Duane Reade Pharmacy, New York NY

This is a great pharmacy if you enjoy spending hours upon hours of your time each month either on the phone or standing in line, just trying to get them to refill a few simple, bog-standard prescriptions.

If, by chance, you DON'T enjoy wasting countless hours of your precious time dealing with the most incompetent people on Planet Earth, then actually this is the worst pharmacy ever.

Even the simplest refill is a hassle that takes hours to sort out. Dealing with this pharmacy is like living inside a Kafka story, or a 3 Stooges sketch. Literally EVERY SINGLE MONTH, there is some ridiculous, labyrinthine issue that takes many hours to resolve.

Half the time, you get texts saying your refills are ready for pickup, but then you come to get them and they have no idea what you're talking about. Frequently you get told, "Oh, we actually don't have this in stock; give us a few days and we can order it. " You said it was ready to pick up! Now you tell me you don't even have it in stock? !?
I have missed so many doses of my meds because of this. Oh, and if they tell you (either in person, or thru the website or phone system) that it's not in stock and they need a few days to order it, RUN, because they're lying. They won't order it. No, I'm not kidding. Even if a human tells you this, there's at least a 50% chance that they are lying to your face. They either forget, or just can't be bothered. You'll wait a few days, hear nothing, finally go back to ask what's going on, and they'll say, "Oh, did you want us to order that for you? "

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME? !?

By the way, I said "go back, " not "call back, " because you basically can't call them. You will be on hold for a MINIMUM of 30 minutes, and also, half the time while you're waiting, the automated system just hangs up on you ("Sorry, we cannot take your call at this time. Goodbye! ") So then you have to call back and navigate the electronic phone maze all over again just for the privilege of being put back on hold.

If you go there in person, you'll still probably have to wait on a really long line. But at least they can't hang up on you.

There are also mysterious "insurance issues" that only happen here. A few months back, they told me 1 of my refills just randomly wasn't covered and it would be $200. I suspected they were full of s#! %, so instead of dealing with the hassle of contacting insurance, I just asked my doctor to send a new script to a different pharmacy. Surprise surprise, no insurance issues there.

The last straw was when 3 of my meds were "delayed due to insurance issue, no further action required. " I really should've known better than to let them handle this, but I was just too busy to spend hours doing their jobs for them. After 10 days of this, I was almost out of the meds.

It took an hour to get through to someone on the phone (unfortunately I was unable to go in person). She said she would "see if the pharmacist can resolve the issue. " Meaning, for 10 entire days, nobody had made any attempt to resolve it, even though they said no action was required on my part. Again, I really should've known by now not to trust these morons to do their jobs, so, that was my mistake.

She came back and told me all 3 meds could be picked up tomorrow. Zero explanation or apology for the delay. Whatever. Fine.

Thirty minutes later I get a text saying 1 of the meds is ready for pickup, but the other 2 are "delayed due to insurance issues, no further action required" (the EXACT SAME MESSAGE as before)! I didn't bother trying to call back. That was the last straw. I had my doctor transfer all my scripts to an independent pharmacy.

I probably shouldn't be so hard on them. CVS is almost as bad. Don't go there either. CVS likes to do this fun thing where they pretend your doctor never sent the script at all. That way they don't have to bother filling it. Clever, right?

Recently my parents moved to the UWS. My dad’s regular pharmacy filled all his medications except for one medication which this pharmacy had in stock. BENAZIR, Staff Pharmacist, told me the other pharmacy had to reverse the claim. I spoke to the other pharmacist who confirmed with insurance that was it reversed the day before. She tried to speak to Benazir to help resolve the issue bc insurance said they were entering the dose and quantity incorrectly and that’s why claim wasn’t going through. However, Benazir was rude and unwilling to work with the pharmacist, insurance or me to resolve issue for the longest time. Furthermore, EMY, Pharmacy Technician, chimed in, yelling and offering her two cents. It was a nightmare trying to get my dad’s medication through this pharmacy. Rude, unprofessional and inefficient staff, mainly just Benazir and Emy. It didn’t appear busy; just one customer ahead of me. Also, Signa insurance confirmed we shouldn’t have any issues getting meds from DR because the claim was reversed the day before. Go elsewhere for your medication. It’s not worth it. This is the worst pharmacy service I’ve ever experienced.

The pharmacists are so lovely. They are overworked. It’s not fair to give them bad reviews when it’s walgreen Mgmnt fault for not providing enough staff. That’s why they quit all the time. Too much

Literally go to any other pharmacy. The woman there was begging rude. Don’t waste your time.

Today I ordered and picked up my prescription at this location as I was having difficulty getting the same one at another location. This was my first experience with this pharmacy. Short wait on the phone, ready in 1 hour, no wait at the counter, all staff were not just professional, but pleasant to interact with.