I had a bad experience with walgreens.com recently. Not a devastating, terrible experience; but a bad one. I see no reason to shop there again. I thought I'd share to warn others away from the particular pitfalls I experienced. It all started when I decided I'd like to get an air purifier for my bedroom. After looking around at various brands and filter types, I decided to get a "Clean AirBall". Google Shopping said that Walgreens.com had this in several different colors for $25. It was on sale for 50% off, normal price $50, and it was cheaper than anywhere else, so I ordered one. Now, there are several different colors. I thought I ordered the black version. Several days later, however, I received it (in good working order, no complaints there)....but it was the blue one. A minor thing, but the blue one is not a very nice color, actually (it looks better in the online photos than in reality); I thought I would really prefer a *black* Clean Airball. However, I wasn't sure whether I had actually ordered the blue one or the black one, so I checked my email order confirmation. The order confirmation did not specify a color, or an item number, just the name of the product. Flag #1. I checked if the website had any kind of "past orders" page I could view, but it did not. Flag #2. I emailed customer service, and they told me that yes, I had ordered the blue one, and sent me a shipping confirmation email (*after* I'd received the item) which did specify blue. I still have no idea whether I actually ordered blue or if they were just ass-covering at that point, but that isn't important. What is important is that they suggested I return the item to my local Walgreens store for a credit and then order the one I wanted online. (It's an online-only item, not available in the store.) That's a bit of a pain, but sure, I happen to have a Walgreens nearby. So I go there and return the item. They give me a Walgreens card with store credit on it in return. I did ask whether I'd be able to use the card online and the woman assured me I would, pointing to a number in small print on the back. I get home, and find that walgreens.com does not accept Walgreens store credit, nor Walgreens gift cards, or anything else particularly useful. This is Major Flag #3. I try phoning the website customer service but they won't take the store credit that way either. Exasperated, I return to the Walgreens store the next day and explain the situation. A different manager is quick to change the store credit to a refund on my credit card, which is what they should have done originally; a bright spot. I get home, all ready to be done with the situation and finally order the replacement air filter....to find that the 50% off sale has ended and the thing now costs $50. Screw walgreens.com. Another site has it for $29 anyway.
Good lord. Sounds like an end-to-end clusterfuck on that one. I've never ordered anything from Walgreens.com but from what you've said here it sounds like they don't have their shit together. No thanks.
There is a Walgreens store about a block from my house, so I never felt the need to order online from them.
I've heard of people being blackballed before, but it seems you were blueballed. I would support you by blackballing Walgreens (or should that be greenballing?) but they don't operate in the UK.
Wow! That is crazy. In my hometown there are two Walgreens with a third being built within 6 miles of each other. I have no ideal why we need so many Walgreens in one area.
^Medical prescriptions are big business. The rest of the store is a fraction of the stores' real income and profit. If there is one nearby, more people will use it. It may sound cynical, but it is very true. I order very few things online. Yesterday I purchased a Snuggie at Walmart. It was $14.88... less than the online website and NO shipping charges. By the time I factor in reliability, convenience, shipping charges and the ability to see the item in person... I would rather spend my money locally at a brick-and-mortar store.
Not cynical at all. Convenience is a huge factor for many people. I used to live right around the corner from a Walgreens and if I didn't feel like making the whole trip to Target or Wal-Mart--both of which were several miles away--I'd just walk on over to Walgreens and pick up what I needed. They didn't have everything but they had enough to suit my needs a lot of the time. Sure, it costs more, but my time is valuable to me and I don't want to drive across town just to get one or two items. It was also damned convenient to get prescriptions filled there. Now, I don't really live with walking distance of any drug or grocery store, so it kinda sucks.
I should mention that this particular item shipped free from walgreens.com, and Google Shopping has a limited ability to compare brick-and-mortar prices near your location alongside e-stores. The website was still the best.
I was just at Walgreens, bought 4 packs of gum and had the coupon 2 for $1 and they still run up 67 cents. The woman was on the top of her game and looked rather annoyed that the coupon didn't scan correctly. The point is, you get screwed if you aren't paying attention.
I can think of about 6 Walgreens within 10 miles of each other, and each of them has a CVS Pharmacy across the street.
I believe that. They're worse than Circle Ks out here. Seems like there is either a CVS or a Walgreens on every corner...
I worked for the company for five years as a pharmacy technician up until July of this past year. For all of their (internal and external both) talk of being "One Walgreens" between the retail stores, the online site, and various other companies owned by Walgreen Co. (Take Care Health Systems, SeniorMed, Specialty Pharmacy, etc.), there is a lot of work that needs to be done to come even remotely close to realizing that "vision."
I noticed the same when I lived in Indiana. Wherever there was a Walgreens, you'd find a CVS right across the street. And it was usually Walgreens that came first, with CVS setting up shop next door to steal their business. In the town where I lived, Walgreens got wise to this and had one built in a spot where you couldn't put a CVS right across the street, because there was no room for one.
It may have something to do with how their online site processes payments because you are more likely to get split tenders when you have a transaction with gift cards and store credits. What happens is that someone wants to apply a credit to the partial total and charge the rest to a credit card. It's usually no problem for a cashier at the register (though some gift cards are more problematic than others) but their online purchase processing may not be able to understand that intuitively. One of the situations I used to encounter when Visa and Mastercard gift cards became more common was that they were processed through the credit card approval system. If you had a $10 gift card and wanted to apply it to a purchase of $35, the computer would ask the system for approval of a $35 charge on a card with a limit of $10. The system would reject it because the total purchase was over the limit of the card. A cashier could get around this by doing a split tender manually, but the last time I checked, many online merchant processing systems did not have this capability. Still, it is a stupid move on Walgreens's part to not be able to handle store credits on online-only items.
Walgreens is across the street from me and I have two grocery stores within one block. So . I agree with the convenience thing. When I was in the suburbs there were two of them that were each probably fifteen minutes away, but when I heard they were building a new one even closer I was happy about it. But somehow they seem impossible to get into ... every entrance is like right turn only and I end up circling until I find the one entrance available. All three are like this!
I saw some Oxfam gift cards in my local supermarket and I told my kids they could buy me one for Christmas as I had previously bought some fair trade items of them via their website. Luckily I looked at their website and discovered that gift cards cannot be used for online purchases. I immediately told my kids not to buy a card for me as the nearest Oxfam shop is in Launceston which is 200 km (120 miles away). One son ended up giving me an ITunes card instead. Couldn't the gift card just be credited to your account? Then, when your purchase is made the price is lowered by what you have in your account.
Have you contacted Walgreens to explain your issues with the sale ending when you couldn't take advantage of it because your order SNAFU'ed? Under the circumstances (and if they actually are at least a reasonable company) they might grant you an exception. Heck, Borders was willing to re-ship me a DVD when my original never arrived and I had no way of proving I was telling the truth.