Shoppers Drug Mart
Reviews and Complaints

Dear Shoppers Drug Mart,

I am a 10-year-old and I am a patient of asthma and I would like to tell you something about the name of your store. I used to live in Quebec and in Quebec Shoppers Drug Mart was called Pharmaprix. When I moved to Brampton my first thoughts were that you sold drugs and so I was reluctant to visit your store as it gave me a false impression that you sold ''Drugs''. As a responsible person I think that your store might give people a false sense that you are selling drugs and might try avoiding your store, now I am not saying that your store is bad or anything like that. it's just that the phrasing might give people a different reaction than the reaction you are going for.

Sincerely,
Zain

I have been a customer of Shoppers Drug Mart at the 579 Lakeshore Rd East location for over 20 years and I must say that the service in Customer Care has gotten worse over the years. The SDM store location at 579 Lakeshore Rd East is poorly run by management team that seems to have little experience in retail, especially dealing with customer service. Every few weeks it seems there is newly hired staff members. I don't blame the high turn over of staff because the SDM store location at 579 Lakeshore Rd East is poorly managed by amateurs that lack proper management skills. The store's image itself lack appeal with low maintenance. It seems to have become very run down over the years, with low products on the shelves. You are lucky if you happen to find products on the shelves that has not expired or not within few days of being expired. Many of the younger staff members always seem to be chatting away, without a care to serve customers, and this is bad image for the company itself. The store location at 579 Lakeshore Rd East lack staff members with any sense of product knowledge. They need to be better trained on product knowledge. I can understand if a company is trying to save money by hiring younger staff members but they should take more seriously to hire staff members who are there to work and not there to chat and not work. What is the point of wasting money on hiring newly hired staff members if they are just going to stand there and chat to each other or on the phone checking their phone for phone messages? It would be wiser for management to invest money in buying more products for the shelves and making the store itself look more presentable. Money has been poorly invested in the store. With the heat wave impacting many people, you would think the store itself be wise to have their large containers of spring water and distilled water readily available but 90% of the time the shelf is empty, without being refilled. Are the staff members lazy to lift it and replenish the shelf? What is the point of hiring staff members if they are lazy to refill empty shelf space of products? Why are not management taking responsibility to ensure that customers' needs are being met? If management is not going to have any care for customers' needs then why bother having a store operating? Why don't shut it down and h the space sold to better replacement, like Bulk Barns, No Frills, etc.?

I have no idea how the SDM location at 579 Lakeshore Rd East can still be open and operating with poorly trained staff and management team. The store many times is not accessible with my wheelchair. Often there are plastic bins along the side of aisles or in between aisles and is hard for me in my wheelchair to move them. There needs to me much better improvement in the store to make it more wheel chair accessible, especially to reach products in the shelves which are not in the front but all the way in the back which is hard to reach.

I recently purchased 2 containers of persian cold wax hair remover. I normally don't buy this product, I usually use the parissa warm wax but they were all out. I began to use the persian wax, which was absolutely horrible, will never buy that product again. I went to the shoppers by my house to exchange the unopened second container for the parissa wax I normally use. Unfortunately they would not even do an exchange for me because I didn't have my receipt. I did not try to exchange to open product and was not looking for a refund, just an exchange. The shoppers drug mart website states "At Shoppers Drug Mart, we strive to provide 100% customer satisfaction." Well I have worked in the customer service industry for over 10 years, please tell me how this is providing 100% customer satisfaction when you guys won't even exchange an unopened product. The encounter I had with the manager was absolutely ridiculous, saying they can't exchange without a receipt, this is not providing customer service. I will 100% never shop at this location ever again and am seriously considering not shopping at shoppers drug mart at all, Rexall carries all the same products and provides exceptional customer service. Store is located in Edmonton 5351-167ave

The Shoppers Drug Mart location at Woodbine and OConnor is low end customer service. The staff are uninformed and seem like they were just hired that day. The location discontinued the 10 litre jugs of spring water so I had to start purchasing the 4 L jugs which were always running out. Now in Toronto's heatwaves the store just continues to lie saying they are having "issues with delivery for a couple of days"

ITS BEEN TWO WEEKS. This store has some of the laziest staff I have seen, I surmise the staff can't lift the water so have stopped ordering it. This is from information from other store managers I called in their district.

