Walgreens

Hello,

I have been a customer of Walgreens 566 Union St. Bangor, ME 04401 for several years now. Gradually over the past couple years, customer service has been on a rapid decline. The worst experiences at Walgreens have been over the past 2 days.

1. Over the last 2 days (9/21/21-9/22/21) I had to stop by the store 3 times until I was finally able to obtain 2 scripts ready for pick-up: my daughter's psychiatric, maintenance medication and my Epi-pen. One week prior to today (9/15/21) I stopped by to pick up my Epi-pens and the tech said my insurance wouldn't cover it. However, when I asked him why they have always previously covered by the same insurance and asked if he looked back at all of the other successful Epi-pen refills with them he said, "Oh, that's a great idea. Let me look back and see what the difference is". He came back 10 minutes later stating what the problem was. He apologized for no one trying to trouble shoot this simple issue prior to my inquiry. 5 hours later I finally received a text it was ready to pick up after I had returned home (20 minutes away - each direction).
I had spoken to pharmacy staff on Monday 9/20/21 who asked me when I needed it, so I responded Tuesday afternoon (9/21/21), however when I stopped by the pharmacy yesterday afternoon, I stood in line for 25 minutes before even getting to the counter; when I did reach the counter the tech said it wasn't even ready! I explained my Monday 9/20/21 conversation and the response I got was, "Well I'm sorry but we didn't have computers yesterday (Monday 9/20/21) and we're short staffed and only have 2 pharmacy staff working all the time". I did observe more than 2 staff very busily working while standing in line. My daughter had to go without her psychiatric med last night which resulted in a very frightening evening for her and me. Unfortunately, this is not the 1st time this has happened, instead we're encountering issues at this pharmacy every trip for the past 2 years. Scripts aren't ready when texts say they are, wait times are 20-60 minutes to receive said scripts, staff tell me a script isn't ready until tomorrow or is not in stock but during my 20-minute drive home I get a text stating the script is ready for pick up-resulting in another lengthy wait standing in line at this pharmacy. I receive texts scripts are ready or out of stock but am told, after standing in line for 20+ minutes that the text was an error so to disregard it.
Today (9/22/21) I stood in line for 30 minutes before leaving to get to a prior engagement on time. There were 6 military people and 5 non-military people standing in the only line with staff manning it-the Covid-19 vaccine check-in line. No one was at the Pick-up/Drop off register. I literally needed 30 seconds to get my scripts, but I had to leave again!
2. My kids' cardiologist complained to me twice they are unable to get through to a live person to speak to a pharmacist and/or clarify a pharmacy question. They are routinely on hold for 30 minutes x 3 in one sitting. Apparently once a call is on hold for 30 minutes the doctor said the call disconnected/timed out and was told to call again later. I went without a script when a Walgreens tech told me she sent an E-refill request to my provider 3 times, however the providers office had no records of ever receiving any request from Walgreens. The provider, MA and office manager looked through my chart to verify no e-refill request were ever received from any Walgreens on my behalf.
3. This afternoon (9/22/21) after picking up our scripts, I purchased 1 bag of the Nice! Veggie Straws. When I opened the bag, I encountered a plasticky, chemical sort of odor when I opened the bag. I thought my sense of smell was to blame since having Covid complications since last February. To my horror, the expiration date was 1/2021 on the top right of the bag. My mouth and tongue burned for over 1 hour after consuming only a couple of straws. I turned around to exchange this bag for an edible one as well as to warn the staff of expired foods being sold there, however the response I received from the woman at the register closest to the door was (also the person to check me out originally), "Thanks for finding that out for us." She took the bag from me and looked away toward the next customer. I have never been so appalled in all my life to this acceptance of expired food being sold! I looked over the other bags of veggie straws for sale on the shelves and a few expire 11/2021. I chose the one that expires 1/2022. Others expire 10/21. The cashier didn't seem to care there were others expiring soon when I mentioned it to her. Earlier when I had to leave I purchased water and Gatorade on my way out, when I vented about how hard it is to pick up scripts, this cashier told me "good luck in finding another pharmacy that isn't short staffed and running slowly. When I told her my family has no issues at Hannaford and another Walgreens, she said,"yeah right, okay. Good luck to you!"

Resolution:
1. I wish I had a clear cut, straight forward suggestion for resolution that would allow us to remain with this Walgreens store, but these issues aren't so easily solved. I have spent nearly 22 years in Clinical & Administrative Operations Project Management, training new and existing staff in ownership, pride, acceptance, multi-tasking and tolerance of all patients/customers' individual needs and barriers. Based on my experiences in public-facing healthcare management, training and patient complaint resolutions, I acknowledge that I don't know the behind-the-scenes organizational nuances of Walgreens that make some of them so successful vs so blatantly unsuccessful. Achieving complete resolution(s) is multi-faceted but also often over-complicated by those not familiar to the individual ins and outs of a particular store.
This morning the staff member could have alternated between customers receiving Covid vaccines and those only there to pickup/drop off or another staff member could have helped the non-vaccination customers. She also could have asked what everyone was here for to keep the line moving along and increase customer satisfaction. This would have eliminated the 5 people waiting for scripts (including me). Intermittently there was another female staff member helping 2 male customers at the pickup/drop off register without ever acknowledging those waiting in line. This Walgreens should provide chairs or stools down the center aisle for those of us who are unable to stand in a line for an extended period of time if this store will continue to be short-staffed per 2 staff member statements today.

The first few years at Walgreens, your staff was the bomb, the best! I told everyone I knew to use this store. Staff appear to have lost their sense of urgency and pride. There were 2 staff (1 tech and 1 pharmacist) that used to work there that were the best of the best :) They remembered me by name, smiled when they saw me and took customer satisfaction personally.

2. Of late, staff appear stressed and very unhappy in their job satisfaction which most definitely needs to be investigated and resolved. If this continues, it will be the demise of this location. It appears staff need to be trained in customer service, public facing people skills and empathy regardless of their job satisfaction. For a non-pharmacy staff member to not care expired foods are being sold is unacceptable and dangerous! I have spent a career in clinical healthcare and healthcare management which has afforded me to have seen too many instances of hospitalizations and exacerbated health issues as a result of the consumption of bad food.
The 5 of us (in our household) will never use Walgreens ever again. This location was always so convenient and friendly to us : (The drive through was so convenient when my physical ailments were flaring up. The attitude of staff at this store has become callused and lackadaisical in work ethic and lacking sympathy and empathy. I'm not sure what happened but we started to see a rapid decline about 2 years ago and unfortunately it has only worsened since that time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email, it is much appreciated.

Respectfully Submitted,

Alison Carter
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