Walgreens Unacceptable Drive-Through Experience

maybe you get off your rear end and get the Rx? No one ever said the
drive thru would be quicker, its just there for convinience (yes i
know i spelt that wrong) and esp for the rain. not to make it
faster.still have to wait the same time. the clerk was still "working"
with the customer at the window... why do you put "'s around it? do u
know that they weren't working with the customer? Ya'll are so speedy
ya can't wait a damn minute. Slow down and enjoy life.

i think so to, the lines are rediculess i am not the least bit
suprised you had to wait that long i usually have to wait that long
just to buy a pack of gum inside!

What people need to understand is that Walgreens is not a fast food
joint. The drive-thru is meant as a CONVIENCE to customers. It does
not mean that it's going to be a quick in-and-out or that it's faster
than coming into the store. I work at a Walgreen's pharmacy and many
times I cannot see if there is another car behind the first car in the
lane closest to the building. Maybe the cashier or technician did not
see that you were there first.

Be very careful of CVS.. they will release your prescription
information to people that are not entitled to it.

This is a classic example of how spoiled our soceity has become. You
waited ten minutes? Boo hoo! That's short for Walgreens!

Why didn't you drive in the other lane instead of behind the one car?
Genius.

Walgreens is not Burger King. We do not have to have your pills out to
you in 60 seconds.
Why on earth didn't you get into the other drive thru line? It sounds
like the person in front of you had a complicated matter, and they had
someone else manning the other drive thru lane. You didn't have to
wait 10 minutes.

Just for the record, as a tech I HATE people that whine about the
drive thru. Come inside. Your legs aren't painted on.

Excuse me, but since when does a drive-thru mean that there is gonna
be less wait? A drive thru is just there so you don't have to get off
your hiney and walk in the store. Would you rather walk in the store
and STAND there for 10 minutes? and why do you " " the working on the
second paragraph,second sentence? How do you know that they Were NOT
working on an Rx? People really need to slow down these days and not
be in such a rush. And i agree, Walgreens has also lost me as a
customer, and i used to work there, but after i got scolded by the
manager, I havent gone back there since. Its a shame too because when
i worked there, I spent at least 1/3 of my paycheck there, and my
former coworker told him that they lost a valuable customer, live and
learn i guess!

Something you have to realize, is that waiting ten minutes for a
prescription is pretty good. alot of times, it can be 15 minutes or
more. unfortunately, things come up and employees aren't able to get
through customers as fast as they would like.

if the customer in frot of you had questions about their medicine,
the employee is required to answer them.

next time, just sit back and relax. you will get your prescription.
but if there was another open window in the drive thru, why didn't you
go through there? i know you said something about being told no
before, but you could have tried to.

just try to be patient and realize that not every promblem lies
within the employee, but sometimes the customer before you.

I can imagine many, many things that could have taken so long.

1. Driver did not have all info on prescription, like legible name,
address, phone, date of birth.
I always write that on the form.

2. Driver had to dig out the insurance card. It's not right handy.

3. Insurance has expired/changed/won't let that Tylenol 3 be refilled
so soon.

4. Writing. A. Check. Must. Dig. Out. Check. Book. First. Can. I.
Borrow. a. Pen? I realize that many times you aren't sure exactly how
much the prescription is going to cost, but you can at least have
everything else written in while you wait.

5. Credit card didn't go through.

6. Interaction with another medication, so the pharmacist needs to
try to explain everything to the patient or call the doctor's office.

7. Drug's name is not entirely clear, and driver doesn't really know
what it's called or what it's supposed to do or what it's for. I can
really understand that the pharmacist or tech doesn't want the car to
drive away until this is straightened out.
Surprisingly, a doctor's notes in your file aren't just sitting at the
nurse's desk in case you lose your prescription or need it to be
explained.

8. Driver refuses to move, because "there's nobody behind me". That
may be true at that exact second, but can change at any time.

9. Driver who says, "They told me it would be ready in 20 minutes"
and will sit there until the medicine is in hand. 20 minutes is just
an estimate, when you drop off. You'd be amazed at how relieved a
tech will be when you say, "How about *time 2 hours from now*?" If I
really need it NOW(like a 3 times/day antibiotic, and I can still get
in 2 or all 3 doses today), I'll go in.

10. Medication is complicated or needs a really detailed
explanation.

I agree with other posters that it's really nobody's business why the
car in front took so long. I'm just giving some suggestions why.

Basically, OP picked the "wrong" line. The line that didn't move.
Happens all the time, at all kinds of facilities, walk-up or
drive-thru.

Is this world so fast paced that we can't wait 10 minutes in line?
Getting people's perscriptions can take a little bit of time. They
have to make sure that they have everything right. Otherwise, the
person on Prozac might get some Viagra and be real suprised. If you
don't have 10 min. to wait in line, then you need to change your
schedule.

Go to the Publix pharmacy. Much better service!!!

Yeesh. God forbid you should have to wait for ANYTHING!

Have to wait in line at the bank drive-thru because somebody has a
complex transaction? Just go inside and scream at the teller!
Have to wait in line at the drive-thru at McDonald's because somebody
in front of you has a large order? Just go inside and scream at the
counter staff!

And what business is it of yours why it was taking them longer to
serve the person who got the pharmacy before you did? There are laws
that prevent pharmacists from giving out their customers' personal
information, you know.

Frankly, I doubt Walgreen's will miss you too much.

I'm sure if you would have pulled around the car in front of you and
went to the other line, you would have gotten through and been out of
there. But nooo, you had to go in and throw a temper tantrum for how
long you have been waiting. It probably took you longer to throw your
tantrum than it would have been for you to pull around and get through
the line and leave.

