Truly astounded by how terrible a pharmacy Walgreens is. I hate that they are so pervasive because that makes it incredibly difficult to find another pharmacy that's unaffiliated. But Walgreens is total garbage.
I called to find out how I'd know when the script was ready; it was for my daughter who hasn't had a prescription so they wouldn't know to text/call & I wasn't able to add her in their app since you need an RX number. The person I spoke to said they'd be ready within 1.5 hours & gave me the RX number to add her in the app. After 1.5 hours I checked the app and they were running behind on one of the prescriptions. Ok, no problem... but when I checked again over an hour later, it showed as cancelled. There was a "more info" option, but when I clicked that there was none, so I called again. That's when I learned Walgreens outsources phone calls (even if you call the store number & select the pharmacy option), because the woman couldn't answer when I asked why the other prescription that had been marked as ready to pick up now was saying it was processing and she asked if I wanted to speak to someone in the dispensing pharmacy. Walgreens is hoping their customers don't know they aren't speaking to Walgreens employee but a third party vendor because this person didn't introduce herself in any way that would have suggested she wasn't standing in the pharmacy looking into my case whilst we spoke. The pharmacist said that the cancelled prescription is difficult to find in ointment form but they had a cream that was the same thing and he'd show me when I got there. But that's BS--if the cream and ointment had the same efficacy the doctor wouldn't have prescribed an ointment, but told me to pick up the non-prescription cream off the shelf. I called the Dr. office (thankfully still open since it was now way past 5) and he prescribed a different ointment. So again, the ointment was prescribed for a reason.
It took 30 MINUTES to get the prescriptions & get out. There was ONE person being helped when I got in line. It took several minutes for them to finish up with her; I'm not sure why they're so slow. I had to add my daughter's insurance, so I went inside so as not to hold up the drive-through. They couldn't confirm her insurance, which obviously isn't their fault. I wasn't totally surprised since she's only five weeks old and the insurance company seems to be taking their sweet time. So I took my card back and the woman walked toward the back of the pharmacy, which I thought was to go grab the scripts I needed to pick up. She walked by again and was leaving the pharmacy (the pharmacy requires a door code to exit and she was typing in the code). I called to her and asked if she was going to get my prescriptions and check me out?? (I had other items to check out with as well, all on the counter where I was waiting.) She said that she didn't know I wanted the prescriptions since the insurance didn't go through. What? She didn't ask, so I'm not sure why she assumed I didn't. I know some scripts are optional, but I'd expect most aren't. I told her she's the employee and it's her job to make sure we had completed our transaction/to confirm whether or not I was going to take the scripts. She said since I took back the insurance card for the plan my daughter will be on she thought I wasn't going to take the meds. How does this make sense?? Did she want to keep the card as a souvenir, or...? I'm flabbergasted. Anyway, she continued to argue that she thought I was not going to take them so I said I was and I'd like to check out and go. The only thing she said to me over the remainder of completing my transaction (two to five minutes) is that they applied a discount for one of the prescriptions. No "thank you, have a nice day" or anything.
I've worked in retail. My mom has worked in retail most of my life. Sometimes it can suck but honestly I never thought there was a reason to be nasty to someone just because I may not have liked my job, which was the energy she was putting out. I'm astounded Walgreens has no standards for their employees such as greeting customers or trying to sell things like a prescription by asking if someone still would like to pick it up!
I'm going to look for a new pharmacy. The reason that I stayed with Walgreens was for the convenience, but there comes a point--like when they are constantly pushing back pick-up times or delivery times, give no reason for cancellation, have rude employees, and incredibly long wait times both inside the store and in the drive-up--when any semblance of convenience disappears so there's no reason to stay here and give them my money only to be treated like crap. read more
