Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Rite Aid Pharmacy
842 State St
Watertown, New York
United States
Phone: 315.788.8768
riteaid.com

What follows is an accurate transcription of the events that have occurred since I received my prescription from Dr. Santana on April 9, 2009:

Facts: I received my prescription from Dr. Santana on April 9, 2009.I took my prescription to the pharmacy authorized via signed documents at Samaritan Behavioral Health (SBH): Rite Aid, 842 State St., Watertown, NY 13601. Prescription #: 04681 0318651 Qty: 45 Dosage: 1.5 tablets per day of 8 mg Tablets. I promptly put the prescription container in my pocket to safeguard it against potential theft or loss.When I went to take my dose on Friday, April 10, I noticed that it did not look like 45 tablets, so I counted them, and there were only 29 tablets. I promptly reported this to Joe, the Pharmacy Manager at 4:06 pm, Friday April 10, and requested that he do an inventory check. He asked me to call back in 30 minutes. I called back at 4:52 pm, at which time he told me that he still had not completed the inventory. He said he “forgot about it” but would do it then if I remained on the line. I remained on the line, and he told me the following:


“I am supposed to have 247 tablets on hand myself, and I am short. I only
have 200 tablets, so I am sorry there is nothing I can do it about it.
I asked the girl who did the prescription if she counted them twice
and she told me ‘yes.’ However, if you want to have your Program
Director call I will explain the situation to him or her.”

At this point I told Joe that I thought it was strange that he would be missing so many of such a tightly regulated narcotic, and suggested that he might want to do an audit or some other procedure to ensure that there was not any employee theft going on. I also asked them if he counted them himself, as the lead pharmacist, and he told me “no.” I suggested that, in the future, with controlled substances, maybe two sets of eyes should be on such prescriptions. He dismissed both notions and hung up with me at 4:59 pm, offering me no other recourse save talking to my Program Director.

Further Documentation

On Saturday, April 11, I placed a call to my primary counselor, Mike, at SBH. I left a message detailing what had happened.

Additionally, on Monday April 13, I spoke with both Teddy xxxxxxxxxx and Canice xxxxxx regarding the situation and what to do about it, who told me whom I should talk to.

Canice gave me two numbers to follow up with, and told me to make an appointment with Dr. xxxxxxx for the day I will run out of medication, should this not get rectified by the pharmacy. I tried to do that on Wednesday, April 15, but was told by the SBH receptionist “that’s not how we do things here.”

I began to take things in my own hands, since if I run out of this medicine, it becomes a life or death situation for me, as my cardiologist has told me that if I relapse, there is no intervention that would be able to save my heart from total failure this time. As such, I have placed over 10 to various agencies and/or Rite Aid resources, with no recourse of action. All of my calls have not been returned by District Managers, nor was my complaint on the Rite Aid Website Contact Us Form ever addressed. I'll take it all the way to the Office of Professional Misconduct if I have to. The problem is, if they don't correct this, I can't afford to pay the out-of-pocket expense ($214) for the 16 missing pills...