Costco Pharmacy

Andrew Friedrich 7 months ago

Medications are frequently out of stock. It is difficult to get orders filled in a timely manner. Do not use this pharmacy for critical prescriptions or you will devote hours of your life each month to managing the refill process. Recommended only for medications where it’s fine to miss a couple doses.

Haipeng Hu a year ago

After more than 3 years of using Costco Pharmacy, I’ve had enough. The only reason we stayed with them was because they’re one of the few places open on Saturdays and close relatively late on weekdays. But their system and inventory management? It’s like they’re stuck in the 1980s. This week, my doctor prescribed penicillin—a basic, common antibiotic that’s been around since the 1920s—for a severe bacterial infection. I got a text saying my prescription was being prepared, so I waited in the parking lot for almost two hours. When I finally went inside to check, the front desk was dismissive and told me, without a hint of apology, that they were out of stock and I had to go speak to the pharmacist. The pharmacist couldn’t have been more unhelpful or rude. She didn’t even look at the system before telling me to “just come back tomorrow.” At that point, I had a 104°F fever, could barely swallow, and was visibly in pain. I asked if she could at least check which medication was unavailable—my doctor had prescribed three. If penicillin was in stock, could I please get it for tonight? Her response? “The more you talk, the slower I get,” followed by telling me her shift was ending soon. I stood there in silence while she reluctantly typed a few things into the system—and just like that, the prescription was suddenly ready. It wasn’t an insurance issue at all—my insurance was perfectly valid. The delay was entirely caused by Costco’s system or process failures. This isn’t an isolated experience. Just a few days earlier, I waited nearly 90 minutes after getting a “ready” text for my baby’s liquid antibiotics—same disorganization, same cold attitude. I don’t know if it’s poor management at Costco or just the total collapse of pharmacy care in San Francisco, where Walgreens and CVS are vanishing, and weekend or late-night options are practically nonexistent. But this was infuriating, dehumanizing, and unacceptable.

Daniel Kuo 5 months ago

Prescriptions regularly take 7+ days to be ready, they often don’t answer the phone, and as noted in other reviews there’s one employee in particular that is constantly rude with patients. The first time I went to pick meds up, I got him at the register and all he said without looking up was “NAME.” So I gave him my name and when he didn’t find anything after a few seconds, I realized what was happening and told him the prescription was for my dog. He then proceeded to give me an extended lecture about how I was wasting his time (all 3 seconds worth) and the process I should already know and what he expected of me next time. Never mind that as a first time customer I had no context for what he wanted, and I was just answering what he asked of me. I noticed he was just as obnoxious to the customer before and after me, so I’m confident it’s a him issue and not a literally-everyone-else issue. I honestly feel like Costco could dramatically improve the customer experience at this location by making a single personnel change. There are lots of qualified people out there looking for work, who aren’t deeply miserable and looking to take it out on the sick and infirm.

George “Geological” Lin 6 months ago

Got my vaccinations here. Everyone was nice and professional. Just don’t expect you’ll be in and out even with an appointment. It took 45 minutes for the shots to be administered as there was a wave of people picking meds. Everything was civil despite the hectic environment.

Yoki_IsTheName a year ago

Came in to fill up a prescription. Was told that it would take about 30 minutes. I was on a time crunch but I thought 30 minutes will be okay and I can still make it to my schedule for the day. Waited for the 30 minutes, plus an extra 15 minutes because I thought I can still spare it, and I know it's better to give them extra time as they may be busy. Waited in line for about ten more (so at this point the pharmacy had AT LEAST close to an hour). Got to the front desk only to be told it's going to take another 15-20 minutes. I understand that they're busy and that's not their fault, but I wish they give themselves more time when they estimate how long these would take. If they would have told me it's going to take an hour, I would have went about my day and came back tomorrow. Instead I wasted about an hour and had to hurry back to where I'm going to be on time to pick up my wife. Hello Costco Pharmacy. If you think meds is going to take thirty minutes to be filled, give a one hour estimate for wait time. Don't set expectations you can't fulfill, because some people have a fixed schedule and plan their day on your estimates. Rant over.