Walgreens

Good Morning,

The incident occurred on Thursday June 22, 2023 from 7:30pm-8:45pm at the pharmacy. My doctor prescribed Synthroid medication and the pharmacy was out of stock for a few days. I was told Freeport had it available on Tuesday 6/20. I went to Freeport, the pharmacist told me that they didn’t have it available and it would take a few days and it would cost $99. I asked if I could ask my doctor to send the generic version as they had enough to fill and it was $12. They said yes to have them send it in. The doctor sent the script however when I got there on Thursday, the cashier gave me the $99 Synthroid. I explained what happened and if she could fill the generic that was sent. She told me to sit and wait they would fill it in 15 minutes. There was no line at this point. I waited and another older woman was told to wait for her medication as well. Then another person came and was told they did not have the medication and she spoke Spanish - they couldn’t help her. Then another person came and was also told they did not have their insulin because the insurance wouldn’t cover the generic. The woman was upset and asked for help. After about 25 minutes of saying she would pray and hope she would be okey. The pharmacist offered to help and asked her to wait. They called me up after about an hour and the cashier tells me she’s sorry but I have to pay for the Synthroid because they ordered it for me. I asked why I was sitting for an hour and why my generic prescription was not filled and I couldn’t go without my medication. The pharmacist the one who was upset about giving me the three pills - refused to fill my generic prescription and stated that the manager told me how much it would cost and they ordered this for me. I then suggested that they keep the Synthroid for other patients as it is on back order and to fill the new prescription the doctor sent as it was not suitable or fair to make me pay $99 for this medication when there was a generic on file. The pharmacist said it was a busy night and I was the only one who ordered this medication and I have to pay otherwise they would lose $150. I became upset and said I cannot be the only one in Freeport that takes Synthroid and that the woman who refused to fill my medication was there the evening this all happened and was upset about giving me the three pills. I told the cashier that it was not fair or right to make me wait over an hour and withhold my medication, that I was paying for the workers ego. After this they proceeded to tell the older woman that also waited for an hour with me that they did not have her medication. She became upset and said when did you tell me this I was waiting over hour, and they said while she was sitting. I was sitting next to her and at no point did they tell her this until the issue with me happened. I found this appalling, unprofessional, and lack of disregard to people’s health. The most upsetting thing is that it felt prejudice and bias as none of the workers were Hispanic. The pharmacist who refused to fill my medication was an older white woman with a chip on her shoulder. The Indian woman was overwhelmed and just followed what she said. There were no Spanish speaking staff and this was a representation of holding power over vulnerable people. Telling me me I had to pay for the more expensive version of medication because she gave me three pills to hold me over due to her manager going against what she originally wanted to do which was make me wait a few days until it was filled. I tried to say I will pay for the 3 pills and fill my generic. The pharmacist said it was a busy night and I would have to wait a couple of days after waiting an hour when it was supposed to be filled. Her ego was hurt when her manager overrided her on Tuesday. I cannot be without my thyroid medication and it was cruel to not fill the generic prescription while I was waiting stating I was the only person who ever ordered it. This was the first time I filled this script at this Walgreens as I usually go the the Oceanside NY store. I could tell from the hour I sat and observed - this was the culture. Making people wait and not care about medication needs for people of color was disturbing. The white woman ran the show behind the counter and it was apparent that they all followed her. 6 people did not get their meds and were told to come back. It was terrible service and I hope it is investigated for the people of Freeport deserve high quality customer service. My name is Valeria Ossa DOB 11/25/77 - to check the computer on what happened with my scripts. They did receive the generic brand.

8/24/2021
Good morning, I contacted Walgreens in Freeport, NY to inquire about donations for a back to school drive my church would be conducting for children and families who have been impacted by covid. I asked to speak to the manager, who presented as rude and unkind. Please provide additional training on customer service and client interaction.

I ordered an item online from the Walgreens site and received an email telling me I could pick it up. 5 days later I went to the store to pick it up. I went to the photo section and as I waited on the line I noticed that the associate was being very courteous and respectful to the woman in front of me. When she was done and I approached the counter, his demeanor changed abruptly. He began acting distracted, busy, and disinterested. I told him that I had ordered something online. I pulled up the order details on my phone. He kept asking me "What are you here for? ...What do you need?" as I was doing this so, again, I told him I ordered something online and I'm pulling up the order information on my phone. He replied "Oh" and walked away from the counter. When he came back I showed him the order details. Then he said "What is it you ordered?" so I scrolled down and showed him the picture of my item. He then went in the back and looked for it, came back, and asked me for the tracking number, so I showed it to him. He then said "I don't know, I don't see a package here... What's the number?" When I showed him the tracking number again, he said "No, the fed ex number" and picked up the Walgreens phone to call. I looked on the order details page and said "I don't see any fed ex phone number here. Are you talking about the Walgreens phone number?" He said "No, I need the number to call fed ex." So I looked on the page some more and gave him the only other phone number I saw. That number ended up being the Walgreens number when he called it. So then he asked me when the order came and I told him the date, and he told me that the fed ex guy came there and picked up some packages that were there, and that some packages were sitting there for a while and they pick up packages that have been sitting there too long. So I told him that my email didn't come with any deadline for when I needed to pick up the package and that I hadn't gotten an email saying that my order had been cancelled. He then said "Your package isn't here." I found the fed ex number online and then told him I found the fed ex phone number and asked if he was going to call them. He said "No. Your package isn't here." I stared at him. He then said " Ma'am, you need to call fed ex." I asked "Why would I have to call fed ex when I made the order through Walgreen's website?" He said "MA'AM, Your package isn't here. You NEED to call fed ex." I said "That doesn't make any sense. I didn't get any email saying I should call fed ex. Why would I have to contact fed ex when I made this order through Walgreens?" And he said "There's nothing I can do for you." I asked to speak to the manager and he said he was the manager. So I said I need to speak to someone higher up than you, to which he replied "There's no one higher up than me. I'm telling you what you need to do. You need to call fed ex." The whole time he was talking he had a huge attitude that I tried my best to disregard but at this point I got visibly annoyed. I said "NO, I'm going to call Walgreens." He then said "MA'AM, I'm TRYING to help you. What you need to do is call fed ex and find out where your package is." I said "No, you're NOT trying to help me." Then he said "Ma'am, you need to- " and I cut him off and said "I'm done" because he was being very condescending with his tone and talking slow like I was a disabled person and I didn't want to lose my temper. I walked away and got on the phone to call Walgreens. I had to leave the store eventually because I was on hold for a total of an hour before getting someone. The representative I spoke to online told me that I did not have to call fed ex and that he should not have told me to call fed ex. She also said that my package had been checked in at the store which means it should have been there at the store. Thankfully the phone representative shipped the item to my house free as a courtesy.