As fixed income seniors we watch for discounts when buying. We discovered that Shoppers Drug Mart offers a 20% discount to seniors who shop on Thursdays. We purchased $60 worth of merchandise and to avoid a long line-up went through the self check-out at 1:30 PM. After arriving home my wife noticed that the 20% discount was not applied to the invoice. I went back to Shoppers later that same day at 7:30 PM and was advised that the discount is ONLY applied if you go through the staffed check-out. We assumed that our Shoppers card number would be enough confirmation that we were seniors, but this is not the case.
I asked why they don't post a sign on Thursdays to let seniors know that the discount doesn't apply in the self check-out line, but they had no answer. They then explained that the only way I could get the discount was to return ALL of the merchandise and then repurchase it through the staffed check-out. They further explained that it would need to be done that day, and that everything needed to be in its original packaging and unopened. Of course in the six hours since the merchandise was purchased some of it had been used.
It is my observation that the corporate culture at Shoppers is not designed to ensure a positive end-user experience, and that some of the stores policies are intended to discourage customers from resolving these types of simple issues. I believe that the lost business Shoppers will experience from this policy will be higher than the cost they avoid by making it unnecessarily difficult for seniors to get the advertised discount.

I wrote an email to Shoppers Drug Mart at 579 Lakeshore Rd East in Mississauga two weeks ago and informed the store that the shelves had a lot of expired products in the cooler and on the shelves which I have noticed when I was doing my shopping from my shopping list. I had wanted the store to be more aware of this alarming health issue so I had contacted the store to try to fix this issue. However, I have noticed when I was at the store today a product on the shelf that I was going to purchased 2 weeks ago before noticing its expiry date was still there in the very front, This is truly disgusting and action should be taken by Head Office. This is a very badly run store with very POOR inadequate management!

The service of SDM in many locations have degraded throughout the years in its service. Dollarama and Walmart has greatly improved over the years. Both Dollarama and Walmart should be examples of better management . Many SDM stores across Ontario are becoming as terrible how Target Canada was, with it being low in many stock and shelves empty. This is terrible and unacceptable. District manager should regularly go unannounced to stores within its district to look at how terribly stocked many of the SDM stores are not being fully stocked and also needs to revamp its management of properly managing their stores. or they can expect to see more and more customers going instead to other competitive retailers to shop at, including Dollarama. It is truly shameful that SDM has degraded over time. It is getting worse and worse each time. With so many complaints, especially on this Complaints Board, you would think Head Office take more a serious look into resolving issues at the store level to ensure better customer service and hiring of better management for the store locations.

My name is Paul Sekouledes, I live at 43 Greenwood cres in Brampton L6S 1T2. The shoppers drug mart on 980 Central park drive Brampton, I don't drive so I walk, I went to the store 4 times this weekend to purchase the Powerade that was advertised for $9.99 and they told me that the truck never arrived and they told me there was nothing they can do and that there were no rainchecks. I'm very disappointed and upset that there was nothing that they can do for me since I'm a loyal and frequent customer of this particular shoppers. This is not the first time something like this has happened, however, this is the first time I have written a complaint, and I will still be a loyal customer if there is anything you can do for me. Thank You
Sincerely,

Paul Sekouledes

I made two trips to my local shoppers drug mart in Long Pond CBS NL in two days. Both days I was looking for tin milk and Pepsi. Neither was in stock. Empty boxes everywhere thrown on the floor. How can a store keep justifying no product and filth. I am sick of having to go to other stores half an hour drive away because they keep telling me they are under staffed and product doesn't get in till AFTER the sale! Hire People ! See if there is anyone in the area with a work ethic! I am retired and working 30 hours plus a week. Surely Shoppers can do better than this!

Approx 10 days ago I was in my local Shoppers Drugmart for beauty products, makeup and implements. I like the rewards program for Loblaws/SDM and I chose to make my purchases at SDM rather than a Sephora. The customer service or sales girl in store was so absolutely rude to me. There was an older, obviously rich woman with an obscene amount of fillers, Botox and other details who the sales girl felt was more important. The whole scene was disgusting. The woman liked the sound of her own voice. And the sales girl was being so fake and overly attentive. While the woman was talking to her friend I took an opportunity to ask quickly where I might find a certain item. The sales girl spoke angrily to me and actually said she didn't have time to speak to me. Even though the current customer continued to browse and speak to her friend. I felt like a second rate citizen. I shouldn't have to justify myself. But there was absolutely no reason to be treated like dirt. She answered me harshly and ushered me away. And ignored me after. I had to wait in a long line feeling like an idiot to ask another associate to where I may find my item. While I was in the line the horrible sales sales girl actually cut the other woman in line to ring in her purchases. Does SDM work on commissions? Like what the hell? Rarely do I get a moment to run out and shop away from my daughter. Buying makeup and beauty products for myself is like a mini indulgent experience. And to have an experience where I leave feeling like a bother? The other sales associate was able to give me info quickly and address me with such little fuss. Could the previous associate really not just tell me? Regardless of my long winded complaint. I will just go to Sephora next time. And Rexall for my other items.

To whom it may concern
Short of six years when my family and I lived in PEI we have loyally used your pharmacy for all of our prescription requirements. Over the past three years we once again shopped at your location. We have found the customer service to be extremely substandard and very much below previous years. To give an example I called today to express my dissatisfaction regarding a faxed in prescription request. Toward the end of the call the person (Man) stated that they are not babysitters implying that for some reason my wife and I are babies and hung up on me. This is extremely insulting and gives the impression that our patronage is far from valued. We will be forwarding a copy of this email to head office and will no longer shop at your location.

Sincerely
Garry Hook

On Thursday, July 5, 2018, at approximately 4:40pm, I attended the Shopper's Drug Mart store, located at 600 Ouellette Ave., Windsor, ON. While waiting in line to pay for my items, a loss prevention male approached me, advising me that the owner of the store had given me a verbal message that I was not allowed in the store anymore. I told the male it's the first I heard of it, and I don't even know who the man is that supposedly gave me this message.

The male was extremely rude. While standing in line, waiting to pay for my items, the male walked away from me, and got on his phone. He talked to someone for approximately 3 minutes, then hung up, and told me, again, that I was not allowed to be in the store. Again, I asked him for proof. I asked him to call the manager, put him on speaker phone, and have him tell me that I am banned. The male didn't. He stated either I leave, or he would call the police.

I left the store, as to not upset the customers that were in the store. Can you please look into this for me ? This is extremely unprofessional. I intend on filing a formal complaint with regards to the treatment I received from the loss prevention male. I have seen him in the store before. He walks around, empty-handed, and that is an indication that he is a loss prevention male. Once someone sees him, they won't continue to do whatever it was they were going to do.

I look forward to your response. I have my attorney waiting for my intentions. I advised him that I would email you first, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this without having to go further.

Orillia 149 Westmount Dr Sarah B sales assistant was picking on me personally 3 those days when I was shopping there, she was rude and demonstrated personal attitude, and mistreated me as if I was a criminal.

The 3rd time I asked to talk to her supervisor she stood next to me and screamed and interrupted, the whole store could hear it, I could not speak and left. I called the head office, they said they are sorry and offered me a compensation: 1 dollar! This would not even cover my gas when I drove to pick rude Sarah's name in order to provide her name to them.

They said they will escalate my complaint to the attention to the local shop manager, but I said I would not step inside their shop as I simply feel threatened by that rude girl, I cannot trust them as they do not care about their customers at all and treat them like criminals, not like customers.

She was rude and humiliated me and you offer me a dollar? Is that a joke? I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on their products before, and I will not spend a penny now to buy from any of their locations now. They can keep let their staff treat customers as criminals and lose them one by one, like they lost me now. For me, their stores do not exist anymore. The way they treat you smells like a racism, this is unacceptable, and I do not deserve it. I will not even go now to the other nice store of theirs because who knows what new staff they hire will be like there, they do not care and are ok with them humiliating their customers. They can keep their dollar to pay for their kids' education.

Oh, wait, it is one dollar with their products, not real money! They can drink their soda for that dollar, I do not need it, thanks.

I bought the managers special salad bag. Its 50 percent off because it expires tomorrow. I opened the bag and it smelled bad. I was going to eat it anyway but my coworker sitting across from me said not to eat it. I went back to shoppers and asked to exchange the bag. I didn't ask for my money back just another bag. The manager said no, she said she won't do anything for fresh food. I said it's your responsibility to sell safe food and this bag is already bad. She said I bought it knowing it expires tomorrow. O said yes but it's not expired today and it's already bad. She said no, I won't exchange it. Nothing I can do.

