Ridiculous online pharmacy
It has become a routine that each time I go to Australia, I'll buy glucosamine for myself and sometimes for my father too. Supplement there is much cheaper than here in Malaysia especially at the discount pharmacy stores.
This time, however, my sister ordered one via an online pharmacy. She had been using that portal for sometime now and had been quite pleased with it.
The bottle had 180 tablets where each tablet was 1500mg of glucosamine. The recommended dosage was the standard 1500mg for each day, which meant that the bottle was supposed to supply for 180 days (about 6 months).
However, we were shocked to discover that its expiry date, when it arrived, was in June 2014, which was about 3 months away!
So my sister e-mailed the online pharmacy. She first received a call from a rather irritated customer service officer (CSO) who nevertheless told my sister to send back the supplement using a reply paid envelope and they would refund the money to her. Upon my sister's query, the CSO also advised her to put in remarks such as "requires long-dated expiry" for future purchases.
Surprisingly, later she received an e-mail from a different CSO telling her that the reason the supplement had such short use-by date was because it was bought on a special deal day. Outrageous! There was never an indication that this was the case when we were browsing the catalogue. If we were aware for such conditions, we would never have bought it. My brother-in-law was quite sure that they were breaking some consumer law.
Nevertheless, after much discussion between my sister and her husband, an e-mail reply was sent stating that the supplement was not purchased on a special deal day (easily verified by the purchase date) and that my sister would follow the instruction of the first CSO who called.
Fortunately, they did refund the money without fuss later, after my sister had sent back the defective good. Unfortunately this tarnished my sister's experience with this pharmacy but she is willing to give it another chance. Hopefully they'll be much better next time!
Update: The online pharmacy's name is Pharmacy Direct.
This time, however, my sister ordered one via an online pharmacy. She had been using that portal for sometime now and had been quite pleased with it.
The bottle had 180 tablets where each tablet was 1500mg of glucosamine. The recommended dosage was the standard 1500mg for each day, which meant that the bottle was supposed to supply for 180 days (about 6 months).
However, we were shocked to discover that its expiry date, when it arrived, was in June 2014, which was about 3 months away!
So my sister e-mailed the online pharmacy. She first received a call from a rather irritated customer service officer (CSO) who nevertheless told my sister to send back the supplement using a reply paid envelope and they would refund the money to her. Upon my sister's query, the CSO also advised her to put in remarks such as "requires long-dated expiry" for future purchases.
Surprisingly, later she received an e-mail from a different CSO telling her that the reason the supplement had such short use-by date was because it was bought on a special deal day. Outrageous! There was never an indication that this was the case when we were browsing the catalogue. If we were aware for such conditions, we would never have bought it. My brother-in-law was quite sure that they were breaking some consumer law.
Nevertheless, after much discussion between my sister and her husband, an e-mail reply was sent stating that the supplement was not purchased on a special deal day (easily verified by the purchase date) and that my sister would follow the instruction of the first CSO who called.
Fortunately, they did refund the money without fuss later, after my sister had sent back the defective good. Unfortunately this tarnished my sister's experience with this pharmacy but she is willing to give it another chance. Hopefully they'll be much better next time!
Update: The online pharmacy's name is Pharmacy Direct.
Comments
Yah, I'll do that.