Pet Meds

I order Scully's medications online because of the high cost they are from the vet. I've been good at scheduling her appointments with enough time to order her meds before she runs out. When she is off the med for her cauda equina syndrome her ability to use her back legs is much worse. My recent experience with this was a bit of a nightmare. Her appointment was on the 3rd. The vet called back with her blood results on the 4th letting me know she would need another med for a liver problem. As always, I requested he fax ME the prescription so I could shop it and order it online. I also requested he send the updated script for her anti-inflammatory. He assured this was no problem.

The next day I still hadn't received them. I called the office again. The assistant said she would fax those over no problem. They still didn't come. It was now Saturday night. I called again on Monday. The lady I spoke with this time said they didn't have forms to send to company I had used the first time for the meds. I explained I didn't want them automatically sent there. I wanted them sent to me so I could shop them and order from the best price store. I emphasized that this was the reason I reconfirmed they had MY fax number every time. She finally got it and faxed ONE of the scripts over.

Since the online pharmacies always confirm with the vet, I decided not having her original script wasn't an issue since I had a bottle and knew what it was. I found both at the same place with the lowest price and placed the order. This was the 7th. On the 10th I received an email saying they still hadn't received an approval from the vet. I called the vet first. They confirmed they sent it. I got the fax number where they sent it and asked her to resend it. I then called the online store and confirmed the fax number matched, advised them it had been sent on Tuesday and that it was being resent as we spoke. The CSR assured me she would call the vet at that moment to confirm and everything would be fine.

The next day I received another email stating the same problem. I called again. After some research, the CSR confirmed the info WAS rec'd from the vet and the order would ship. Today, after getting home from the park, there was a message on my machine informing me that they still didn't have vet approval. Okay, suffice it to say I was ticked off! I dialed the number and spoke with a CSR. I let her know right off how long this had been going on and that I was extremely upset. Scully would only have enough meds for today and tomorrow now. While she had me on hold researching, I called the vet on my other phone. She confirmed everything was sent and they had the fax confirmation to show for it.

After about ten minutes of around and around with the store, she finally said, "We have the authorization for 30 tablets, but you only ordered 20." I explained this was due to the timing of Scully's next vet appointment and not needing more than that in case it was discovered that the med was what was causing the liver issue. NOTE: the anti-inflammatory is non-steroidal, however, in some cases it can be the cause of hightened enzymes. She said they would have to get approval for only twenty to which I explained that they had approval for 30 and 20 is less than 30 so they technically already had the okay. (IT TAKES A GENIUS. . . ) She said, "Well, you'll only have a refill of 10 then." I said that was fine. She finally agreed they could ship, and I helped her understand they needed to ship them express so Scully wouldn't run out. She scheduled them to ship today via 2nd day air AT THEIR EXPENSE. This will be perfect. We should get them on Thursday which is the day she'll need them.

Drives me nutty! The new medication is on back order and will ship later in the week. I figure I'll make her appointment for after she's been on that for ten days or so. That way I'll still have enough of the original med in case she gets left on it and will still be using the new med if it works for her. I'm glad for the insight into both the online store and the vet office.

One of my affiliate partners is a pet med store, but their prices were quite higher. I'm going to check with them next time about price matching. Since the contracting corporation has such high standards, hopefully they will be much easier to work with next time.