First, we caught my local Costco pharmacy giving my daughter the wrong Rx. That resulted in a complaint to the state licensing department and sanctions levied against the pharmacist in charge and the department.

Next, their optical department isn’t any better. I recently bought glasses from Costco and needed them adjusted after they were bumped a few days ago. I swing by today and the only person at the counter ignores me while she is texting (even with the polite courtesy cough). Finally, after about two minutes, she asks me what I need and instead of standing up and looking at my problem, she remains sitting in her chair (from 5’ away) telling me everything looks OK. Really? They were bumped two days ago and are now driving me crazy. I, of course, just decided I wanted to come down to Costco and visit with you about a made up problem? Sure!

I would have had the store manager over there pronto. You pay an annual membership to be treated like that. I don’t think so.

I have not used Costco pharmacy, but I have always received outstanding service from the optical department.

Re usmc-nav's comment, I don't think that you have to be a paid Costco member in order to use the pharmacy. I'm not sure about optical. Makes no difference though, store manager should still be aprised of sub-standard service.

Our experiences are exemplary, in optical especially.

I would have called the manager regarding the optical department but unless the wrong Rx was the second occurrence, I would have gone to the head pharmacist instead.

People are people, they're not infallible, and I understand the potential danger of mixing up prescriptions but to go to the state licensing department means a pharmacist on that shift lost their job. I don't like to mess with a person's livelihood unless truly warranted. If no one was harmed, then I consider it no foul. I'm merely stating my opinion and not wanting to get into an argument with anyone.

I agree Rey. I would first contact the store manager. If that didn't yield satisfactory results then I would have gone further up the chain.

Just a follow up on the Rx problem. It actually occurred over about 3 refils (plus the original) and did cause problems. What happened was the pharmacy gave us the generic formula which was OK we thought based upon the cost difference. After about three refils, it was apparent our daughter was not improving so we went back to our MD. He told us that the Rx we had was the best option so we went back and asked for the name brand thinking maybe the generic wasn’t as good. It was during this process that a pharm tech caught that they had given us the wrong generic substitution.

The state licensing board did tell me that mistakes with big pharmacies are quite common and to carefully watch your Rxs. Years ago, when my wife was pregnant, a brand new pharmacist gave her Ritalin instead of Zofran for her morning sickness. We caught it before she took any. I didn’t do anything as the pharmacist was in tears when I went back to speak with her and get the correct Rx.

I did file a complaint on optical with the store.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BB61,

ALWAYS check your prescriptions. I've had a number of wrong meds given. Sometimes I get a generic for a name brand or vice versa, so the pill looks different and I question it.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
ALWAYS check your prescriptions. I've had a number of wrong meds given. Sometimes I get a generic for a name brand or vice versa, so the pill looks different and I question it.

This was a cream. I’m not sure if it would have made a difference or not when compared to a pill as we were also talking about slightly different formulations with different percentages. Obviously, we are very careful now and ask specific questions.

Quality control is a problem today in pharmacies. It is a function of volume and lesser paid pharmacy techs.

I completely agree re the Pharmacy. I was shocked at how poor the service was.

Optical was so so. I did not care for the Optician at all, but the folks working behind the glasses counter were ok.

On the other end of the spectrum, the folks in hearing aids are outstanding. I even called the store manager to compliment the tech I see. He replied that he gets calls praising the guy regularly.

Sounds like your Costco needs someone to kick some ass and straighten things out. My local Costco is one of the hoodier Costcos around and the cashiers are sometimes dumbasses but the specialty counters are always great.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Quality control is a problem today in pharmacies. It is a function of volume and lesser paid pharmacy techs.

This. For 8 years, worked in the Legal Dept. for a large pharma chain (starts with "W").

A couple of years before I left, they cut back on the hours of higher-paid pharmacists and increased the load on the pharma techs.

We like Costco but had a horrible Rx experience. The pharmacist is literally the highest paid person in the store and if they have attitude you basically need to talk to a regional manager. Just go up the chain of command and it will be resolved. We had our prescription comp’d because of stupidity.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
People are people, they're not infallible, and I understand the potential danger of mixing up prescriptions but to go to the state licensing department means a pharmacist on that shift lost their job.

Good! They need to lose their job if they can't do it to standards.
Going to the head Pharmacist so they can cover it up leaves the incompetent in place.
Not a good thing in Doctors, RXs or space travel.

I understand if you might not want to identify the specific Costco, but do you mind telling us if it is in Salt Lake County? The one we go to in Salt Lake County has been consistently excellent. I never use their pharmacy or their optical department, however.

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
People are people, they're not infallible, and I understand the potential danger of mixing up prescriptions but to go to the state licensing department means a pharmacist on that shift lost their job.

Good! They need to lose their job if they can't do it to standards.
Going to the head Pharmacist so they can cover it up leaves the incompetent in place.
Not a good thing in Doctors, RXs or space travel.

So going to the pharmacist in charge means they’ll cover it up? Wow, that’s quite the generalization. In my 6 years as a Pharmacy Manager/PIC, I never once covered up a med error. But, hey, let’s keep that ignorance and sweeping generalizations coming ......

quote:

Originally posted by Erick85:
So going to the pharmacist in charge means they’ll cover it up? Wow, that’s quite the generalization. In my 6 years as a Pharmacy Manager/PIC, I never once covered up a med error. But, hey, let’s keep that ignorance and sweeping generalizations coming ......

I've personally seen coverups in government and medicine.
That you've never done it speaks to your good character.

To assume *everyone's* character is as sterling as yours is naive.
Maybe they would have lost their job, maybe not. Going to the State means that if they go down the road, their record follows them...as it should.

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:

quote:

Originally posted by Erick85:
So going to the pharmacist in charge means they’ll cover it up? Wow, that’s quite the generalization. In my 6 years as a Pharmacy Manager/PIC, I never once covered up a med error. But, hey, let’s keep that ignorance and sweeping generalizations coming ......

I've personally seen coverups in government and medicine.
That you've never done it speaks to your good character.

To assume *everyone's* character is as sterling as yours is naive.
Maybe they would have lost their job, maybe not. Going to the State means that if they go down the road, their record follows them...as it should.

I think you’ll find ethically challenged people in any setting. Sometimes it’s blatant, other times not so much. Trust me, I’m under no assumption that every other pharmacist out there is as honest. I’ve seen and heard a lot in my 15 years of retail pharmacy.

I will say, safety seems to have taken a backseat to profits for the larger chains. That is the main reason why my last day was 2 weeks ago in that setting. I’m now in a position where I’ll be working from home a majority of the time. Definitely an adjustment for me, but a nice one!!

Took my mom in to Costco for new hearing aids, they were awesome.