CVS

On December 24th, I went into the store to pick up my 5x7 Glossy Christmas Photo Cards. The cashier warmly greeted me and rang up the photo envelope. I didn't look inside of the envelope until I was wrapping gifts at about 11:30pm. There were no envelopes for the cards. I was annoyed, but figured there was nothing I could do at that point of time. Today, December 28th was the first available opportunity I had to get back to the store to pick up my envelopes. I walked into the same store at approximately 7:50pm. I asked the cashier for my new photos that I had ordered and questioned her about the envelopes. She was very polite and looked for envelopes, but said she needed to call The Manager. A gentleman came up front and I approached him, he said that he was not the manager, but The Manager would have to come assist me. I asked the cashier if he was on a lunch break or something and she replied with, "Even if he is on a break, he needs to come out and help you. You are the customer." Up to this point I was feeling quite surprised with the customer service. Then a gentleman came walking up front. The cashier said to me, "Here he is." He walked passed me and then turned his back to me and said, "How can I help you." I was not impressed. The cashier tried to diffuse his unprofessional attitude and asked if there was envelopes that came with the cards. "The Manager" then stated that they were all out. They were all out due to everyone ordering at Christmas. So there was no envelopes. I said, "Ok, so they were supposed to come with envelopes though?" He said, "Yes! But they are all out." I asked what he could do about that then and his reply was, "There is nothing I can do for you!" Well, that is the wrong thing for a Manager to say. I said, "Yes! There is definitely something you can do for me. You are the Manager." He insisted that there was nothing that he could do. I realized that I might need to break this down for him, so I said, "You are the manager, which means that you can do something for me. Let's think outside the box here. You can give me a refund on the pictures that I just purchased, you can give me a credit for another purchase, or maybe you can tell me when the envelopes will be in." He said, "You want a refund? Ok, I will give you a refund. I need your receipt." I didn't have my receipt, so he asked for my ID. I gave him my ID and then he asked for the photo cards. I told him that I didn't have the photos with me, just the empty photo holder. He said, "How can I give you a refund if you don't have the cards with you? I can't give you a refund on a product if you don't give it back?" I asked him, "What don't you understand? I got half a product. I didn't get the envelopes with the cards." And then he said, "Ma'am the envelopes are for free!" My eyes jumped out of my head and blood began to boil, "But I didn't the envelopes, I got half of the product then. Hallmark does not just give you a card and make you pay for an envelope." He then said, "There is nothing I can do for you then, you will have to talk to the Manager!" I said, "Manager? I thought you were the manager?" He said, " I am the shift Manager, not the store Manager. The store Manager is not here so there's nothing I can do."

My complaint is in the way this entire thing was handled. First of all, if there wasn't any envelopes in stock, then I should have been notified when I tried to pay for my cards. Secondly, the shift manager needs some management training. I know it is hard to find good employees, but just because someone shows up for work does not mean they need the shift manager title. The 2 other employees working there were definitely more friendly and able to greet people nicely.

So here I am, out the money I paid for the cards and I have no envelopes to mail them out. The fact that "the manager" didn't even have enough sense to say, "I am sorry for the inconvenience this must have been for you", or "I am not sure what we can do as I am only the shift manager and we have to have authority from the manager to help our customers when they are right and we are wrong." (I am being sarcastic).

I would love some envelopes to go with my cards, but it will take much more to keep me a loyal CVS shopper. Walgreens is on every corner as well.