Prescribing Comp failed to ensure that medication was kept refrigerated during delivery process

Blackout_88

during delivery process – right to a refund?

 

I recently bought a medication online that requires refrigeration to insure the efficacy and lifespan of the medication. I had no option for a home delivery, only a delivery to a nearby pharmacy. 

 

I received the delivery notification on a Saturday, was only able to pick it up on the Monday.  Upon visiting the pharmacy, I was alarmed to discover that the prescription had not been kept refrigerated. Due to the medication being kept unrefrigerated meant that I could only use the medication for a maximum of 21 days despite it being for a month. I am currently have two dose left of a previous medication, so this new order will only be usable for one application before it expires instead of the normal four .

I have contacted the company and 72 hours they are yet to respond and I’m already getting vibes that getting refund or compensation will not be a fair or easy process with them. There is a removed customer service access, only email contact meaning it’s harder to make contact them.

 

I am envisioning that it will be difficult to get a refund, what would be my rights in this situation ? How and who would I escalate this to?

Would be very grateful for any advice? Many Thanks in advance!

Okell

This is a problem buying medication online.

Couldn't you have bought it from the pharmacy you had it delivered to?

(PS  -  who had left it unrefrigerated?  The company you bought from or the pharmacy you had it delivered to?  And if the pharmacy had refrigerated it, how do you know it had been unrefrigerated at all?)

Blackout_88

Unfortunately, it is quite expensive medication and my finances require me to look at cheaper alternatives. I recently tried another company for the same medication and the service, standard and care was superb, i thought this company would have a similar standard - lots of  decent good review.

It looks like my pharmacy has just stored as a normal package. It doesn't seem that were any explicit signs or instruction to state that the parcel contains medication that requires refrigeration.   

Okell

Do I take it that this is not on a prescription?

beckstar1975

This sounds like ozempic/wegovy so would have had a script issued at some stage.

I would guess it's up to the TS and C's of the issuing company. You need to see what they say about delivery. Either way you got it too early and would have had  extra due to having 2 weeks left when you ordered.

Anecdotally what difference would it being kept at room temperature for 36 hours make? 

Ergates

Blackout_88 said:

I have contacted the company and 72 hours they are yet to respond

Initially I would suggest just giving them another day or two before escalating.

DullGreyGuy

Okell said:

This is a problem buying medication online.

It's not an online problem at all, I've had exactly the same problem with NHS prescriptions given in person at the local pharmacy. Just whoever dispensed it forgot to put in the fridge and left it on the side for a few days. I refused to accept it, the medication instructions say if over 12 hours it needs to be disposed of. Who knows who took the financial hit. 

beckstar1975 said:

Anecdotally what difference would it being kept at room temperature for 36 hours make? 

Not sure thats going to be readily available. With mine, which isn't a weight loss drug, the medicine has clear instruction to dispose of it if left for an aggregate of 12 hours out of cold store, but then it's a daily injection which makes a bit more sense than a weekly one. 

I've no idea what happens if you take it after 12 hours. I assume it will just be less effective rather than becoming toxic or such. 

Annoyingly with mine there is a version of it that can stay out the fridge up to 6 months but its a 1 dose disposable injection where as the normal ones are a monthly cartridge and the amount of powder in them is twice that of the cartridge despite it only being 1 day rather than 28 days dose so clearly something else is added to it to make it heat stable. 

Blackout_88 said:

during delivery process – right to a refund?

Part of the problem will be that you accepted the order despite knowing it was damaged. Given you had 2 weeks supply left I'd have rejected the order. 

Did the pharmacy you collected from give you anything to confirm it hadn't been kept refrigerated? I know in my incident they tried to claim they'd taken it out the fridge just 5 minutes ago but the lack of the normal blue snowflake sticker made it evident that they'd forgotten it was to be kept cold. 

Blackout_88

DullGreyGuy said:

Okell said:

This is a problem buying medication online.

It's not an online problem at all, I've had exactly the same problem with NHS prescriptions given in person at the local pharmacy. Just whoever dispensed it forgot to put in the fridge and left it on the side for a few days. I refused to accept it, the medication instructions say if over 12 hours it needs to be disposed of. Who knows who took the financial hit. 

beckstar1975 said:

Anecdotally what difference would it being kept at room temperature for 36 hours make? 

