BOOTS pharmacy rant!

Lou67

This has happened 3 or 4 times now.

I have taken a prescription in to Boots pharmacy, and asked how long it will be... they say 5 to 10 minutes, so I say I will be back in 15.

I get back, and they say that it isn't ready, and the pharmacist 'needs to check it' but the pharmacist has popped off for a break, or is in the consultation room with a customer! Why the heck didn't they finish my prescription first? Or why did the assistant not say that it would be 45 minutes (or whatever,) as the pharmacist is going to see someone for a consultation and then go for a break before they finish your order!

This has now happened 4 times in 2 months, and I am getting narked off.

The other week, I had to leave the shopping centre at 2.30pm to get my daughter, so I took my prescription in at 1.30pm and they said it would be ready for 2.00pm, so I returned at 2.15pm and it was not ready and the damn pharmacist had gone to lunch, and was not due back til 2.30pm! When I dropped it off, they made no mention of that, and I had to leave and didn't get my prescription for 4 days when I went back to town. I was furious.

Please don't say 'don't use Boots then' as this is not the answer; the service needs to improve. What's more, there is one particular item that my husband has that we struggle to get in the brand he wants, and Boots is often the only one that does it.

Has anyone else found this happening? I go back later than the time they quoted, and they are not able to give it me, and so I have to either wait 10 to 20 minutes (or more,) for the pharmacist to come back, or go away and come back! AGAIN!

monty-doggy

I'd address it in writing to the store manager, and if you don't get any resolve I'd find out who the area or regional manager was and take it up with them. It's not acceptable and I agree it needs addressing!

pmduk

This is one of the reasons I no longer use Boots. I was finding that you'd go shopping and return in the required 45 minuted only to find you wait a further 45 minutes for them to finish it. On occasions they'd not have something in stock and when your return a few days later, they still hadn't prepared the owings.

On the other hand we have a new Tesco Extra store locally with a pharmacy and they recently dispensed a large prescription (12 items) within 15 minutes.

nickcc

We always use local independent pharmacy and only ever have to wait up to 10 minutes, also helps to keep the town alive.

pmduk

My previous post is one of the few praise posts from me for Tesco!

battleborn

They also have a nack of being on a break, when working people go to collect prescriptions at a conveinient time like lunch time.

A pharmacist should never be closed during opening hours.

iclayt

I get this problem too and I use their repeat prescription service! It's supposed to save me time but in the past few visits I have found:

My order, though confirmed to me by email as being available for collection, had not even been received by the store. I was repeatedly told I had made a mistake when ordering, so I actually showed them the confirmation email on my phone. Then I had to wait about half an hour while the pharmacist decided whether or not he was allowed to give me any 'emergency' medication while they re-order it for me. This has happened twice, and once I had to go back the next day to pick up my emergency medication - which wasn't ready. Cue another cycle of the above.

Another time they said that the GP surgery had failed to provide them with my prescription, and they faffed around for 15 minutes trying to sort it out, before they realised they were looking at my sister's details on their system! Sure enough my stuff was ready and waiting on the shelf.

Another time it was waiting on the shelf but the assistant wouldn't give me it until the pharmacist was there. No idea why, and they basically told me "just because". I browsed the shop for over 20 minutes and went back as instructed, and the assistant had vanished. The different person I spoke to told me the pharmacist was on his lunch break and wouldn't be back for half an hour. I gave up and went home, calling back the next day, where I was given my order without the presence of the pharmacist - as usual. Waste of bus fare.

Another time they wouldn't give me it because it had a "special sticker" on the bag which meant the pharmacist wanted to see me about my order, so I had to wait 15 minutes until both the pharmacist and their consultation room was available. I then spent however long justifying why I was taking all the medication I take, which I have taken for years. Granted it might be an unusal combination, but my GP and hospital consultant prescribes it for me, so I don't need a pharmacists approval. Waste of time for us both and quite embarrassing, given some of my conditions.

I just want to order it online, and for it to be ready when I am told I can collect it! That's the point of the service!

zaksmum

I started to use a local pharmacy that has just opened next door to our GP surgery. It was a lot quicker with the prescriptions but the pharmacist is a total pain. He queries everything with the GP - when I was away a couple of weeks ago I had to get my prescription a few days early, having explained to the GP why.

The pharmacist stalked past me clutching the prescription, went to the surgery, and asked why the prescription was early.

The receptionist checked and told him it was because I was going away, so he finally condescended to dispense my medication.

I won't be going there again.

nickcc

My local pharmacy is also now attached to the health centre but I use a different surgery, the pharmacy collects my repeat prescriptions ready for me to collect.

shammyjack

My local Boots drove every independent Pharmacy out of the town centre and then cut dispensing staff so you have to wait up to 2 hours .

They are on my list of companies I will never deal with !

10 minutes walk out of town in different directions there are 3 family owned pharmacies that are a pleasure to deal with and you are served in a couple of minutes .

whitegoods_engineer

I've never understood quite why it takes an hour for a pharmacist to take a box of pills from the shelf and put it in a paper bag!