I absolutely HATE that I have to use this Walgreens and consistently have bad experience after bad experience with their pharmacy. It is just unreal the number of errors, delays and hours of my life that have taken place in this hellish store. Unfortunately, this is the closest 24-hour pharmacy nearby so I am pretty much stuck using this pharmacy most of the time. If you have young kids you know they usually can't wait until business hours for doctor visits or medication which means very late / very early trips to a pharmacy. My wife and I also have chronic conditions that are managed through daily medication. Nothing serious as long as you take your meds, which this Walgreens has made a challenge for me. God, I hate that this place is a necessary evil.
I couldn't possibly share all the stories of things that have gone wrong and all the hours I've spent waiting in this place instead, here are some highlights:
- Despite your best efforts to show up with everything they need to do their jobs quickly and efficiently, they WILL take the most amount of time possible to fill your prescription. It is always best to be proactive and have everything ready ahead of time, just don't be disappointed when you realize the staff still took way longer than they should.
- NEVER trust their estimate. They say an hour, show up in 2.5 hours. They say a general "later today", show up tomorrow. It will not be ready if you show up at the promised time. They are evil, evil, liars who feed on the hours of your life you will never get back.
- Be prepared to walk among ghetto, rude, shady people. From the parking lot full of trash & people loitering, to the pharmacy area where you are occasionally treated to a full-own Broadway production of someone going bad on the person behind the counter because their insurance doesn't cover something or their paperwork isn't correct / legal. I always have a pocket knife when I go to the this place at night -- that is not a joke. I'm serious.
- The staff could really care less. I've had people in my family, myself included, go without medication up to a day because they screwed up and just didn't care. No rush, no sense of urgency, if you complain their eyes gloss over as they stare into space, nod their head "yes" while you explain the problem and then regurgitate words that have been programmed into them that may sound concerned but really translate to "We don't give a shit. I am counting the 2 hours, 17 minutes until I can punch out and go home so please go away".
- I try to call and make sure they have actually filled the prescription before I waste my time heading over there. They have only lied to me a couple times so I'm pretty happy with this process. Be prepared to spend about 15 minutes on hold on average. My personal all time record was 37 minutes and guess what - prescription still wasn't ready so it probably saved me 45 minutes in line only to be told it wasn't ready yet so I'd say this is the way to go.
- The people working the front counter are so painstakingly slow. I make sure I speak slowly and clearly and loudly in American English and yet they still always look confused like it's their first day on the job. They slowly one-finger type on their keyboards, rummage around in the prescription bins which are sorted alphabetically, which is sometimes a challenge for them. I try to proactively point them to the bin where the prescription should be like a game show. When it's not where it should be we all have a good laugh then they go dig through some additional bins behind the counter and back by the pharmacist. Good times.
- The drive through is like playing roulette. The pharmacy drive through should be for pick ups and drop offs. But when you decide to use the drive through you are taking the chance the people in front of you have their shit together which is hit and miss. I've seen people damn near apply for a second mortgage in the drive through. When it's not a simple pick up or drop off they need to ask them to come inside and sort it out but they don't. Instead, they'll hold everyone up and back up everyone else in line to work through some insurance issue for an expired prescription in someone else's name etc., etc. If I'm feeling lucky I'll do the drive through.
Believe me, unless you have to get a prescription filled or picked up outside of normal business hours or it's an emergency stay away from this place. Whenever possible I go across the street to CVS in the Greenhouse shopping center. If you do have to use this Walgreens, look for me and say hello. I'll be the guy sitting in the waiting area of the pharmacy with the haunting look of dispare in my eyes as the walls of this Walgreens claims victim to more hours of my life and soul. read more