ComplaintsforThe Bartell Drug Company

• Initial Complaint

  11/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I'm just back from an absolute exposition in weak leadership and inexcusable customer service. I have been shopping at ******************************************* for decades and every since Rite Aid put their stink on the business shelves are empty, employee competancy is lower and no one has a clue how to resolve issues. I was just called a liar, and after proving my claim true, no appology or concession was made. I came in for an add item. After I didn't see, I asked the cashier for help. The cashier struggled with english and also appears to be mentally challenged. He called for help. ****, who I have seen for at least 4-5 years came to assist. She told me she'd never seen the item I was talking about and since it was Saturday night, all the sales tags had been pulled. The geniues at Rite Aid also got rid of physical ads, so I had to pull it up on my phone. At that point, everyone was amazed that my claim was true, but again, she claimed she never seen that size item for sale. The item was ************ *******oz laundry detergent. The store had smaller sizes, but nothing close to the add size. There were several other brands of detergent in that size, but they refuused my substitution request. I then asked for a rain check and that's when the circus got bigger. Two cashier claimed they couldn't find Arm and Hammer in the system. At this point, it's been 20 minutes and I'm not happy. The shift supervision told me I could have the 100oz bottle for the sale price. I told her, you said no subs, but you are willing to send me home with a bottle 45 oz short of the add. The 35oz bottle was $6, so she was really trying to short change me. They ended up hand writting me a rain check, but then said, if the item isn't in the system, I'll never be able to redeam it. I am so fed up with broke businesses, if it's in your add, stock it and if you don't have it, allow substitutions or have a way to replenish stock. Rite Aid has ruined this business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Initial Complaint

  08/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Bartell Drugs, not just this branch but other branches too, play games and charge people more - especially elder people and immigrants who can not argue with them or seek for their rights. They play the game based on your medicine was prescribed 90 days or 30 days or your insurance doesnt cover or GoodRX doesnt cover. There are some employees who are helpful, but some employees and managers/pharmacist charge people left and right unnecessarily, I have witnessed this ***** times with others as well. Id speculate each branch makes thousands of dollars especially from the elder and immigrants, just because these people wont know how to ask them did you apply my insurance? Does goodRX work for this medicine? Do I have to get *********************************** 30 days worth? What a horrible way to make money, and what bad karma simply thinking its not our responsibility They are very seriously overworked as well, typically takes days or hours to get something done and always long lines due to staffing levels. They also always keep their bathrooms out of order so they dont have to clean/service it. This goes for many (if not all) of their branches. The last year, I got charged extra like this for myself and for my mother many times. Today I finally spoke out because this time they tried to charge me $300+ for medication I would normally pay $0 (zero dollars). Today was for my moms medicine and Im attaching the photo of the payment screen. And now they have to re-arrange and I have to come back later for the medication. I am also afraid theyre gonna harbor grudge about this. I always paid for my moms medicine she never picked up her own medicine. And I want to get back all the extra money they took from me for myself and my mom. A note, ****** is a good employee/person, **** is the businessman/manager who tries to take the extra money when he can. I wouldnt want this information to *********************. But **** should be held responsible (people like he)

  Business response

  08/10/2023

  This issue has been researched by our RX team and they have reached out to the the patient to update them on the system glitch that caused this.  It should be rectified going foward.

• Initial Complaint

  07/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I had my prescriptions sent to the Bartell Drugs (******************************************, ** Location) and I was forced to pay $60 for my medication because they were too lazy to collect my insurance (which they already have) and use it to process my medication. When I brought this up when trying to get my medication, I told them I had two different insurances available and that Ive been getting prescriptions with no issues here for two years. I have documentation showing that they did not charge my insurance, and when I told them they just shrugged and said We would have to do everything again. So, because of your laziness, I cant use the health insurance I pay $200 for a month to pay for my medications that are essential to my daily quality of life? I felt like I got robbed of $60, I literally didnt have a choice, I left the place crying and frustrated, and feeling like my rights had been violated. It is a right for me to request to use my health insurance to pay for my medicine. I have AMPS, a chronic paid condition, and I have to take specific antidepressants for people with chronic pain. I have just never felt more swept under the rug, and again, literally robbed of my hard earned money and time. What they took from me amounts to three hours of my life working. To not even have the decency to try to help me get it covered by my insurance (when it should have been) and act like IM the bad guy for asking them to do their job correctly? I worked in healthcare for two years, Im not an idiot, I know my rights. I will literally never go back to another Bartell pharmacy.

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I brought two kets for my blood sugar check by advise of my doctor. After using one ket, my doctor told me stop using other one, when I try to return the ket, the staff demanded the Receipt, I requested the staff please refund and credit to my credit card the same credit card to buy the stuff but he refuse to credit the amount. I told the staff when I return my stuff to other stores the just refund the amount to my credit card. I leave my drugs at store and left. Im 73 years disabled so old retiree and cant effort to lose money. Please help me to refund my money. Thanks

• Initial Complaint

  04/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  As a post transplant patient my meds are very important to take consistently and on time. My husband and i will send in rx requests at least a week in advance to ensure we have them. 95% of the time when we went to pick up we were told they were working on them and come back in half an hour. Sometimes the next few days. Over the past 2.5 years I have missed dosages at least half a dozen times due to the rx's not being ready. We went with it because we understand staff shortages and luckily the dosages I missed were not my anti rejection drugs. Earlier this week they charged 650$ for an rx that should have a 25$ copay insisting it was ran through insurance. The tech did not clarify it was six hundred and fifty only saying six fifty as the cost which he assumed was 6 dollars and fifty cents as we have never paid more than $100 for an rx. I confirmed with my insurance that I was charged incorrectly but the pharmacy insisted that was not the case and refused any sort of refund. We have been filling rxs here at least twice a week (would have been less if they were ever done on time) for over 2.5 years and the fact that the cost didnt raise a question with them is mind boggling. Gross negligence on their end for not clarifying the cost as well as incorrectly charging. We would have never spent that amount if we knew. Mistakes happen but we cannot afford a $650 mistake. Did I mention transplant? Yeah, it's expensive and were barely getting by. Their negligence and disregard can put people's health at risk. This on top of all the late rx's and missed dosages due to them not doing their job in a timely manner is unfortunate and unacceptable.

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I have a medication that is normally taken over 4 weeks, but my prescription is for 3 weeks as I do not take the week of placebo pills. I have an accurately written prescription (that my doctor has rewritten more than once at the pharmacy request). Every 3 weeks when I come in for my medication, I am told that it will not be ready for another week, and that the issue must be an insurance issue. I generally then have to wait for an hour in the pharmacy while they try to figure out what is wrong, and then am told to come back the next day or in several hours to get my meds. Last time I was in, the pharmacist admitted that she put my prescription in with the wrong billing code, the one for 28 days. An hour later they decided to comp me one while they waited to get the billing sorted out. This time it was again entered with the wrong billing code, and was told to return later. I told them what was happening and that it was the pharmacist entering it incorrectly,, repeatedly. When I did return and asked if they would be training the pharmacists on how to do this correctly, I was informed that this wouldn't help because all of the pharmacists are floats due to extreme understaffing. Bad enough that I have to deal with the mess that is the rite aid system since they've been bought out, but this is untenable that there is apparently not fix for this situation. I like this Bartells and the people who work there, and it's a convenient location, but I'm going to have to switch pharmacies if they can't figure out how to stop s******* up my medication.

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Pharmacy staff deliberately discriminated against my adult son every single time he interacts with them. They cause harm every single month by not filling our prescriptions in a timely manner and giving us the run around trying to get answers about when we will be able to access the medication we pay for.

  Business response

  02/21/2023

  Our team has tried to contact this patient on multiple locations.  Is there a better way to contact to ensure we resolve the issue?

• Initial Complaint

  12/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The pharmacy at this Bartell's has been understaffed for many months, to the point of inability to provide timely or even polite service. Their phone system continues to provide impossible pick up timelines, in that the order is never ready by the time promised, and customers are frequently told to come back next day or later, even if the request was submitted days prior. They need to either fix their refill system to offer realistic timelines or contact the patients if they will be unable to provide timely prescriptions. This is a medical issue. Patients cannot wait indefinitely for medications, cannot easily transfer those prescriptions to alternate pharmacies, and have no recourse to get what they need. At this point, staff is rude, dismissive, and tells customers to go elsewhere, despite the difficulty of transferring a prescription to another pharmacy once a doctor has sent it here. When we asked about the ongoing issues, we were told today by the pharmacist that they are actively encouraging customers to go anywhere else, and she then walked away and shut a door behind her. That is horrific treatment for someone who has gone without needed medication for days due to the problems here. To be clear, I place the blame for this problem squarely on Bartell's, not the staff. Bartell's obviously cannot offer sufficient staff to properly service people's prescriptions, and they need to do something to fix this problem. Someone is going to get hurt or killed due to their negligence in providing necessary healthcare.

  Business response

  01/09/2023

  We have contacted the customer to address concerns and rectified them. Also had a discussion to help make things easier for them in the future.

  New RxL Liv & I reached out to her. *** introduced himself as the new manager and took care of her Rx needs. He signed her up for Rx notifications on maintenance medications so that she will receive an alert when they are ready for pick up..

  Customer response

  01/09/2023

   
  Complaint: 18656369
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The overall issues with staffing can't be fixed with a phone call. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ** December 6th 2022 our Dr. sent an electronic prescription to Bartells on 132nd in *******. I went to pick up the prescription on the 7rh of December and was told they did not have it. I contacted the Dr ****** to inquire and they confirmed Bartells received it. I then called Bartells on the 14th as I still had not heard from them and the automated system said they would contact my Dr. ** December 17th I went back to Bartells to get prescription. The pharmacist (****** - Pharmacy Manager) offered to "help". He said they had not received the prescription. I explained that the Dr. ****** sent me the confirmation that Bartells received the prescription. He said that he can not do anything other than give me 3 pills and request a refill. He then asked me to show him the confirmation that I had from My Chart. I pulled it up and showed him. He saw it and said he still could not do anything but give me 3 pills and submit request to Dr. I asked why he asked to see the proof if he wasn't willing to do anything such as fill the prescription that shows they received and he did not have a good answer. He just said he didn't have the prescription. I also asked what good 3 pills are since it had already had been 11 days since the confirmation from the Dr. and we were out of the meds. He had no answers for that either. We had quit filling immediate life saving prescriptions because of this very issue and 1 time they gave my husband someone elses meds.As of the time I am writing this we have still not been contacted that the prescription is filled.

  Business response

  01/03/2023

  The patient was contacted and a new RX was obtained from physician and the patient got their medication.

• Initial Complaint

  11/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Sunday, Nov. 13th. 2022, I went to Bartell's drugstore, at **** 22nd. St., In *******, **. , directly across from library, to purchase candy, as I always do.... Pretty much on a daily basis. / ( I have breast cancer, so I smoke weed as opposed to taking prescribed medication for pain, and nausea. So I smell like marijuana a lot of the times as I approached register to to pay for my items the clerk behind register one, ******** watch from behind the register rather than waiting on the customers that were in line behind me and made a big scene as spring air freshener directly in my path and behind me he actually walked up and started spraying it behind me making a face and laughing saying how I stink referring to my marijuana smell I was not smoking weed in the store it was just the odor was still in my hair and on my clothing I am quite sure I am not the only person to have ever smoked a weed to shop at bartell's nor will I be the last I felt very disrespected not to mention embarrassed by this incident I did report it to the manager this is not my first encounter with the same employee involving this incident he usually crinkles his nose which is why I went to the second register and not to his register but this time he took it too far and I'm tired of being disrespected I spend money there every day and I don't bother anybody nor do I disrespect their employees

  Business response

  11/19/2022

  The Regional manager has contacted the consumer to discuss and apologize.  We have completed an internal investigation and have taken steps to ensure all associates are aware of how we fairly treat all customers in our stores.  The discussion with the customer lead us to believe that they are happy with our follow up and consider the case resolved.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