Not sure thats going to be readily available. With mine, which isn't a weight loss drug, the medicine has clear instruction to dispose of it if left for an aggregate of 12 hours out of cold store, but then it's a daily injection which makes a bit more sense than a weekly one. 

I've no idea what happens if you take it after 12 hours. I assume it will just be less effective rather than becoming toxic or such. 

Annoyingly with mine there is a version of it that can stay out the fridge up to 6 months but its a 1 dose disposable injection where as the normal ones are a monthly cartridge and the amount of powder in them is twice that of the cartridge despite it only being 1 day rather than 28 days dose so clearly something else is added to it to make it heat stable. 

Blackout_88 said:

during delivery process – right to a refund?

Part of the problem will be that you accepted the order despite knowing it was damaged. Given you had 2 weeks supply left I'd have rejected the order. 

Did the pharmacy you collected from give you anything to confirm it hadn't been kept refrigerated? I know in my incident they tried to claim they'd taken it out the fridge just 5 minutes ago but the lack of the normal blue snowflake sticker made it evident that they'd forgotten it was to be kept cold. 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I accepted it from the pharmacy because i thought I was stupid thinking it needs to refrigerated obviously the prescriber and pharmacy know better than me. I have social anxiety so won’t speak up unless I know 100%. My wifi on phone is dodgy so I couldn’t even quickly google to see if I was right. It’s only when I got home ( I live 5 mins down the road) and opened the package that I saw the melted ice pack. 

I have contacted my bank explained the issue and non response and they have allowed me to put in a dispute. Hopefully I get my money back or the company finally emails me back so we can sort this out 

Undervalued

Blackout_88 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Okell said:

This is a problem buying medication online.

It's not an online problem at all, I've had exactly the same problem with NHS prescriptions given in person at the local pharmacy. Just whoever dispensed it forgot to put in the fridge and left it on the side for a few days. I refused to accept it, the medication instructions say if over 12 hours it needs to be disposed of. Who knows who took the financial hit. 

beckstar1975 said:

Anecdotally what difference would it being kept at room temperature for 36 hours make? 

Not sure thats going to be readily available. With mine, which isn't a weight loss drug, the medicine has clear instruction to dispose of it if left for an aggregate of 12 hours out of cold store, but then it's a daily injection which makes a bit more sense than a weekly one. 

I've no idea what happens if you take it after 12 hours. I assume it will just be less effective rather than becoming toxic or such. 

Annoyingly with mine there is a version of it that can stay out the fridge up to 6 months but its a 1 dose disposable injection where as the normal ones are a monthly cartridge and the amount of powder in them is twice that of the cartridge despite it only being 1 day rather than 28 days dose so clearly something else is added to it to make it heat stable. 

Blackout_88 said:

during delivery process – right to a refund?

Part of the problem will be that you accepted the order despite knowing it was damaged. Given you had 2 weeks supply left I'd have rejected the order. 

Did the pharmacy you collected from give you anything to confirm it hadn't been kept refrigerated? I know in my incident they tried to claim they'd taken it out the fridge just 5 minutes ago but the lack of the normal blue snowflake sticker made it evident that they'd forgotten it was to be kept cold. 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I accepted it from the pharmacy because i thought I was stupid thinking it needs to refrigerated obviously the prescriber and pharmacy know better than me. I have social anxiety so won’t speak up unless I know 100%. My wifi on phone is dodgy so I couldn’t even quickly google to see if I was right. It’s only when I got home ( I live 5 mins down the road) and opened the package that I saw the melted ice pack. 

I have contacted my bank explained the issue and non response and they have allowed me to put in a dispute. Hopefully I get my money back or the company finally emails me back so we can sort this out 

If I understand your posts correctly the product must be used within 21 days if not kept refrigerated. However you have 28 days supply?

OK, it shouldn't have happened but your actual loss here is the cost of 7 days supply?

In any legal dispute (if it comes to that) you have a duty to mitigate your losses, which would be by using what you safely can of this product so your claim against either the supplier or the pharmacy is actually for a quarter of the total cost.

You claim is almost certainly against the supplier as you have no contract with the pharmacy. The supplier in turn has a claim against the pharmacy.

born_again

Would be interesting to know if they use their own refrigerated vans to deliver the products, or just farm out to other couriers, who may not have that option.

Arunmor

Probably best just to buy from your local pharmacy.