I have been a customer at Ralphs Pharmacy since 2005 and have consistently received great service. Unfortunately, I sent my assistant to pick up my pre-paid medication, which included 7 medications. For some reason, the pharmacist in charge decided to dispense an additional prescription, which was not part of the list of the approved 7 prescriptions that I pre authorized and purchased with my credit card for several reasons 1) I authorized or 2) it was not with my 7 authorized pre pay meds , 3) that particular medication was not covered by my insurance 4) and cost $221 5) I can get it across the street from CVS for $45). As soon as my assistant came back and I realized that Dr Steven the pharmacist, had dispensed the $221 medication I did not authorize to be billed on my credit card, I immediately asked her to take it back to the pharmacy for a refund as this was never authorized nor was it ever placed in my basket or prepaid. She came back to tell me that Dr. Stephen refused to take back the medication and would not refund the $221 that he dispensed without my authorization, and that I had to keep it because it had left the store. Now I have to stop what I am doing and call Dr Steven at the pharmacy, who proceeds to blame my college-age assistant as the reason why he dispensed the medication, stating that it was her fault that he dispensed the medication because she accepted the medication. Since when does a college-age student intern who is just picking up my 7 pre-paid medications at Ralphs get to be blamed for the pharmacist Dr Stephen's mistake who dispensed a medication that I did not authorize to be dispensed, was not covered by my insurance, and cost $221, and was not a part of the pre-paid 7 medications I authorized to be dispensed and I can get from CVS for $45. Who is the responsible party here, the college student picking up the 7 prepaid authorized medications or the licensed pharmacist who makes a mistake and refuses to acknowledge his mistake and blames my intern for his mistake? After almost 3 hours of this, I ended up calling the manager at Ralphs, and he directed me to the Ralphs customer service number and was extremely apologetic about the entire incident. Ralph's general customer service also thought that this was not ok, and I was told to hold, and they contacted Dr Steven personally to rectify the situation, and he proceeded to tell them that I needed to call the pharmacy. At this juncture, I have wasted over 3 1/2 hours of my time trying to reason with a Pharmacist who apparently does not understand that he is obligated to get authorization from the consumer to agree to purchase the medication he is dispensing. What Dr Steven did to me is equivalent to me treating a patient who has not authorized me to treat them, and after treatment, charging them a full non-insurance price for their treatment because I do not take their insurance. read more
