ZERO STARS. Awful, complete and total NIGHTMARE!
1. Every time I went to pick up my prescription, there was a huge line, and there is NEVER enough staff to actually handle the number of customers. The staff that IS there seems completely un-rushed and un-bothered by the fact that people are standing in line for 30+ minutes. It's like they are all purposely moving extra slow. The drive-thru ALWAYS seems to take priority for some reason, so even if I've been waiting forever, if a car drives up, they'll go to the car first.
2. One time I went at midnight to try to avoid a line. I was happy to see that there was no one there. Literally AS I WALKED UP, the lady behind the counter put up a sign saying "Back in 15 minutes." No joke, she didn't put it up UNTIL SHE SAW ME. I was the ONLY person, so would it have killed her to help me out before taking the break? I left and returned about 20 minutes later - the sign was STILL UP (even though the 15 minutes had passed). I saw one employee counting/scanning prescriptions and not acknowledging me at all. I waited 10 more minutes (30 minutes total - TWICE as long as the sign said) and then I walked up to the window and said (politely) "Ma'am, it's been half an hour already..." She literally ignored me and said nothing. Didn't even turn around. 5 more minutes and another employee finally sauntered in at the speed of snail.
3. You get different answers and different "rules" depending on which pharmacist/employee you speak to. I have Medi-Cal, but the prescription I was picking up was from a NON-Medi-Cal doctor. I was paying for this doctor totally out of pocket. I was told the medication she prescribed is not covered by Medi-Cal. I explained my doctor isn't a Medi-Cal doctor and I don't want to use my Medi-Cal insurance to pay for the prescription - I'll just pay the $10 cash. The first two months they seemed to understand this and everything was fine. I paid cash and got my medication. Then the third month or so, they told me I am not ALLOWED to pay cash, I MUST use Medi-Cal, but since Medi-Cal doesn't cover this medication, there is nothing I can do. They literally told me this. I can't use my insurance because they don't cover it, butI'm also not allowed to pay cash. The pharmacist who told me this was rude and gave no other options. I called back the next day and talked to someone else, and THAT PERSON put it through for me and I paid cash and picked it up! WTF!!! Then month 4 same story about me not being able to use insurance OR pay cash - "Sorry, you just can't pick it up." I finally switched to Costco and they had ZERO issues with me paying cash despite being a Medi-Cal patient. After switching my prescription to Costco, I called and made a complaint to Walgreens. The lady was very nice and said sympathized - said she had no idea what was going on and why they would tell me what they did, despite me having picked it up multiple times before. She said someone would call me back. They never did.
There's so many pharmacies - trust me, go ANYWHERE BUT HERE. Rude, slow, long lines, confusing nonsensical rules that only get followed by certain employees. Total headache. (Plus this location always has very un-savory looking characters hanging around in the front.) read more