Apthorp Pharmacy

Superior Customer service, I was there yesterday and I had a issue with my insurance and their guidance was of concern and also made my day more efficient. Special Thanks To Kesha for taking her time and being patient with my situation and at the end she resolved my issue and Nate Thank You for you helping me out on the phone. Thank You

Very poor customer service — we will be shifting our business to either Duane Reade or CVS.
Nearly half the time, a call to the pharmacy is met with a quick «pickup & hangup» without anyone saying anything. This happens when I try to refill a prescription, when I call to follow up on whether they have received a e-​script, when I call with a clarifying question, basically all the time. I’ve called the pharmacy on multiple occasions, and it is absolutely remarkable how many times they clearly have a strategy of just hanging up on incoming calls without any communication.
In person, the customer service experience is highly variable. Some people are very pleasant, others leave a lot of room for improvement. Keisha refused to answer a basic question about co-​pay, and instead insisted that my nanny tell me to call the main line. She initially refused to give her name, but when I asked my nanny to clarify with her if she was refusing to give her name, gave her name but the proceeded to treat my nanny with great rudeness afterwards.
This will be our last prescription filled with Apthorp.

I have used this pharmacy since 2011 and was always pleased with their service. In that last 1.5 years though service has gone down and attitude has gone up and there is a serious lack of professionalism. Everything seems to be a struggle with products they can’t fill/​get; insurances they don’t take, refill issues… so many bad stories.
I have switched back to Duane Reade and CVS and have been impressed with their efficiency, customer service and upkeep with my refills.
This is my first posting on Unilocal.I have been so frustrated with Apthorp that I had to join Unilocal and share my experiences.

These guys are amazing!
They have managed to fill every hard to fill prescription I’ve brought them, including ones that no one else, even the big guys, could fill. They are smart, courteous and even helped me solve a problem I had with one prescription that was just impossible to resolve until I went here.
I won’t go anywhere else.

I have been there a few times now, yes there can be a wait but no more than other pharmacies. I have found the staff very nice, professional and helpful especially when my insurance was being difficult.

I’ve been a fortunate customer of the Apthorp pharmacy for more than ten years. With multitudes of prescriptions filled and numerous insurance issues dealt with, Apthorp has helped me with all of my pharmaceutical needs. The friendly and competent staff makes shopping there an excellent experience.

Not everything goes right when you go to a business but it is refreshing when they try to fix mistakes.

This is a great find, carrying many products that I haven’t seen in any other pharmacy. They also freshly compounded my prescription that was unavailable at CVS and Duane Reade.

Having had some difficulties at the pharmacy and reviewed them here, I was very impressed and pleased to receive a message directly from the manager. He wanted to help me resolve my problem and ensure that I receive any medication discount that I was eligible for, promptly. Given the expense of fertility medication the discount was significant. The manager stayed in touch with me frequently until the issue was resolved and indeed played a key role in fixing the problem. He dealt with the situation in an utterly professional manner extending tact and kindness and completely turned around the initial experience to be a positive one.

This is the best pharmacy in the city! I needed specialty medication and had been having horrible experiences with a mail order pharmacy who supposedly had discount pricing but are incompetent, charging me excessively, gives bad advice, and are callous during a stressful time. Then I found out Apthorp carried the medications I needed at the same price as the «discount» mail order pharmacy! LOVE LOVE LOVE Apthorp! The staff is kind, considerate, thoughtful, competent and caring. I needed medications once on Thanksgiving Eve due to a screwup by the mail order pharmacy and Apthorp made it happen! They really saved me! Everyone on the staff goes out of their way to check insurance coverage, suggest discounts, double-​checks prescriptions, answers your calls efficiently and your medications are always ready. I don’t live close by but am happy to go to Apthorp to be taken care of.

I recently wrote a review on Apthorp Pharmacy. Some days later I actually came home and found a message on my phone from the manager. He left his name and phone number (I deleted the message afterwards and fail to recall it right now) and proceeded to apologize and explain what had happened. He said he had read my review and this is why he was calling. I was impressed. At the time of the confusion, I never thought to stop using them. My spouse and I were just there this week to pick up a prescription for her.
The phone call shows me that they make an effort to right wrongs and they strive to please their customers. I recommend this pharmacy. My experience has been that they are not tardy in filling orders. II have never had to wait more than 20 minutes.

