Walgreens

On April 20^th, 2012, I took my two sets of prescriptions to Walgreen’s for 3 different eye drops I would have to take several times a day starting 4 days before my first of two surgeries which would be performed 1 week apart on each of my eyes. I was told on that day by the assistant that they would only be able to fill for the left eye and that she would have to call my insurance company and «fight» to have this filled. I told her that I did not want her to have to «fight» with the insurance company and that she could return to the other set of prescriptions to me. She then claimed that she would call my insurance and explain to them that I have «two eyes’. At the time I thought this sounded very unprofessional.
Today, not having heard from Walgreen’s at all in the last 10 days, I incorrectly assumed that my other prescription would be ready for pick-​up as I am to start two of the prescriptions for drops on the right eye tomorrow morning.
I called the pharmacy just to make sure my order was ready and was told that my insurance company had «rejected» my prescription and that I could get it by mail order in «a couple of weeks» or I could pay $ 150.00 and pick two up the two prescriptions I needed to start in the morning. I explained my situation that my surgery was in 4 days and I couldn’t wait a couple of weeks, nor did i feel I should pay the full amount because I have insurance, and that I have never had to do mail order ever. I then asked to speak with the pharmacist who explained that Walgreen’s had called my insurance company (even giving a person’s name they had spoken with) and it had been rejected. When I asked why no one from the pharmacy had alerted me his answer was that they probably didn’t have the right phone number for me. Funny, they had the correct number last week when they called to say my prescription was ready. He gave me an 800 number to call.
I called the number and they informed me right away that I was calling the wrong number and then put me on hold while I was transferred to another number. The representative I talked to was most helpful. She explained that «no one from Walgreen’s» had called and that she would call the pharmacy and put an override on it. She made a 3 way call while I listened in as she talked to the pharmacist. After going through all of the id numbers on my card it was determined that Walgreen’s had not entered the correct prescription insurance information for me. Upon correcting it the pharmacist claimed everything was now correct. When she asked him if that prescription could be ready in 20 minutes or so his answer was, «Oh, no!, and that’s if I even have the drops in stock. I might have to order them for tomorrow.
» Even doctors know that when they apologize for their errors the likelihood of a lawsuit goes down. When a pharmacy or any company neglects to take responsibility or apologize for their errors and their poor customer service the likelihood that they have lost a customer is 100%. For the future, I will carefully shop for a pharmacy who values customer loyalty and more importantly customer service.