This is an ongoing complaint I have with Walgreens Pharmacy; not just one of them, but all of them. The following seems to be pretty much typical of every single Walgreens I have ever used (and I have to use them...I don't have many options): Here goes:

The pharmacists take it upon themselves to regulate refills, even if there is no need to (i.e. not "too soon"); additionally, they love to try to make customers feel like total druggies, if the RX is for pain meds or anti-anxiety meds. Their favorite blocking move to not fill an RX is that "it's too early"...well, if the doctor hasn't instructed that the medication must (for example) "last 30 days", and I want to get it, say, after 22 days or so...who the heck cares? IF there are refills, then that's it...end of story! MY DOCTOR EVEN TOLD ME THIS!! It is not some pill counter's job to decide when they will deign to dispense my medication. I don't even care if insurance won't pay for it...I'LL PAY FOR IT, OUT OF MY OWN POCKET! Simply because insurance won't pay, does NOT MEAN that it is not a legitimate request for a refill! What if I didn't even HAVE INSURANCE? At what point would these idiots deign to refill my medication? Is it at 12:01am on "x" date? Is it 9am, when the non-24 hour Walgreens opens? Is it 9:59pm, right before closing? Ridiculous. Either there is a refill, or there isn't. It is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS how much I am taking, or why...believe it or not, you idiots at Walgreens, sometimes people DO GO THROUGH THEIR MEDS SOONER THAN WHAT IS ON THE LABEL. I have had the same doctor for 6 years; she is fine with me filling the RX at any time; if not, she would put controls on it, such as "must last 40 days" or "NO REFILL; must have doctor approval". DUH. And again, if the doctor has not specified the med must last "x" amount of days, and there is a refill, and I will pay for it myself, THEN FILL THE DANG PRESCRIPTION. Now, here's another example of their incompetency/problem: Walgreens, on two separate occasions, has given my RX to someone else! And I don't mean an antibiotic, I mean (1) Soma and (2) Ativan - the so-called (not by me) "good stuff" that they are so dedicated to not dispensing to me...the person it was written for! (Ever notice they never balk when the RX is for an antibiotic or some other type of non-narcotic, non-tranquilizing drug? They pick and choose what they withhold!!) They LOVE that feeling of "power". That is SADISTIC. Once, my Soma RX was not ready, so I said "No problem, I'll go to the library and be back in 40 minutes...is that OK?" Yes, it was. So...after 45 minutes, I'm there (and why do they insist on being higher up than us? Jerry Seinfeld does a hilarious routine about that); and I am VERY SNOTTILY TOLD: "You already picked this up". WHAT??? I just started laughing! And there were 4 people behind me, so I made sure everyone KNEW HOW THEY FOULED UP. I said "Don't you remember me? I told you I was coming back after going to the library, like 40 minutes ago?" and the KID (most of them are NOT EVEN TECHS...they are kids, nothing wrong with that, but I betcha they are dipping into the meds; I stand there and count my pills, each and every time; I don't care if I look like a nut job) says "Oh, yeah...I do remember you!" Bravo...after all, it was 40 minutes ago! Long story longer; the EXTREMELY RUDE manager got involved, told me to be quiet (I talked over him when he basically called me a liar; I said "Just rewind your security tape, then you can see who you gave my SOMA to!" in a loud voice...). Well, of course they knew they were wrong and gave me a replacement RX at no charge; but to make up for it, they were EXTRA RUDE. And of course, no apology. Also I have had them mysteriously "lose" a refill; I had 3 refills on Wellbutrin, had it transferred from another pharmacy to Walgreens, and when I picked it up..."1 Refill Remaining"??? See, I guess they can't even count! They are even worse than Longs, and that's saying a lot. It's the attitude, the frustrated doctor attitude, that gets me. They seem themselves as oh so important, and do you know what? I can fill an RX! I can count and read! There! I'm a pharmacist! Also aren't we customers just giant pains in the neck? Always wanting our medication, at the right price, in the right dosage, willing to pay for it out of our own pockets, etc. I'm gonna copy this whole email and send it to Walgreens via their website. Fat lot of good it'll do. Unfortuntely, where I live, I'm limited to Walgreens or Longs (Safeway is just OK, but there aren't many of them, and certainly none near me); Longs is almost as bad. I just have come to the conclusion that Walgreens pharmacists are (1) frustrated doctors; i.e. were too STUPID to make it through medical school (and I mean, c'mon...how hard is it to be a pharmacist? Can you read? Can you count? Congrats! You are a pharmacist!) This BS about how they "carefully monitor your drugs so there are no adverse reactions" or whatever is a total lie; the COMPUTER WILL ALERT THEM; (2) they are sadists and bullies; they get a kick out of withholding medication; ESPECIALLY PAIN MEDICATION. There was a great story about a year ago; several Walgreens pharmacists accidently printed on several labels snotty comments like "Watch Out for this one..drug addict" and other worse things; they got BUSTED!! Very embarrasing; but certainly proves everything that I've written, wouldn't you say?? They look at ANYONE (even my mother) as piece of crud drug addicts, if you have an RX for - wooo weee, big deal - Vicodin. God forbid you have a more potent RX. I am perfectly presentable; I'm not a drooling junkie; I work for attorneys (well, don't hold that against me); I'm 47 years old; so I just cannot imagine how they treat the poor slob who looks like...well, a poor slob. WALGREENS PHARMACISTS are Frustrated Doctors, and practicing SADISTS (actually, they don't need to "practice" anymore...they have at least gotten one thing right).
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Date: Thursday, 19-Jun-08 23:03:08 CDT

