Abbott’s Compounding Pharmacy

Unprofessional at best, almost negligent at worst. Don’t know what has happened to this place in the past couple of years, but it isn’t good. They’re completely undependable & completely unapologetic about it. They lose your prescription, they close early even when they’ve told you mere hours before that they’ll be open until 6, they fail to mail things they say they’re going to mail. Here’s hoping you never end up depending on their service in a real time of need; if you do, you’re screwed. I’m never going back there again. They treat their customers shamefully.

I have had my doctor’s prescriptions filled by this pharmacy (or attempted) for 2 years. Almost every order has been problematic. Either they lose or forget the order, or it gets stuck somewhere there and never reaches me until I call them up and walk them through the process of getting it to me (i.e, «can you put it in the mail? Now?»). Just today I followed up again on an order that they originally didn’t produce when they received the prescription 2 weeks ago. It was finally ready a week ago. I asked them to deliver it overnight to my parents’ address in southern California as I had to rush there due to a family crisis. One week later it had not arrived. I called and asked them to find out what happened to it, and call me back. I called back a few hours later, only to be told that it had been sitting on their shelf and was now being overnighted to my parents’ address. Only I won’t be at my parents’ address when it arrives, which is why I had asked them to call me back once they found it. I give up. I will try the pharmacy just north of them that has 5 stars on Unilocal

Pathetic customer service. IF (and it is a big IF), you can get to talk to someone on the phone, they are very pleasant, but do not follow up. They never
return phone calls.
Recently, they neglected to
send me syringes with my injectable medication. I called and left 2 messages, got no response. Then I noticed they had charged my card for 30 syringes. ALSO CHARGED ME FOR DELIVERY OF THE SYRINGES WHICH SHOULD HAVE COME IN THE ORIGINAL SHIPMENT, WHICH I HAD ALREADY PAID FOR.
They
were go
ing to send me 30 syringes (I need 36) because «we only dispense hem in multiples of ten».
The only reason I actually got to speak to someone is that I called and picked the option for doctor’s offices from their phone tree.
One hopes that the actual pharmacists compounding the meds take more care than t
h
other staff members there.
I am definitely transferring my prescription elsewhere

I’ve used this place twice, and didn’t have a problem either time. The first time, my veterinarian called in the prescription; the second time, I called the pharmacy to have them renew it. Both times went fine. I think they took a day or so to fill the order, but that’s really not at all abnormal in my experience of using pharmacies. The staff were reasonably friendly as well.
Paying $ 60 for a 2 month supply of gabapentin isn’t cheap, but that’s the pharmaceutical industry racket for you … compared to the $ 250 I pay per month for my kitty’s enoxaparin, this isn’t the most expensive medication. Still, giving 4 instead of 5 stars for that aspect.

Disappointing and dysfunctional. They are unapologetic and gruff when they get it wrong, and that’s every time. I recommend attempting to get prescriptions filled well in advance of when you will actually need them.

Truly awful service. They never return phone calls… And they mailed my prescription to an old address! This is not the first time I have had to go without my thyroid medication for days because of their inability to process my order correctly. I am switching pharmacies

I don’t know what has happened to Abbott’s. I used them successfully for many years to fill several compounded prescriptions for meds that I take on a regular basis, but over the last two years their service and responsiveness to problems have dropped precipitously. I will never use them again.
They are irresponsible, even negligent when it comes to timely filling of prescriptions. Like other reviewers, my messages inquiring about the status of my missing prescriptions were completely ignored; they simply do not return the calls. This has happened on several occasions. Their negligence is finally intolerable and I have found another compounding pharmacy.
Abbott’s takes no responsibility for getting in touch with the doctor when a renewed prescription is required. When I asked about that, I was told (by an increasingly rude person) that they fax the doctor, toss the original fax in a box and then do not check on the status of the doctor’s response to the fax. This is not standard operating procedure in the industry – Walgreens for example, keeps trying until they reach the doctor. My doctor told me, on more than one occasion, that she never heard from them in the first place. Clearly they are not computerized and seem to have no interest in creating a tracking system for prescription management – perilous when a customer is waiting for a needed medication.
Their rudeness is persistent, inappropriate and unprofessional. They are not reliable, and reliable providers are a bottom-​line need when it comes health care. Moreover, they are very, very expensive and do not take insurance. Take your business elsewhere. ..

