The stories are reminding me of something that happened to a friend/boss of mine back in 1994.

I was working in a McD's. It was a franchise that was owned by a really nice couple. Mr and Mrs C were very nice, probably the best people I ever worked for. One morning, I got to work (it was the 6am opening shift on a saturday) and I noticed that the flag was at half staff.

I went inside and asked why the flag was at half staff and the store manager told me they put it at half staff because Mr. C had died unexpectedly the night before. We didnt know what happened at the time, something to do with his heart.

A few months later the story was in the paper and Mrs. C told us all what happened. She had picked up some prescriptions from a pharmacy that I wont name, was the same one I'd been using at the time. She got prescriptions for Mr. C and prescriptions for her daughter and her son. Her son was named for his father, so he was Mr. C III. Apparently the pharmacy, when filling the prescriptions had put the son's medication (not sure what it was) in his father's pill bottle, and C III got his dad's prescription in his bottle.

That night, when Mr C took his prescription, whatever the medication was caused him some sort of cardiac crisis and he had a MASSIVE heart attack and I think a stroke. The medication was found to be the cause.

Mrs C sued the pharmacy and won. (I think the pharmacist who filled the Rx's got fired and possibly lost his license too, since it wasnt his first mistake) Mrs. C also decided to not keep the McD's franchise and sold both stores that she and her husband owned to the slum lord that owned the rest of the McD's in town. That ended the fun times I had working at McD's. I quit about a year and a half after Mr. C died. (the slum lord of McD's no longer owns any McD's. He lost his franchising, so it's now safe to eat at McD's here again)

I try to always remember to check my prescriptions now, and if they change something, I always make sure to call the pharmacy and ask about it. I also will google the numbers and letters on the pills to see what they are too. I still use the same pharmacy that I did back then, but I switched to another branch. So far, I havent had a problem with getting someone else's Rx.

I did recently find out that there's someone with the exact same name as me who uses the same bank I do, and I'm pretty sure she's at the same pharmacy too. I called about a Rx about a month ago, and they didnt ask me any information to confirm who I was when I was asking about something, and they were confused for a minute because the med I was asking about wasnt on the account they were looking at. She asked me what my address was and then said "whoops, that explains it. I was looking at the wrong one". So, now I know to be really careful about my meds I pick up.

Good thing I've pretty much stopped taking everything but my migraine pills (which just changed because they dont make my migraine med anymore)

In 40+ yrs I only had ONE person tamper with a bottle... and I think she was getting Alzheimer's or just a tight wad.

She was so patently obvious in what she did...putting FiberCon tablets in an old worn pill container, that would hold tiny pills.

She just wanted a "refund"...the bottle was over a year old!

So the manager did it for customer relations, but we both knew what was going on!

But scamming tablet counts is a real thing, and hard to prove.

The dispensing robots often loosen up and start overcounting, and never did anyone call us to warn us of that. When you have a unit with 200 cells, you cannot catch every one!

Controls are usually double counted now. And I would count them myself when temping, because I didn't know the employees well.

Most places will fix a count error after the people leave the store. The place you describe is very backward and old fashioned. (if you live in a small community-- he is really holding you hostage). I'd make a production each time too just like you...so others can see this. It is more damaging for him to be that way in the end. His own worse enemy.

The problems in a busy pharmacy are the endless interruptions.
One cannot concentrate when interrupted every 30 seconds all day long! That and high volume with inadequate help...nightmares!

This has happened to me before with the same pharmacy. The last time it happened, they put some other med in a bottle labeled for a diabetes drug for the man. I knew what the drug looked like, the label describing the appearance of the med described that same med, and the pills in the bottle did not match it.

I called them and described the pill to them and they offered to come and pick up the bottle and bring the right med. It would have required a 50 mile trip through the snow so I told them I would drop it off after work the next morning.

The pharmacist who processed the medication originally was there early waiting for me, gave me the correct med, and a gift card. He told me he had accidentally given us a heart medication rather than a diabetes med. Scary stuff.

The person who packaged this med was a new pharmacist. I got a call this morning from the pharmacist apologizing and asking me to stop in next time I was in town to pick up a gift card for my troubles.

They are always responsive when there is a problem or a short on pills. One time they refilled a prescription for me and then a few days later I got a call saying I had forgotten my baclofen, and that I had only gotten a partial refill. I went in and they had the new bottle in a bag, stapled shut and I waited until I got home and went to put it away before I checked it.

They had refilled a 90 day scrip, but when I checked the bottle I had picked up a few days before, it was also a 90 day refill with all the pills there. I brought the bottle back and explained what had happened to them and they told me to keep the new bottle as thanks for being honest with them about it.

I pick up large orders all the time for both work and home, and I always check them, but often get delayed. They are NEVER used before being checked, especially at work, those get checked before my shift is over. At home it may take me a day or two to check them but I always do. I not only make sure it is the right pill and the right dose, but the correct count as well. They are used to me now and know I won't come in claiming a short order or keeping an overage. It's a pain in my rump sometimes, especially when keeping track of all the man's meds, he's a walking pharmacy all by himself!. I not only have to check his, but I have to portion them out in two weeks of night and day pills, in organizers, along with notes for shots and reminders to order refills on supplies, syringes, test strips, lancets and other injectables he is on.

Life used to be so much easier when all I had to do was to check the expiration date on a bottle of aspirin!

Hi Holly!

I believe that they found ONE bottle of ONE medication that had been filled with a strength that was double the strength listed on the bottle. In order to ensure that every med packed there was correct, they did a recall on ALL meds packed during a certain time, to ensure none were packed as one strength but actually contained another strength. It would have been the supply bottle that pharmacies get, a sealed bottle with hundreds of pills in it.

