PikaPikaChick concurs, Walgreen’s is the suck. She even wrote a letter to them, expressing the degree of their suck, which is manifest.

She writes, “What I don’t want is the blank stares, the curt answers, the reluctance to answer simple pharmaceutical questions about side effects and such, and I certainly don’t want to be kept waiting as my prescription languishes on a shelf because two pharmacy staff members can’t decide which brand of mayonnaise is better in a bowl of potato salad.”

She just wants to walk in, get her scrip, pay for it and walk out. Is that so hard? Apparently, yes. Since sending the letter in January and receiving no reply, she now drives “many miles” out of her way to CVS.

Her letter, inside.

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January 20, 2006

Walgreens
David Bernauer
200 Wilmot Road
Deerfield, IL 60015

Dear Mr. Bemauer:

I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction with the customer service I have received at multiple Walgreens locations in both northern Minnesota and around the Twin Cities area. I have been getting my prescriptions filled exclusively at Walgreens for over ten years. At this point I’m not sure if the convenience of a nationwide pharmacy network is worth the problems that I’ve had, which I will now enlighten you with.

Without fail, Walgreens has some of the worst customer service on a regular basis that I’ve ever experienced. It doesn’t seem to make any difference which store I visit, I’m always greeted with the same rudeness, ignorance, and unapologetic apathy from both pharmacy staff and the regular retail employees and managers. The retail employees’ attitude I can understand. I’ve been there. I worked in retail for many years. I remember being an underpaid teenage retail worker and I have reached a point where I fully expect to be treated poorly from these people. The pharmacy staff, on the other hand, surprises me. For a bunch of diplomaed professionals, they sure are a cranky lot.

I don’t know if they’re underpaid, overworked, or if this attitude has trickled down from the corporate level. Frankly, I don’t care. All I want to do is walk in, get my prescription refill (which I have already submitted via wallgreens.com), pay for it, and walk out. What I don’t want is the blank stares, the curt answers, the reluctance to answer simple pharmaceutical questions about side effects and such, and I certainly don’t want to be kept waiting as my prescription languishes on a shelf because two pharmacy staff members can’t decide which brand of mayonnaise is better in a bowl of potato salad.

I can honestly say that to this day I have not once had a good customer experience at a Walgreens store. Why do I keep going? Laziness, I suppose. Perhaps it’s a sort of self-flagellation. Maybe somehow I’ve been conditioned to accept this behavior over time.

Sincerely,
[PikaPikaChick]

C.C.: Jeff Rein, President and COO

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Note that this letter was sent in January. Haven’t heard a peep out of anyone at Walgreens since then. I, like JPac, have been happily driving many miles out of my way to get to a CVS and their almost ludicrously good customer service.”

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