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I am a Walgreen's employee, an assistant manager, and I have to say, this is not always the case. It is regretable that you have had such poor service, but there are a few things you have to understand.

When filling a prescription, if the insurance company sends back a message of "TOO EARLY" some 90% of people don't want to pay the cash price and would rather wait until the insurance will cover it. Obviously this is not the case, and when they enter your refill into the system (as long as you step up to the window to request it), they should be alerting you that the insurance will not cover the cost right then and there. You should be allowed to make that decision.

About selling your prescription to someone else: granted this mistake does happen all too often, but it shouldn't have on this occasion, considering you were there to request your refill and to pick it up within an hour. There are checks, for example, if someone you may or may not know, knows your full name, your address, and the medication in question, it is possible to give it to the wrong person.

You also need to understand that the lost refill could have been on the part of the pharmacy you were using before. If Walgreens employees can make a mistake, so can others. We're all human.

No one, that I am aware of, is a practicing sadist at Walgreens. And you have no idea what is required of a pharmacist. If you can read and count, you are not *POOF* a pharmacist; you are *POOF* a tech. Pharmacists typically know far more abnout the drugs that pass through there than any doctor could. They spend as much time in medical school learning less about medical practice and more about the actual pharmaceuticals. Ask them anything about any current drug and you might be surprised at the knowledge they have. And the computer system only alerts them that you are taking a drug that may have a possible interaction with another prescribed drug. It certainly does not tell them what the interaction is and only needs to alert them because they cannot monitor the prescriptions of all their patients. It is a safety feature for the pharmacist to be sure you are not being subjected to something dangerous.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the techs in service (and not just by Walgreens) and kids, so they have bad attitudes and foul things up worse than others fropm time to time. Comments on the labels like you've mentioned are RARELY on the part of the pharmacist, and instead are usually the work of one of those kid techs. FYI, only the pharmacist can make comments on any prescription file now for that reason.

This is typical of many pharmacies you will find. Some may be better practiced at treating the customer with more patience and understanding, more reqpect, and more kindess, but all too often tensions run high because a customer is not willing to work with the pharmacy staff, anywhere. For example, if someone wants to pick up their script, but the insurance won't pay for it, they don't want to pay the cash price, where is the blame assigned: the pharmacy for lousing it up, when in fact, all they are doing at this point is informing about the INSURANCE's refusal to pay and the cash price.

Today my husband dropped off his prescriptions at around 12:45 in Duncan, Oklahoma. When I went to pick them up, two of the employees in the pharmacy could not find his name in the computer. Then they just left me standing there to help another customer. When one finally returned back to me she still couldn't find him in the computer even though I spelled his name 6 times and gave her his date of birth at least 3 times. I asked her to call him and get the information on what all the prescriptions were and that I had errands to run because she was taking so long. She said she would call him.

Then she called my husband and told him they wouldn't fill the prescriptions because they had the wrong DEA number on them. He asked her to call the doctor and that there were 2 doctors with the same last name at that hospital, and she responded by hanging up on him. He said he was not being rude he just informed her on how to get the correct information so she could fill his prescriptions.

Then my husband called back and talked to the pharmacist on duty (about 8pm) and informed him about how they weren't helping him and how rude the lady had been on the phone. They told him they refused to fill his prescriptions and take them somewhere else. We went to get the prescriptions and the woman who hung up on my husband was at the window. He asked her why she had hung up on him. She said he hung up on her. They gave back the prescriptions with writing all over them that they had done. I don't know if another pharmacy will fill them now.

