Complaints

[drpepper3k]

Ever had a complaint made against you? I just have!

Scenario: woman comes in and asks me for a packet of solpadeine. I ask who they are for, she says herself. I say fine, just need to ask if you take any medication for anything else. She says, yes, thyroxine. I said ok. Then I ask what she is using them for (because of all these new codeine restrictions coming into force soon etc) and she says to help her sleep at night (case and point!). I say right, have you ever seen a doctor about having difficulty sleeping? (especially since could be thyroid related!) She then flips out, grabs the money she had given me out of my hand, says I'm sick of these questions I'm not some sort of drug addict for goodness sake and storms off! This actually left ME pretty embarassed as there were other customers around at the same time.

Then my store manager comes down to see me the other day and shows me a letter this woman had written him to complain about me. Now I dont see a single thing wrong in what I did, and everything she said in her letter was exactly what I did, which kind of reinforced to me I did things right and refused the sale. My store manager was great though and fully understood what I was doing and had my back 100% which really helped. Not nice though!

Any similar incidents happen to you guys? I'll point out I've been registered just under 5 months good start eh?!

[DavidS]

Ask for a copy of the letter and write it up as CPD. If you dare, thank her for the unsolicited testimonial.

[Fleegle]

Ever had a complaint made against you? I just have!

Scenario: woman comes in and asks me for a packet of solpadeine. I ask who they are for, she says herself. I say fine, just need to ask if you take any medication for anything else. She says, yes, thyroxine. I said ok. Then I ask what she is using them for (because of all these new codeine restrictions coming into force soon etc) and she says to help her sleep at night (case and point!). I say right, have you ever seen a doctor about having difficulty sleeping? (especially since could be thyroid related!) She then flips out, grabs the money she had given me out of my hand, says I'm sick of these questions I'm not some sort of drug addict for goodness sake and storms off! This actually left ME pretty embarassed as there were other customers around at the same time.

Then my store manager comes down to see me the other day and shows me a letter this woman had written him to complain about me. Now I dont see a single thing wrong in what I did, and everything she said in her letter was exactly what I did, which kind of reinforced to me I did things right and refused the sale. My store manager was great though and fully understood what I was doing and had my back 100% which really helped. Not nice though!

Any similar incidents happen to you guys? I'll point out I've been registered just under 5 months good start eh?!

A classic!...

Don't worry at all, this is a standard problem we all face every day. My trick is to sell the first pack with the minimum of questioning. Customer goes away happy. Remember the customer, as they will quite probably return for another supply if they do have a codeine problem, because they bought it from you once before. The second time is when you hit them with the 'rule book' as you have at least some proof that they may be overdoing it a bit. This gives you the option to ask something like "Are you still experiencing the same pain?". Take it from there, as it puts you in control of the sale. I know it can be argued that they will just go somewhere else, but if every pharmacy did this, the customer would soon run out of local supply channels.

As a post-script however, I would question why pharmacists are being taken to task over OTC codeine sales at all. In my opinion there is not, and never has been any real requirement for codeine to be included in any OTC medicine in the first place.

Welcome to the club!

Fleeg.

[dizzyb23]

I've lost count of the amount of complaints against me at the time or after the alledged incident. The more I get, the more I shrug it off. I know i'm doing my job and can back up and completely justify everything I do both legally and morally. The trouble is that folks' attitudes have become much worse and a lot of customers are already in "a strop" before they come into us. It's just how these people are these days. My company does investigate every complaint, which I totally encourage. On the good side, I also get loads of thank you letters, cards and pressies too......Just stick to the rules, look after your customers as much as you possibly can and forget the moaners. It's just one more aspect of the job.

[Pharmanaut]

Just stick to the rules, look after your customers as much as you possibly can and forget the moaners. It's just one more aspect of the job.

Agree with you there.
Wonder if the 4 year MPharm includes how to deal with this - I know the student medics have some sessions on handling complaints.

[dizzyb23]

Had a great one today.....elderly lady calls us and demanded her items be delivered within the hour even though we hadn't even received the said script and our delivery driver had been and gone ages ago. And we didn't have one of the items either!!!!!!!!!!! I explained this and the woman called me stupid and what's the point in her bringing her business to us anyway. I asked if maybe she could find someone to come and get it for her if it was that urgent and again she shouted abuse saying she has no one to help her. And she managed to get hold of our cluster manager and complained to him.

I seriously give up bothering with these folk anymore. And strangely enough, her fit and able bodied relative popped round for the items later in the afternoon........

[johannes]

As far as I remember, we had some samples or chocolates, not only for these specialists, in petto.