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Business Profile

Pharmacy

The Bartell Drug Company

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

This profile includes complaints for The Bartell Drug Company's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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The Bartell Drug Company has 94 locations, listed below.

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 14 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 2 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/29/2022

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      The pharmacy at this Bartell's has been understaffed for many months, to the point of inability to provide timely or even polite service. Their phone system continues to provide impossible pick up timelines, in that the order is never ready by the time promised, and customers are frequently told to come back next day or later, even if the request was submitted days prior. They need to either fix their refill system to offer realistic timelines or contact the patients if they will be unable to provide timely prescriptions. This is a medical issue. Patients cannot wait indefinitely for medications, cannot easily transfer those prescriptions to alternate pharmacies, and have no recourse to get what they need. At this point, staff is rude, dismissive, and tells customers to go elsewhere, despite the difficulty of transferring a prescription to another pharmacy once a doctor has sent it here. When we asked about the ongoing issues, we were told today by the pharmacist that they are actively encouraging customers to go anywhere else, and she then walked away and shut a door behind her. That is horrific treatment for someone who has gone without needed medication for days due to the problems here. To be clear, I place the blame for this problem squarely on Bartell's, not the staff. Bartell's obviously cannot offer sufficient staff to properly service people's prescriptions, and they need to do something to fix this problem. Someone is going to get hurt or killed due to their negligence in providing necessary healthcare.

      Business Response

      Date: 01/09/2023

      We have contacted the customer to address concerns and rectified them. Also had a discussion to help make things easier for them in the future.

      New RxL Liv & I reached out to her. *** introduced himself as the new manager and took care of her Rx needs. He signed her up for Rx notifications on maintenance medications so that she will receive an alert when they are ready for pick up..

      Customer Answer

      Date: 01/09/2023

       
      Complaint: 18656369

      I am rejecting this response because:

      The overall issues with staffing can't be fixed with a phone call. 


      Sincerely,

      *******************************

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/19/2022

      Type:Product Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      ** December 6th 2022 our Dr. sent an electronic prescription to Bartells on 132nd in *******. I went to pick up the prescription on the 7rh of December and was told they did not have it. I contacted the Dr ****** to inquire and they confirmed Bartells received it. I then called Bartells on the 14th as I still had not heard from them and the automated system said they would contact my Dr. ** December 17th I went back to Bartells to get prescription. The pharmacist (****** - Pharmacy Manager) offered to "help". He said they had not received the prescription. I explained that the Dr. ****** sent me the confirmation that Bartells received the prescription. He said that he can not do anything other than give me 3 pills and request a refill. He then asked me to show him the confirmation that I had from My Chart. I pulled it up and showed him. He saw it and said he still could not do anything but give me 3 pills and submit request to Dr. I asked why he asked to see the proof if he wasn't willing to do anything such as fill the prescription that shows they received and he did not have a good answer. He just said he didn't have the prescription. I also asked what good 3 pills are since it had already had been 11 days since the confirmation from the Dr. and we were out of the meds. He had no answers for that either. We had quit filling immediate life saving prescriptions because of this very issue and 1 time they gave my husband someone elses meds.As of the time I am writing this we have still not been contacted that the prescription is filled.

      Business Response

      Date: 01/03/2023

      The patient was contacted and a new RX was obtained from physician and the patient got their medication.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:11/14/2022

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On Sunday, Nov. 13th. 2022, I went to Bartell's drugstore, at **** 22nd. St., In *******, **. , directly across from library, to purchase candy, as I always do.... Pretty much on a daily basis. / ( I have breast cancer, so I smoke weed as opposed to taking prescribed medication for pain, and nausea. So I smell like marijuana a lot of the times as I approached register to to pay for my items the clerk behind register one, ******** watch from behind the register rather than waiting on the customers that were in line behind me and made a big scene as spring air freshener directly in my path and behind me he actually walked up and started spraying it behind me making a face and laughing saying how I stink referring to my marijuana smell I was not smoking weed in the store it was just the odor was still in my hair and on my clothing I am quite sure I am not the only person to have ever smoked a weed to shop at bartell's nor will I be the last I felt very disrespected not to mention embarrassed by this incident I did report it to the manager this is not my first encounter with the same employee involving this incident he usually crinkles his nose which is why I went to the second register and not to his register but this time he took it too far and I'm tired of being disrespected I spend money there every day and I don't bother anybody nor do I disrespect their employees

      Business Response

      Date: 11/19/2022

      The Regional manager has contacted the consumer to discuss and apologize.  We have completed an internal investigation and have taken steps to ensure all associates are aware of how we fairly treat all customers in our stores.  The discussion with the customer lead us to believe that they are happy with our follow up and consider the case resolved.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:11/07/2022

      Type:Order Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On 11/3/2022 around 6:50pm I was helped by ***** at the ******* Bartells drug located at **************************************. After I had waited over 30minutes in line I was called up. I told ************ was picking up my daughters prescription. She looked it up and right away said its not covered. I explained my daughter just had surgery and her insurance covers these items. ****** stated that my daughters ******** will not cover the ***** medication as my daughter had too many narcotics this year. Which as my daughter was a minor most of the year I knew this was not true. I said my daughter has not had any narcotics or issues with this before I asked if she could further look into it because I know what she was saying was not correct. ***** then stated I would not be able to pay out-of-pocket because I have ******** and ******** patients do not have the money to pay for their items. I explained to ***** that ******** patients are able to sign a non-covered agreement to pay out of pocket. ***** then stated that I would lose my insurance if I signed that paper.***** continuously kept stating how they closed in seven minutes and told me that I was arguing when I calmly asked to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy. ***** then stated would not help me or transfer my daughters prescription to another pharmacy if I argue. I asked for another person. Finally The pharmacist in the back stated that only 18 of the 30 Norco pills would be covered for my daughter. That I could sign a paper to pay out of pocket or I could only get the 18. I was handed a blank piece of paper to sign with no information as to what Prescription was not covered and pricing of what I would be paying out of pocket. I was told that I was unable to mark the box that I did of non-covered items.My daughter is 18 years old and had she gone in by herself she wouldnt of known what to do. This is unacceptable. It is their job to provide us True and accurate information at all times.

      Business Response

      Date: 11/15/2022

      We have spoken the ** staff about this incident. There seemed to be a misunderstanding in the process of getting this issue taken care of.  We discussed ways to help the patients understand more clearly and concisely.  The patient did get their medications and hopefully there will be no issues in the future.

    The Bartell Drug Company is NOT a BBB Accredited Business.

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