Saturday, January 05, 2013

Walgreens Drugstore Sucks. By Geniusofdespair

It has taken me over 20 years but I finally gave up on Walgreens Pharmacy - glutton for punishment. In the old days (the 90's) I would go to a drop off window to leave my prescription. Doesn't exist anymore -- only one window to pickup and drop-off.

Walgreens disdain for their customers pushed me over the edge yesterday.  I had to wait almost 1/2 hour to just drop off a prescription.  I told them I would be back in 45 minutes to pick up.  I went back 2 hours later, waited on line AGAIN, this time 15 minutes, and it was not ready. I don't have that much time to waste at a pharmacy.

I have moved my business to CVS. Hope they are better.  I just cannot give Walgreens one cent more. When I got my prescriptions filled, I always picked up a few incidentals. No more.  I won't step in Walgreens for cards, gum and a quart of milk.

Walgreens your service sucks. And, worse when you ask to talk to the pharmacy manager, you get waved off.  While I was in CVS a woman was doing the same thing -- moving over her prescriptions from Walgreens, because Walgreens sucks.  She had some 4 hour complaint. I hope this becomes a trend, to punish a store that gives bad service and does not care. "At the corner of happy and healthy"...my ass. How about: Walgreens "Holding prescriptions hostage while wasting the consumer's time."

Easy fix: HIRE MORE PEOPLE!

18 comments:

Grillo said...

I moved my prescriptions to CVS from Walgreens when CVS was still Eckerds. The pharmacy people were rude and obnoxious. After filling one of my prescription for my meter strips for years, the insurance changed the formulary anad I had to get from some other company. Walgreens did not call me to tell me they couldnt refill that Rx. They waited for me to come to pick it up and then would not give me an explanation. The wouldn't even tell me to call the insurance company to find out. According to the lady who was there, they did not have an obligation to tell me why my insurance had denied filling that prticular Rx.

I have a Walgreens across the street from my house and I would not go there for anything.

Anonymous said...

I agree that you should have moved your prescriptions to CVS, my question is why did you wait so long? I don't know why ANYONE in Florida has a prescription at Walgreens. Have you ever noticed that the pharmacy manager changes every few weeks. I wonder why?

Geniusofdespair said...

Why did I wait so long? The Walgreens I went to had a woman working there with my mother's first name: A very unusual name. Since my mother had just died, I thought it a sign. I am a believer in signs from the cosmos, that there are no coincidences.

Had another sign today at CVS. The pharmacist had my name.

Mensa said...

I see that other people have my same feeling. We have changed our Rx's to both CVS and publix.Perha;s if everybody moved out the store would change. I really do not think so.

Anonymous said...

Want a new detail on how much it sucks? Naive me, I thought Walgreens would have unified prices in the same city. Turns out the branch on Coral Way near Brickell charges $4 more for abreva than others in the area (coral way and 34) and an ankle support is $2 more at that near Brickell branch. I had moved my prescriptions away from them about a year ago, now only a real emergency would make me go back to one Walgreens

Anonymous said...

Walgreens does suck..cvs is a little better.I take mine to Publix. Service is great you get 1 on 1 with the pharmacy & they always have it done i n about 15 min or less...

Anonymous said...

Many retailers have this stragety of not hiring enough people and wasting customer time. Its very common everywhere. More of our time wasted means more profit for them!

Anonymous said...

I have always wondered. What exactly do those "Pharmacists" do back there? I mean, it looks to me that all they do is get a prescription, go the aisles, find the drug in question, and then put it into those plastics containers and put the label on it. These people went to college (or did they) for that? I don't get it. It's not like they are "making" the drugs back there. My guess is that those people are just regular non-pharmacist people (which is why the service is slow and bad), and that Walgreens just hires a single true-blue Pharmacist to stand as the figure on the picture of all the stores?

Anonymous said...

