Thyroid UK have been receiving a lot of very concerning communications from people regarding the most prominent UniPharma T3 supplier.
There appears to be a MAJOR supply issue with UniPharma T3. The assumption is that ANY company will not currently be able to source this medication.
With this in mind, Thyroid UK would strongly advise against handing over any money for UniPharma T3.
Please find below a copy of an email from the Greek company in question regarding their current situation:
Dear Customers,
Since our customer service is spending hours each day answering emails separately while they could be doing something more useful we decided to send you all this circular email. If you are one of the customers who received information that your order has been shipped please ignore this message. This email is meant for those who are waiting for their whole orders or second part of their orders to be shipped.
We think that after more than 3 months of serious problems with supplies of Uni Pharma T3 most of you are aware of this. It is almost completely unavailable in pharmacies and supplies we are getting are drastically smaller than before and they are arriving at much slower pace. To all of you who are sending us emails daily asking when your order is going to be shipped, why we didn’t inform you that there are shipping queues and long periods of waiting, why your order was not shipped when we told you it would be and so on we would like to explain a few things.
Your money is not with us. It has been invested in new supplies. Same as you we are dependable on others since we are not producing T3 ourselves. We only know what they tell us and we are getting promises daily and weekly that situation is going to improve, that we will get at least more than the last week and we are all waiting same as you for all this to happen.
When we are making a schedule when orders will be shipped to whom we are counting on the supplies we were promised to get. If we receive less we are not able to ship all that was planned.
We are doing our best to ship what we get. But as it usually happens in extremelly busy and stresfull times we had some mistakes with tracking numbers, unfortune with several lost parcels and so on. Please understand that all this is understandable when somebody is under a lot of pressure.
Please don’t ask us to send your order to you before those who were in front on you in line because you are running out of supplies, have this or that problem and similar. It would be unfair to other customers who are patiently waiting for their orders. Thing that they are not sending us emails each day doesn’t mean that they have less problems than you.
Lately we are receiving emails in which some persons are threatening us, insulting us and so on unless their order is shipped emidiatelly. This is causing completely oposite effect. We know how hard we worked for all of you all these years and how good we were to each customer. We don’t deserve this. We are trying to go through the worst shortage of T3 in Greece until now and ship all your orders. Any Greek pharmacist who worked in this field for last 20 years will cofirm you that nothing similar to this happened ever before. We had shortages until now which you didn’t even feel because of our hard word. However, this is above all our powers.
We are not deceiving anyone, same as you we are waiting for supplies from someone who already got money from us, so we are in this together. How long this waiting is going to last nobody can tell. As said, everything we receive we ship emidiately.
And at the end we would like to ask you one more time to be patient and not to spread panic around. We think that some people are causing panic on purpose. We don’t care and don’t have time to think about what are their goals with that. Panic never did any good to anyone and in contrary it can only make things worse.
We remain at your service as always.
Written by
LouiseRoberts
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Really hoping that this is quickly resolved for all awaiting their meds. Have to see it from this set up's perspective and as they claim to suffer hypo too, can't be any fun for them, either ❣️
No point getting upset...you'll just feel worse. Hugs all round xx
I absolutely cannot see it from the company's perspective. They should not continue taking payment until they have sufficient stock to fulfil existing orders.
A.N.Other supplier took correct action quite some time ago by suspending all further orders. No acceptable reason for this supplier not to do the same.
This company seem hell bent on blaming everybody else rather than their poor business practice. There will undoubtedly be many patients who've ordered in good faith and could now be finding themselves in a precarious financial situation. I feel desperately sorry for those.
You haven't seen the one they sent me when I complained after receiving HC instead of T3. It's wasn't just rude but also hysterical. I wouldn't sent an email like that to anyone even it I was suffering from the worst case of PMS in the history of womanhood. I was first shocked, than angry. Now I find it even amusing...It could be used as an excellent example of how NOT to write an email to a customer lol
On a serious note: we could make their lives difficult but this could scare other suppliers off and, unfortunately, we need them ;(
Their lives should be made difficult as long as they find it acceptable to take people's money without sending T3. If it makes other suppliers think twice about doing the same thing then that it to the good.
There is a lot of uncertainty about the whole situation. I guess there is still a tiny bit of hope that they may be able to send some orders, although I feel pessimistic about it.