If a pharmacy was busy, or a pharmacist was distracted, they could miss that the pill was NOT as it should be and use it for a refill on a prescription and not know until someone like us called or showed up and asked questions. It can be even more confusing when it's a generic med that is made by more than one company, as is the case with the meds recalled. My baclofen made by Qualitest does not look like the recalled baclofen, it's oval shaped and has a v on one side and numbers on the other. The recalled Smith and Hawken baclofen was round.

The baclofen I received was made by Qualitest but it was in a 20 mg strength and LOOKED like Provigil, and that is what first keyed me in to this. I had also picked up a 90 day supply of Provigil 200 mg tabs and thought maybe they sent some mistakenly labeled Baclofen, and when I looked at it I realized it was NOT Provigil and it was NOT my usual baclofen. I didn't know it was 20 mg baclofen until after I came home with the right bottle of meds and decided to look up the "recall" that I realized the pharmacist was covering up a mistake, even though there WAS actually a recall on SOME type of generic Baclofen.

I would suggest that anyone who gets a different looking pill or that now knows about this recall should look up an image of the recalled pills and make sure you do not have the recalled medication. If you find that you DO have the recalled medication, call or visit your pharmacy and have them check the med to make sure it is not part of the recall. I believe that it only has to do with the strength of the med packed in the pharmacy supply bottle, and they should know by now whether they got the wrong strength in a supply bottle marked with a different strength.

LMAO! Clear as mud, ain't it!

It was one specific manufacturer. I called my pharmacy last night just to make sure that the bottle of baclofen that I've still got (but not using at the moment) wasnt part of the recall. My pharmacy doesnt get their baclofen from the manufacturer that's being recalled.

just a few days ago, got a call from the local pharmacy. (there is a new pharmacist there) she wanted me to come pick up my morpheine. um...I already picked it up 3 days ago. She wanted to argue saying it was still hanging, please come. I went a few days later, but had the bottle in my pocket. I showed it to her, that it was filled just a few days ago, and I didnt know what happened, but please dont double charge my insurance, or make my MD think I am double dipping please. She got really quiet and then said "well, ya see, we made a mistake and I need to fix it." She went on to explain on the day in question I got several items at the pharmacy register including my prescription and the cashier forgot to ring it up or include it in the total. She wanted me to bring in my receipt to prove I paid for it.

I told her that I remember getting several items, and I dont know if I had the receipt but would go home and look. 2 days of looking and its not here. I went back and admitted that I have MS and dont remember well. I may or may not paid for them, but I remember counting them, and checking them on the day I picked them up. She wanted to RE Ring my pills and have me REpay for the co pay! I bawlked. Told her that if I could remember clearly I would happily share it, but since I cannot and her cashier made a mistake perhaps we could split the difference. She DEMANDED that I pay for the meds.

Long story short my friend owns the pharmacy. I called him at home and he came down to the store. He told the new girl to STOP. I have been a long standing customer, and it was THEIR fault that the cashier didnt ring it. She was not to mention it to me again. I felt really badly. I swear I think I paid for the pills, but dont know for sure. I do remember examining them, so why wouldnt the girl have rung it up? I signed the thingie near the register to say I refused to see the pharacist for questions, doesnt that mean it hit the register?

I dont have a good track record with pharmacies. I am just glad I dont live near the old one anymore. That place would take 2 weeks sometimes to get my pills in stock. I think they went out of their way to try to force me to go elsewhere.

Some pharmacies have a connection between the sale register and the RX history. Every so many days, a report is generated to show what is not picked up (meaning not scanned out at the register). Rxs in those are scanned into the register as a rule. Not all pharmacies have this tho. When these reports come out and it shows 3 days remaining or less on certain orders, then the techs call the people up.
It exists because there is a 7-10 day delay in billing the insurance company. If you do not pick up the RX when it is filled, and the 10 days go by, the insurance is billed for it. Years ago there were law suits against Walgreen's and CVS for this. It was called insurance fraud. But in many cases it was just not picked up. Now most chains have elaborate checks to make sure RXs not picked up are cancelled before the billing goes thru.

This sounds like what is going on with you. But I will say...
that controlled substances are always picked up unless the patient goes into the hospital or dies. People as a rule never forget to get them. Other things however, even antibiotics are sometimes not picked up. You'd be amazed!

dej,

i doubt that you didn't pay. what clerk would let the customer walk away with a product and not pay.

this has been an interesting thread.
i check my pills carefully too. sometimes the pharmacy changes the manufacturer for the same medication. when i get home i see the pill is different and always call.

i've been given errors in meds only a few times.
best to check.

BTW the pharmacist in charge has a way to override, the prompts of the "not picked up" report. So Dej, the insurance will be billed probably. The pharmacy will get paid for the medication but will lose any copay from you owed if you were not scanned out properly. It will not be a total loss, for them. The payment is figured by wholesale cost + a dispensing fee... from the insurance. The dispensing fee is quite small but something.

It is not any different from refunding a copay for an error.

One thing bothers me about this though. A manager can recall transactions from the registers these days. All the large companies now have that computer capability. They use this feature when someone tries to get refunds on purchases (non pharmacy without a receipt). Perhaps you've seen it in action? They can even print out a duplicate receipt (say for a rebate if you've lost your receipt and want another).
Now I don't know if your pharmacy is some small mom and pop?
If it is that might be not available. But RiteAid, CVS, and Walgreen's should all be able to find the transaction and see for sure if you paid for the RX.

It sounds hinky to me. She wanted to re-ring your pills? Makes me wonder if she filled out two bottles for you, but kept one bottle for herself and needed a way to account for it in her inventory. That's just me be being suspicious of everyone tho.