Anyone else feel like Shoppers pharmacies are aggressively trying to charge extra fees? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 days ago by patatas@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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Curious also if this is Canada-wide or just in Ontario:

Recently have had two occasions where Shoppers was pushing me to have the pharmacist prescribe a renewal of something, rather than troubleshoot an error with a renewal request through 1) my family doc and 2) a specialist.

In both cases they wanted to charge me $15.

Case #1 I just said no thanks and called my family doctor, thankfully it was sorted out quickly.

Case #2, Shoppers' automated system waited until Saturday at 5pm(!) to notify me that the renewal (which I'd requested on Tuesday at 11am) had not gone through. When I called, they tried to charge me the $15 - but I successfully pressured them to give me a few days of the medication while I sorted out the issue (which is what they used to offer).

I can't help but wonder if this is the 'enshittification' of pharmacy services, where they tell you they'll take care of the automated renewal, but then - oops! - they mess it up and try to squeeze $15 out of a patient who just needs their medicine, and doesn't have time to make a bunch of calls, or trek over to the walk-in clinic or whatever.

Anyone else having similar issues? If so, it might be worth collecting people's stories and raising a fuss.

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[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The letter the group of pharmacy owners sent to Shoppers Drug Mart leadership said performance expectations — including for MedsChecks — had contributed to a "toxic poison" affecting company culture.

"The pressure ... put on front store and pharmacy metrics and professional services is borderline abusive and is creating safety concerns for the provision of good medical care to patients and customers," reads a portion of the letter emailed to Shoppers Drug Mart management on July 5.

"The pressures are so unsustainable and unrelenting that they are seriously affecting the mental health of many associates and seriously compromising the quality of care to our communities and ultimately the incredible brand of Shoppers Drug Mart."

Oh yeah, Shoppers corporate has been pushing pharmacists to reach billing quotas.

Still Ontario-specific but you know they'd push this anywhere they can.

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago

Shoppers corporate has been pushing pharmacists to reach billing quotas.

And that corporate ownership is...

Loblaw Companies Limited

Since 2014.

Is anyone surprised that there is shenanigans going on in a loblaw owned store?

[-] patatas@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about this story. Interesting bit in that article also, having to do with the additional paperwork burden the MedsChecks cause for family docs. I hadn't realized they needed to sign off on every single one of them!