We could report them somewhere (I'm not sure where...) but this would make the whole issue of black market of medication, including T3, more visible. Given the threat of T3 withdrawal in the UK it could actually make things more difficult for us. The ideal solution is to have T3 available on the NHS - this is where the problem is...
T3 is available on the NHS although it is increasingly difficult to get it prescribed. It is perfectly legal to import T3 into the UK for one's own use with or without prescription, it's not a black market thing.
The problem is that the company is taking money for T3 it doesn't have and can't supply in a timely manner. I rather doubt the company is worried about EU or Greek law as they are almost certainly having payment sent to Montenegro to avoid paying Greek taxes.
Wonder if you could advise me how to import some form of T3 for personal use? Like many, I have been treated for hypothyroidism for years but took a dip recently and could barely function. The GP did the standard tests and told me my thyroid was fine despite all evidence to the contrary. I arranged for more extensive tests to be done privately and it subsequently emerged that I have Hashimoto's with occasional symptoms of Grave's but the GP advised just to keep on taking the Levothyroxine so am back to square one. I have seen various people on the forum mention similar circumstances and that they self medicate with some form of T3 -many of them going to Greece or Spain and buying it over the counter - sometimes without a prescription. I am housebound so travelling abroad is not an option - nor is providing a prescription. Wondering if anyone can advise me on:
1) The different types of T3 medications and their pros and cons.
2) How to work out the size of dose one requires.
3) How to access and import such medication from reputable sources etc.
Thanks for your suggestion.Am posting from my mobile. Have other autoimmune conditions that affect manual dexterity and cause blurred vision. It took me ages to write last post so, rather than do it all again, I tried to copy / paste it into a new post. Managed to copy it on to the clipboard but it wouldn't allow me to paste it into new post so back to square one.
While I'm on, could you advise how I go about changing over to the FB version as I find it easier to understand and negotiate?
I suggested that you do your own post as I cannot answer your questions and your comment will probably not get spotted on this thread.
I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean by the Facebook version. There are lots of FB thyroid groups, including our one: facebook.com/thyroiduk/ But FB is separate to this forum.
It is your FB one I am thinking about. I thought that it was a choice of either signing up with the FB option or the e.mail version. I didn't realise that there was an option to do both.
Afraid I am a bit of a dumpling when it comes to technical matters -but maybe that is being unfair to dumplings! 😄.
I clicked on the link you provided and discovered a cornucopia of information and we'll - targeted offers. I had no idea that there was such a body of expert knowledge and research and pro - active co-working etc going on behind the scenes. Christmas has come early!
I didn't see any dialogue between members like we have in this forum so am taking it that that is not the focus of that group. Was wondering if there is a Facebook equivalent of this group that is administered by the same group / organisation but where members have ongoing dialogues - as in this group?
Please forgive me for sounding a bit obtuse and garbled but the combination of brain fog / clumsy fingers and tiny keyboards on mobiles does not work well!
There is SOME discussion on there between members, but nowhere near as much as here I'm afraid! There IS a new HealthUnlocked App which might make things easier for you, but I'm afraid that Apps are a little out of my tech area! Clutter may be better placed to help with that! xx
Thanks Clutter. Afraid I'm like a dinosaur when it comes to apps etc. Will need to see if I can find someone to show me how to handle aps etc. Thanks again.
Thanks. This looks very informative. Will take time to read it through thoroughly as there is a lot to digest. Greatly appreciate the info. Thanks again.
Well, you wouldn't have to prove it. You could inform the Greek tax authorities of the company's Montenegro bank account and leave it up to the tax authority to investigate or not.
Their bank account is in somebody else's name but it probably could be traced to the company. I suspect they have a number of bank accounts, not just one. Given that they have been used by so many of us here we probably would be able to collect details of their different bank accounts via private messages
I think it's best to wait and see what happens. If, in a couple of months many HU members still haven't received their orders or any refunds we will have grounds to take action. I wouldn't want to "pass a sentence" just yet... (perhaps naively). On another hand, it would give them more time to wrap up the business and "tidy up" any loose ends...
I have removed your email address from your comment, as it's best not to post personal contact details on the main forum.