I really wish I’d consulted Unilocal before I submitted a prescription to be filled at Abbott’s. Let me add another scathing review to the pile:
On Thursday morning I saw a doctor for a very painful medical problem, and he gave me a prescription that could only be filled at a compounding pharmacy. My doctor is pretty far from my home, so he suggested I find one in the East Bay closer to where I live. Googling brought me to Abbott’s, and at around noon I called and asked if they would be able to fill my prescription that day because I was in so much pain – seriously, I was in tears because of how much pain I was in, but I held it together for the phone call. The very polite woman on the phone said that usually they have a 24 – 48 hour turnaround time, but that they were fairly slow, so she didn’t think it would be a problem to have it done by the end of the day, so I scanned the Rx and emailed it to them. No one replied to my email or called me to confirm they had received the prescription, so at about 3pm I called to make sure it was received. This time I spoke to a man and he said that the concentration of the prescription was 20 times higher than what they normally see, and that someone from their office had called my doctor to verify the accuracy of the prescription, but that they hadn’t heard back. I called my doctor’s office and his assistant said she was just about to call Abbott’s to confirm that the prescription was indeed the correct concentration.
I waited ten minutes then called Abbott’s back. This time, the man I spoke to said that because it was so late in the day, there was no way they were going to have the prescription done. At this point I was in so much pain and knew there was no relief coming any time soon, so I started to cry and couldn’t help but let the annoyance show in my voice and said, «Okay, I guess I’ll come get it in the morning»
I heard him hang up on me mid-​sentence.
Not once did anyone apologize for the inconvenience. Not once did anyone on the phone acknowledge that the delay in filling the prescription was prolonging my pain. People filling prescriptions should not lose their sensitivity to the patient!
I sought alternative places to send my prescription and found Wellspring in Oakland, (which is soon to receive a glowing review from me), and as soon as I’d sent it there I called Abbott’s to let them know their rude service resulted in me taking the prescription elsewhere. I will never go back and I will discourage anyone I know from going to Abbott’s as well. They are rude and insensitive, and I don’t think they have good communication among their staff because later in the day on Friday they called to say my prescription was ready, even after I’d called to say they should not fill it after all.

Dropped off my prescription on Friday morning. They said they needed clarification on the prescription before filling and would have to contact my vet first. I was told it would be ready at the end of the day though and they would give me a call later that day to get payment. No callback. They were closed on the weekend. I called them on Monday morning to get a status update on the prescription and they still did not have it ready yet. They said they called my vet and left a message but the call wasn’t returned. They would try again today and give me a call as soon as they got their clarification. Still no callback.
When I asked them about what was going on later in the day, they said they were still waiting on my vet… apparently, they had not gotten a chance to call my vet after a half day had passed. My dog was having bloody diarrhea and needed her meds last Friday. I gave up, took my prescription back, and got it filled at Wellspring Pharmacy instead.
Don’t trust them with your loved one’s health.
P. S. Wellspring talked to my vet and got clarification within 7 minutes of me arriving and dropping off the prescription. If you need something compounded, go there instead of Abbott’s.

If you ever need to get a compounded prescription because of a special medical condition, then Abbotts is the best place to go, period. I have been a customer of this location for a few years now, and I have always had perfect service from them. I started going to them because my cat had cancer, and they formulated medications specifically for my cat’s problems. Now I use them for my own medications. They are the #1 sterile compounding pharmacy in California, and because of California’s strict laws, they very well might be the best in the country. There are very few places given the «sterile compounding pharmacy» license, but this place is the tops. They even make intravenous medications, which requires the strictest standards imaginable. I have no idea what the problems were with the other reviewers because I have never seen anything negative in my experiences, and I use them frequently. All I can say is that for the past few years Abbotts has been the best compounding pharmacy for me. Yes, compounded medications are more expensive because they are essentially hand-​made to the doctor’s specifications. But, they also work much better than the off-​the-​shelf prescriptions because they are tailored to your needs by your doctor’s orders. For example, I can’t take regular prescription thyroid medications, but I get great results from the long-​acting formulation from Abbotts. And, they will give you an insurance claim form that you can submit for reimbursement from your insurance.

