PillPack

PillPack claims that they make it simple, all you have to do is call your doctor and tell them you are changing to PillPack and they take care of the rest. What you don't know is that they only fax the doctors so it may take many phone calls from you if your doctor's office doesn't get the fax. They never actually call them if they don't hear back. And then when they fail to ask you to call the pharmacies, only tell you to call the doctors, so the pharmacy ships the next batch. They offer to sell you the medicine to have it included in the packaging. "We work with your doctors to automatically manage your refills." No, not really!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Don't waste your time. The order was placed 40 days ago and should have been delivered by September 28th. It's now October 8th and they are not here. I was forced to transfer back to my pharmacy.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

When it works, it is great. When it doesn't, well...We've been using PillPack for the past 6 months for our father who has Alzheimer's. His meds have had to be changed 3 different times and each time PillPack has gotten the new order WRONG. They didn't hear back from the doctor, they didn't get verification on time, they got verification on time but still sent a partial order. What about follow-up? What about better communication? What about getting it right the first time?

The reason this is a great idea is that everything is prepackaged for you (or your loved one) in AM and PM packets, by date. If all the meds aren't in the pack, what is the convenience? Partial packs are the same as having no packs at all when you have to add in extra meds each day, and when you have Alzheimer's imagine having to try to remember to do all of that. It doesn't happen. The other thing they do is put a list of the meds on the outside of the box with a picture of the pill. This has saved us numerous times because we have had to verify what is in the pack, and when they've gotten it WRONG, we have had to remove meds and add others. Great idea if they could get it right. We hope another company gives them some competition and does it right.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

As a senior with a limited income and a lack of youthful dexterity, I thought PillPack was the answer to my prayers. They were not.

1) I was told the copays would be identical to my local pharmacy. I explained that my insurance had a two-tier copay plan (preferred and non-preferred). They said they worked with my preferred pharmacy and the copays would be the same. They were not.

2) I explained that I have trouble opening pill bottles, even those without safety caps. They sent one of my prescriptions in a pill bottle.

3) They said they could transfer my medications from my preferred pharmacy so that I would receive all my medications in easy open packets labeled with the time of day each packet was to be taken. They only filled three of my 12 prescriptions. Only two were in a packet - see #2.

4) They miss-filled the prescription that they sent in a bottle. The bottle read "Take one pill three times a day." For a 30-day supply, they sent only 30 pills. When I contacted them, I got apologies, but they would not transfer the prescription back to my pharmacy so that I could pick them up locally.

3) I ended up going to the Emergency Room, as it was Sunday, and I needed the pills immediately to avoid withdrawal symptoms (common with SSRI’s and benzodiazepines). They could only give me one pill.

4) I then found out that my pharmacy could not have filled the remainder of the prescription, as PillPack informed my insurance company that they had filled a 30-day supply. My pharmacy could not have filled a newly written prescription, as I was only ten days into my supposed 30-day supply.

5) My doctor could not, by law, write a new prescription without an office visit. I made an appointment; my doctor wrote a new prescription on Monday. I had to pay the full cash price, as PillPack incorrectly told my insurance company that they had given me a 30-day supply.

PillPack has refused to even entertain the idea of reimbursing me for any of my costs. I have since contacted a medical malpractice lawyer to try to recover some of the money I had to spend due to PillPack’s admitted error. I also have a call into the Pharmacy Board in New Hampshire and am awaiting their response.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I love that I don’t have to open so many bottles a day and it all comes to my door. The packs are just strong enough that you have to pull them off hard, and then they are so thin they break apart and pills fly everywhere. It’s happened numerous times to all three PillPack users in our home. Please fix the actual packs. They are maddening, but the rest is fabulous!

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

Where to start...

They start out by scamming you to join by saying they are calling from your doctor's office. That's how they pull you in. My very own doctor told me that I'm not her only patient they did that to. They told me they would get my scripts altogether and get them sent to me in the mail. At that time I was told to go about getting my scripts like normal through Walgreens. I went to fill my antidepressants and they could not fill them.

Long story short of it, about 7 to 10 days later I found myself in the Emergency Room. Shaking, sweating, dehydrated, crying from severe depression. To get them to release my scripts back to Walgreens, I had to call my state reps office. If you like taking chances of doing without important medications then give PillPack a chance. I would suggest stay away from these people.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Buyer beware! This company is terrible. They will not send you out all your medications, then blame the doctor's office. I have seen the faxes be sent out.

If someone doesn't know what they take, they will not know if they are missing pills. And with pill pack, you will be missing pills. This is dangerous!

Very incompetent company. The icing on the cake is that they refuse to refund the pill dispenser we bought. SCAM.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

So, Amazon wants to get into the healthcare business. They believe they can disrupt the market. Good luck Amazon. Your acquisition is going to require a complete overhaul if you are going to make a dent in the PBM arena. This is more than slapping a shipping label on a Sham Wow. These are people's lives you have in your hands and should not be taken lightly.

Good concept of pre-packing pills into day/evening dose packs. The packaging material either opens inadvertently when trying to tear off at perforation spilling your pills everywhere or you cannot get into the pack without the use of teeth or scissors. There is no in-between. The dispensing box does not keep the pills dispensing, you have to constantly open up and dig in to pull the strip of pills out.

There is a disconnect with customer service. They don't get it. I don't think they have any pharmacy customer service training. They cannot pronounce medications; they seem clueless as to policies and procedures (shipping, ordering, delivery). Don't count on them to discover a drug, drug interaction or contraindications. Hopefully, they have board certified pharmacists that will catch those.

The shipping time and delivery exceed national average...weeks, not days. It is sad when you can get a replacement iPhone in less than 24 hours, but your medications will take weeks to reach you. You will also spend an exorbitant time on the phone trying to set up and order your medications. Their website is not intuitive or user-friendly either. Now...rush shipment. Let's say you have a PRN (as needed) medication that you use for migraines, if you want that delivered, you can get a rush order. I went online and ordered a rush order...a rush order was two weeks. Again, from what planet is this medication being shipped from?

Now, canceling and getting your prescriptions moved back to a real pharmacy. Good luck with that. You can call. They will tell you they will do it. They won't. Trust me. Call the pharmacy that you want your prescriptions transferred to and have them contact PillPack. It is the only way that you will get them transferred. Better yet, don't use PillPack in the first place and you won't have to worry about it.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

PillPack is horrible. They have left me without my meds on numerous occasions. Then don’t want to return phone or emails. Their management is particularly bad. Hopefully, Amazon will clean up the mess. Until they have had an opportunity to do so and recruit some new management, I would recommend you stay away.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Fool me once, shame on you. At this point, I've had four major hiccups in the last few months with my pill pack, which has resulted in me being stuck on hold and emailing and stressing about running out of meds. The latest is that PillPack put my account on hold without notifying me. The customer service at PillPack is nothing short of incompetent.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Drugs don’t always arrive on time; this is particularly bad if you rely on your drugs or are on a complex regime. Lacks the personal relationship I had with a local pharmacist and when you think about these enterprises ruin local businesses, your money just fattens up another corporation who will inevitably provide a worse service once they squeeze out their local community-based competitors.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend