Mercury Drugstore: No Return No Exchange

October 9, 2014 by Didi 388 Comments

Mercury Drugstore has been the only drugstore in the country for years. It was only recently that there were new players in the industry. Before there flooding of The Generics Pharmacy – it was only in Mercury Drugstore that you can buy medicines. I used to complain that there were so few Mercury Drugstores and that their business hours were only up to 8PM. When I was younger I used to worry that if an emergency happens, we wouldn’t be able to buy medicine elsewhere! But then a few years ago, I was so happy to see that there are branches that are open 24 hours. Gosh, FINALLY someone thought of doing that. It was a long time coming. A few years after – branches were mushrooming everywhere. I applaud their desire to serve more people – I thought it was such a great move. I mean for a pioneer – it was a long time coming.

One of the things that I like with Mercury Drugstore is that they offer refunds and exchanges without question. As long as you have the receipt with you and it hasn’t been more than 7 days – they will give you a refund (if you pay in cash) or give you store credit (which you will use that same time too!) This was something that makes me patronize them – because with medicines, there are no loop holes. The medicines you are returning or exchanging should not be tampered with and in the same condition that you got them. Easy right? This has been their policy for a long long time. But now – things have changed. Yesterday, while I was buying medicines for Connor – the pharmacist who was assisting the lady beside me was asking the lady to make sure that the medicines she requested and will be paying for is correct as they have a new policy of NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE. I had to but in and so I asked the pharmacist. She said that it was a new policy of theirs and it just started last October 4 – they were now implementing a NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE policy on ALL medicines and purchases in Mercury Drugstore. The pharmacist said that you can only return the medicines IF the medicine is found defective (which I don’t know how you can prove) or is of the wrong dosage. I was so curious on this and I wanted to know the real issue (because some times, the frontliners are misinformed – I wanted to be sure) So I researched and fell short – I tried calling DTI but at 4:35PM NO ONE WAS ANSWERING THE CALL – it was just ringing off the hook.

I then went to the DTI site and clicked the NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE link and this is what I saw:

So that means, it’s literally NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE for ALL items because it’s quite rare that we get to buy good with defect, unless we weren’t able to inspect them. I got so confused so I called the DTI hotline and was told the same thing. I spoke to Madel Bacusin – she gave me an example that if I bought an expired medicine – I stopped her right there. Expired medicine? Who sells those things? My, what a wrong example to give! She then pointed me to the direction of the DTI website again – and this was what she was emphasizing on:

I was not asking for this – she was pointing me to the *written notice* of the No Return No Exchange policy. I have to tell you – she wasn’t listening to what I was asking per se. I think she didn’t understand the question I was asking her. Anyway – so there – Mercury Drugstore, though they don’t have any NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE words printed on their receipts, they openly declare this to every customer that buys their merchandise. So the concept is the same – all of the items purchased with them cannot be returned nor exchanged. If you ask me, I find it’s quite unfair – because as I said – medicines are hard to be tampered with and I find that there is NO LOOPHOLE with medicines. And as long as you have a receipt – I feel that you can have it exchanged for something you can use instead of having to be stuck with a medicine you won’t be using at all (which is a waste of money and a waste of the product). I would like to appeal on this policy because I feel it’s quite unfair. You don’t just go buying medicines out of impulse right? You buy they because you need them – and when after a few doses you become well what will happen to the rest of the medicine? They will just go to waste – what’s in my mind is that – those extra medicines that you return – may be sold to another person who needs them. It’s not as if that same medicine will not be sold – it will be for sure. I remember when I was pregnant, I was given an antibiotic because my colds were really really bad. My OB prescribed me with Cefalixin – instructed me to buy 10 days worth of antibiotic, but on the 7th day, I complained to her that I wasn’t feeling any better – she then told me to get another type of antibiotic. Since I still had quite a number of the Cefalixin – I went to Mercury to try and have them exchanged for the current prescription – and they did so, without question. The new antibiotic was able to help me feel better – it was only then that I realized that not all medicines can cure, it’s a trial and error to see what your body responds to better. What do you think?