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jemck at 01:39pm on 07/05/2008
jemck at 01:39pm on 07/05/2008So, I'm in town doing banking and such admin and I get a call on my mobile from the school nurse saying senior son is down with what she's diagnosing as a migraine.
Okay, since I'm passing Boots the Chemist on the way from the bank to carpark, I stop in and explain to the lass on the pharmacy counter that I've just had this call, that we've nothing stronger than ibruprofen in the house, so what can she sell me without prescription that will help my son? She refers me to the duty pharmacist - fair enough.
Who refuses to sell me anything because I am not the patient and I cannot describe his symptoms. I explain that the school nurse has diagnosed a migraine. No, he's not prepared to sell me anything without seeing the patient himself. This is for my own protection, he says patronisingly. I say I find his attitude astonishingly unhelpful and walk away. Because if I stayed, well, fill in the expletives for yourself.
I have collected pale and throwing up son from school and he's lying down in a darkened room. I've attempted to ring the local branch of Boots to make a formal complaint but all the listed number gives me is a range of options that connect me to answerphones.
Well, that'll be a formal letter of complaint to head office then.
Thankfully I have found some paracetamol and codeine left over from the last time I had dental work done, and they're still well in date, so he's had some of those.
*addendum* Going online to find out who to write a complaint to, I find Head Office's customer care number. So I've rung them and told an audibly astonished customer service person all about it. She apologised profusely, took all my details, a description of the pharmacist since I hadn't made a note of his name, and the complaint is going to the Pharmacy Superintendent. Heh.
*addendum secundum* Had a call from very nice Scots lady Lorraine in the Pharmacy Superintendent's office. Her first concern was to establish I had managed to get some painkillers for son and to offer useful advice on migraines, rehydration and such. Did you know you can de-bubble soft drinks by giving them a minute in a microwave, to make them easier on a queasy stomach? No, neither did I.
As to my experience in the shop, they'd also been unable to get through to the branch by phone, so that's something they're looking into. Having called the pharmacy dept direct, it turns out Mr Officious Pharmacist is a temp doing holiday cover and the actual branch head of pharmacy was on her lunch break. Not that they're offering that as an excuse, she assures me.
It has been explained to Mr Officious Pharmacist that a high percentage of people asking for advice and medicaments will be doing this on behalf of other people who cannot come into the shop, not least because they're simply too ill. A lot of those people won't be able to describe the someone else's symptoms particularly well. If for whatever reason he wasn't prepared to accept my assurance that the school nurse had diagnosed a migraine, there was still a choice of painkillers that he could reasonably have sold me, together with the necessary cautions and advice on migraines - and what to look out for in case it wasn't a migraine but something more serious. This is the level of customer service that Boots expects to provide.
Am I satisfied with this, asks Lorraine? Can we consider this complaint dealt with? Certainly, I assure her. The call wraps up with thanks on both sides etc.
Hopefully this has been a more valuable learning experience for Mr Pharmacist than me swearing inventively at him on the shopfloor would have been.
Son has had a sleep, is now sitting up, had something to drink (which hasn't reappeared) and overall looks a good deal better.
Okay, since I'm passing Boots the Chemist on the way from the bank to carpark, I stop in and explain to the lass on the pharmacy counter that I've just had this call, that we've nothing stronger than ibruprofen in the house, so what can she sell me without prescription that will help my son? She refers me to the duty pharmacist - fair enough.
Who refuses to sell me anything because I am not the patient and I cannot describe his symptoms. I explain that the school nurse has diagnosed a migraine. No, he's not prepared to sell me anything without seeing the patient himself. This is for my own protection, he says patronisingly. I say I find his attitude astonishingly unhelpful and walk away. Because if I stayed, well, fill in the expletives for yourself.
I have collected pale and throwing up son from school and he's lying down in a darkened room. I've attempted to ring the local branch of Boots to make a formal complaint but all the listed number gives me is a range of options that connect me to answerphones.
Well, that'll be a formal letter of complaint to head office then.
Thankfully I have found some paracetamol and codeine left over from the last time I had dental work done, and they're still well in date, so he's had some of those.
*addendum* Going online to find out who to write a complaint to, I find Head Office's customer care number. So I've rung them and told an audibly astonished customer service person all about it. She apologised profusely, took all my details, a description of the pharmacist since I hadn't made a note of his name, and the complaint is going to the Pharmacy Superintendent. Heh.
*addendum secundum* Had a call from very nice Scots lady Lorraine in the Pharmacy Superintendent's office. Her first concern was to establish I had managed to get some painkillers for son and to offer useful advice on migraines, rehydration and such. Did you know you can de-bubble soft drinks by giving them a minute in a microwave, to make them easier on a queasy stomach? No, neither did I.
As to my experience in the shop, they'd also been unable to get through to the branch by phone, so that's something they're looking into. Having called the pharmacy dept direct, it turns out Mr Officious Pharmacist is a temp doing holiday cover and the actual branch head of pharmacy was on her lunch break. Not that they're offering that as an excuse, she assures me.
It has been explained to Mr Officious Pharmacist that a high percentage of people asking for advice and medicaments will be doing this on behalf of other people who cannot come into the shop, not least because they're simply too ill. A lot of those people won't be able to describe the someone else's symptoms particularly well. If for whatever reason he wasn't prepared to accept my assurance that the school nurse had diagnosed a migraine, there was still a choice of painkillers that he could reasonably have sold me, together with the necessary cautions and advice on migraines - and what to look out for in case it wasn't a migraine but something more serious. This is the level of customer service that Boots expects to provide.
Am I satisfied with this, asks Lorraine? Can we consider this complaint dealt with? Certainly, I assure her. The call wraps up with thanks on both sides etc.
Hopefully this has been a more valuable learning experience for Mr Pharmacist than me swearing inventively at him on the shopfloor would have been.
Son has had a sleep, is now sitting up, had something to drink (which hasn't reappeared) and overall looks a good deal better.
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