Walgreens Consumer Reviews - Page 3

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND -- I am an assistant manager at Walgreens, and for those of you who complain about us employees, I think you need to look at things from our point of view. First of all, if you approach us with an attitude, we are probably not going to go out of our way for you. I do not appreciate people telling me how to do my job and that whatever the problem is, is all my fault; when in reality it is not.

Most of the time I will do whatever I can for the customer. The only thing I ask from the customers is to be nice, and not to yell at me. Put yourselves in the other person's shoes. I think if half of you ever worked in a busy retail environment you would know where I am coming from. I used to relate to my customers all the time, and sometimes get to know them.

But now, after only three years, I dread seeing most of you when you come to talk to me. There are a lot of ways Walgreens compensates the customers if something goes wrong. For example, if we are out of a product when it is on sale, we give you a rain check. One of the reasons we run out of items is because on the first day of the sale customers come in a buy over what our set limit is, and then get mad at us when they point out there is a limit. It is a double standard. You get angry when we have it and we will not let you buy the shelf out, and then you get angry when we are out of it because some careless person bought way over the limit.

Also, our stockrooms are only so big. OK, so aside from items being out, people complain when they come to photo and want their pictures in one hour. Yes we have one hour photo, and most of the time that is no problem at all. But there are some occasions when we have to say, "I'm sorry, it will be 2 hours," and then we get yelled at for that. Unfortunately, sometimes we are busy, or someone comes in ahead of you with 12 rolls of wedding pictures and beats you to the punch. We cannot help that.

There are so many other things I get yelled at for every day by customers. It is ridiculous. I would never go into a store and scream at someone who works there. It is just plain wrong. Whatever happened to treat people how you want to be treated? I am sure there are some situations that warrant getting angry and frustrated with us, and I understand that. But you also have to understand we get frustrated too, but we cannot go off the handle like some customers do.

If we start yelling back, there is good chance we will lose our jobs. So we just have to stand back and take it which is not fair. I could go on forever, but I won't. I would love to handle every one of your complaints and give you a just reason on why some of these things happen, but like I said before, we normally try to find a solution to all your problems. Everyone has a bad day every once and a while, and that includes us. So in advance I am sorry if you come across an employee that is not extremely helpful, just put yourself in our shoes, and I think you will be a little more understanding if you just do that. Thank you for your time.

DENVER, COLORADO -- I've owned a home within blocks of the Walgreens at Tamarac and Hampden in Denver, CO for many yrs now, making it hard to pass up running over to for sales rather than traveling to another Walgreens or another chain store. However, I've yet to walk out of this store in a good mood.

1) If the Sunday sales section advertises something I just cannot seem to pass up, when I get there (on the same Sunday), they, more often than not, don't have the specialty sales items in stock (but always have a nice alternate product if I wish to pay the additional cost for it.)

I've also been told what days (that is to say, which days of the active sale dates) to expect to maybe find something - regardless of the dates the sale is advertised good on - and I've been told they don't issue rain checks anymore and that I just need to make sure and come in on the days they receive shipments or, they're always happy it seems to show me an alternative at a higher price. (Didn't I learn about something called bait and switch in grade school?!)

2) More often than not I check my receipt only to find out the sales aren't ringing up. (Usually due to my time and rushed schedule, it becomes more expensive to go back through the register price corrections than to overpay, but once you do insist on a price check, they inform you that it was an expired sale, the signs for which just haven't been removed, or that the shelves were mis-tagged/mis-stocked and the item really is several dollars more and, then, act miffed when you insist they take the item off the ticket altogether in that case.)

3) The camera department has LOST one batch of pics for over a week, and never offered to reimburse for the extra $$s paid for 24 hr pick up. Another time, non-replaceable pics taken with a throw-away camera grabbed at a last minute and turned in with explicit request, order and payment to be returned on a cd to be loaded to a computer, were simply processed, the film cut, (and no cd) making the purpose of taking the pics (to share via email and sites) not possible.

