PillPack

In this HighYa article PillPack is defined as:

Founded by TJ Parker, PillPack is a full-service pharmacy that "delivers a better, simpler experience." How?

By pre-sorting all your medication into personalized packets (one pack for each dose), nothing could be further from the truth. If you take several Meds they come in more than one package per dose. This is because of the font size on the package, let me repeat that, it is because of the FONT SIZE ON THE PACKAGE. Pathetic, back to Costco Pharmacy I go...I can help with programming variable size font based on content. These guys don't get it, the whole idea is "one pack for each dose", their idea not mine.

To start with, my situation is unique. I have a PCP in California and pain management in South Carolina. My problem was I spend about three months in South Carolina then the next three months in California. So my pain meds became a huge problem. I am one of the chronic pain people that is caught in the opioid problem. All the script crackdown made my life a nightmare. Add to that most pharmacies do not stock my med because it is expensive. Then add that the dosing is for 28 days and can not be refilled until day 27. PillPack was the dream solution. I no longer had to have the pharmacy in California question a script from South Carolina. Or deal with when I traveled to my other home, much less if I ever wanted to take a vacation...

PillPack has fulfilled all of their promises it has been about a year. Count me as a happy customer.

There's a reason they don't provide pricing until you are a subscriber. The cost of my prescription through PillPack is triple what I pay at Sam's Club. FYI - EVERYONE offers mail-order delivery these days. So convenience isn't an advantage. Plus there are several dangers with mail order. What if your package is lost or stolen? How are your drugs packed? (Are they packed in ice, if refrigeration is needed?) How will they hold up if left sitting in the sun? Are they okay if left out in the rain? What's the expiration date on the medication you receive? Where was it packaged and shipped from - within the USA? On the plus side, their customer service is here in the USA. So call and get pricing before subscribing.

Very bad communication. First month, April, was ok and I got all 5 meds in the pack. Next month arrived with only 2 meds. I called and they said it was a mixup with Walmart pharmacy and that they would straighten it out the next month. Next month arrived with only the same 2 meds.

I called and they said they would send me another pack with the missing 3 meds and that I would use two PillPacks for a month and they would straighten it out the next month. I then received a bottle with only 1 med, not in a pack. I called again and they tried to again blame Walmart and my doctor.

Today I received another bottle of pills and it's now the first of August. So I now have a PillPack with 2 meds, bottles with 2 more meds, and still missing 1 med.

TLDR; Customer service does not take responsibility and doesn't bother to notify the customer when they are going to ship out a changed number of meds. Even the Walmart calls to tell me when my meds change or when a transfer order is received. PillPack should do the same thing or send a text message at a minimum.

I spoke with a manager named "Chris" who would not give me his full name, even though they have my SS number, Credit Card info, and birth date.

Be aware PillPack will not send your medication if there is any glitch in the payment process. They will not notify you that they've done this. The first two payments went through fine and I received my medications on time. However, the third shipment didn't arrive. When I called to find out why they said it was some problem with the delivery or the payment. The problem must have been on there and because I received the shipment a few days later. I called them and tried to tell them that now I had medication for days that had already passed in addition to not having medication for the first few days. They need to have a policy where they always deliver the medicine on time and work any problems afterward. I would never use them again.

I signed up before I realized no supplementals, so I stopped. Read Amazon, bought the company, called, and now supplemental, was available and rejoined. Their service saves me at least 2 hours a week when I would place meds into daily plastic containers. Also impossible to beat when traveling on vacation. Their service is 180 degrees from the local pharmacy. Looking forward to the drug store closing because of terrible service. PillPack and Amazon will change the landscape of meds forever.

It is indeed handy to have someone combine my medications and not to have to deal with the pharmacy trips.

BUT...here's "the rest of the story."

I still must sort out my OTC meds (vitamins, supplements, etc) or pay 3 times what I usually do to have them included. Even if I bit that bullet as an expensive convenience, their delivery method is honestly a deal-breaker! When you pull out the packet from the roll in the box, the risk or likelihood is that the thin pack material tears open anywhere BUT on the perforated line. PillPack, here's a news flash: when using a heat source to seal a tube of material into small individual pouches, it tends to make the two layers into one layer twice as thick and stronger than one thin easy to tear layer! Even with the heat source installed perforated line, it's still easier for the pouch to tear open scattering your medications everywhere.

