Long Distance Runaround

2010-11-29 - 2:48 p.m.

I'm going off on a rant, here. I am really annoyed at this, and I want to write it all down.

I went to have two prescriptions refilled. Since I can never remember the numbers, I took the two empty pill containers with me. I gave them to the clerk, got my ticket and sat to wait.

The prescriptions were filled in short order. I went to pay and was told the bill was just over $23...which it shouldn't be, because I'm supposed to pay $10 for thirty days of each drug - therefore, it should have been $20.

When I asked, I was told that one of the drugs was less expensive if they gave me ninety days worth - It came to $13.67 for ninety days, instead of $10/month for three months. This has happened before, where I've gotten ninety instead of thirty even when there's no price break. They NEVER ASK - they just DO.

Here's the thing. I understand why they did it - they want to save me money, and I'm totally cool with that. What bugs me is that they didn't ask me if I wanted to do it this way. What if I'd only had $20 in cash on me? They would have had to re-do the prescription back to thirty, and I would have had to wait for THAT length of time.

Put it this way - your mechanic does you a service that will cost you an extra $30 without asking you. He says he did it to improve your engine's performance, and will cost you less in gas in the long run. Even if you would have okayed the additional work and expense, you would want to be asked about it, right?

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Anyway. It gets more fun.

I called customer service so I can discuss this policy. The phone person contacted the pharmacy, and they told me that my doctor had changed the prescription to a ninety-day one.

That's fine - but then why didn't they tell me that?? Why sell it as a price change, instead of as a prescription change?

So, I called my doctor to find out what happened with the prescription. His nurse told me that any changes in amount would be at the pharmacy level, and she didn't know how any of that worked.

I was getting the runaround...and getting mad.

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My next and final call was to the pharmacy manager.

She did some research, and gave me the following information. When prescriptions are refilled, they are supposed to be refilled AT THE SAME AMOUNT AS THE LAST REFILL no matter what the doctor put on the original prescription. For some reason, the computer skipped the fill-at-previous-amount and put it at the amount that was on the original. The pharmacy changes the amount ONLY AT THE PATIENT'S REQUEST. So the manager didn't know WHY it happened, but she understood how my thought processes arrived at the conclusion that I was being lied to somewhere.

So she will talk to their I.T. department and see if they can find out what happened, and where.

We'll see, I guess.

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Did some pricing on flat-screen TVs to replace the one in the living room.

I may be able to afford this. Again, we'll see.

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Seen on Twitter:

The only way TSA could get creepier is if it changed its name to Uncle TSA.

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Okay, I must get ready for the evening part of my shift.

Be seeing you.

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