously that kind of position would be a problem in a very rural area, though.

I suspect that your non-WalMart option may be much more reliable and upstanding, especially if they're a proper pharmacy and not just an add-on way to milk more money out of captive audiences. Proper pharmacies can't get away with that; no one would forgive them since that's their main business and it would ruin them. WalMart can get away with murder because everyone loves cheap plastic crap from China. <\rant>

Oh, this just pisses me off!

[grandmaof3]

I've had the same problem with Walmart on top of shorting your pills they make you wait for hours. Blowing the store up seems extreme but there are time I consider it. I'm kind of in the same boat living in the middle of nowhere. We have 2 pharmacies. Walmart and CVS. I get mine filled at CVS. They never make me wait more than 20 minutes and they've never shorted me. Sometimes they don't have something and I have to wait a day for them to get it. Or if they don't have enough they'll give me a partial fill and charge me when the rest comes in. I'll do without before I'll go to Walmart.

[Moreta]

I had one experience with the Walmart pharmacy where they shorted me 6 pills. I called them up and had an argument with them about it, and they gave me the 6 pills. I usually don't check, b/c most of the time mine come prepackaged, but this one time they gave me the prepackaged bottle and the seal was broken, so i decided to count. I'm glad i did.

[Confusedinomicon]

My boyfriend is a pharmacy tech through Kroger's. You don't always have to be nationally certified to be a tech. Some places will allow you to get store certification and if you want a raise you can get nationally certified...This was also 4 years ago. Policy could have changed. (Although my boyfriend wasn't nationally certified until last year)

I've never had a problem getting my prescriptions filled (except my boyfriend forgetting to bring them home from work) I don't think its special treatment either, because he rarely fills my prescriptions.

Also, Walgreens used to be the biggest carrier for escripts. As of recently, Walgreen did not renew their contract with them. Escripts covers Tricare, Medicare, State care...
http://www.express-scripts.com/members/networkchange/

That is why there has been recent increase in times to get prescriptions filled. My boyfriend says that Walgreens used to fill a bulk of most prescriptions.

I have never tried to get my prescriptions filled at Walmart, though. I am sure if you complained they are obligated to give you the amount prescribed.

[AniManiac]

Originally Posted by Confusedinomicon

My boyfriend is a pharmacy tech through Kroger's. You don't always have to be nationally certified to be a tech. Some places will allow you to get store certification and if you want a raise you can get nationally certified...This was also 4 years ago. Policy could have changed. (Although my boyfriend wasn't nationally certified until last year)

This is good to know! I bet it varies by state too.

I also rarely have to wait more than 15-20 minutes. I think in the past I've had waits of up to 45 minutes when they were super-busy, but it's so exceptional I can't remember if/when that would have happened last.

Originally Posted by Confusedinomicon

I have never tried to get my prescriptions filled at Walmart, though. I am sure if you complained they are obligated to give you the amount prescribed.

Another thing to check would be whether you're getting charged the same for the amount of drugs (and if what you're being dispensed in the bottle matches what the label says.) If they charge you the same but provide less medicine, or the label says 30 tablets but you're getting 24, that's a clear case for taking it to a manager. Sounds like checking the amount before you leave the store is a really good idea, so they can't say that you removed some from the bottle before complaining.

My prescription coverage lets me price meds online for mail order and retail options, so I know exactly what I'm going to pay before I even leave the house. Plus the prices don't change much, maybe a tiny bit by manufacturer for generics, so it should be easy to compare on receipts.

I've never had a problem with getting meds dispensed exactly right, but it may have to do with where I've lived. NY legislates the heck out of everything!

I didn't know about the licensing thing either, confusedinnomicon. Good to know.
On it being the same quantity as it says, another thing to know is that sometimes when a lesser part of a prescription is filled, the price per pill is not always the same. (It can be higher, oh surprise.) I discovered this when I couldn't afford to fill the whole thing at once, broke it down to each week and there was a partial remainder. When it got down to those last few, they told me the price and I almost fell down. It was substantially more than logic would dictate. So of course I asked, and that is what they told me. Definitely something to ask about if you break down the fill -- it may end up costing more than you think to do it that way. (This is probably not the case when they are the ones with the shortage to fill (still, guess it would be good to check).

Checking before you leave is a very good idea. I'd done it that fateful day not only for the usual reason, but because I'd travelled a long bus ride to get there and because the price was HUGELY higher than I paid at my regular pharmacy (on the order of 4x), so I wasn't taking ANY chances. I'd left the counter, but not the store (oddly enough, because it's my custom to do it at the counter -- perhaps my head was spinning too much from the price). I figured if push came to shove, I'd say, "pull out the video". I was in clear sight in the big aisle. Here's the thing I'd be particularly careful to check: controlled substance meds. I'd imagine you'd have a much bigger fight for them to right a shortage. Don't know for sure, but holy cow, talk about p.i.t.a over-the-top regulations(!)

[BuggsBunny]

I have to agree on the PITA regulations for narcotics. In this state even my sleeping pills have to have a new script every month, no refills. Used to get my sleeping pills, pain pills, and other stuff in IL with a three month or 6 month refill. Now I have to call the doctor every month to get them to write a script, then go pick it up, walk it to the pharmacy (NOT Walmart), and get it filled. Living so far from town as we do, makes it an even bigger PITA.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your input on this. I'm feeling better that I'm not so alone, and I'm probably going to transfer my scripts one by one to the other pharmacy. I'll just have to deal with their early closing hours.

[Confusedinomicon]

So I talked to my boyfriend and these are some of the things he told me.

He said that if you are prescribed an odd number of pills, this is more likely to happen. (His example was getting prescribed 33 pills, but you only get 30)

He also said that they are obligated to check the inventory if you are not given the correct amount of pills and a good pharmacist will always keep the inventory updated.

He wanted everyone to know that this happens at every pharmacy because humans are generally counting the pills for the patient and mistakes happen on their part. He just said it shouldn't happen frequently. (If so bring it to the manager, like Ani said)

[BuggsBunny]

Thanks for all this information. i really appreciate it !!!!