This pharmacy is a disgrace--Laveen deserves better.
If I could give zero stars, I would. The level of negligence, incompetence, and outright deceit at this Safeway pharmacy is absolutely horrifying. They should not be trusted with anyone's health.
My husband recently had major heart surgery and needed an emergency prescription filled before 3 PM to prevent a potentially fatal blood clot. I called around 11, and they assured me they had the medication in stock and that it would be ready by 1 PM.
When I arrived, I was told the prescription was not ready because they were "waiting to hear back from the doctor."
This was a complete lie.
While I was at Safeway, my husband's doctor personally called me about a separate medication. I mentioned that Safeway was supposedly still "waiting for her response." She immediately checked her records and confirmed they had NEVER contacted her.
Concerned for my husband's health, she called the pharmacy herself and was told the prescription would be ready in five minutes.
Another lie.
I rushed back to Safeway, expecting to pick up the medication, only to be met by the same rude, dismissive woman at the front who now denied that the doctor had even called and said the prescription was still not ready.
Meanwhile, the entire pharmacy staff had gone to lunch at the same time.
How is this even allowed? Only half of the staff is should to go to lunch at once so that the pharmacy remains operational. Instead, they ALL left, completely shutting down the pharmacy for over an hour, leaving patients waiting for life-saving medications.
Because of this reckless decision, my husband's medication, which he needed before 3 PM, was delayed for no reason other than their incompetence and lack of care.
Finally, at 2:45 PM--nearly two hours after they had promised it would be ready--a male pharmacist finally came out to inform me that they couldn't fill the prescription at all.
Why?
Because the medication they "had in stock" was EXPIRED.
FROM 2023.
How does this even happen?
How can a pharmacy not routinely go through its stock to remove expired medications? How often do they make this mistake? How many other people have been given prescriptions that are outdated, ineffective, or even dangerous?
Why are expired medications even sitting on their shelves in the first place?
They had 2 years to check their stock to ensure expired medications weren't before promising my husband's medication would be filled. Instead, they wasted precious hours lying to both me and his doctor, shutting down the pharmacy for their lunch break, and only checking their stock at the very last minute.
To make matters worse, when I demanded an explanation, the male pharmacist tried to cover for their failure by claiming the medication was "rare" and that most pharmacies wouldn't have it.
Yet another lie.
I called my husband's doctor, who directed me to Walgreens on 35th & Southern--and they filled it IMMEDIATELY. No delays. No false promises. No incompetence.
This Safeway pharmacy is a health hazard.
* They lie to patients and doctors.
* They fail to check their stock before promising prescriptions.
* They don't purge expired medications.
* They shut down the pharmacy during critical hours.
* They make patients track down their own prescriptions after wasting hours of their time.
And worst of all, the rude, unprofessional woman at the front seems to take joy in treating people like an inconvenience. If you hate your job, fine--but don't take it out on people whose health depends on you doing it correctly.
This wasn't just bad service--it was negligence that could have cost my husband his life.
Laveen deserves better. read more