They had to be scanned at home and touched up to get the best possible quality, but what they weren't, was a clear pic from a cd. Walgreens offered no apology or refund for these mishaps, simply stating what had happened as if these were acceptable risks to be expected by the customer.

The manager of the store, a very non-apologetic, defensive, it's up to the customer to get here when we have it personality who doesn't seem to feel the customers time is at all important, OR their business with Walgreens for that matter, is actually MORE uncomfortable to deal with since it means hearing all the reasoning and supports felt by the manager to support your wasted trip and the stores lack of stock/availability or rain checks as last options. Apparently, customers are here to meet the schedules and stocking policies of this particular Walgreens.

This is not new at this store. As I said I've lived within blocks for many many years, and when I've commented to others in the neighborhood, they've also been familiar with the issues - it's a stones throw away though, making even the most irritated of customers consider it initially rather than drive through a blizzard or on icy roads to get to another. (Right until you're standing there being lectured on store rain check policy and why the manager doesn't like to order the items advertised that you've just spent your precious time coming out to the store to give them your money for, etc etc.)

I decided finally to make a complaint on the Walgreens corp website, only, guess what.... there's no complaint form to be readily found for customer concerns specifically - there's a toll free # where the person answering the call also can't give you any idea of how to send a complaint via the website, but gives you another # to call, this one leading to a menu that at the end of picking #s to get to the correct department, gives a message that no one can help you right now, please call another time (followed by dead air).

While I'm sure there is (somewhere on the site) a form to fill out with concerns and complaints, they have done their best to make it difficult to find (unlike the more reliable companies that give you an obvious, stand-out link on the front page inviting consumer comments and concerns - although, these companies are also the ones you never have concerns or complaints about to begin with - something to think about as well.)

So, I'm simply not going to use Walgreens at all (any Walgreens) and am suggesting to neighbors who've had similar experiences, that they use any of the 3 other pharmacy inclusive stores within 1 to 3 miles of the neighborhood and, maybe, another chain will take over this store location and one will finally be able to open up a Sunday sales paper and actually find what's advertised at the store across the way on walking in, AND, without having to accommodate a store managers supply schedules or spend twice as much on something they DO have when they DON'T have what they advertise etc. Consider it.

I own my home and don't see why I shouldn't be able to go to the nearest store in my neighborhood and get good, credible and reliable service unfortunately, unless the purpose of shopping there is unrelated to sales to attract you in or advertised special prices, it's not to be found at this location.

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA -- I am usually not one to complain, let alone write a complaint, but what happened today to me was uncalled for. So today March 12 at approximately 9 PM, I was shopping for some makeup and hair products. I decided to pop off the cap of a hairspray to see if I can smell anything, if so, does it smell good. Then I noticed one of the employees watching me about 20 feet away. She then yelled across the store saying, "Hey! You can't spray that!" in front of all the customers and my family. Very embarrassing for me since everybody turned and looked at me as if I did something wrong.

I was shocked because I didn't spray anything, I was trying to smell it, I never once sprayed anything. I replied back to her, "I didn't, I was only trying to sniff for a scent." Her response was, "Yes you did, I saw." Right, she saw me over everything and somehow saw this invisible spray since I never did. False accusation isn't the only problem here, it was her tone. She yelled at me with a convicted attitude like I was stealing or something; I was only sniffing. Last time I checked, it wasn't against the rules to smell something to see if you like it or not. This was a very poor representation of how a customer should be treated.

After I decided to ignore her and walk away, I could see her following me throughout the store and watching me, like I was some criminal. I think how wrong this was of her is obvious. I have done nothing wrong, yet she treats me like some criminal. It would have been okay if she had walked over and asked me if I did spray in privacy, saving me the embarrassment. Yelling across the store and following me though, isn't okay. I would like for her to be disciplined by her superiors and taught a lesson on how to talk to a customer properly as she should have.

DAPHNE, ALABAMA -- Our pharmacy staff has never been cheerful, I've never faulted them for that knowing Walgreens commercials with the pharmacist who Knows Your Name and loves to help is a selling tool. I use a very expensive medication, $59.00 supplies you with 4 pills and that is with insurance. This makes me a frequent flier to Walgreens because I can only buy an amount I have money for.