There is a PM (private message) system to be used for communicating with members off forum. If you don't know how to use the PM systemm, you can learn more about it in the Help section here
I've just seen your post. It probably doesn't feel that way but you've been lucky you didn't pay! I wish they had been rude to me BEFORE I transferred my money...I think their rudeness means they won't be back in the business and none of us going is see our money again: they simply don't care anymore to be polite to their customers, which means they won't need us in the future...
I was very lucky. They were being very off about the offer. I happened to see an admin post about low stock before I replied. I said better I go elsewhere in any case as I hear your out of stock. Tula insisted that they were not out of stock and that was not the reason that the offer wasn't available. I decided simply from their rudeness not to order from them and went elsewhere. It was only after the fact that I found the many posts stating they were definitely out of stock AND were keeping peoples money.
Why are they still advertising T3? I looked last night and there were money off offers, isn't this just irresponsible? Like a lot of people I parted with over £100. Because I haven't been on the site for many months, I had no idea that supplies were in jeopardy. I think as a rule of thumb maybe we should send an email regarding availability before ordering?
We received some very rude emails saying the delay was because of a lack of information on the payment reference, which is nonsense. We emailed a copy of the letter the bank sent us confirming the payment. No mention at all about supply problems for many days.
There is a shortage of Uni-Pharma T3. People have been emailing to check availability and the company has told them delivery will be in one to two weeks. I think it is fraudulent to take money when the company doesn't have stock and doesn't know when it will get any.
As far as I'm aware Tiromel, Grossman Cynomel, Thyro3, Perrigo and Pfizer Cytomel are still available from other suppliers.
Would you be able to pm me with these suppliers please? I am due to see the endo (sadly my trusted endo who first prescribed me T3 in 2011 and monitored my condition as I managed my doses myself since then has now retired) and I fully expect to have my T3 withdrawn although I shall be taking a copy of the BTA FAQ for Endocrinologists with me to give to him... Thankfully, I was lucky enough to get a supply from the Greeks before it all went crazy, so I do have around 6 month's supply, but I would like a reliable source as a back-up.
They are not supposed to withdraw T3 if the patient has clinical need but there are another two T3s available (not licenced but can be prescribed on a named-patient basis).
Please write a post asking members to send you a private message where you can obtain T3. Members are more likely to share sources if you include recent thyroid results and ranges and say how much Levothyroxine you are taking and how long you've been taking it.
Did you see shaws message above for the named basis stockists? If can't do this, I have a Tiromel source, and a Thybon Henning Liothyronine 20 mcg source which I have just used?
Several members have given similar stories following my own post on this issue. This company has failed to supply my T3 more than two months after I ordered.
Well done Louise I think this post is overdue!
As clutter stated above, the fact that they continue taking orders in this circumstance gives them no excuse. Had they stopped taking orders and sent this email much sooner (e.g. so we might find another short term supply had we ordered already) I suspect all of us would have had far more sympthathy.
The fact that they accuse rightly annoyed people of being rude, when in my personal experience they have been also does little to improve my judgement.
Of course it is normal to pay upfront before receiving goods. What is not normal businesss practice is that the supplier continues taking money for new orders when they can't supply people who paid 2 months or more ago.
Sorry, Clutter, I didn't make myself clear. You or I , as individual customers, have to pay upfront. Most Businesses have an account with a regular supplier and pay their account on a monthly basis. Having to pay upfront, in the UK at least , is reserved for Trade customers who do not have a track record with the company they want to obtain bulk goods from.
I quite agree with your next sentence, I too am waiting for my T3.
Please be patient with these suppliers - I have used them many times and although the last order was slower in coming it did come. I have been in contact with them today and the above explanation is correct. A wait of 3-4 weeks can occur but after that then it is reasonable to query. I fear we may soon be unable to get our medication they way we have been doing from abroad so it might be wise to have a good supply to hand. There are powers to be that don't want us having access to self help which I am sure many on this forum are aware of but new folk might panic unnecessarily and in coming to grips with conditions that are complex to put it mildly, is difficult enough. Become a bit of a hoarder in this instance.
There's no need to panic or tolerate the poor customer service and rudeness of that particular company, just buy an alternative brand of T3 from a supplier who doesn't fraudulently take money without being able to supply goods in a timely manner. Uni-Pharma is not the only T3 available.
I appreciate that Clutter but I do know that ALL avenues will eventually dry up, we can only hope the work others are doing get T3 on NHS is successful. If you have another supplier could you please pm me with the information.