It's unbelievable that they run their pharmacy so ineptly. Why could 2 separate employees take more than 2 hours to find someone in their computer? Why did they refuse to fill legitimate prescriptions? The whole thing was very weird. I go to Walgreens all the time for other items but I won't set foot in there again after that rude treatment.

Date of incident: March 2, 2008 @ 8:12AM

I am writing to express my frustration and disappointment regarding Walgreen's Register Rewards Program. It is misleading consumers, and I was one of them!

I went to my local Walgreens to take advantage of their register rewards program.

This week's ad (Mar 2-8, 2008) states:
Buy Select P& G products and get Register Rewards, use like cash on next purchase.
Buy 3 items for $10 - Get $4 cash register rewards good on next purchase
Buy 6 items for $20 - Get $12 cash register rewards good on next purchase

I decided to buy 6 items to get the $12 cash register rewards.

Unfortunately, when I was paying for the items, the register did not print out the reward coupon because I did not spend the actual $20. With the purchase, I used various manufacturer's coupons totaling to $16.00.

I read the fine print prior to proceeding to purchase the items at Walgreens and it does not say their promotion does NOT accept manufacturer's coupon.

The cashier's name is Jessica who was not so welcoming, nor apologetic. Then came the manager, who was also non-apologetic.

Bottom line, I expressed my disappointment and frustration to both cashier and manager of the store. They should indicate in the ad the restrictions of their promotion because it is misleading consumers such as myself. Wasted time, energy and gas!

The striking comment that I got from the insensitive manager when I told her that in the past, Walgreens would accept my manufacturer's coupon, at the same time take advantage of their cash rewards program. This was her reply:
'They must've changed the rules and becoming stricter on their policies due to people abusing the promotion'.

ABUSE? You call people with coupons, ABUSING the store's promotion? That is ridiculous. If Walgreens does not intend for people to ABUSE their promotions, then don't put out MISLEADING ads.

My use of manufacturer's coupons should not affect the cash reward coupon, which is their supposedly"on-going" promotion. If they have restrictions, put it up-front in fine print, PERIOD.

I am never an Abuser, I am a WISE buyer who would not buy full priced items, rather take advantage of good honest deals through promotions.

Walgreens ad is VERY MISLEADING, so consumers out there, WATCH OUT.

My experience Working for Walgreens



More than one year ago I was hired at our neighborhood Walgreens's. All I can say is "wow. How did I last this long?"..





Let me take you on a short story journey, on what REALLY happens inside our little home away from homes, that we call work.





From the outside, it looks like a pretty good job, nice, organized, people seem polite to you. Everyone has on his or her smock, nice neat name tags, smiles…At least, that's how it was when I went to fill out my application at the Walgreen's closest to me… unfortunately, I didn't get hired at that one, but at another one in the area…







I was hired by one of the laziest EXA's I think I have ever met…She didn't do a whole lot, she brought her boyfriend to work sometimes and he stayed there for hours on end… while her husband would circle the parking lot.







Oh but once she got transferred out we got someone much worse. At first, he helped out, complimented us, was even polite…but after two weeks, that wore off. He is rude, makes lewd comments, is far lazier than our last EXA and in his own little remarkes, discriminates, they might be very light when he says them, but now more and more people are catching on. He closes only once a week, and when he does, he mainly just sits in the office on his phone… he asks everyone else to clean his aisles, and gets an attitude if his are not straight, and if ours are not either. I have even made the comment to him about him being on the lazy side, and he told me "he didn't have to, he paid his dues".







And God-forbid you ever get pregnant while working there. At one point, I was put at main, with morning sickness, when I tell them I don't feel well, can I go home, I was told to just throw up in the trash can when I felt sick. I had to stay that whole night. The next day that I was there, I was approached by my store manager, after a few moments in the bathroom with morning sickness, these exact words "If you're going to be getting sick in the bathroom all day, then just go home, I'm not paying you to be sick!" I sure wish someone would have told me that the night I was working at main vomiting in the trash can…







And then of course, the morning I worked, while pregnant, was also the day loss prevention and district showed up… I bought some meds to calm my stomach so I wouldn't be getting sick, and when m y EXA asked "oh do you have the flu? You feel ok?"

When I told him "no, it's the morning sickness"

He Said "Oh...ok" As if having the Flu would have a better answer.