3 e-​mails, 2 conversations with pharm personnel, and 1 voicemail later, NO RETURN PHONECALL. Who does business like this? Makes me nervous about dealing with an outfit that doesn’t even respond to inquiry.
Script Works in Walnut Creek is a great, reliable, and attentive compounding pharmacy: 925−934−4400. They were responsive and efficient. And they will overnight you your order.

Don’t even bother with these clowns. You would be better off putting ten monkeys in a room and giving them a chemistry set. They make mistakes, charge a fortune and have a bad attitude — the trifecta of bad business. Plus, when I asked to use the public restroom I was told they had lost the key a while ago and not replaced it, and they wouldn’t let me use the bathroom inside the pharmacy either. I’ll never use them again and instead will go to The Medicine Shoppe in Orinda.

Dealing with Abbot’s over the phone can be challenging and their prices tend to be high, although compounding pharmacies in general are fairly pricey. However, if you are looking for a local Berkeley-​Oakland compounding pharmacy and, in particular, want flavored drugs for your pets, they do a good job.

Had to get a drug compounded for my dog and I understand that compounded drugs are expensive but $ 70 for 2 months? holy hell! I picked up the drug in a capsule form and from what I understand a suspension form is usually less expensive. I asked the pharmacist or tech whoever how much cheaper it would be. He said a little cheaper. I’m thinking well, how much cheaper? Care to clarify?
It’s towards the end of the two months and I need a refill, I call my vet, and she said actually you shouldn’t be running out yet. She said you should still have enough until this certain date. I count the days and I count the pills and I’m missing 8. I know that I haven’t overdosed my dog 8 days in the past month and a half, and I know I didn’t just lose 8 pills. I know there’s a thorough check system that goes on with filling scripts, and I’m not pointing fingers but nevertheless I am suspicious. It doesn’t matter though I transferred my prescription to another compounding pharmacy.

They only reason I am giving them 3 stars and not two is because they were able to get the prescription from my dog transferred and filled within an hour and they gave me a nice icepack to keep his medication cold on the hour long drive home. They are however very expensive. I normally paid $ 29.00 for my dog’s medication to be compounded down in socal; however I paid $ 61.00 at this pharmacy and since he needed his medication I really had no choice but to pay this crazy amount. The pharmacy is a little hard to find from the street, I actually drove by it a few times. I have already found a new pharmacy that compounds his medicine closer to me and at only $ 31 per month.

I’ve always had good service at Abbotts. I use them for human pharmaceutical compounded drugs. The pharmacists I talk to are very knowlegeable.
I picked up a prescription once and after that I’ve had it sent by mail and UPS. Mostly because it takes me an hour or more to drive there and back during the day.
I’ve found them very helpful over the last two years.

Trying to get a prescription filled here was challenging to say the least, and the thing that pushed me over the edge here was having a pharmacist hang up on me.
I’m not clear why, but he couldn’t seem to follow the conversation where I asked, after two failed fax attempts, for an email address. He said, ‘I don’t check my email here but you could send it to the pharmacy’. OF COURSE I will send it to the pharmacy, David.
At the end of our call, he asked if there was anything else, I said no and he slammed the phone down.
I called back to inform them that I will not be taking my business there, and that their customer service is abominable. Shame on you, grumpy pharmacist.

I have a prescription I have been trying to get compounded and filled for some time now, mostly because Abbotts was supposed to call my doctor to clarify and then fill it. I spent an hour in the office talking to a tech and going over what I should do to get it filled. They never called my doctor. I have since gone to the Parnassas Compounding Pharmacy in the city. They had no problem filling it.

I have to agree with the first reviewer. The customer service at Abbotts is execrable. I have never gone in there and had them be able to find my record and/​or my prescription without a lot of hassle. Not only that, they require you to call and confirm that you want a compounded prescription filled (and provide a credit card number in advance).
This morning I waited on hold for several minutes, just for the privilege of telling them that yes, I indeed wanted the prescription filled. I wouldn’t have had my vet call it in otherwise. True to form, my record was misfiled.
The next time I need a compounded prescription, I’m taking it to Pharmaca.

Complete boobery. Abbots repeatedly lost my (cat’s) order, I had to call them back 6 times (not exaggerating), the final call they took my credit card info and address. I was told I’d receive my order in 2 days.
I called 5 days later and they had lost the order again. Abbot’s doesn’t take responsibility for their errors and they try to blame the vet and customer. They seem very confused and out of it. Abbot’s has very poor customer service.