Visited this pharmacy for the first time yesterday…read more
Interior / Exterior
This place was very hard for me to find. I was traveling from Marietta (north on Cobb Pkwy) and for some reason, my navigation had me turn left on Pine Mountain Court ... then right on Pine Mountain Way ... then left on Pine Mountain Rd. Almost immediately after I turned left on to Pine Mountain Rd, it announced that I'd arrived at my location. I was next to bunch of trees. I made a U-turn and turned left into the parking lot I'd just passed, but it turned out to be the Masjid Suffah mosque. I drove around for 20 minutes before I actually found the pharmacy. If you turn left on Pine Mountain Rd, they're a few feet ahead on the right. The sign at the street will say Cedar Creek Professional Center. There's plenty of parking.
The interior is pretty barebones. It's mainly filled with boxes and packaging materials. Keep in mind, it's not a pharmacy WITH a sterile compounding pharmacy inside. It's solely a pharmacy & compounding pharmacy so there's no OTC meds, DME, snacks or tchotchkes.
Price / Value
Unsure how they compare to other pharmacies with regards to pricing because they're the only local pharmacy (I'm aware of) that compounds the injectable my Dr. prescribed. There is a significant discount for purchasing 3 months upfront, but since I wasn't certain how well I'll do / if I can tolerate it, I went with one month for now.
Customer Service
I saw all the previous reviews and about how hard they are to reach on the phone - and I gotta say - it's true. They are EXTREMELY hard to reach on the phone. When I was driving around panicking that they were going to close before I located them - I called 3 times to ask for help finding the building and could not get anyone to answer the phone. When I arrived, the receptionist wasn't on the phone - she was sitting at the desk - and I was still on hold - so I'm not sure what that was about. I think the people who answer the phones are in the back and there's a sign 'Now Hiring,' so I guess they're really short-staffed and that contributes to the phone answering issues. The voicemail greeting is also insanely long - and the option to speak to a patient care representative is listed AFTER the option to share your info for text updates. And it's the same # / option - so the greeting seems a bit convoluted.
Before I ever visited, I got a phone call from them to collect payment. I told them I wanted to speak to my prescribing physician and I would call back in a few days. Each day, I got an automated call reminding me that I had an Rx there. But here's what's weird: the Rx wasn't even ready.
The woman I'd spoken to said it would take 4 - 6 weeks after collecting my payment, for me to receive the Rx. And if I picked it up (versus shipping), it would be roughly 4 - 6 days. She was kinda snippy. And when I called back to pay, I spoke to another woman who was a little condescending and she kept interrupting me / not truly listening to me - so it made the conversation take WAY longer than it should have.
So the automated system calling daily to remind a person that there's a Rx that's been called in, even once you talked to a staff member ... that seems like a bit much. I think the overall ordering process / system needs some tweaking.
Despite all that, once I arrived and got my Rx, I asked if I could speak to someone about the Rx and that's when my customer service experience completely changed.
Adam (the pharmacist on duty that day) was so patient and kind.
He explained how I'd need to 'pinch an inch' at the '3pm or 9pm positions,' two or three inches away from my navel. He explained the importance of cleaning the vial's rubber stopper (the sternum) and my tummy, using the provided alcohol swabs, before injecting myself. That reminds me, the receptionist gave me my vial in sealed plastic mailer, but she neglected to give me syringes or alcohol pads, so if I hadn't asked to speak to Adam, I would have driven all the way back to Marietta without the necessary supplies and since they're closed on Sat & Sun, I would have had to wait to drive all the way back on Monday to pick everything up. And this is about a 35 minute drive (NOT counting the time I wasted looking for the building - lol). Once I arrived home, I discovered that they provide you with a handy dandy 'cheat sheet' with instructions / tips for administering a subcutaneous injection / injection to adipose tissue.
Adam took the time to speak to me about the various mechanisms of action of this particular compound and he was super encouraging. He also gave me their new email address and told me to be sure to call with any questions. He's the reason I'm giving these folks 5 stars.
Overall
Overall, I think the phone tree / greeting needs some work and the people manning the phones could stand to be a little bit more patient / empathetic.
