Mistaken identity at chemist - would you complain?

[wallpoppy]

Earlier today at Boots - took my hair products and chocolate to the counter so I could get a box of Nurofen+ and pay for it all together- the pharmacy assistant sort of looked at me for a moment and then said sorry, no, you were just in here yesterday for the same thing, I can't sell you any more.

I was definitely not in yesterday for the same thing, the last time I bought a box of Nurofen + was probably two years ago, if not longer. I actually joked at first- oh yeah I do have a chocolate addiction but I definitely wasn't in here yesterday- but she just said I'm really sorry, codeine is an addicting medicine and we have to be careful.

So I got serious and said "I understand, but you have mistaken me for someone else, I was not here yesterday and I haven't purchased this medication recently - I am very responsible, and I just take one or two doses once every few months when I have an extremely bad endo flare-up. Can I please complete my purchase?" and she sighed and looked over to the pharmacist, who had heard all the exchange. He was polite but said that he had to back up his staff and if she said she sold these to me yesterday then there was nothing he could do.

So I just huffed, said fine, she's completely mistaken but fine, and I paid for my other stuff and stopped at another Boots on the way home where I completed my drug purchase with no bother. But it was so embarrassing (other people standing around the whole time witnessed it). Should I complain? On one hand, it feels like a one-off weird experience that I should just forget about, but on the other hand I feel a bit hard done by! What would you do?

its great they are looking out for people. I wouldn’t complain.

@ChloeHel thank you for explaining the system.

It is completely inadequate. If the purchase of medicines such as nurofen+ needs monitoring, then as numerous PPs have said, relying on the memory of staff who may not even be on duty at a given time is hardly the way to do it. Purchasers should show ID and purchases should be logged, or they could be by prescription as in some countries.

This is something that I'd be frustrated about OP, so I don't think YABU. I don't know if I could be bothered to complain to be honest - although I totally agree with a PP about it be a ridiculous and not sound policy. I would be thinking I might have a twin that I didn't know about though 🤔

She’s not doing her job though - her job is to sell medication to those who need it, which she failed to do by unreasonably relying on a memory from yesterday. It sounds to me like this bit of power has gone to pharmacists’ heads!

Nonsense! No shop is obliged to enter into a contract with any customer!

Pharmacy staff are not allowed to sell drugs to people, they think are addicted to them. I hear codeine addiction is a big problem. This is how the pharmacy system works at the moment - blame the people who lie and cheat pharmacy staff to get codeine, which they are abusing; not the pharmacy staff who are doing their job, within the current system. The last thing pharmacy staff want is to deal with difficult customers, getting abusive, because they can’t get their own way!

If you don’t like the system, write to your MP about it!

I wouldn't complain but I wouldn't have bought the rest there. I'd have walked out and gone elsewhere for all of it.

Yes, I'd complain. Sounds a slightly dodgy system to rely on staff recognising (and confusing) customers. If they are so concerned about how much codeine people buy then maybe they need a register based on actual identity rather than relying on staff's unreliable eyesight and recollection. As if they get it wrong by misidentifying a customer and denying them a purchase, how can they be sure they'd not get it wrong the other way round and allow a purchase where they didn't recognise the customer from earlier?

If they are going to keep track of medication then they need to have a system where they write down a person's details, check ID if necessary. Relying on a staff member remembering - or in this case misremembering - and potentially embarrassing someone is not on. They would not be getting my custom ever again.

I'm surprised at the number of posters who would apparently be happy about being accused of being a codeine abuser in front of a queue full of people. I would complain, it's clearly a very flawed system and you were painted in an unfairly poor light. It also means that if you can't "clear your name" so to speak, staff will remember you as someone who takes too much codeine in future.

If she’s making mistakes like this it likely means that she is also missing people buying too much, so I would raise it out of concern for those people. There’s no point saying she’s just doing her job or it’s better that she objects too often and misses people when there’s no evidence that she is actually detecting multiple purchasers.

I would complain. It's legally on sale. If it's so dangerous it should be withdrawn from sale instead of your behaviour being policed at the whim of whoever is at the till. I'd be seeking an apology.

I would complain. We need to show id when purchasing codiene. They are wrong to refuse you a sale without proof.

So, they are doing their job, but not properly.
I would log it with them, more than complain.
They do need a system to properly control the medication they hand in, not just by memory! That is crazy!
So taking names, NIN, NHS number, address... you know, because it is a proper drug.

Fair enough it does not need prescription, but it should be recorded, and get back to the GP, for everyone's safety.

Have I missed a revolution of some description among checkout assistants, bar staff and now pharmacies, where they are plotting to take over the world one refused sale of restricted items at a time? Because an awful lot of people seem to think that the refusal to sell restricted products is done purely because the people refusing to sell them are on a power trip, rather than working within a framework and set of rules not drawn up by them, but of which they are responsible for any negative concequences.

