Over the last few months of using Beacon, I was using it mostly out of convenience, which is…read moretotally ironic considering this is the least convenient pharmacy franchise in the area.
If you're a senior citizen early bird that doesn't work during business hours during the week, Beacon could be the place for you. But, if you're not in that category, like myself, please- seek any where else for your prescriptions.
There's no way to easily check the status of your prescriptions. You have to call and get a pharmacy teammate on the line. Again, if you're not a senior citizen they already have some friendship with in town, you're not going to get good service. Every staff member seems to treat younger to middle age adults such as myself with a terrible, accusatory demeanor, even if you're there just to pick up some vitamin D. They also will not call you to let you know your prescription is ready, or if there's a problem with it. They expect you to come down so they can inconveniently let you down in person.
If you're LGBTQ+, stay far from this pharmacy. Despite being their client for several years, and despite the fact I even legally changed my name and gender, you will not be treated with respect at this pharmacy. You WILL be misgendered. If you don't get misgendered, you'll get a soul-burning side eye when picking up your hormone therapy medications, because in their opinion, why would a young woman have an estrogen and spironolactone script, or a young man a testosterone script? Over the years, these people never tried to be inclusive, or at a minimum, respectful, to me or my family.
If you're a senior or their friend from town, they will shower you with praise and attention, and even do things they say they can't do for others, like split up scripts, allow cash payments when insurance goes awry, etc. For me, they tried to charge a full copay for a 2/30 pill script, with no cash option, with the 28/30 coming from my new pharmacy. My other pharmacy understood why I'd want to split it (it takes 2 days to arrive and I was out of meds). These folks, however, did not. While I was waiting for them to get their stuff together regarding my split script (surprise: they couldn't get it together), they actually offered the cash deal to another patient in line who had insurance issues. The pharmacist asks the guy, "oh how many do you think she'll want, we can split it up no problem", but for me, it was "tough luck". They were about to close in 20 minutes and kept telling me it would "take a while" for them to contact my insurance. I asked if I should stick around or go home. They told me to do what I want. I stuck around. Groundhog day happened 3 minutes later- same conversation. Asked them if they want me to go home or stick around, and they said the same thing. They obviously wanted me to leave, but they would rather make me feel uncomfortable- but *hey*, they gave me a choice- right?
So, I don't get to have my medication for the next two days while I await my prescription from my new pharmacy, who actually knows how to communicate with their patients.
Avoid this place. At all costs. You can get medical equipment at many other places. There is no longer anything unique about this pharmacy that other places can't do, so there's no reason at all to utilize them.
If you're obsessed with the small town feel, fortunately there's Bristol Pharmacy on Main Street to try.