Their "fix" according to a PillPack person is to keep a pair of scissors sticking out of the box to do what their design engineers can't do.

I'm sorry, just too much trouble searching for those meds that escaped without warning.

I loved PillPack - even reviewed as such - until I got a new prescription. When PillPack sold me, they had assured that a doctor could call in, and PillPack would send the new prescription in a pill bottle until the next shipment. After three days waiting, and literally 4 and 1/2 hours on the phone, turns out they will only do this if a doctor calls it in as "urgent" - otherwise, you have to wait until your next shipment. So if a doctor calls in a new prescription on June 23rd, but your next shipment is scheduled for the July 21st, you either have to wait the 3 or more weeks for it, or spend hours on the phone to get it a week later. I have no idea what doctor on the planet would prescribe something that you wouldn’t take for another month - ANY prescription - but PillPack seems to think that is "normal". Good luck.

First order, just realized two life protecting Rx not in the packages after two weeks thinking this was something great.

Make sure you double check these people, they are incompetent and offer no help when I call.

I switched to PillPack pharmacy for two reasons

1. My current pharmacy (Walgreen's) was consistently not able to fill my prescriptions in a timely manner (the medication was out of stock, it didn't arrive on the truck, etc). Obviously, this meant multiple trips to a pharmacy in a weeks time for the 10+ meds I have to take! Also, the meds I take are not meds I can be without - going without means my medical condition becomes worse and I have further issues to deal with. I stayed with them for over a year (they bought out the Rite Aid Pharmacy in our community that I had been using for 20 years).

2. Because I take so many medications I was fearful that I was going to have a mix-up when I put them in my medication dispenser every week. PillPack had individual packets, it accommodated the need for an additional time that I was not doing for one of my meds. It was everything I was looking for. AND it was delivered to my door, I didn't have to make arrangements for someone to go to the pharmacy for me to get my meds.

I signed up and got all my meds transferred over to PillPack, the process itself was VERY easy, I contacted customer service by e-mail with a few questions and received answers quickly and completely from them. When I was getting ready to start a new injectable medication I did run into a bit of an issue - it required me to make many calls back and forth with PillPack and my doctor's office. While it took almost a week to get straightened out, I still got the medication SEVERAL days before I was due to inject it. Their customer service reps are helpful and knowledgeable - the pharmacists are easily reached.

My insurance (MCD) paid ALL costs and my co-pays (some were even less than what they were at the brick and mortar store) were the same. It does require you to have an account (credit/bank) on file to pay for the co-pays. I am about to get my second delivery of meds and I have to say this is a Pharmacy I would recommend to EVERYONE!

And finally, the small pouches that house your medication are Day, Date and Time stamped (i.e. Thursday, June 13, 8:00 PM), then below that each medication is listed (how many pills, strength). They come off the roll easily at the perforation marks and the individual pouches are super easy to open (even easier than opening a childproof cap, NOTE: THE POUCHES ARE NOT CHILDPROOF).

I could write so much more about the benefits of switching to PillPack and why I think it is so beneficial. Give it a try, you won't be sorry. Just remember, as with any pharmacy change it takes a month or so to get everything situated and for both sides to understand the process and needs of the other. I won't be changing back to a local Pharmacy unless PillPack forces me to.

I've spent 5 months with PillPack, and not a single time have they gotten my medications right. Eight have had to spend HOURS on the phone with both PillPack and my doctors trying to get them right. I'm going back to CVS because even though updated scripts had been sent to PillPack they still filled outdated ones, and have been missing two of my medications entirely, me having to instead call each month to get more. I have not gotten one of my meds in two months now. Their response on the phone "Oh, I'm sorry, are you sure we have updated scripts from your doctor." "Yes, they sent them to you two weeks ago, you added the med they added to my pill list, yet didn't update the other two scripts even though they were sent at the same damn time." "Oh, well, I'm sorry I can make a note in here to put them on auto delivery to ship alongside your pack." For crap's sake, they are regular medications taken on a regular schedule, just like all my other pills, prescribed the same way as my other pills, why can't you put them in the darn packs.