Getting Paid To Refill My Prescriptions... Turned into a Walmart rant ( sorry! )

Tweet I used to be loyal to Walmart for my prescriptions, but I have changed my mind for several reason...

The wait. It used to be the case that I could call in my prescription refill and it would be ready by the time we drove the 20 miles to town. These days, even if I call a day early, the wait is still well over an hour. One whole hour, just to pick up a prescription that is already sitting there, ready to go.

The stupidity. I take Armour thyroid. Several weeks ago, I called in my refill and waited until the next day to go pick it up. I waited in line and when I finally made my way to the counter, the lady there told me that it wasn't ready and would be in about 15 minutes. So, my husband and I went shopping for a few things to kill time. When we arrived back at the counter 45 minutes later, I was told that it still wasn't ready and to have a seat on the bench and she would let me know when it was . All told, I waited 2 hours and 35 minutes! When the lady finally motions me back to the register, she tells me that they are out of Armour thyroid and won't have any for 3 days! Why, in the name of Fanny, could someone not have figured this out at some point since the refill had been called in the day before? To say I was absolutely livid at this point would be a vast understatement. It gets worse...

I did my best to remain calm ( because I worked in public service jobs for years and am not evil enough to "kill the messenger") and asked the lady to please call over to Walgreens and give them the information and I would just pick it up there. When I arrive at Walgreens, the lady at the pharmacy counter there tells me that no call has came in from Walmart. I borrow her phone and call Walmart pharmacy to see what the deal is. I am told," Oh, just after you left, we found a bottle of the pills you need. If you will come back, we'll have them ready for you to pick up." So I go back to Walmart and wait in line another 15 minutes and finally walk out with my medication.Whew!

Lastly, the pharmacists at Walmart have delusions that they work for the DEA. Example? My husband was diagnosed with RA back in 1996. He has gone to the same specialist for treatment since being diagnosed. For just as long, he has taken Prednisone and Darvocet for pain and inflammation. Without his medication, he cannot walk. He also takes several other medications. Needless to say, he is on a first name basis with most of the staff at Walmart pharmacy.

Two years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. Currently, he has 4 different doctors. Besides his bi-monthly visits with specialists, he visits his family physician about every 6 weeks for blood test and just to check his general health. A couple of months ago, my husband picked up his Darvocet refill on a Wednesday. The following Friday, he went to see his family doctor. Because his arthritis pain had gotten much worse and the Darvocet was no longer doing the job, she told him to stop taking the Darvocet and gave him a prescription for Tylenol 3. He takes it by Walmart pharmacy that morning. This is when the wanna-be DEA agents went into action...

They tell my husband that they can't read the dosage on the prescription. This seemed odd as even I could read the dosage. Of course, they have to be sure, before they can fill it. He is told to wait while they CALL the doctor. The doctot did not call back and eventually my husband gave up and left because the doctor's office closed at 1:00 p.m. that day and would not reopen until Monday morning. My husband spent the entire weekend in agony. I call Wally World on Monday. I'm told the doctor has not called back, to check back in an hour. After about the 3rd round of this, I call the doctor's office. I tell the nurse that my husband is in a lot of pain and ask if she can shed some light on the situation. After checking the call log and finding nothing, she finally finds a FAX from Walmart and is reading it aloud. Turns out, they could read the prescription, but did not think it wise to fill it since my husband had just refilled his Darvocet 2 days before. They assumed he was doctor shopping to load up on drugs. Even the nurse was pissed off because right on the original prescription were the instructions, DISCONTINUE DARVOCET, making it obvious that the doctor knew about his Darvocet prescription.

I am finished with Walmart pharmacy. Slowly, but surely, I am moving all of my prescriptions to other pharmacies. Just before Christmas, I transferred my thyroid meds to Drugstore.com and earned a $30.00 gift certificate. But the delivery took longer than I anticipated. So, using a coupon from 2 weeks ago for a 30.00 gift card w/ transfer and one from last week for a 25.00 gift card w/ transfer, I moved the Armour and another prescription to Rite-Aid ( who BTW will match Walmart's 4.00 prescription list, if you mention it when dropping off) and made $55.00 in gift cards, just for buying medicine that I need! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Walmart!

Sorry so long. I didn't even realize how angry I was until I started typing. LOL

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