Is it something in the air? In a three-day span, we had two cases of life-threateningly bad service — and that’s not hyperbole. Literally, in each case, medical conditions came into play.
First, Tim’s mom went to get her weekly coffee. She has to have decaf, but once a week she treats herself to a mocha — if you can call a decaf, non-fat, no sugar drink a mocha. Tim took her to Starbucks, a few blocks away, before they started their errands.
Guess who didn’t use decaf?
By the time Nadine noticed it, and threw it away, they were already somewhere else. And since she gets tired even more quickly than I do, they had to finish the tasks at hand. So Tim drove back to the Starbucks about an hour later and told the barista what had happened.
He was then assured that the baristas are very well trained, and his mom was, essentially, mistaken. This was after he had explained that, caffeine can actually be medically dangerous for someone with atrial fibrillation — aka congestive heart failure.
I guess the moral of the story is that Starbucks really does train its baristas well. They’re so good that it’s more likely a woman who’s been caffeine free for two years could mistake her decaf, no-sugar drink for caffeinated than it is that an employee made a small, if very significant, mistake.
Moving on…
Two days later, Tim called CVS for a refill on his inhaler. It was the second time this month.
While the dry air down here is immensely helpful for his skin, his asthma is a tad worse. All sorts of people moved down here in droves for, among other things, the clean air. First, they brought in all sorts of non-native plants (yay pollen count!) and, the population increase inevitably led to some air pollution. How’s that for irony?
Point is, he now goes through about two inhalers a month. In fact, each of the nine months we’ve been here, that’s been the case.
So imagine our surprise when CVS refused to fill his inhaler.
Apparently, the pharmacist decreed that Tim’s asthma is severe enough that an inhaler is being used too much. He needs to look into controller meds.
Gee, in his 31 years of being an asthmatic, why didn’t anyone ever think of that? Ya know, other than pretty much every doctor he’s ever seen.
As Tim explained in a strained tone (I call it the “I don’t know whether I want to laugh, cry or punch someone out, but I’m seriously considering a medley” voice), he’s tried every controller drug on the market. None of them make a dent.
And even if we wanted to go through the process again, without insurance, it’s astronomically expensive. Even with coverage, I seem to recall that Advair was over $100 a month. Ouch.
The pharmacist was put on the phone, and Tim went over all the information again. The pharmacist said that he would, at least, need to talk to the prescribing doctor before he’d “feel comfortable” filling any more inhalers.
Tim told him not to bother and hung up.
Lest you think he was being defeatist, the prescribing doctor hasn’t seen Tim for about 10 or 11 months. And the only time he’s seen a medical professional down here was for his ADD. She could still prescribe him an inhaler (preferably, the next size up to avoid this argument in the future) except that, when I last called the clinic, I was told she no longer worked there.
We’re going to try to find the prescription number and transfer it to Walgreen’s. But who knows how long before we run into a similarly stubborn pharmacist?
So we’ll probably have to find him a doctor to see — one who can, preferably, prescribe the next size up, since it’s about twice the size. In other words, it’s going to cost us over $100 to get a pharmacy to fill a perfectly valid prescription.
I understand that pharmacists have a better grasp of the implications of medicine and human physiology than we do. And yet, I feel certain Tim has a better grasp on the effects of medication on his own body than any pharmacist does.
But apparently only one opinion matters in the end, and it ain’t Tim’s.
The end result being a pharmacist who denies a severe asthmatic the only medication — non-addictive, I might add — that works. Apparently, in the interest of protecting the patient’s health.
If you understand that logic, you’ve got a wonderful career in ahead of you in the government.
What fun adventures have you folks had in customer service recently?
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Wow. I know the customer isn't always right, but Starbucks lost an excellent teaching moment for the staff there, and passed over a great opportunity to show your family respect and win your loyalty forever. Wow. I hope you sent a comment card up the chain of command!
I also don't get why pharmacists can be forced to dispense medications that violate their personal moral beliefs, but one can get away with denying an inhaler just because he is "uncomfortable"?? I sure hope you find that script number, and you tell them why you're moving it to Walgreens.
Here's hoping things get sunnier quickly!
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Well.. it's not deadly but I did spend a couple hours on the phone w/ FedEx having this discussion:
Meg: There's been a mistake with the tracking number and the doortag number and now my package is missing.
Bored and annoyed CSR: No, that's impossible, you're just too dumb to read the tracking info properly.
