When trying to fill a script for my wife, the pharmacist said that that medication was not available in the dose her doctor specified. She told me the drug companies had never brought that dose to market. She told me I had to drive back to the doctors office and get a new script and that the doctor should have known that dose was not available. When I called the doctor's office I was told to try another pharmacy. Sure enough, all 0f the three drug stores I called (not Rite-Aids) had the drug is stock and told me it was a standard item that had been available for years in that dose. The closest one filled the script for me.

When I returned to Rite-Aid and showed the supposedly unavailable medication to the pharmacist, she changed her story. She denied she had ever said it wasn't available, and claimed that it was only unavailable through Rite-Aid.

I have to suppose the pharmacist wanted me to get a new script so she could make the sale. I think it would have been more professional to tell me other drug stores would have what was needed. Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill?, perhaps, but the medicine was for pain caused by cancer and my wife needed relief right away.

My father droppped off a Prescription Feb 27, 2010. They gave him 30 pills. He went back for his refill the end of March and they said they had given him 90 pills in February. He is 76 and knows to take the bottle to the Pharmacy when it is empty. They took the bottle from him and told him to come back the end of May. He needs his heart pills - Two months without them is a health risk. They said we can not prove they did not give him 90 pills - He can not read information with out a Magnifying glass - He did not think getting 30 pills was an issue in February - He always received 30 pills from them in the past. They told me there is nothing they can do - Come back in 60 days.

WHY ARE EMPLOYEES ILLEGALLY WORKING? NO WORK PERMITS OR PERMITS ARE EXPIRED? IMMIGRANTS ARE HIRED AND WORKING WITH NO PERMANENT RESIDENT CARDS OR NOT US CITIZENS. DO NOT SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH OR CANT READ ENGLISH WHY THEY ARE HIRED?? MOST ARE FOREIGN AND NO AMERICANS??

On January 25th at approx 4 p.m. in the Rite-Aid store on Pitman Street in Providence RI, I experienced an unpleasant situation with two of your pharmacists. It was a dreadful day of almost monsoon conditions, and I had a prescription for Lipitor that I was picking up.

A young black female pharmacist got the prescription for me and asked for $45. I had a new Lipitor discount card from my doctor and she pointed out to me that it required that I had to call it in to register it. I went out to my car to use my cellphone and learned that the new card was not necessary, that my 2009 discount (which they've had on record since last year) was still in tact, and that they had been extended to 2011.

When I returned with this information, this woman avoided me, but a very sweet young woman took care of it and told me I was still on record for the discount. (I did not need the new card I'd picked up, at this point). This latter woman told me the co-pay was $30. The black woman had asked for $45 earlier.

As I stood waiting for the latter woman's research, a riled customer came up to another window and complained someone had rolled her eyes at her and she wanted to bypass her. I looked around, saw nobody else, and assumed she was talking about me. When she walked away, I asked the black woman pharmacist had the woman been referring to me, because if she was, I was going apologize if I'd given her that impression. The pharmacist sarcastically assured me that it was not me she had been talking about.

What my annoyance with this is that another pharmacist sitting at the end of the area asked the black woman what I had said, and she scowled as the black woman turned her back to me and muttered something critical.

Call me paranoid, but the whole situation struck me as very unprofessional and catty. Ordinarily, I don't give credence to such behavior, but this is about the fourth time I have experienced rudeness from your employees in this store. I do about $4, 000 worth of business a year in the store, and I am offended by the lack of respect for the customers. I also have been charged full price for advertised on-sale items at least a half dozen times. When this was Brooks Pharmacy, it was run more efficiently and the quality of personnel was much more superior.

I am fed up with their treatment of customers and will be taking my business elsewhere.

I sent this note to rite aid customer service:
I am writing to express my disappointment, confusion, and at the lack of service and care I received Sunday, November 15 at your store number 10161, located on Somerville Ave in Somerville Ma.
Your posted hours state that the pharmacy will close at 5 pm. My pediatrician wrote a prescription for my daughter for Amoxicillin at about 4pm. I called the store to confirm the hours of the pharmacy, and I arrived at the pharmacy at approximately 4:45. Your employees in the pharmacy had already put down the shades were in the process of locking the service window. The pharmacist in duty, whose name is Melanie refused to provide me service because "I am closing in ten minutes", and “I should have got there earlier.”
Her attitude was completely unsuitable and unacceptable for a medical caregiver, and is unfitting for a representative of a company who prides themselves on being “focused on and committed to the healthcare needs of your customers”.
If it is your company policy that customers will not be served 15 minutes before the posted closing time, then that policy should itself be posted. If this employee was acting in her own, then you should be made aware that her actions have resulted in losing the lifetime business of me and my family. The mentality of turning away customers because you do not want to do your job for the duration of your shift is shortsighted for an employee of a company with a goal of improving pharmacy sales, and makes your organization seem unprofessional and, frankly, incompetent.
As a point of contrast, after I left the store I quickly drove to a CVS, where the staff filled my order without complaint, even though I arrived after their posted closing time.
I hope this letter prompts either a change in your policy or a change in the way your employees are trained to provide "personal" service to your customers.