On a stop at Walgreens I asked this grumpy young assistant how many pills I had left on my prescription. His reply was "Well how do we know when you buy such weird quantities?" There is no privacy at this pharmacy and if you are 4th, 5th or 6th in line your prescription will be yelled out to you. I as most customers sit in the benches and wait and feel sick to hear customers private information shouted across the pharmacy.

Two weeks ago a customer came in to fill what must have been a narcotic. She left her information and walked around the store. The pharmacy was buzzing with excitement, all of a sudden this ridiculous blubber assistant yells out for a store full of customers to hear "She had it filled at another store". He was so excited if they had a big bell he would have been ringing it. This customer was paged brought to the front of the pharmacy window and told she was lying and they could not fill it.

I have no problem denying an early refill but come on, how disgraceful. The pharmacist should have taken her to the privacy window and explained why it could not be filled early. I work with indigent patients and they are hanging on by a thread, a smile means everything. All the customers were shocked, do we have no privacy?? Is this the real Walgreens commercial?

I talked to those around me and could not resist telling the Pharmacist how disgraceful I thought their actions were. Wonder who they talked about after I left. My husband is a physician and most doctors utilize the new E system- they know what pills you have taken since birth with a click of a button. There is no need for a pharmacist to police their stores anymore, or disregard our privacy. Thank you.

I was a Walgreens Assistant Store Manager for almost four years. In March, after eight months of ongoing harassment, I filed a hostile work environment claim with the company, as was my right according to the company. However, rather than taking my claim seriously, Loss Prevention sent out a clown of an investigator, who claimed she talked to "everyone" in the store and found no such claim of hostile work environment. I guess Loss Prevention, in claiming to talk to everyone, forgot to talk to anyone in the store except the store manager's pet. So the five people that would have supported the claims, well, they just don't count as everyone.

I was transferred for two weeks. Then I was transferred again. Just before leaving, I was warned by the store manager to be careful of the new store manager I was going to work for, because he had a history of firing people for minor infractions. So I went to the new store, where another assistant manager was fired within weeks. Why? Because she took a sick day, which she was allowed to do by the company. The manager said, he didn't like it when people took sick days, and fired her.

Then three months later, just out of the blue, I'm brought into the office, where I'm told that I supposedly sexually harassed another male employee. When I deny this charge and refuse to make a statement other than I didn't do it, my sanity is called into question by the same loss prevention investigator that again "talked to everyone." So, loss prevention has a history of "investigating" but not actually investigating and lying, so they can find whatever the District Manager wants them to find and fire people. Loss Prevention basically accused me of disgusting acts, but couldn't prove anything because it never happened.

This is the supposed pharmacy America trusts. Walgreens makes things up to protect their own. They don't care about their employees. Rather they would rather ruin people's lives with made up charges, just to protect themselves. I was retaliated against because I filed a claim to protect myself from a bad situation. But because the only witnesses to this event were two 20+ year employees of the company, my lawyers say they could put them on the stand, but they would lie about it. So I can't sue, because if I did, all Walgreens managers would do is lie about the situation. This is the culture that prevails within this company.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- On November 15, 2010 I purchased numerous items at Walgreens on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento, California. I had coupons for "cents off" on many of those items. The coupons were handed to the cashier prior to placing the items on the counter to be scanned. There was quite a bit of commotion in the front of the store at that time. A customer was complaining about the treatment she had received from that Walgreens manager. It was late when I arrived home so I did not check my receipt until the next day. I discovered that none of the coupon discounts had been taken off the total amount on the receipt.

I went back to the Walgreens on November 16, 2010 and asked to speak to a manager. The manager asked me why I had not come back right away. I was surprised by his comment because that I was standing in front of him the very next day. The manager continued to respond with insulting remarks. He even insinuated that I was lying about the incident of the previous evening. (With my receipt in hand he had gone into the back of the store. When he returned he said he reviewed the surveillance video and I had not handed anything to the cashier prior to the transaction.)

