MaMedica Dispensary and Customer Service

The next day after my consultation with Dr Rob, I received the invoice which I tried to pay.

However, for some reason my bank is not in their drop-down box so I had to contact the dispensary to request an alternative payment method. I was going to send an email but decided that, based on previous experience, a phone call was more effective.

I was on hold for about 10 mins which was no problem – I had my phone by my side whilst I did other things. When the call connected, the lady at the end of the line couldn’t hear me so hung up pretty much straight away! So I called back. This time, no queue and she could kinda hear me – enough to hear my name and understand what I was asking for. I requested a new payment method and she said she would email that through to me straight away. I asked when I would receive my items after I had paid and she explained that they were waiting on a delivery of one of the items on my prescription, but once it had been received I would get notification of it being posted.

I asked about splitting up the prescription so that I didn’t have to wait for the arrival of the out-of-stock items, but she explained that that would incur a £10 charge to send it out separately. She said the best thing to do would be to pay the invoice when it arrived, then call the next day to confirm stock/when things would be posted out.

Nothing turned up in my inbox and although I didn’t want to be that aggravating person that keeps hounding and harassing, I really wanted this done and dusted so I knew what I had in my pain relief arsenal. I waited 45 minutes and got through to the same lady, who told me that the lines were very busy but that she would send me the email.

Another 45 minutes later, it was getting close to the end of the day and still no email. I called again and spoke to someone else entirely – the email turned up whilst I was on the call (make of that what you will). I paid immediately because I was still hopeful that delivery would be by the weekend, but again it was suggested that I call the next day to confirm that everything would be in stock.

Friday morning (today) and I called to check on when things would be sent out and was told the best thing to do would be to call back on Monday to get a clearer idea. So, I’ve successfully got through my second consultation and paid for my second prescription and am back in hurry up and wait mode.

I think the service in most places depends very much on who you get to speak to. Sometimes, you get someone who’s feeling stressed and pressured and maybe doesn’t have the bandwidth to take on what you are looking for. And then the next person you speak to is feeling ticketyboo and makes everything look easy. I think it’s important to remember that we’re all human, dealing with our own shit, and that most of the time, it really isn’t personal, even if it feels like it is.

Customer service and word of mouth are really important and I think MaMedica are aware of it but not necessarily on top of it. I think there needs to be more cohesion in the information given out to callers: one member of staff said they were waiting on deliveries whilst the next one was quite adamant that there were no stock issues – somewhere along the way, wires have gotten crossed. I would also prefer if someone was honest with me about when I can expect things – don’t tell me you’re going to do something straight away and then leave it for days. Few things get me more enraged than people not sticking to their word.

Hopefully, I don’t sound too ranty but to be completely honest, it feels like the dispensary side of things is so much harder than the consultation. I have dealt with pharmacies for a LONG time with a large number of prescriptions and I understand stock issues, communication between the dispensary and the surgery – all matter of things. But I truly believe that a more transparent narrative would go a long way to avoiding some of the griping and complaints I have seen online.

But I guess that’s easy for me to say – I’m not the one who has to deal with the potentially angry person being told that none of their items are in and maybe next week? In the meantime, I’ve been given the link to somewhere else 420 to explore!