Parafarmacia Positano

When you are travelling, sometimes you run out of an item or two. This review is based on honesty as when I am a tourist somewhere, I don’t like getting ripped off.
A few things to note:
–When making purchases in Rome and Positano, there were no additional taxes on purchased items that are on the receipt. The price is the price.
–They always have to give you a receipt, it’s the law.
–Visiting the other stores in Positano, the other stores had stickers for their prices on the bottom of each item, or signs indicating the price.
Here’s what happened.
On entering this store, I noticed that there were no prices listed anywhere. There were other women in the store shopping, some asking for nail clippers, sunblock and because there were no prices, he would stand behind the counter and call out the prices in euros and the women would step up and pay.
Ok, independent pharmacies are sometimes a bit more costly for household items, so understandable. Also, I know tourist season is from April — November so this is the only time of the year to get customers to purchase at your shop. I get it. You still shouldn’t rip off customers!
I asked him for prices of several items. For one tooth care item, he verified it was 4 euros and for a skin product, he verified it was 17 euros. There is no additional tax charged so the total price should be 21 euros, right?
He rang up the total and it came out to:
5 euros charged for the tooth care item + 22 euros charged for the skin product, posted a 3 euro «discount», bringing the total to be 24 euros & over charging by 3 euros.
The pharmacist’s name is Carlo Montefusco and he will tell you one price and charge you… Whatever he feels like.
3 euros is no big deal you say? Think of it this way, for a foodie like me, that is another delicious lemon gelato we could have had sitting watching the coast line on the Amalfi coast.
One star for having products in a clean store. Knock off 4 stars for the deceptive service, for being ripped off and fair warning to other people who may stroll into this location just like I did.
The irony is that the motto of the store is printed on the bag when you purchase an item: «The Pharmacist is your friend». :P If you want to avoid being ripped off with dishonest charges, he should be no friend of yours nor your pharmacist. :(