DrugBuyers.Com: NHRG experiences? (NROP?)

Deborah,

I know they "technically" require a photo ID (to prove you're of legal age) and documentation that you've had a physical within the past 12 months by a licensed practitioner (I had had one done a few months ago by an NP [Nurse Practitioner -- which lasted all of about 2 minutes, or about the same amount of time as your actual doctor consult with NHRG] and NHRG didn't ask any questions about it (I think the site said the physical could be from an M.D., D.O., N.P., or P.A. [not sure if R.N. was OK or not]). I think the site said something about having to send "records pertinent to your condition" but I'm not positive. I'll tell you what I did and it worked fine:

1) Requested meds (#90 10/325 N's) which got put into "shopping cart," then I "checked out". Completed their online health questionnaire in about 10 minutes (this was done around 1:30 a.m. on 11/27/04). Set "best time for physician to contact" as "between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon". Got an e-mail from their automated system confirming my order request and stating I needed to fax records, ID, and physical to an "866" fax #, and gave the doc's name.

2) At approximately 9:30 a.m. 11/27/04, faxed cover sheet to the fax # from the e-mail. Attached were: copy of driver's license; copy of physical form signed by an N.P. at my regular doc's office (I had also had some lab work done at that time [with the physical] to test for TB and make sure my immunity to Hepatitis B was still good [had the vaccine several years ago], all lab work was fine so I attached that and faxed -- I "whited-out" some of the more personal info on the sheet [i.e. my health insurance info, which NHRG doesn't need anyway]; some medical records from 2003 from a few times I saw a neurologist about my migraines (he had given me a round of botox treatments which helped but then my insurance refused to pay, so I couldn't afford them anymore); and finally results from CT and MRI scans done in 2001 when I first saw a (different) neurologist about migraines -- both reports were normal. That was ALL I faxed to them -- the records from the neurologist did state that they had prescribed me Percocet in the past (and still do off and on), but I've only been prescribed hydro by OP's (since 2003) so no records showed that I had ever been prescribed what I had requested (although I could have faxed them prescription labels from past OP's that gave me 10/325's hydro -- so I didn't lie on the questionnaire about whether I had previously been prescribed the medication requested).

3) Got a call at @ approx. 11:30 a.m. that same day (Saturday, 11/27) from the doc, lasted about 1 minute. She apparently didn't have my records cause she said I needed to fax them to the # provided; when I said that I already had, she replied that I should be fine. She asked if I had been prescribed hydro 10/325's before (yes), and why (I said for severe migraines), and she asked if they worked (yes), and what my level of pain was (I said between 8 and 10 on the worst ones). She said "make sure you take with food because this medication can make you nauseous" and that was it. (I have an RX for phenergan (an anti-emetic) from my regular doc if I get an upset stomach or vomiting, so that wasn't a concern for me -- of course my regular doc will give me all of the phenergan in the world (so I won't throw up when the migraines get really bad) but GOD FORBID they prescribe pain meds (they just say to take OTC Excedrin, which does about ZERO for my migraines) lest they actually practice compassionate medicine...better to just have me miss work, lose vacation time, suffer needlessly, etc.) The doc said that the script was approved and she was sending to the pharmacy, and that as long as all of my paperwork had been faxed in (which I had already done and I told her that), she said the order would be filled on Monday and overnighted for Tuesday (11/30/04) delivery.

4) Checked "order status" on their website on 11/27 in the afternoon (after my 1 minute consult, for which the doc made $50) and it said "at pharmacy".

5) Did not receive any e-mails notifying me of shipping or ANYTHING on Monday, figured I'd wait and see if anything showed on Tuesday (11/30) but it didn't. The "order status" still said "at pharmacy". Sent CS an e-mail @ approx. 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. on 11/30/04 asking "where's my order; the doc said it would be shipped yesterday and I didn't get it today, etc." Within 30 minutes, got an automated e-mail stating that my order had been shipped and would arrive the next day (Wednesday, 12/1). Checked the tracking # on the Fedex website and it was valid, said delivery was scheduled for 12/1 by 10:30 a.m. EST. About 45 minutes later, got an e-mail back from CS (approx. 10:00 p.m. on 11/30) stating that my order had already been shipped and repeated the tracking # (but NO apology, NO explanation for why it took a day longer than the doctor had said, and NO discount code!). Re-checked "order status" online and it said "order shipped" and there was the same tracking # next to that.