This is the Shoppers Drug Mart located right by my house and now I'm choosing to go else where because of the inappropriate treatment I received from some of your employees there one specific named Alex, a male individual who has been rude and accusatory.

I am a couponer and I am proud to say so. It is a smart way to shop and it helps me and family and in return I also coupon to donate. On Saturday, June 30 I went into the store to do a shop and also planned it out as there was the 20x the points event. I spent about 30-45 minutes in the store and upon checking out I brought out my coupons at the end of the transaction as I know that's when it's taken. I had 1 coupon for wonder bread which was a printed coupon and that was given a hard time but they allowed it. The next was manufacturer coupons for VIM. I had 22 coupons to use ($1.50 in value and the VIM was $0.99) and I was denied using them because it was making the product free. I've done my research on Shoppers Drug Mart's coupon policy and know that I do not get overage but that I would get the coupon applied only for the amount of the product. I was calm and collected about the situation I was put in, and looked up Shoppers Drug Mart's coupon policy on my phone while at the counter and another female employee gave me a bit of attitude making the claim "I don't know what that is or something along the lines of I've never seen that" referring to the coupon policy. At this time Alex is also involved shutting down my ability to use the coupons and then proceeds to make the comment of "I've already given you free things in the past". This is remark to Scanning Code of Practice as in the past I've so happen to purchase items that had the wrong tag still up and I know the Code's policy and he said this time I'll allow it but know next time our store policy is because there's an end date that's not applicable to the policy. I'm 100% this is not in compliance with the SCOP and because of that time he made that comment on June 30 in front of other customers which put me in a position of felling embarrassed and ashamed as if I was trying to do something wrong. His actions and demeanor, along with the older female employee who was working along side of the cashier helping me was by far the worst experience I have ever had at any store.

After Alex pointed out that Shoppers has the ability to limit quantities sold to me I obliged and said ok can I take 10 then, that's half of the amount of VIM I was originally going to purchase. He said I can only allow you to use 3 coupons, which absolutely doesn't make sense after the fact that he said he can limit my quantities but really he's in reality limiting my use of coupons because it so happens to be free. My coupons also states "one per purchase" and he was adamant that I'm limited to "one per customer". That is 2 different things and I told him one per purchase is per item I purchase gets 1 coupon. He was adamant on the fact that he will not give me items for free, even though I was following all of Shoppers coupon guidelines. And honestly the staff there needs to either show or post this "store policy on scanning code of practice" that he states omits items that have an end date because truth of the matter is that is a lie and not right because all tags have an end date.

I'm honestly disgusted at how I was treated and more annoyed that because of the way I was treated I'm resorting to go another store to purchase my items which this store location in literally a walking distance from my house. His treatment of me in front of other customers and accusations and comments is by far in appropriate. I've worked my share of retail and in the grocery chain in the customer service and know myself that every claim he made to me was incorrect and just spiteful because I was a smart shopper who knows how to coupon to lessen my out of pocket cost.

I would appreciate someone responding to this and the form of solution to this issue. Thank you.

I was interested in getting a $10. point amount from Shopper's, (if I bought $25.00 worth of items and bought 30 pod Van Houtte coffee pods 30 count which was $22.00+ and thought well its supposed to be good coffee so I guess thats the going price.
Today I went to Canadian Superstore here in Surrey BC and thought I would check and lo and behold the same 30 pod package is $15.99 ! So that's a $7.00 mark up at Shopper's! Unbelievable, I will be checking the difference next time. What a waste of $7.00 for the same exact product. I guess we do pay for those nice little point freebies don't we!
I have the receipt for the box I bought at Shopper's 7322 King George Highway Surrey BC. July 1st. reference # [protected] [protected] $22.99

Wait times of an hour for a prescription might be understandable but every time is just abusive every time I'm told it's because of equipment failure as with the buzzers but the five or six other customers that came in after me all had workeing buzzers and we're in and out in20 minutes when I brought this to their attention I was told someone forgot and they have a new system they have been using this excuse for the two years or so I have been going there, I've been a shoppers drug mart customer for over twenty years and never had this problem where I lived in Oakville but since moving here to Hamilton it has been like this it's against the law to discriminate if you don't want my business just tell me I don't like to change as they have all my info but beacause I take pain meds I'm trades differently in the hour I wasted I was treated to them stand around talking for 10 minutes or more about how they are from Bosnia or where they go for vacation this is the most criminaly irresponsible service I have ever been subjected to andwhen they finally find my prescription I'm made to feel bad because I take pain medication