The manager grudgingly rounded up all of the items purchased on the previous night, while dragging me along with him to confirm that these were actually the items I had purchased. He returned all of the items, then rang them up again, this time, applying the coupon discounts. One of the coupons had not been a Walgreens coupon so he refused to give the $1.50 discount which was owed to me.

This whole process took approximately thirty minutes. When it was completed I told the manager he still owed me $1.50 and an apology. He replied, "I'm sorry, I looked at the video and you did not give the cashier any coupons." He turned to a woman behind me who had been patiently waiting to get a passport photo taken and he said, "I'm finally finished with that mess, now I can help you."

I do not understand how this man could have become a manager, and, I do not understand how Walgreens could have kept this man as a manager. I spent over $200.00 on prescriptions and other items that week at Walgreens, but refuse to pay to be treated in this manner and will be taking my business elsewhere.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- Unsatisfactory interaction with Manager at Walgreens Store 3201 N Broadway St Chicago, IL 60657 (Broadway/Belmont). Today, Roughly after midnight, I entered the Walgreens store on Belmont and Broadway with two friends of mine. The purpose of this visit was to purchase a drink, black cherry calypso lemonade, which the store usually carries. We went to the beverage section of the store, looked for roughly 2 minutes, realized that the store did not have the beverage and left. Upon walking down Broadway Avenue, we heard calls from behind us. We turned to see three people yelling "y'all are some thieving **."

Taken aback by these comments, we decided to walk back to see what the commotion was. When we arrived back at the store, we saw two of the three people standing outside. They began to call us names saying that the manager had come outside and accused of stealing from the store and that they were yelling down the street at us because it was shameful for us to steal from the store. They told us that the manager had gone back into the store and if we had not taken anything, we should go back and clarify the situation with him.

When we walked in, security and the manager was at one of the front counters. The manager then accused of stealing from the store. Offended by this accusation, we handed over a bag so that the manager could look into the bag and inspect it. In fact, what was in the bag was a work uniform worn earlier that day. Instead of apologizing, he began to say how he had been having problems at the store. This sounded like a personal thing and something that should not have been taken out on us. He began to say if we were not stealing then why were we in and out of the store so quickly. Again, no apology was offered.

He then said that when we were leaving the store, he called security and we ran. This is a lie and I offer you to review any tapes from the occurrence. It will show us walking into the store, standing in the beverage aisle and walking out of the store. If he had called security, we paid it no mind since we were not guilty of anything and probably did not think twice about it.

It was a very embarrassing situation because he not only accused us of stealing but also involved other patrons in the occurrence. I feel that an apology is owed and that something needs to be done about the situation. I also feel that even when we proved we had taken nothing, he still did not believe us. I would suggest that the tapes from the night be reviewed. If you acknowledge the fact that we were wrongly accused of shoplifting, I would greatly appreciate an apology that we are owed. Thank you.

KINGSBURG, CALIFORNIA -- I am a former employee of Walgreens. I got terminated recently because of false accusations brought on by an assistant manager. I was accused of giving a family member an employee discount when in fact it never happened. Anyone who works or has worked for Walgreens knows that some employees are given pm's, monies, or incentives for selling Walgreens named products. I actually did ring up family member because I was actually pushing some products which paid a pm. I had another employee witness the transaction. I did not want to be accused of giving a discount.

Anyway a month later, loss prevention came in and decided to terminate me on the word of the assistant manager. There was no investigation, no proof. I lost my livelihood, my 401k, and other investments, after working for this company for 3 yrs. I understand store policy does not allow for employees ringing up family, but because we are expected to reach a certain quota per day on pm's, I rang the family member with a witness. If we do not meet quota we are questioned as to why are our pm's so low and why are sales so low. I was just trying to meet my quota.

