Letter to the President of Kmart: Kmart Pharmacy Discriminated Against Disabled Customer and Witheld Vital Medication

Louis J. (Lou) D'Ambrosio, President and CEO

Kmart Corporate Office | Headquarters
3333 Beverly Rd. Hoffman Estates, IL 60179

Dear Mr. D’Ambrosio,

1.      On May 18^th, 2012, I visited my doctor and received a prescription for lorazapam (1mg, twice a day for anxiety – 90 day supply – and one refill). I was nearly out of my previous prescription at that time and was planning a six week vacation abroad in June, so I needed the prescription filled immediately.  Being retired military and using ExpressScripts for many years, I expected my prescription to arrive in a few days.  When it did not, I checked the ExpressScripts website which stated that my order was being “processed”.  I called ExpressScripts on/about May 23^rd and was told that they needed to coordinate with the doctor because of an error on the prescription and that they would “expedite” processing after I told them I was about to run out.  Needless to say, another week went by with no prescription in the mail, so I called ExpressScripts again on May 31^st and they told me there had been a mistake with my prescription for Androgel and they had held up the entire order, including the lorazapam.  By this time, I had been completely out for a few days, so I asked them if they could transfer my prescription to KMART PHARMACY #3239 - 7100 NW PRAIRIE VIEW RD KANSAS CITY MO 64151 which they did.  I had the prescription filled at Kmart on 6/1/2012, nearly two weeks after it should have been filled originally.

2.      As stated, I took the prescription to Kmart and it was filled on 6/1/2012 without incident.  However, when I attempted to refill the prescription, I ran into roadblock after roadblock and pharmacy staff unwilling to assist a patient in distress, and bitchy attitudes on top of it all.  The first time I went in for the refill (end of July I think – I didn’t remember exactly when the prescription had been filled, was at Kmart, and thought I would kill two birds so to speak).  A young, heavyset woman told me that she would have to call my doctor because “it was too soon” to refill it and that she would call me back.  I have always refilled the prescription well in advance of the 90-days, anywhere from a week to two weeks, depending on the pharmacy and depending on my schedule. I told the woman I was running low because I had been traveling under some very stressful conditions (our house sitter abandoned our home and animals while we were staying with family and working in Europe) and I had used more of the medication than normal. The young woman said “I’ll call your doctor and call you on your cell phone once I get word”. 

3.      The promised call never came, so I rationed my medication, knowing I could get the prescription filled 7 days before it would expire.  On or about August 25^th, 2012, I again went to the pharmacy window and explained to the same young, heavyset technician what had happened and what I wanted.  She appeared to remember me and went to the computer, quickly coming back and stating “the prescription was filled on June 1^st and cannot be refilled until August 30^th.”  It appeared as though I was being singled out, hassled, discriminated against, and they were not going to give me the medication (I was again rationing and needed for sleep) simply because “they could”.  I did the math at home and realized, even if they wanted to wait until the last minute, the 90-day supply would be exhausted on August 29^th, not the 30^th, so the young woman was wrong. 

4.      By this time, I was so infuriated by the attitudes and incompetence of the Kmart Pharmacy staff, I went to my old pharmacy at Price Chopper and asked for my prescription to be transferred.  The pharmacist there, after a long conversation with the Kmart Pharmacy, told me that my prescription “could not be transferred again” and that I would have to get it from Kmart, incompetent and customer unfriendly as they are.

5.      The “coup de grace” came on Monday, August 27^th, when I returned to the KMart Pharmacy and asked the young, heavyset girl if I could speak with the pharmacist. Instead, the manager, Juliet Barker, came over.  I started to explain the situation when she blurted out “you tried to have your prescription transferred yesterday, didn’t you?”  I told her that I had in-fact done so because of her staff’s rudeness and terrible customer service. She added “you can’t get the prescription until the 30^th” (with a smirk on her face and “I’ll show you” attitude).  I stated “if you could count, the 90-days is up on the 29^th, not the 30^th, so why are you withholding a medication I need past the date when I run out?”  Already stressed and anxious (THAT’S WHY I HAVE A PRESCRIPTION FOR LORAZAPAM!) due to the situation I returned from Europe because of (abandoned home and animals, thousands of dollars in theft and damages, having to file two separate complaints (criminal charges) against the house sitter, etc, etc), I could not deal with Ms. Barker’s snide and aggressive attitude any longer, so I asked when my prescription would be ready and she stated “Wednesday, August 29^th, after 11:00 AM”.  I asked her to make sure that it would be ready at that time and left the store.

