My mum is in her early 60's, so gets free prescription medicine, as all people over 60 do. When I go to a pharmacy to get her medicines, they all say you don't need to sign the back of the prescription IF the doctor has written her age on the front, which he has. For any other reason for being exempt from paying, you have to tick the relevant box to say why you're exempt and then sign the declaration; it's just the over 60's who don't need to.
A month ago, the pharmacy staff at the Tesco nearest to me have started saying I have to sign the declaration before they'll accept the prescription. I showed them the form where it clearly states that over 60's don't sign if their age is written on the front. That's fine, they said, but it's our local, store policy to get everyone to sign all prescriptions, just in case any that should have been signed don't get signed. To stand up against pointless bureacracy, I refuse to sign, and tell them if they want signatures for no reason, they should draw up their own document instead of misusing an NHS document. Each time, they will refuse to back down, until the pharmacist steps in, admits that they have no legal requirement for the signature for over 60's, and agrees to dispense the medicine. 10 minutes of arguing every single time. Why do I keep going there? Because I won't let the numptys win, and people less assertive than me or perhaps who can't/haven't read the form properly will just sign it anyway, so I think someone has to stand up to them.
After the most recent incident, I email Tesco's customer services people and explain what their staff are doing wrong. A week later I get a reply, saying they're so sorry that I'm unhappy with their service, but because it's a pharmacy issue they can't help, but they'll gladly pass my complaint on to the pharmacy complaints department. But, they go on to say, they can't do that until they have my full address (I've already told them which store I'm complaining about, so that's not why they need my address). I replied to them that since I'm not inviting any Tesco personnel to my house for a chit-chat, why on earth would they need my address when they can communicate via email? I await their next numpty reply.
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