Good evening,

I purchased a presto card from 629 Markham rd. Both presto website as well as phone line stated that it was not activated. I bought the card for 6 dollars and placed 30dollars on the actual balance of the card. The attending manager asked me for my receipt I showed it to him and said he couldn't do anything. I asked if he can just transfer the funds to another card as IT WAS RECENTLY PURCHASED (2Hrs) from their store and their machine was showing that the card was active and had the balance. The manager said no and it was out of their hands.

To be frank -36 dollars is not a big deal. I do not how ever have the hours and hours of time to deal with this issue to go file a complaint to go to TTC head quarters downtown as I do not live close to them for a simple 36 dollars.

Please send this complaint t their store manger/Owner/ Head office

-Francis Ching

On July 1, 2018 i called in the morning to request that my prescription be filled. The shoppers employee acknowledged and said they would be getting it ready for me.

I received a call at 2:30 pm on July 1, 2018 from Tenille. He informed me that he would not be able to fill my prescription until Tuesday because they didn't have my medication. ? Now, i use a shoppers drug mart because it is a large corporation and have policies and the ability to make things right when they are wrong.

I informed Tenille that i live in Toronto and i am not here Tuesday and that i required my medication that is not transferable. Tenille gave me the excuse that this was not Shoppers fault they did not have my medication, but instead the manufacturers fault.?

Tenille tells me that he can give me 3 pills until Tuesday and then i can come and get the rest. I then told Tenille that i do not live in Niagara Falls and that i would not be able to come back Tuesday and get the remainder of my medication i require the full prescription.

Tenille then repeats that i have two options i come get my medication on Tuesday or i take the 3 pills.? This does not work for me, this is a medication that i rely on and i require my medication to be dispensed to me when i need it at the beginning of every month and that again is why i use a large corporation that i believed to be relaible to provide me with that medication.

Tenille was short, rude and confrontational. With very little interest in making this right for me. I had informed Tenille that i had one or two extra pills, so he threw that in my face first, " well why can't you use the extra pills you have in Toronto?" He proceeded to tell me that these are my options. I told him i didn't need him to repeat my ultimatums and he was starting to upset me. These are not things you expect to hear as a customer of Shoppers Drug Mart.

He then got angry and told me he was done talking to me and i can call back later if i wanted to talk to the pharmacist. ? No if you want to keep me as a customer you can have your pharmacist call me back! Using a confrontational attitude he told me his name, spelled it and said good bye and hung on me. I did not get a call back from the pharmacist by the way.

I then called Shoppers Drug Mart on Lundy's Lane and spoke with the pharmacist Gin. I told her what the employee from the other Shoppers had said to me. She told me she really wished she could transfer the medication but the nature of the meds does not allow her to do this. She then told me that if they did not have my medication that they could go to another pharmacy and get the medication for me and provide it for me! This is what they should have told me at Shoppers Montrose. Making it right, no ultimatums.

Gin also informed me that i could call Shoppers Head Office and let them know whats going on. Thanks Gin that is customer service! I will be relying on Gin to provide me with the medication I need going forward.

I then called Shoppers Montrose Road and spoke to Linh. I told him that i had called for my medication earlier and that i had an unpleasant experience with Tenille. I explained that i needed my medication, and that Shoppers Lundy's Lane informed me that they had my medication. Linh then told me he would see what they could do and they could get me some of the medication.? But again not all of my medication. I don't l know whats not getting through to the employees of this store but its not a we will get it when we get it. He then said he would do his best. I explained to him this is not a ya we will try situation, you have to provide the medication people require for their health and well being especially when i just told him i knew he had options to get the medication from Gin at Lundy's Lane and she told me she could do it. ? Why do i as the customer have to call another Shoppers to see who else has my medication. ? At least he didn't get rude and confrontational with me and hang up. Linh did call me back and tell me that he was indeed going to go to get the meds from Lundys Lane.

That is all,

Adam