Why not take this opportunity to take your business to a small business who can use your support? Some small pharmacies offer delivery service. Take a stand against corporate behemoths who blight our communities with ugly architecture, send their dollars to corporate HQ and don't give a damn about the community. The only companies seem to care about localities are the Starbucks's of the world. Not CVS, Walmart or Walgreens. Vote with your dollars and your feet. Support local business owners!

Anonymous said...

I use Walgreens and have for years. I see no reason to change.

I pick up my prescriptions from the “drive through” and the staff is very quick and extremely efficient.

They call me by name and if there is no one in line behind me, I usually find a little time to chat for a minute. It makes them feel special. I do that with all my customer service clerks.

However, if I find they are needlessly slow, inefficient, rude, arrogant or any other negativity, I would move my support in a minute.

I', very satisfied with Walgreens and have no complaints. I am always treated kindly and with respect.

Anonymous said...


I think there are differences in each store.
I was a loyal Eckerds customer for years but once CVS took over all I had was problems so I finally switched to a Walgreens by my house and saw a world of difference!
They knew my name from the first visit,signed me up for autofill and even fought with my insurance on my behalf -even after they knew I was transferring my scrips to another Walgreens because I was moving.
Same thing in my new town, they know me by name too.
I do think you should refill online and not expect immediate service if you show up at rush hour. No matter where you shop.

Geniusofdespair said...

3:30 rush hour? Apparently it is always rush hour in my neighborhood. You can't call in a new prescription, I was not born yesterday, I know the drill.

Anonymous said...

You have some Walgreens trolls.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous above, stop chatting up clerks, let them do their job, that is what takes so long: You!

Anonymous said...

Go to an independent who gives a damn. Try Allen's Drugs on Bird and 57th Ave. They're awesome! Great service, wait 10 mins and walk out with the prescription, pharmacist is the nicest guy you'll ever meet, and you're supporting the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

I agree Walgreens does suck. The district office does NOTHING when you call to complain. When I learned the district office was in NW Miami then it all made sense. Those losers are just as bad as store and pharmacy management so don't expect anything to change. I told those vagrants at their district ofc. that I am never setting foot in another Walgreens after 15 years of using their pharmacy and will move my business to Publix.

Anonymous said...

Support local business. WAG and CVS are a monopoly and don't have to offer you great service. The lower the inventory, the more they make people drive to other locations for medications, the longer you wait due to under-staffing, the more money they save because people don't think they have a choice. Pay a little more for a local pharmacy.

Acuragirl0827 said...

I work for Walgreens as a pharmacy technician and I can tell you, we are always understaffed because it's all about the money the company makes. As far as what the pharmacist actually does, while it might not look like much to you, each rx has to be reviewed, typed, billed to insurance, printed, then you have to match up the NDC (NATIONAL DRUG CODE) on the patient printout with the NDC on the drug itself, which is easier said than done, then it has to be counted, labeled, and reviewed again by the pharmacist to check for drug interactions, contraindications, serious allergic reaction, etc. During the day, you might get as many 600-700 coming into the work queue through people calling in refills, doctors sending in new rx either by phone or electronic service (those can take up to 2 hours for us to receive)in addition to patients dropping Now if a patient says they want to wait we are supposed to promise 15-20 minute wait times, but sometimes this process takes longer, and lately insurance companies are rejecting claims making our jobs even harder. District and Corporate don't care if we're short handed, if someone called in sick. If there are RX to be entered, reviewed, printed, matched up, filled and reviewed and verified again and there are only two of you, one pharmacist and one tech and people are coming in one after another to pick up ready rx, it's really hard to get the waiting rx done in time. I see the difference every time I go to Kroger or CVS, they don't seem to have this issue, so maybe Walgreen's needs a better workflow process? Again I've suggested this but our management doesn't care. Please don't take our your frustration on the person ringing you up. I dare you all to try one day behind the counter at Walgreens and see if you even survive. It's not very likely, there is a high turnover rate of technicians, pharmacists are always pissed off......so next time you do go to a Walgreens, think about how you would feel if that was you behind the counter!