Quick to Ship, Impossible to Reach a Provider
I signed up with Fridays after hearing so many positive reviews from influencers who emphasized how easy it was to communicate with a provider and ask questions about your medication. Unfortunately, that has been the complete opposite of my experience. Before my first prescription was ever shipped, I noticed it included a compounded formulation containing ingredients I had never taken before (including B6 and L-carnitine). I also noticed I had been prescribed an unusual 11.125 mg dose of tirzepatide, when I had previously been taking 15 mg. I wasn’t upset that my treatment was different—I simply wanted to understand why. Before the medication shipped, I specifically requested to speak with the prescribing provider so I could understand the reasoning behind the formulation and dosage. I also explicitly asked Fridays not to ship my medication until my questions had been answered. Instead, the medication was shipped anyway. Because I never heard from a provider, I had to spend time researching the formulation and ingredients on my own just to decide whether I was comfortable taking the medication. That should never be the patient’s responsibility. I reached out repeatedly asking to speak with the provider. Every time, customer service was polite and told me my concerns had been escalated. However, more than six weeks later, I still have never received a single response from a provider. No explanation for the 11.125 mg dose. No explanation for the added ingredients. Nothing. When it came time for my second refill, I again requested to speak with the provider. I asked to return to 15 mg and specifically requested not to change my formulation again. Instead, Fridays sent me another 11.125 mg prescription, changed my formulation again, and once again shipped the medication without addressing a single one of my questions. I still have never spoken with the prescribing provider. To be fair, the medication always shipped quickly, and customer service has been kind. Unfortunately, customer service cannot answer medical questions—they can only say that the issue has been escalated over and over. If you actually need guidance from the clinician managing your treatment, that support simply wasn’t there in my experience. The most disappointing part is that provider access is one of the biggest reasons Fridays is promoted online. I joined because I wanted ongoing communication with the clinician managing my medication. Instead, important decisions about my dose and formulation were made without explanation, my request to delay shipping until my questions were answered was ignored, and after more than six weeks I still have not received a response from a provider. If your priority is simply getting your medication delivered quickly and you don’t anticipate having questions about your dose or formulation, Fridays may work well for you. However, if you’re new to GLP-1 medications, want to understand why your medication or formulation is being changed, or value having access to the provider making those decisions, my experience was very different. I believe patients deserve to understand and participate in decisions about their treatment. Unfortunately, that wasn’t my experience with Fridays, and because of that I’ll be looking at transferring my care to another telehealth provider.