I take a drug called Effexor Xr for depression. Since I am uninsured I WAS getting this drug through a pharmaceutical assistance program at Wyeth, the company that makes Effexor. During the time when I was getting the medication from Wyeth I don't recall any problems. After the initial approval Then in 2009 Pfizer bought out Wyeth and whatever changes were made to this program suck. Previously, I would be mailed 90 days worth of my prescription. When I got close to the end of that supply I dialed a toll-free phone # and entered my info into an automated phone system and my refill was processed and sent.

In November 2010 my annual renewal was up and Pfizer Connection to Care took over this program, and it went completely downhill. This drug is one that needs to be weaned off and not stopped abruptly - so running out is pretty bad. I was due to run out at the beginning of January and sent in my renewal form. It was lost which I was not aware of until I called about 3 weeks later to check on the progress, and the CS reps had no idea what had become of my forms. They sent me new forms which I had to give to my doctor to complete for a 2nd time - meanwhile I scrambled and spent hours making panicked phone calls to get a month of samples to get me through January. Another problem occurred in the processing - this time I think I was turned down for some bogus reason, and again I had to make all kinds of phone calls and send documents twice. I was still waiting for the problems to be worked out when my samples ran out, and I tapped my previous source and was unable to get more samples. So this time I asked my doctor to call in a prescription for the generic which was only about $350 for a 30-day supply vs. $850 for the brand name. I purchased a one-week supply for $83.99 ($4 per pill or $12 per day) . Finally, after more than 3 months of phone calls and bothering my doctor and being worried about where my medication was coming from and even missing a few days of a drug that should not be stopped abruptly I received my 90-day supply from Pfizer in mid-February. This time I was determined to avoid the problems so I called to start the process almost two weeks before I was due to run out of my pills. One thing Pfizer changed is that I could no longer call and request the renewal myself, the doctors office had to do it, and I had to pick up the drugs at the docs office instead of having them mailed directly to me. If it's not broke, why fix it - the other system had one less level of bureaucracy in the doctor's office. And I can't speak for all docs, but my office is always really busy, so they can't always drop everything for one patient and take care of this immediately. I called my doc's office at the end of April and requested that they send in the renewal form. They did on May 2nd, and have a confirmation fax sheet to prove it. The "typical" processing time is 7-10 business days. Given all the problems I had last time I called on May 6th to confirm that my order was being processed and get an idea when I might expect my prescription to arrive. Surprise, Surprise, the customer service rep claimed they had not received any fax. They couldn't imagine where it had gone. My doctor's office must have screwed up...Many phone calls to my doc's office and back to Pfizer speaking to various CSR's and supervisor's, the paperwork was re-faxed twice by my doctor's office (thanks to Terri at the doc's for her patience). Eventually, I was told it was better for the doc to use the phone system instead of the fax. That same day I received a letter from Pfizer including the May 2nd saying it was being returned because it was incomplete, but I could not see anything missing. The doctor had signed it, it had her ID#...another call to the dept. that issued the letter could not specify what exactly was missing...it went on and on with the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing. I again had to purchase the drug "out of pocket" for a few days while I wait for my drugs to arrive. Finally, today May 12th - 10 full days after the first fax was sent I got confirmation that my order has been process and will arrive...in 7 to 10 business days. So far this time I've paid $72.