Local pharmacy both overpriced and intimidating

[Dedkool]

Good afternoon,

 

There's a pharmacy in my area that puts their own prices on over the counter drugs and other items. RRP is never used and barcodes are never scanned.  Prices are typed into the till by hand when every other shop uses a RRP/barcode scanner. The management and staff write their own prices on items in biro (in 2021!) and prices are usually almost double their official RRP. Say, an item that has a RRP of £2.50 will be priced by their own hand at £ 5.00. While a RRP £5.50 box of brand name tablets gets sold for over 8 or even 9 pounds.

 

This has been going on for a while now and it was in practice long before the Covid pandemic and the lockdown (at least since 2018). Who writes prices (and expensive ones) on well known branded items in the 21st Century? It's just very wrong and highly unethical. I have worked  in retail at a major establishment, and I know that putting prices on goods went out years ago. A RRP can be increased slightly in some cases by some shops, but never twice its original value. And when  a customer enquires about why these prices are written on and why they're so expensive, all hell breaks loose.

 

When anybody points this overcharging out to the shop's owner/manager/pharmacist, he responds in a rude and aggressive manner. Even being verbally abusive and making actual threats of violence (what he said to one customer was obscene and very menacing). There are a lot of elderly people in this area and they should not have to pay way over the odds if they want something like Lemsip or Eye drops. They should also not be or feel intimidated for having their own opinions and voicing genuine concerns about consumer rights.

 

Any advice would be welcome.

Regards to all,

Dedkool.
 

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

What would you like to happen about this please?

 

HB

[Ethel Street]

How far away is the next pharmacy?

[Dedkool]

It's about a half hour walk away. Not a problem for me, but for many OAPs who have no transport (especially in winter conditions) it could be a bit awkward. I boycotted the place ages ago. But the overcharging is still going on, nearly three years after I last bought anything from there.

 

My neighbours have informed me that it's still a monumental rip off and that anyone questions this at their peril. The other pharmacy is a well known company and is very professional and properly priced. It's just the old 'uns and parents who want over the counter meds for their kids in the vicinity that are getting screwed over who I feel sorry for.

[Ethel Street]

Almost exactly a year ago there was a flurry of publicity about this and the alleged overpricing of Covid protection  products.

 

For example: https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/coronavirus-what-you-think-retailer-21721007

 

The Competiton and Markets Authority [CMA] leapt forward asking for reports to be sent to them and making some rather vague promises that they might take action and the overpricing might be illegal. But I never saw another media report saying what the CMA had done with the reports it received. Nothing at all I suspect.

 

I thought at the time that the CMA were responding to public/media pressure to "do something" when in reality there wasn't much they could do in most cases. Shops aren't legally prohibited from selling products at over RRP - even if it's double RRP - and the CMA has no powers to control what individual shops do. The CMA controls abuse of market position, it doesn't control retail prices directly. 

 

Now if a dominant national pharmacy - Boots let's say - was overcharging the CMA could probably do something. But your local pharmacy sounds like a one shop family business.. So I doubt the CMA or anyone has the legal power to stop them charging more than RRP. Especially as there are other pharmacies within a a couple of miles. 

 

This local council trading standards page explains that Trading Standards has no powers to get involved with this but gives the email address of the CMA if you want to refer it to them (but don't hold your breathe would be my advice).

 

https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/trading-standards-consumer-advice/over-pricing-during-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

 

Otherwise your only option is to start a publicity campaign - letters to the local paper, lobbying local Councillors, etc.. Be careful not to publically accuse the pharmacy of doing something illegal - they probably aren't.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Ethel Street

[BankFodder]

Of course one of the reasons that businesses get away with this kind of thing is that people don't want to name them on the Internet.

Know anyone like that?

@Dedkool

[Dedkool]

 

 

There are people who are afraid to go in there now. They are also frightened of reprisals if they make any sort of official complaint (the man threatened to break a customer's legs if they (in his own words) 'slagged him off', online or anywhere else.

 

I believe the place is independently owned and not part of a big chain like Lloyd's or Rowlands. The prices are there for all to see, written on every item in the shop. But I dare say the intimidating behaviour would be denied and his small number of staff would probably back him up. Ripping ordinary folk off is bad enough, but threatening members of the community is also beyond both comprehension and contempt.

 

Thanks for the advice and replies. When the place opened, it was bigged up by the local press and a couple of councillors as being 'the hub of the community' and stuff like that. When it turned out to be anything but.

 

I have voted with my feet and would rather go anywhere else than buy anything off them. I can only advise my friends and neighbours who have fallen foul of them do the same and go elsewhere.  

 

Oh, and they also sell Co-Op baked beans and other tinned Co-Op goods that are actually newer and cheaper at the Co-Op itself only three streets away.

 

[slick132]

You and your local friends, neighbours need to vote with your feet.

 

And you should complain to the same local councillors (and press if you can, somehow) that the local service that was celebrated on opening has turned out to be expensive and not the community service you anticipated.

 

In fairness, if they sell Co-op goods, do you expect them to sell stuff for the same price they pay for it ? But I'd expect the owner to visit a Cash and Carry to buy goods cheaper and retail them at a "reasonable" price.

[stu007]

Couple of links for you:

 

https://psnc.org.uk/contract-it/essential-service-clinical-governance/complaints/

 

https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/raising-concerns

[Manxman in exile]

I find it a little odd that the main thrust of your complaint seems to be about the shop charging more than RRP (which is not a crime despite your belief it is), not using barcodes, and writing prices in manuscript on the goods themselves*.

 

But threats of violence (like threatening to break somebody's legs) seem to take a lower priority in your hierarchy of values.

 

Very odd...

 

*Personally I would love a law that said all items for sale had to have a legible price on them  - even handwritten - rather than just a barcode that means nothing to me.  I'm tired of shopping and not being able to check the prices of items in my trolley without having to go back to the shelf