6) Fedex arrived at approx. 9:30 a.m. on 12/1/04 and I of course had to sign for the package, which the pharmacy DID NOT fill the bottle with cotton so you could clearly tell what it was. I was NOT pleased. Fortunately, the Fedex guy didn't say anything.

Order was good though -- #90 10/325 Watson's. The packaging was terrible (i.e. the "rattling") and the label on the bottle looks like someone printed it off an old dot-matrix printer at home. Nevertheless, it does have the pharmacy's name and #, and the doc's name on it. Total for order was around $200 for everything (the consult, meds, and Fedex overnight "priority" delivery [i.e. by 10:30 a.m.]), and that was with a $25 discount code that someone had posted on the one of the threads in this forum a few weeks ago. There are no discounts shown in the VIP section, but the NHRG online order form has a slot for putting in a discount code (and the one I tried that someone else posted actually worked).

Summary of their service:

Good things: minimal documentation required (some people apparently aren't even asked for any records at all) -- I have all of my records so I sent a minimal amount right off the bat to pre-empt any delay (which they could use as an excuse as to why my order was delayed); just make sure you fax a picture ID and a physical form of some kind. Also the doc did my consultation on about 9 hours notice, and it lasted about a minute (plus she called me, I didn't have to use any long distance -- even their fax # is toll-free). Order got quickly approved and sent to pharmacy right away. Also, CC was NOT charged until meds shipped (as a matter of fact, my card has STILL not been formally charged and order was delivered almost 24 hours ago).

Bad things: once at pharmacy, it sat for a day for no reason without them shipping it, and no one from NHRG ever called or e-mailed me about any shipping delay. I had to complain first before I got an answer, and then they didn't even apologize or offer any explanation as to why my order sat at the pharmacy for a day without being shipped, nor did they offer any kind of discount code to use for next time since they delayed me on this order. The WORST thing though was the abysmal packaging job they did -- the "rattling" of the pills was totally inexecusable when a simple 10-cent wad of cotton plugged into the top of the bottle would have prevented it.

Having tried some different OP's over the past few years, this wasn't too bad (all things considered), but I have to say that I preferred YOD the best of all of them. Will go back to YOD when these run out. While NHRG seems to be doing "ok" at keeping up with shipping out its meds (i.e. hydro 10/325, which is what everyone wants), they have apparently (from some of the messages in this thread) had some prior supply problems. At least they don't charge your card before shipping, unlike some NROP's I've heard horror stories about. I never had any supply problems with YOD and they were always great with customer service -- but I think they are more insistent on having more detailed records than NHRG (and all records MUST be sent to YOD before they will schedule a consult for you, unlike NHRG). If you have good records (that are recent), I'd go through YOD -- become a VIP on this site and you get continual discounts from YOD which more than pay for the cost of VIP membership. NHRG seems to be very reluctant to give out any discount codes. So, if you've got solid, recent records, and a little extra time (to send those records in), I'd go with a higher-end ROP like YOD. After trying NHRG I'll be going back -- plus YOD has been around for years and NHRG is fairly new, so you never know whether they are going to be there in a month when it comes time to refill (or they could still be there but not offering hydro anymore). (Oh -- the final "worst thing" with NHRG -- you have to pay $50 for a consult EVERY TIME you refill, which is also a waste of my time [having to talk to the doc every 25 days so she gets her $50 for the 1 minute consult]. With YOD, I would get 3 refills and then have to have a repeat consult[the YOD consults cost more individually, but are far less frequent], so it was a lot cheaper in the long-run.)

Just my 2 cents, so to speak...feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, concerns, etc. about my experiences with various OP's and what you can expect. Hope this helps,

Marc