Meg: <explains in excruciating detail>
CSR: Oh, wow, that did happen exactly like you said. Let me transfer you to another department where someone can help you with that.
*hold music*
Meg: There's been a mistake with the tracking number and the doortag number and now my package is missing.
A different annoyed CSR: No, that's impossible, you're just too dumb to read the tracking info properly.
Meg: <explains in excruciating detail>
Repeat until I have spoken with every single person at Fedex. On the plus side, it wasn't my new laptop that was lost, just some peripherals, AND they're insured by the sender!
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Not life threatning either, but I've recently applied for VA disability. A month ago I got a letter giving me an appointment date for my evaluation….right smack in the middle of a 10 day trip out of town.
So I followed the directions on the letter and called and asked for a reschedule.
Cue phone calls from the VA on a Friday reminding me of my appointment on Monday. Three phone calls later I learned the first person I called never put me in for a reschedule. Called VA myself, only to be mystified by the phone tree, finally got a person and they said they would take care of it.
I still don't know if I have an appointment. I'm calling them when I get back.
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Abigail Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Ah yes, Washington state's dept of health & human services was sort of unreliable at best for that kind of thing. The only good part to that: If you forgot to send something in by a deadline, you could pretty easily convince them it just never reached them.
Not that I would ever do that sort of thing (cough cough)
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Pharmicists are licensed professionals. As with any similar profession, there is a spectrum of comfort levels that one professional may have with a course of action. Why don't you ask to speak with another pharmicist at the CVS? It is the pharmicist's career/license that may be impacted if something goes wrong, but there may be another at CVS that is more comfortable with the situation.
Also, in my opinion, I think you are more upset and the issue here is that Tim does not currently have health insurance and a doctor; so the situation cannot be easily rectified. If those things were in place than the doctor could correct the situation. The doctor would probably want to see him in this case. (My neice goes every six months for her asthma and hers is 'under control.')
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Abigail Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
TEN,
At this point, Tim's just pretty angry at CVS, so I think it's best to move to another pharmacy — especially as Walgreen's is closer. We just went to CVS because of the extra bucks incentive.
I certainly understand that professionals have different levels of "comfort" but there are few medications as innocuous as an inhaler, in my (admittedly uneducated) opinion. I'm also a tad annoyed that CVS did not bother to respond as yet to my rather outraged letter. At all. Another reason to switch pharmacies.
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Ah, yes. I spent a good few minutes on the phone with FedEx the other day, trying to explain that I really didn't care what the driver wrote — our apartment complex does not have a place to drop packages by the gate. So either their driver lied, left it sitting outside or left it in the office and (for reasons unknown) didn't just say so. It turned out to be that last one.
Plus, it's always good when someone believes you to be too dumb to read tracking information. Nothing like that to brighten up your day and self esteem…
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I did immediately write CVS a pissed off email. Still haven't heard back, which is somewhat puzzling. I expected them to at least write to back their pharmacists, if not to fall all over themselves apologizing for endangering Tim's life.
And, yes, I was actually shocked that Starbucks employees acted that way. The chain pretty much prides itself on service. Which I mentioned when I wrote an email to corporate explaining just how badly the employee handled the situation.
At least I got to vent in some emails. And now on the blog. And here in the comments. Heck, who needs therapy?
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OMG bad customer service really stinks.
Want to hear my favorite recent story?
I bought a prepaid phone and finished up the minutes that came with the phone. I called up the number required to refill it, I got an automated message telling me to fill in all my info. When I finished filling in the info, it says "Oh, you're a new customer, use our automated service" and sent me back to the beginning of the automated messages, back to where I started. Somehow I managed to get through to a human, who took all my info and said that I'd be able to refill my phone with minutes once I get a text message from them saying my info was approved. It took 3 weeks to get that message, 3 weeks that I was minuteless on my phone.
Customer service can be really pathetic. But at least my situation wasn't life threatening, as yours was.
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Ugh on the inhaler. How aggravating! You should call CVS corporate and complain. As long as Tim is using the medication as prescribed, the pharmacist has no right to question him.
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I have a Rite Aid prescription horror story: My doctor wrote a prescription for 60 60 mg Armour Thyroid pills. Rite Aid didn't have that strength, so they filled it with 120 30 mg pills. Then one month when I went to refill they didn't have the 30 mg pills–but they did have the 60 mg ones. But they refused to fill the prescription because the last refill was for 120 30 mg not 60 60 mg–even though that's what the original prescription was for.