6.      I have never experienced such a hostile and aggressive staff as you have working in this pharmacy.  They cannot discriminate among patients, treating one differently than another as has been the case with me.  Do they not like men, old men, disabled men, veterans?  Why was I treated this way and denied the medication I need willy nilly by a bunch of rude, angry women? 

7.      I stopped shopping at Kmart and Sears years ago when Kmart went into bankruptcy and I lost thousands of dollars in stocks while the board of directors simply filed bankruptcy, reissued new stock, and went on with their business as if nothing happened.  I never received an apology or anything else for the thousands I lost because of their incompetence, so I stopped shopping at Kmart and did not return until they opened this store near my home.  I saw the store was struggling, hardly ever a car in the parking lot, so I returned to shop occasionally, mostly to support our neighbors who work there more than anything else.  In this economy, I would hate for anybody to lose their jobs, particularly in my community, so I supported this store despite my better judgment. What a mistake!

8.      I will never again step foot in this Kmart, once I receive my prescription, because of the way I was treated, like a criminal and definitely not like a valued customer.  It is only a matter of time before this store closes and all employees lose their jobs.  You should be going out of your way to build relationships and loyalty, not destroy them!  You should also be ashamed of yourselves for the way I was treated, discriminated and retaliated against for a reason I have yet to figure out.  Maybe you should do your own investigation…no, wait, that would mean holding “your own” accountable…what am I crazy, what big company would have the integrity to do that?  Not, Kmart, I can count on that!

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I don't know about you, but I'm fed-up with self-centered, narcissistic, judgmental, ignorant, bullies in positions of power exerting their influence and ruining the lives of innocent people.  Discrimination laws and organizational policies are a joke and do nothing to really protect anybody.  If you have been the victim of discrimination, no matter what the cause or your protected status, we want to hear your story.

Prejudice and discrimination are the result of an ignorant person in a position of power.  One person has little power or influence. particularly in large organizations.  If we unite, as a mass and using the media and social networking sites, we can influence decision makers (in companies, the government, and politicians) by creating a public relations nightmare for the offenders.  A nightmare they will not want to face again which can influence them into "doing the right thing", stopping the discrimination or retaliation not only because it is just, but because it will be too painful not to.

We will do our due diligence and pick our battles wisely, focusing on areas where we can get the most bang for the buck.  If employers and the perpetrators of discrimination actually have something to fear, a large group of people devoted to a single cause, they will be less likely to discriminate or retaliate in the first place.  The reason they do it and get away with it now is because the laws, policies, and regulations are nearly impossible to enforce, so the decision makers, the people with the ability to stop the problem, turn their heads and ignore it.  They know that if they admit there is a problem, they are setting themselves and the organization up for a lawsuit, so it is easier to let the discrimination and retaliation continue than do the right thing, stand up, and end it.

How do these people look themselves in the mirror every morning.  I don't know about you, but I could not live with myself if I ruined a person's life, tormenting them until they quit, just to ensure I keep that paycheck coming in.

The common protected categories are race, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran, and, more recently, homosexual.  However, you do not have to be in a protected category to be discriminated against.  If you are singled out from others, for any reason (fat, skinny, redhead, ugly, beautiful, short, tall......), and harassed or treated differently, that is still discrimination and should not be tolerated.  The courts may not agree, but that does not make it any less discriminatory or retaliatory.

I do not know about you, but "I AM MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"  You may remember that line form the movie Network, but is appropriate here and I think many of you feel the same way.

There are literally millions of us worldwide who have been treated unfairly, oppressed, bullied, discriminated, and/or retaliated at work, in school, or in other areas of our lives.  STAND UP NOW...JOIN OUR FIGHT...UNITE...TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG AND CAN DEFEAT THESE IGNORANT MORONS!!!

Tell us your story, let's start a dialogue, and let's build an organization, a movement, to end discrimination and retaliation in our lifetimes.  The current system sucks.  It does not work.  Therefore it is up to us to figure out how to end it.

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