Clutter, may you please inbox me other reliable sources of T3 in Europe. I am completely out of tablets and would be really grateful if you could help. Many thanks
Sorry not willing to go down that road - folk will have to do their own homework - after more years of research than I can count. I and others like me have given up - burnt out.
All that is taking place is not news to me but history and it is only the beginning, countless 1000s of people like me know, we have given up trying to get folk to use what is holding their ears apart and us the eyes and ears God gave us. Just need people to take control of their affairs and do what they can.
Keep any avenue for supplies open for they will be under more pressure than you can imagine, believe me.
Well lass - whether you believe me or not makes no difference to me, just do not want folk caught on the hop but I am not prepared as I said to go any further.
I suspect you will find the info you are after on one of those many sites for conspiracy theorists. I am considering selling tin foil to line hats on eBay
The Greek supplier is reputable-but they could not keep up with the demand. They told me they were the only ones that had Uni-Pharma T3. The 'other' reputable supplier was shut down temporarily, and my shipment was caught in that, & I received a letter from Health Canada saying it could not be imported & of course I lost my money too. That is when I ordered from the Greek supplier, and it took SO long, but I finally got my order about 3 weeks ago.
My supplier sells Uni-Pharma T3 when in stock. I am always aware when they cannot get hold of it so the Greece supplier isn't the only one selling this brand
I ordered it March 22 and it was shipped May 5. Of course that was me sending several emails inquiring about my order. So I think I received it 2 months after I ordered.
I hope I receive my order within the 2 months at least! Even if I do, I won't be ordering from them again. Pretty unforgivable behaviour from them. Can't trust them anymore.
Hi Redgypsee, may you please inbox me the Greek supplier you used, I would really be grateful as am completely out of meds and was told a similar story by the supplier. Many thanks
Hi, I did originally read the whole thread - it just says that there is a supply issue with Uni Pharma. Does anyone know why this is and how long it will last? Are Uni Pharma having issues themselves or are they just refusing to supply this company? I still haven't received my order or had any of my money refunded, so I would like more detail if anyone has further information.
There continues to be a shortage of Uni-Pharma for reasons unknown. Currently Uni-Pharma ask Greek pharmacies to fax a prescription before they supply pharmacies. The online supplier continues to take orders and money although they have been unable to fulfil orders since April. There is no further information.
Im not sure what company everyone is talking about and don't want to buy from them. I'm due to make an order very soon so can anyone message me alternative suppliers please as I really can't afford to run out. Thanks
MissFG, The problem is in part due to an ongoing shortage of the UniPharma brand of T3, not just this particular supplier. So you may need to consider changing to a different brand altogether.
I had some awfully complicated communications with the Greece based company a while back. I buy my T3 in the UK and have used the same company since April 2016 with no problems. They also take payment with my usual debit card
I live in the UK but my GP only tests my TSH. I had my thyroid function tested privately and it shows raised TSH normal T4 and Low T3 and my GP doesn't prescribe T3. I have been buying mine in the UK for over a year now with no problems except less funds for chocolate
Hi lovely could you possibly pm me the uk web address to order from? My order from Greece that I've paid for has been a month and they aren't returning emails 😔
Would you be able to PM where you get your T3 supply from as my doctor won't prescribe anymore and I don't want to go back to feeling so bad all the time.
Yes I received this email too, except I'm one of the ones mentioned in the beginning of it that have already been informed my T3 has been shipped ~ on 31st May. It has not arrived and its now a month later so I'm smelling a rat that they've claimed to ship to a bunch of us to shut us up, and then it'll be "gone astray/ nothing we can do/chance you take" I gave them £120 for 6 months supply, ran out long ago and feeling all the old symptoms back with a vengeance.
I had a problem earlier in April/May with late delivery, (airport holding parcels), which I mentioned on here along with other posters, but got my order eventually, luckily with a couple of weeks tablets left. However I ordered 600 tabs.on 5th September and they only said that it may take a little longer as the company they buy from shuts down for a month's holiday in August. I've not had a shipment email yet (so 5 weeks ago now) and emailed them today but yet to hear anything. I've got about 4 weeks left. Now spending my days looking for replacement - Tiromel from Turkey is looking favourite but who knows....getting very anxious now.
