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Eckerd Drugs - Pricing

Eckerd • Rx errors • Rx service • Gift cards • Pricing • ADA compliance • An insider's view

Carole of Orlando (12/20/03):
I went to the Eckerd store in another part of town and bought the same wrapping paper for $2.79. When I went to the store in METROWEST (in a more affluent area) and the exact same thing was $5.99. When I told the cashier, she told me that they had a special that is buy one get one free.

My question is why is that in a less expensive neighborhood I can get something at an Eckerd for cheaper and more expensive a another. Are things at all Eckerds not suppose to cost the same in the city of Orlando? Something is not right and I do not know enough about the law, but I do know it should not be legal to do that.

I have the receipts for the same day purchase at both store and I also have the packaging labels. It is unbelievable.

Actually, it's quite common. Prices vary widely, even within the same metro area and the same chain. It may not be fair but it's legal, as far as we know.

Janice of Creedmoor NC (11/12/03):
I recently moved to Creedmoor, NC. I have been getting a certain prescription filled at the Eckerds in Lewisville, NC for several years. The cost of the prescription has always been $10.49 for a 30 day supply. After moving to Creedmoor, I took my prescription to the Eckerds in Creedmoor and they charged me $25.69 for a 30 day supply of the same medicine.

When I got home I called the store and questioned the cost and the pharmacist told me they had overcharged me and told me to come back for a refund. The next month when I had the same precription refilled they tried to overcharge me again but I argued the price. A different pharmacist told me that there were 2 distributors for the medicine and that they had given me the $25.69 brand. He then took my medicine to the back, brought it back to me, poured it out and ask if that was what I had been taking. Please remember that they appeared to be the same as what he had taken to the back.

He then told me that he was going to adjust my bill to $10.49, make a note on the computor that I was to get medicine from the cheaper distributor and that they would sell the higher priced medicine to someone that had insurance. My doctor advised that I report this because there should not be that high of a discrepancy in the price of the same medicine and because he says it was very unethical for the pharmacist to tell me that they would hit insured customers up for the higher priced medicine. Wouldn't this be some type of insurance fraud by the drugstore?

Quite possibly. This is a completely different situation than the price of wrapping paper. Janice should report this to the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy.

Ernest of Jacksonville FL (11/8/03):
Eckerds has always been higher priced than their competitors for prescriptions but I was appalled at my recent purchase. I buy Halls 9-drop packages of mentho-lyptus cough drops by the twenty package box for $0.59 per pkg. from both K-Mart and Publix Markets. They happened to be out of them the last time I wanted to purchase cough drops and I went into Eckerds and found some for $1.09 each. Thats practically 100% more!

Michael of Houston (9/22/03):
After purchasing over-the-counter medication I found out that I had been charged sales tax. Taxes on such items were dropped some time ago. Returning to the store I was told that there was nothing that they could do as headquarters program the computer. They would not refund me my sales tax.

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