Idiots.
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How is it that the pharmacist's opinion trumps the doctor's prescription? I'd be upset too! I have asthma, so I can relate. I would think the pharmacist would be legally accountable if things went south for Tim because of him.. If he was that "uncomfortable," why didn't he call the doctor? Pharmacies call doctors all the time to verify. No wonder you are upset!
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Laura,
They did call the doctor the next day, but it was written before we left Seattle. The doctor couldn't help out when she hadn't seen him for 10 months. The lack of health insurance, as always, keeps things interesting.
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Have you tried requesting the prescription back? I don't think the pharmacists are allowed to keep it without giving you the medication.
As for starbucks: she may have GOTTEN the decaf. Starbucks is notorious for high-caffeine decaf. Especially in their freshly-made coffee drinks because the actual coffee beans can vary greatly in caffeine. by as much as 100 miligrams! http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/index.php?option...
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Wow, that is a really disturbing article, but one that I'm glad I know now. I'm going to pass it along to Tim's mom so she's aware.
Thanks!
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I second Plothole Tsi's comment – a lot of decaf coffees still have caffeine in them, which can also depend on the method they use to decaffeinate the beans. (I discovered that randomly and was horrified by the idea of going without coffee for 9 months if I ever decide to have a kid!)
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Forever ago, I remember some pharmacists in Texas refused to fill the morning after pill. CVS actually can't make the pharmacist fill anything. If anything, in this case, they'd be blamed for something they didn't really do.
There is no way a pharmacist would do this unless they really believed it was dangerous dose. I wouldn't be so quick to blow it off as bad customer service.
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The newest thing in health-care cost containment is to train pharmacists to watch for anomalies in prescription drug use, since often conflicting drugs are prescribed by doctors who don't know what someone else has given the patient. You'd be surprised how ignorant some doctors are about the drugs they prescribe!
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?? Well, this is weird. Somehow in mid-comment I got re-identified under my alternate incarnation, The Copyeditor's Desk. And then part of the comment got posted as FaM and the rest sat there wanting to be posted as CED.
Since I always copy a comment before hitting submit, let's try again:
The newest thing in health-care cost containment is to train pharmacists to watch for anomalies in prescription drug use, since often conflicting drugs are prescribed by doctors who don't know what someone else has given the patient. You'd be surprised how ignorant some doctors are about the drugs they prescribe!
That said, you come to Arizona to find out what your allergies are. It must be one of the most allergenic states in the nation. Not only do we have all the pollen from the midwestern plants all the Ohians brought in, ponderosa pine is highly allergenic. Arizona has one of the largest stands of ponderosa pine in the world. Pollen drifts down off the Rim from the forests up north, affecting allergy sufferers here in the Valley.
I've prob'ly missed something here, but is Tim not on AHCCS? If you can get him into the system you should be able to persuade them to refer him to a specialist. Because Arizona is overrun with people who have severe allergies and asthma, we really do have some very good asthma specialists.
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I just had almost the same thing happen at our local CVS also. I have severe asthma and use a steroid inhaler as well as the ProAir (along with monthly cortisone shots for my lungs this combo works well enough for now). Between the heat, humidity, and an allergy flare I ran out of my ProAir 7 days early. I pleaded with the pharmacist that was working to please fill it in tears mind you, explaining that the last time I didnt have it I was in the ER with a pulse ox of 84, heart rate of 150, and blood pressure that was 190/110. He sent me away saying come back on friday w/ out even batting an eye. I was so upset that I called the CVS 5 minutes away from the one that turned me away and asked them to check if it would go through on my insurance and what do you know, they responded with "yep it went right through, itll be ready in 10 minutes." When I called my normal pharmacy back and asked why and how they felt it was right to refuse an inhaler refill I was met with an attitude and told "well, the script was for 25 days and most insurances wont cover it that early". They never even tried to fill it. They were playing God with my breathing and as a mother of 2 that just turned 29, Im too young to die because CVS hires idiots. Its not like I'm sitting around taking hits off an inhaler to catch a buzz…. I think there is a preconceived ideal they set about customers, assuming that due to a vicodin script that is filled monthly or an Adderall script for ADHD that you are abusing prescription medication. I think they need to consider the fact that there are some of us that need the meds to improve our quality of life.
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