Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Niall Taylor — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:55:25 GMT

[quote user="Neil Paton"] From Amazon,

My name is Heather Kehoe and I represent Executive Customer Relations within Amazon.co.uk. One of our mandates is to address the most acute customer account and order problems, and in this capacity, your correspondence has been brought to my attention.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. I am sorry to hear that the seller "Pets-Megastore" may be illegally selling prescription only medications...[/quote]

Nice one - keep us posted, I'll be checking the Amazon site.

Niall

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Jenny Smith — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:44:55 GMT

Me too! At least they are looking into it... (she hopes!)

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Mark Frost — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:11:26 GMT

Received the same email from the same lady :)

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Neil Paton — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:46:50 GMT

From Amazon,

My name is Heather Kehoe and I represent Executive Customer Relations within Amazon.co.uk. One of our mandates is to address the most acute customer account and order problems, and in this capacity, your correspondence has been brought to my attention.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. I am sorry to hear that the seller "Pets-Megastore" may be illegally selling prescription only medications.

I have highlighted this matter to the appropriate department within Amazon.co.uk. This department deals with possible violations of our policies and ensures that appropriate actions are taken against sellers that do not abide by the terms and conditions of the Participation Agreement.

I have requested that this department thoroughly investigate the matter which you have raised. Thank you for providing the contact details of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which will be of use in our investigations.

Please know that for account privacy reasons, we cannot disclose the outcome of any investigation we may perform.

Your feedback helps us to continue to provide better service and site experience, and is invaluable to us.

Many thanks once again for bringing this concern to our attention.

Regards

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Neil Paton — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:46:09 GMT

Hi - just to add to the voices I e mailed the VMD and amazon informing them of the situation.

keep us informed

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Jenny Smith — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:16:28 GMT

Thanks everyone

I eventually found an email address to send it to, the VMD site isn't very user friendly! Got a reply today saying they will be investigating it. I think the main reason I was worried is that the availability of it through such a mainstream, and therefore trusted, source like amazon may mean that people think this is a 'legal loophole' to obtain POM-V flea control products whilst bypassing the vet. The site itself seems very geared towards UK buyers, they even have a UK freephone number (although it's only answered 12am-7am apparently due to time differences!)

Jenny

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Libby Reys — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:12:25 GMT

[quote user="Emma Jarratt"]

You can buy Frontline Spot-On over the counter in the UK too Libby, it is NFA-VPS category, but Frontline Combo is POM-V and only available with veterinary prescription. (as to why vets have a problem with that......whole other kettle of beans!!!)

[/quote]

Yup, you can get that too. I get it myself To my mind, they'd think you were bonkers if you turned up at the vet for an examination and prescription for the stuff every time you needed it. Anyway it's only available off prescription.

Lib

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Phil Elkins — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:21:06 GMT

My understanding of the situation is that the company themselves are doing nothing wrong, and Amazon may be flirting on the wrong side of the law, but the main perpertrator of anything illegal is the person responsible for the importation, ie the purchaser, who should be gaining an STA before importing the products. I'm not entirely sure whether this would fall under the remit of HMRC as well as the VMD for illegal importation.

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Emma Jarratt — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:37:55 GMT

I've reported similar sites to VMD before (I phoned them and got whoever answered the phone to put me through to someone who dealt with this kind of thing!) only to be told they were well aware but couldn't do anything about it as they were based outside the UK. However UK residents buying from such sites are acting illegally I understand.

I think Mark is right though that if they're selling through Amazon then they will probably take action themselves as they could probably be held accountable.

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Libby Reys — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:44:34 GMT

You can buy Frontline over the counter here in Italy (pet shops, pharmacies). What's the problem? The vets here don't have a problem with that!

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

ms1083 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:18:31 GMT

I have myself reported a company for selling of POM-V spot on products, I got the e-mail from the VMD website - it is there somewhere!

Re: Frontline Combo [Plus] without a prescription?!

Mark Frost — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:49:08 GMT

I believe there is nothing the VMD can do for sites outside of the UK but they should be able to get Amazon to remove the items from their UK based site. You should be able to report this through their (VMD) website, may be worth an email to Amazon too as they won't want illegal content on their website.