By the way the assistant manager and loss prevention could not come up with an exact date but proceeded to charge me for the unproven discount anyway. I called corporate and told them I could prove I did not give the discount but of course they only believed what loss prevention told them. Meanwhile I am out of a job and have face the fact that I was accused of theft. That company treats their employees so unfairly. They cut some employees' hrs. back so much that employees are forced to quit. They go on to preach how we are all a family, well I would not want backstabbing family like that.

They would rather see their employees suffer financially than to admit that they are hurting financially just like other companies out there. If there are other Walgreens employees out there who are falsely accused of something as a means to terminate them, let me know.

What follows is strictly my opinion, based on experience, and in no way reflects the policies of any company. To the customer (things to consider)... Retail employees are among the lowest paid in any industry. Ask yourself... How much am I willing to tolerate for $7.00 an hour? Payroll is the biggest expense and cutting hours is the quickest way to increase profit. Payroll is determined at the corporate level. Thought... as corporations chase the military philosophy of "more with less", the days of one-on-one customer service are over. Save your anger/frustration for the person who has the ability to make a decision.

Cashiers, photo techs, RX techs, etc. are doing as they have been taught. If you have an issue you want resolved always ask for a manager. If you have a complaint, here are some tips... Be specific, include names, dates, times, etc. Offer a realistic solution. Complainers get the "corporate band aid" (i.e. gift card, small monetary compensation, apology, etc.). Complainers with solutions get the above, respect, and the real possibility of generating a change in policy. Complain to the right person. Get the district phone number or, even better, go to the corporate website (they all have a customer compliment/complaint link).

Be just as quick to give a compliment (compliments at the store level go nowhere... always write or call corporate), and ask for a response. To the non-managerial employees... Never argue with a customer, you will lose. The second a customer gets upset, call a manager. You have the same choice as customers, if you don't like it, find another job. If you feel it is your duty to save the company money, you are on the wrong track. When you fight with the customer over $5, $10, even $100 you are risking the loss of a lifetime customer who will potentially spend THOUSANDS of dollars.

To the management... Always back up your employees (Ma'am, my cashier was exactly right. She is required to uphold policy. However, in this situation I am going to bend policy a little bit and do what is best for you). If a customer cusses or becomes verbally abusive in any way, you have the legal right and responsibility to politely ask them to leave. If you don't, you run the risk of allowing a hostile work environment and that will get you fired. Never argue, you will lose. Apologize, take responsibility, offer solutions, and follow-up.

To receive the quickest service in the pharmacy... Go before 10 am or after 8 pm and never on a Monday. Call ahead and make sure it is ready. If you are in pain, say so. Again, "more with less"...RXs are generally understaffed, underpaid, and overworked. Customer demands for faster service have led to an increase in errors.

SIMPSONVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA -- On March 1, 2013 we purchased some items at the Simpsonville, SC store and paid by check. At the register the check is run through and then returned to the customer. It was our belief that the funds are immediately moved from our checking account to Walgreens account. Obviously that isn't the case. Within a few days of that transaction we lost our checkbook which also had the record of the checks written. Thinking it had been stolen out of my truck my wife went to the Palmetto Bank and ran a listing of the recent checks written and those that had cleared.

Then she had a STOP PAYMENT order on the other checks in the checkbook in case the checkbook was used fraudulently. Unfortunately the check for $72.74 to Walgreens somehow got blocked from payment even though we thought it had already cleared. MY COMPLAINT ABOUT WALGREENS is that they have no way to go into the local store and make the check good by cash or other payments. We tried twice to make payment at the local store to no avail.

I wrote an EMAIL to Walgreen's corporate that I wanted to pay the amount due plus some fee. THEY DIDN'T RESPOND. Instead they seem to have sent the check to TRS Recovery for collection when it was totally unnecessary. I don't like dealing with a corporate giant that isn't open to listening to customers. I'll make the payment but I don't like the idea of an additional collection fee from TRS Recovery and TeleCheck.

At this time I plan to bypass WALGREENS in the future in favor of CVS, WALMART, RITE AID or other stores. Until now Walgreens had been our favorite drugstore chain but this has soured me on that company. Until this experience I would have rated Walgreens as worth a 4 star rating.