Needless to say, the medicine didn't work and I was in the bathroom most of that morning.

Not only was I sick, and tired, and having horrible mood swings, but it was also Christmas season!!... At one point, I was scheduled 2:00-12:30… and of course we never got out of there until closer to 1:00 or 1:30. So trust me when I say, it was hard on my body.







Now if that sounded bad, try miscarrying. Unfortunately, when this happened, I had to call out. Which wasn't bad but in the confusion of it all, I had forgotten to get a doctors note. (Which by the way is easy to forget when you're not all there after that experience.) My manager rudely, a week later, asked where my doctors note was, and that she wouldn't give me my three *yes only three* sick day I asked for. She told me she needed it by Saturday. So I came in Saturday, and got talked at again because she needed it before 12:00. Well I didn't know that, but she agreed to put them on my NEXT paycheck. And, she forgot to put them on that one… in fact, I lost the baby on December 5 2006. I didn't receive pay for my sick days until February 2 2007. So it was about four pay checks later, that I finally got paid because a payout was out of the question.







Don't get me wrong, I love the company I work for. I love what I do here at Walgreen's. But the people that are put into power are absolutely horrible. My store manager. Yes, when everyone comes for the V.P visits, she puts on a wonderful act. Talks sweetly to everyone and treats her employee like little angels. But when you all are not around, she is completely different. She has a habit of talking down on me and of course other employees, which could be why we have such a high turnover rate at our location. She has her over the top sarcasm that just kills the mood .I honestly can not say how I have lasted this long here. There were times I was ready to just up and quit too. There were times I would go home crying because I have never in my life been talked down on so badly. Even as a child adults had never treated me poorly or said things that would make me that upset. And here I thought Walgreen's was a professional business-like place to work.







All around the office and back there are little reminders of our dress code, what we can and cant wear… well I sure wish district would have shown up on the day my manager decided to wear her Walgreens-bought skirt and high-heeled-backless clogs, that by the way, she could not even walk in. And since she could not walk in them, half of the day she walked around wearing grandma bedtime slippers she bought over in the sock aisle...And while wearing this, made a comment that my smock needed to be washed, actually, it had been, it had just become so faded it was looking messy. But then again, that how it almost always is… Once she hears higher up are coming things get rushed. She starts noticing imperfections. Of course, she doesn't notice them any other time…







Like I said before, don't get me wrong, I love my job… but the people that are put in power need to be re-evaluated. If anything goes wrong in that store, if the store fails and audit, guess whose fault it is… OURS. Not really hers, its ours. We are the ones who messed up. At least that's how it's made out to be. And if we get written up, it's normally for something we didn't even know we did wrong. We don't get a warning or anything like that. Unfortunately, we are poorly trained and when we see lazy people who are our higher ups how is that going to inspire us to work harder and perfect ourselves? It's not. I'll be the first to admit that I do slack off. Why not? I see my Manager and EXA doing it.







I'm not saying I'm a perfect person because I'm far from it… but I don't think I deserved to be treated like dirt when I am not. I am a good person. I am honestly not stupid and when it comes time to work, I do get most of my work, if not all of it done.







I also don't feel right signing my name to this, only because if it gets back to my manager on who wrote this, I will only be treated worse than I am now…and I honestly don't think I could take much more of it. But I am going to anyway. For I was off the clock when this was written, and if something is done off the clock I should not be punished for it, especially when I'm voicing my opinion

On, 11-12-7, I had noticed in the sale paper that is sent out weekly by the Walgreens Corp. Advertised the purchase of five adult T-shirts for $10.00, this sale paper was put out on 11-11-07. After looking around for nearly 1/2 an hour, through out the store located at 6061 Osgood ave. N. in Stillwater, Minnesota. I approached an employee and asked him where I could locate these items as I handed him the sale paper and pointed to the item in the paper , The employee than took the ad and started to look around the store and disapeard from my sight for over 5 minutes, he then returned and handed me back the sale paper and said that they didnt have any , and that sale had taken place " A couple of weeks ago" I the informed him that this ad came out only yesterday, He then put both of his hands up over his head and shrugged , and stated that "they did not have any " And repeated that the sale took place " a couple of weeks ago", I then asked him how that could be when the ad was dated , 11-11-7. He again shrugged and shook his head saying that they did not have any. I then asked about a rain check , He then shook his head again with his hands up saying they dont. there was no mention anywhere in the add that stated " As supplies last " . The employee again stated that the sale had taken place " a couple of weeks ago". I then left the store.