It is none of your business why it was taking the other car so long.
The clerk is probably upset that you are leaving for CVS (sarcasm). I
bet you were very loud and rude to that clerk, you owe 'them' an
apology.

I know that it is very annoying to be waiting and then see another
customer go in and get served before you. But it is not that drivers
fault, nor the pharmacy, for that driver to go to the empty lane and
get served before you. The driver used common sense and went to the
empty lane. Don't get so bent out of shape about it.

What's with the quotation marks? You don't know what the clerk was
doing with the customer. One would assume s/he was, indeed,
"working". The fact that someone else's business took longer than YOU
would have liked does not make it the store's fault (how would you
like it if you had a ton of questions for the pharmacist but were told
you had to leave so someone could pull up behind you?

And I agree with the other post; if the clerk needed consoling, it's a
fair bet that you behaved very inappropriately.

And have fun at CVS - it's not a particularly good pharmacy. Oh, and
that $105 a month? They're not going to miss it.

Then take your business elsewhere and be done with it! No need to
write a letter to tell them about it since clearly they don't care.

Geez!

Why did the clerk need consoling?

did anyone else thin kabout the fact that this person may have had her
RX in hand, instead of it being called in ahead of time? You always
have to wait if it isn't called in prior to pick-up. I used to love
walgreens pharmacy, but giant eagle offers feul perks!

When I read this letter, I keep thinking about the lady at Dunkin'
Donuts who held up the line for nearly an hour waiting for a refund.
Change the name a bit and it could have been written by one of the
people in line behind her.

As for Richard, dude what do you want? A line with a sign that says
'Richard's Line, Do not Use'? If waiting 10 whole minutes in line gets
you this het up, I hope one of those meds is akin to Prozac.

Unfortunately it's not "fast pharmacy" just because it's a drive
through. The only convenience you have is getting to sit in the car.
It's not any faster.

was this 10 "customer minutes" or 10 "real minutes"?

You will have the exact same problem at CVS. Trust me.

Oh my I agree. Totally Unacceptable. at LEAST Ten minutes.Perhaps the
customer in front of you had many new scripts and needed counselling
and advice from the pharmacist? Or an insurance snafu? Or maybe they
were backordered on something and needed to call to get something
approved/ordererd. And another line going faster. That's truly
unacceptable. Instead of sitting there or changing over to the faster
lane, what do you CHOOSE? Park the car and take a hissy fit inside.
And then the indignity of going IN and being told to get in line. I
really don't blame you especially after being tried to be "placated"
and apologized to.
And then to see the two perps cohorting and consoleing each other in
what should have been a private tender moment.

I'm not sure Walgreens will tap dance for you over a measley 105.
bucks a month...it comes to three and a half bucks a day....not enough
for tap dance lessons.

So good luck at CVS. Thieir track record is much worse than
Walgreens.....much doo doo about nothing.

Wow I'm sure they won't mind if you go elsewhere to buy your meds,
sounds like you need to tack prozac or something onto there. They
didn't do anything wrong, the person in front of you didn't move fast
enough. Keep acting like that and you'll run out of places to go to.
You were probably in the wrong lane. I don't understand what
Walgreens did that was so horrible but at least you're not asking for
free stuff. I'm sure CVS is going to be thrilled to see you :)

That being said, there could have been any number of things going on,
none of which are any of your business due to the HIPPA laws. The car
that came in the other lane may simply have been DROPPING off a
prescription--I am not familiar with Walgreens but I do know that most
pharmacies with a dual drive thru have 1 lane for pick up and 1 lane
for drop off.

When I used to work for Eckerd we had people trying to use the drop
off lane to pick up all the time, we always told them they were in the
wrong lane eventhough the lanes were CLEARLY marked--obviously they
were special and I just did not get the memo,also we always had
someone unwilling to move there vehicle for whatever reason, that
would be where we would get the police involved.

Unless you have YOUNG children in the car, next time park and go in.
Also it is hillarious that you think that CVS will actually be
better--- they are notorious for having long waits even if there not
busy. I wish that people would realize that the world does not
revolve around them-----I would be interested to know what medication
you were picking up I think that would shed a lot of light on this
whole thing.

You need to see it from the employee's point of view. The lines move
at different speeds. And the manager explained about people not
moving their cars. At the most, this was a blip in your day. And if
i had a caring manager like that one, i'd still be at my previous job,
he sounds like he cares about his employees when they are treated
rudely by a customer. I suspect they will be just as glad to see you
go across the street.

Well maybe he or she was councoling her because you had a bad attitude
and upset her. If that is the case I am sure the manager and clerk
don't mind losing you as a customer.

How do you know he was consoling her? Did you hear any conversation?

Good luck at CVS. That's where I pick up my prescriptions, and I wait
forever in line. I only use the drive-thru if I have my car full of
kids, otherwise it's so much quicker to go inside.

Although you have a valid complaint, I suspect that the manager was
'consoling' the clerk because you were nasty to her.

That's the kind of manager I'd like to have if I were in retail.

Unfortunately it was Walgreens that started the drive-thru concept. I
wish they hadn't. A majority of complaints stem from drive-thru
service. I'm not going to "think out" what could have been the
problem or who was at fault but the fact that the you saw the "manager
patting the clerk on the back consoling her" tells me something about
how you behaved -- or didn't behave.

Too many people abuse the drive-thru (thinking that's is just like a
fast-food drive thru) and too many people can't read ad tags. I wish
they would do away with both!!!!!!!!!!!!