I love to patronize local pharmacies, but this one has long waits and rude (or nonexistent) service.
I once had a prescription filled and asked for it to be delivered. It never showed up. Two days later I called and they were like, Oh yeah, we need a credit card for payment. No idea why they didn’t bother to mention that.
On another visit I wanted for 15 minutes to be helped. Meanwhile, there was only one other customer in the store. I finally left.
Another time I called to refill a prescription. The message says you can talk to someone or use their handy-​dandy automated service. Well that sounded good, so I did! Submitted my info, requested delivery and figured I was done. Oh no. The next day the called to confirm all the information and make sure I wanted it delivered. So if you ask to talk to a person you only have to be on the phone ONCE. If you use the system you have to be on the phone TWICE. ??? When I tried to complain, the woman on the phone ignored, then talked over me and was incredibly rude.
CVS here I come!

On my second visit, fourth attempt to deal with this (first two by phone), they resolved my insurance reimbursement problem by going above and beyond: they gave me a full refund for the cost of the drugs ($ 175) and told me that they would apply for reimbursement themselves, and to give them whatever money I got back from the insurance company. I ended up doing better than I would have with the insurance company because presumably the insurance company is not going to reimburse me fully. They actually had a billing specialist on site that deals with these issues, so I’m guessing that they deal with these types of issues regularly.
I wonder whether my previous Unilocal review had something to do with it, but regardless they did more than they had to.
I had requested paperwork to get reimbursed for a drug where they were the only pharmacy in the city that could provide it in the time-​frame needed. It was outside the insurance’s usual channels due to the special circumstances, so I needed to apply for reimbursement. Rest of the story is in the previous review.
Update: Insurance would not reimburse because Apthorp’s claim came in more than 6 months after the original drugs were dispensed, so too late. So it was particularly nice of Apthorp to cover my cost for the drugs given that they won’t get anything.

Apthorp Pharmacy is the best Pharmacy on the UWS!
Wonderful selection of products, and cheerful, friendly people to give personal care, and help satisfy your needs! Much better than Duane Reade!

After a scathing review — see below — received a nice phone call from one of the owners apologizing for the miscommunication. The young man was very apologetic, very concerned that I had not received proper care and offered to make amends. This goes a long way, because ANY business can have an off day and overwhelmed delivery guys can get lost in a maze of «rush this» and «expedite that.» The fact that the owner called says a lot.
I will give them another chance.

I was expecting more from this independent pharmacy because of its slick website and luxurious frontage. However, they misplaced or didn’t refill my prescriptions on time several times, often have a poorly managed line, and aren’t particularly nice. I’ll be going elsewhere.

Cute pharmacy, but I refuse to buy anything here because the mark-​ups are ridiculous. For example, I came in here to buy a specific hair gel, but it was being sold at a $ 7 mark-​up over the normal retail price. Service seemed average.

Honestly it doesn’t matter where you get your scrips if you have insurance. I chose Apthorp because it was close. They did a good job on my orders, except it sometimes takes a long, long time (compared to CVS) to get something filled, especially when they are busy. My doc called in something, and 3 hours later it still wasn’t ready. What the hell… put…pills…in…the…bottle. Done.
On the bright side, when you have to wait there like a tool, you can browse all the imported, high end soaps, fragrances and bath salts and pretend you are a fancy English aristocrat from 1829. That part is really sensational.
I should also point out that they offer a very reliable delivery service which is quite handy if you don’t need your stuff right away. And they also offered me access to a discount plan which I had no idea existed prior to using them. Customer service was pretty solid in fact.
All in all, a good experience.

I can’t get why this pharmacy makes me wait for a prescription to be filled 3 – 4 times more than any other location in the UWS. And the customer service is not the friendliest.

They have a good selection of cosmetics. I’ve never used the pharmacy but it’s a great set up. Pharmacy one side, the other higher end cosmetics n hair products.
the counter person is also very helpful, patient, friendly. and trust me, she really was because i was really cold, kinda hungry, and cramming last minute shopping while fighting a horrible cold. she even wrapped the face cream i bought very nicely :)