Duane Reade — Local services in New York

I wish I had seen all the terrible reviews for the pharmacy before coming here. My experience with the pharmacists was genuinely the worst I've ever had.

My doctor prescribed a new medication for me after an evening appointment this tuesday. I went to the Duane Reade on 103rd to see that their system is down, so I either had to go to this Duane Reade or the one on 94th. I try to call, but after 20 minutes there's "still at least three people ahead of you". It's almost 8:30, so I decide to just walk over to this pharmacy. I wait in line for the 20 minutes until there's just a group of two women left finishing their checkout in front of me. All I need to do is ask whether my prescription is in the system or if my doctor needs to resend it. It's now 9:01pm (close is 9:00pm), the female pharmacist with dark hair looks at me through the window while on the computer (as she shuts down the system) then storms out and tells me to leave.

Her: "You need to leave. We're closed" Me: "I've been waiting here. I just need to ask if my prescription is in the system." Her: "I can't check that because WE'RE CLOSED. YOU NEED TO LEAVE." I'm shocked and try to tell her that I just need to see if my prescription is here since it was sent to the other pharmacy on 103rd Her: "Their system has been down for 4 WEEKS." And she proceeds to blame me for not knowing this. Then tells me I need to come back tomorrow. Me: "Ok, what time do you open?" She angrily tells that they open at 8am, but I'll have to wait, so I need to come between 8am and 9am. I know I can't do that with my work schedule, so I pause to think for a second. The women in front of me try to help and ask whether the black, male pharmacist who just checked them out could look in the system for me. The female pharmacist starts yelling at HIM for giving them their medications close to closing (BEFORE CLOSING). He just bows his head and apologizes like he's done this a thousand times. She's yelling at him to the point that me and the two women are basically running away at this point to try and defuse the situation. At this point, I feel worse for the pharmacist who has to work with this awful woman since she's clearly terrible to them, too.

I cried in frustration that my planned medication schedule is now messed up and I'm going to need to call my doctor. Then compose myself and call the pharmacy at 94th that's open until 10pm. Once I get through to a pharmacist, they tell me that I'll need to resend the prescription since it's not in the system. 2 minute conversation. Less time than it took to yell at me at 110th.

I understand that pharmacies are short staffed and I'm ok with waiting in long lines or whatever. But this pharmacist was incredibly mean, just because she didn't want to spend 2 minutes looking something up. She would rather spend 10 minutes yelling at me. I can't imagine being this belligerent to clients or any of my coworkers and still having a job.

Summary: Avoid this pharmacy like the...

This is the WORST pharmacy, definitely on the Upper Westside , and probably in the entire city. I don't think they know the definition of customer service and if they do know it, they just don't care about it. After waiting in line for over a half hour to fill a prescription for medicine that my husband needed to take right away, they told us that they could not fill it until the next morning. They said they were too busy -even when we explained that he needed to take 2 doses that night. The pharmacist told us that if we needed it right away we could go to another Duane Reade, so we asked if they could contact the other store to make sure that they had the prescription when we got there and were not so busy that they could actually fill it and maybe could even start dealing with it before we arrived. The pharmacist refused. Even when we explained the time sensitivity of the situation. She informed us that this was not the way it was done and all that the other pharmacist needed to do was go on the computer and they could “pull” the prescription. The feeling that we got was that she didn’t care at all.

I went to the 125th Street and Broadway Duane Reade and I was told that the pharmacist at the 111th and Broadway Duane Reade who told us to go elsewhere had not done what she had to do with the prescription in order for them to access it. As a result they were unable to do anything. They didn't even see it in their system. However, as opposed to the pharmacist at Broadway and 111th Street, who refused to help us, Jorge at the 125th St DR went out of his way to get the prescription- calling the other pharmacy several times until they finally picked up, getting them to release the prescription so that he could access it and filling it for me in 5 minutes right before they closed. Jorge clearly understood the importance of my husband geting his medicine that day. He was caring and NEVER made me feel as though I was a nuisance as opposed to the pharmacist at 111th and Broadway who made us feel as though we were a pain in her butt. The contrast between the pharmacist and staff at 111th St and Broadway (store 14225) and the entire staff at 125th St. and Broadway (store 14417) was night and day.

If you need a prescription filled on a timely basis and don't want to be treated like crap by the staff go elsewhere! I hate the idea of patronizing Duane Reade at all after this but the 125th Street and Broadway Store is completely different and everyone I have ever dealt with there has gone out of their way to be helpful. I will write another review giving that...

I am giving this pharmacy one star for the fact that SOME of the time, EVENTUALLY you will get the thing you have been prescribed, and technically they are SOMETIMES providing the service that they should (not to mention you have to rate it at least one star to post a review), but after two months of dealing with this place consistently, I would say that one star is generous. I just started using this pharmacy to pick up my birth control and accutane. I have tried calling in the prescriptions. I have tried requesting them online. No matter what you do, when you go to pick it up it will NEVER be ready. I have gone in and had them tell me come back DAYS later, or come back hours later and have it still not be ready. I have had them misplace my prescription. I have had them give me half of my prescription because the other half isn't ready, and then have them tell me that was actually not allowed? I have had them almost double charge me for my prescription, and I have had them tell me that my insurance doesn't cover it even when it does. Walking down the stairs to that pharmacy quite literally ruins my day. I have never written a review before in my life, but I honestly think this pharmacy is dangerous considering their margin of error EVERY step of the way. Every time I go down there, the person in front of me is miserable and frustrated because something has gone wrong with their prescription. Luckily, my medications are for acne, but I don't know how anyone taking anti-depressants or anything similar could survive with this place. I'm supposed to take Accutane twice a day, and yet even when I requested it on Thursday (and my dermatologist called it in as well on Friday), I got an email saying it was delayed because of insurance. I went in today and they said that it's not delayed, and that was a mistake, and that it will be ready in an hour. I come back later and they said that they don't have it, and I won't be able to pick it up until Monday before 6pm. Even though it's only for acne, it's a very intense drug and three full days off of it could really mess with my body. Every visit I think, "there's no way something will go wrong AGAIN" and I continue...