We're moving more and more towards the responsibility for negative concequences of potentially harmful things being on the people who supply it rather than the people who buy and use it.
People addicted to codeine? Person who sold it should be more careful.
Kids drinking in the park and causing havoc? Person who sold it should be blamed.
People getting drunk in pubs and behaving anti socially, fighting and getting injured? The pub should be held to task.
BUT
People working in these places should also not be refusing to sell anything to anyone in case they embarrass, offend or upset someone, they should just take their chances with the rules and if something goes wrong accept the blame quietly.

It's hardly surprising that when faced with the concequences of someone else's actions, some people are cautious about not getting themselves into trouble through no fault on their part.

I would complain. When I’m in pain because of the small sizes I can be in the pharmacy a couple of times a week. They’ve never said a thing even when I ve picked up a script with stronger pain relief and over the counter codeine based products.

Since when are nurofen codeine? Yes I'd complain, if they can't tell who they have sold to the previous day then something is wrong.

Its not her job to get information wrong and possibly humiliate and inconvenience a customer though is it. She acted terribly on her terrible memory, that's not her job

I did not finish my thoughts earlier. You are well within your rights to complain. I hope I would do so, particularly if I were a different ethnicity to the person who denied the sale, as there is evidence that most of us find it more difficult accurately to remember people of other races to our own.

If this is really the system, it needs fixing.

Its not her job to get information wrong and possibly humiliate and inconvenience a customer though is it. She acted terribly on her terrible memory, that's not her job

So what do you suggest, given that an individual pharmacy cannot implement a national database of codeine purchases on their own?

How would you spot the customers addicted to codeine?

Customers get abusive with pharmacy staff, if they ask for confirmation of address to ensure a customer doesn’t get the prescription for someone else with the same name, which could do them harm; or if the staff ask them to sign the prescription form - unless they have proof of exemption; because the staff are trying to stop the customer from getting a fine! They also get abuse from customers, if the GP writes out the wrong prescription; or doesn’t issue a prescription when they said they would; or they prescribe 2 items when they said they would do 3 - when pharmacy staff are in no position to tell GPs what to do!

Where DD works, apart from the two pharmacists; they had no permanent dispensers or counter staff for 2 years, before she joined - the staff get paid the same as retail staff on checkouts, who have no responsibility; while they have to study on training courses in their own time on every day health conditions and the treatments for them; and abide by the pharmacy regulations.

Pharmacy staff have no legal rights to ask for ID, record your details, they can’t check you on some sort of NHS database that doesn’t exist. You don’t have to register with a pharmacy and you’re not restricted to use one in any way. There’s no point in suggesting they use something that doesn’t exist.
the whole point of a pharmacy only medicine is that the staff have discretion and control over the sale, you have no ‘rights’ to buy the medicine just like you have no ‘right’ to insist your doctor prescribes it. Recognising someone making repeat purchases is only one mechanism used. They can’t just sell it anyway for fear of causing offence

That would have been me a few times, but it wasn’t a mistake of identity. I was addicted to nurofen plus, codeine and ibrobrofen. Twice it happened when the chemist said they couldn’t sell me anymore. All my money went on these tablets, I was starting to damage my body, physically and mentally. Addiction is horrible. It can happen to anyone. I have a nice home in a nice area, drive, beautiful children. Steady job. I would be fly and target chemists when I knew who would be on the tills, staff days off and shift patterns. Yes I was a codeine addict. Now I take my Prozac and swim. But I still have cravings. I never went to the doctor about my addiction as I was scared. I just came of them myself as I had enough.

buy it online, problem solved

Where can yoou buy it online?

No these questions aren’t asked when buying shop floor products, feminax is no longer sold as naproxen and is ibuprofen. If they are OTC products then the following would be addressed:

-counsel the patient on how to take it
-tell the patient what medications you shouldn’t take whilst taking that medication
-advise patient to read the leaflet
-tell the patient what to do if their symptoms don’t improve

The pharmacy assistant should not be asking the patient what medications they take. They should be saying what to avoid, for example “Don’t take Daktarin oral gel with Warfarin”. Then if the patient turns around and says oh I do take that; it’s the job of the pharmacist to get involved.

In terms of antihistamines the only one that could possibly be abused is phenergen which is not advertised OTC and rarely sold. It also wouldn’t need a medical history check. Medical histories should only be taken by the pharmacist in a private consultation room when selling certain medications, MAP, Viagra, contraceptive pill, antibiotics, etc.

So in this situation the pharmacy assistant was wrong.

YABU for buying Nurofen rather than generic ibuprofen for 1/10 of the price.

This exactly. I suggest all of you saying to take the persons ID and write their name down come and work in a pharmacy for a day.

The problem with that is the pharmacy assistant would have to go back through the book to say a week previous every time someone came in to buy codeine. It’s time consuming; and at the moment in the UK pharmacies are falling apart due to lack of staff, support and funding.

It isn’t just something one pharmacy can implement, it would have to be a national change that would need to be funded as it needs to be a computer system based programme to save time.