Walgreens Club Card Ripoff Tamarac Florida
Walgreens sells a membership card that costs $20 a year, and allows you to buy from a list of 400 common prescription drugs at a reduced price. This is basically the same benefit that Walmart originated, except Walmart requires no membership and no $20 fee.
I went for it because I was in the habit of using Walgreens pharmacy for 12 years.
In addition to pharmacy pricing, it offered the promise of 10% off Walgreen branded remedies.
In practice, no one in the store knew how the card worked or how to ring it up. On multiple occasions, a simple checkout turned into a major ordeal, involving multiple staff. In addition, you really didn't get 10% off, rather you got a 10% credit n the next purchase, and this in and of itself set off further pandemonium at the register.
Whoever is in charge of their customer loyalty program has managed to come up with a plan that is inferior to their competitor, of dubious benefit to their customer, completely baffling to their own staff, aggravating for everyone to use, and costing $20 a year.
My most recent visit was the last straw when the front register kid told me the card could only be used at the pharmacy register since no one knew how to use it, and I would have to exit the line I had just worked my way to the front of.
I moved all my scripts over to (((competitor's name redacted))) and have been happy, and advise Walgreen customers not to be ripped off by Walgreens customer loyalty plan.
Wally
Tamarac, Florida
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Walgreens
sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company, ..plus, if you post a competitors name more than likely they will show up on search engines as a Rip-off! - - your comments on this policy are welcome. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. In this case we removed an alleged competitor's name
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Wagmgr
Beaverton,Oregon,
U.S.A.
Program needs more training. Apologies.
#7UPDATE Employee
Wed, July 29, 2009
Let me start off by saying that I am sorry you had a bad experience at Walgreens. While all employees take a mandatory training program on the Prescription Savings Club, unfortunately most cashiers blow it off as it is only one of many computer courses taken before their first day on the cash register.
In most stores, the more experienced cashiers/non-managers know how to use the program, but given how rare such transactions are on non-pharmacy registers (1-2 times a month for most stores), most employees either forget over time or have never run such a transaction practically.
I realize it is frustrating, but if you or others do encounter such a situation with an inexperienced employee, we ask for your patience so that the new employee can be shown properly how to perform the transaction so that this is not a recurring problem.
Cheers,
-Chris in Portland
Torx
Torxville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Response to employee
#7Author of original report
Sun, July 19, 2009
Perhaps you could tell us how to get "two or three times your money back". This must be in the VERY small print. I know W staff can do it in their sleep. From the way the stores are run, most ARE sleeping.
Torx
Torxville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Response to employee
#7Author of original report
Sun, July 19, 2009
Perhaps you could tell us how to get "two or three times your money back". This must be in the VERY small print. I know W staff can do it in their sleep. From the way the stores are run, most ARE sleeping.
Torx
Torxville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Response to employee
#7Author of original report
Sun, July 19, 2009
Perhaps you could tell us how to get "two or three times your money back". This must be in the VERY small print. I know W staff can do it in their sleep. From the way the stores are run, most ARE sleeping.
Torx
Torxville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Response to employee
#7Author of original report
Sun, July 19, 2009
Perhaps you could tell us how to get "two or three times your money back". This must be in the VERY small print. I know W staff can do it in their sleep. From the way the stores are run, most ARE sleeping.
Kitty
Oak Creek,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
Read the small print
#7UPDATE Employee
Thu, July 16, 2009
It always has said 10% back.
It doesn't say 10% off. I believe some of the advertisement says it's LIKE 10% off. When you swipe your card the next purchase, it uses that balance you earned last time, applies it to the current balance.
Go wherever you choose, but don't cry ripoff because you can't read.
While the whole "baffling" of the staff shouldn't have happened, were you at a new store? It baffled me, the first person to use the W discount card, for a whole 20 seconds. I can tell you, my store can do it in their sleep.
I'm sorry for the ding dongs you have encountered, but what do you expect at $6.75 an hour? Get what you pay for. Even walmart pays better.
If you buy the walgreens brand items, you can get 2 to 3 times your money back. One of my coworkers kept track of it. It was nuts.
Cheers.