The supplier has yet to fulfill orders going back to April although it continues taking money for new orders. A number of people were spun the line about the distributor closing for August but as far as I'm aware none received any T3 during September.
As someone who ran an online pharmacy in the past and also had to rely on suppliers to ship my orders, I can sympathize to an extent. It's a tough call. A supplier will not send anything until they are paid and of course you have to use the customers' money to pay them unless you have a large surplus of cash of your own. I didn't and I don't think the Greek seller does either. If your supplier lets you down, as has obviously happened to the Greeks, then you are screwed. You don't have the money to give back to the customer nor do you have the med. Not a fun place to be in...major rock and hard place.
I do agree that no more orders should have been taken till that situation was resolved. But the pressure from customers is probably what drove him to do it. And it seems that he did try to give an alternative even if it wasn't liked by customers. Like I said, it's a really bad place to be in and it all really comes down to the supplier. If they screw him over, then he and the customer both lose. You really have to set up with a supplier that you have great trust in and those are hard to come by.
That said, a couple of years ago I lost $145.00 for different reasons and it was sent thru WU. I made a police report and also sent a report to WU. Lo and behold, just last month, I got a letter in the mail saying there was a lawsuit against WU and given a claim form for a remission submission. Seems WU paid $586 million to settle charges brought by the FTC and the DOJ. They admitted to criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service led the investigation. The suit is United States vs. The Western Union Company and can be seen online by googling the lawsuit name.
So my advice to anyone out money to this company and who have been waiting for a significant amount of time for an order to arrive is to file a report with WU and your local police. You may or may not get your cash back...probably not. But it will make the powers that be aware and perhaps make them take action. And if nothing else it might make you guys feel somewhat better. I filed and forgot about mine thinking I'd never see that $145.00 again. But I might after I submit this form. Got nothing else to lose so why not?
i ordered T3 in December 2017 and my order is unfulfilled and noted some of you are 8 months on and still waiting.... this is so unfair and they should not be taking £ when they cannot supply the goods
jodyel, Keep us updated on this if you can. It will be interesting to hear whether your friend receives UniP brand or the other brand that some people have received instead (despite that they actually ordered UniP).
I sent to Unipharma 120 Euros. They come back to me after almost a week saying that they only got 95 Euros. I speak to my bank, Halifax, and they say they got 120 Euros and the £9 transfer fee was charged to me on top of the 120 Euros. I come back to them and they say this
''This is absolutely not true and if you really spoke to your bank they are laying. We showed you that our bank is charging only 2 Euros. The rest is Halifax, Lloyds and their intermediary banks. We have too many years of experience with banks all over the world including those in UK (and especially Lloyds and those belonging to it) to fall for such false stories. You saw how much we received. You can either get 420 tablets or you can pay missing 25 Euros is you want 600. Are you happy with that or not is absolutely not our problem but the problem of your bank.
Apostolos Gazis
customer service''
So in the end IF I am actually getting anything is 420 tablets instead of 600.
This means that Unipharma is quite happy to keep 100Euros I sent to their account. This is what it seems their final reply
''Not all banks use intermediary banks for Montenegro, just Lloyds Group. Others don't use them and so don't have such high fees. The fact that you keep your account in the unprofessional low class bank is not our problem. Neither it is yours why we keep our accounts in Montenegro. I don't know from which part of the world you are from but you are very poorly informed about UK itself and Europe in general, or maybe about anything in the world really, so it is useless to tell you about austerity measures in Greece... We won't read or reply to your rude emails anymore. We just deleted the last one without reading it. I am replying because I accidentally opened this one. This won't happen again since from now on your email is blocked.
This is their last message after keeping 100 Euros
Not all banks use intermediary banks for Montenegro, just Lloyds Group. Others don't use them and so don't have such high fees. The fact that you keep your account in the unprofessional low class bank is not our problem. Neither it is yours why we keep our accounts in Montenegro. I don't know from which part of the world you are from but you are very poorly informed about UK itself and Europe in general, or maybe about anything in the world really, so it is useless to tell you about austerity measures in Greece... We won't read or reply to your rude emails anymore. We just deleted the last one without reading it. I am replying because I accidentally opened this one. This won't happen again since from now on your email is blocked.
Yannis Vassilakis
customer service
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