Complaint Review: Walgreens - Irvine California

Buyer Beware!!! My grandma went in to Walgreens before the holidays to purchase a stack of gift cards to a variety of stores for Christmas presents. Upon attempting to use one of the gift cards that she gave me, I was informed by Old Navy, that the gift card was invalid. I thought perhaps it was accidentally not activated. I spoke with my grandma who had the receipt and confirmed she was charged for the card. So I called the gift card company who indicated that the card was in fact activated and then later that day, was deactivated from the Walgreens store which they were purchased from. My wife attempted to use her gift card at Burlington Coat Factory and was informed of the same thing.

My grandma went into the store and spoke with the assistant manager, Randy, who spent an hour attempting to resolve the issue, but was unable, and told her to come back another day! So I got involved and went in to the store and was assisted by David who is apparently the store manager and community leader (meaning he is an area supervisor). It took him an hour to get us new gift cards for the two we had in our possession!

I am extremely irritated that my grandma was blown-off my the assistant manager, and then the community leader took an hour to get us what was rightly ours in the first place, and after a total of 2 hours dealing with this situation, they could not provide any assurance that the other cards purchased would work, nor did they offer us any other compensation for the time or hassle.

Now I found out that another family member had the same issue with her gift card for Crate and Barrel, and I have to go back with that card to get it fixed! My grandma purchased hundreds of dollars in gift cards and now has to go through the hassle and embarrassment of fixing everyone individually as we find out that the cards were deactivated.

I have been informed that it takes a deliberate act by an employee in the store who has access to the exact register that activates the card, and a copy of the barcode numbers for the gift card to deactivate a gift card. But David, chose to disrespect me and my three college degrees (including one in information technology), to make excuses and take NO Responsibility. When I challenged that his general ledger should have been off for that day by hundreds of dollars since all these cards had been deactivated but the transaction with my grandma had taken place, and that it should have been a huge red flag, he claimed that the money must be floating in limbo due to technology. I think that is the same excuse people use when they launder money oversees.

I told him I was going to elevate the complaint to a regional manager, and he provided my the number to the district office in San Diego - and then told me that because he is the area supervisor that he would be assigned the issue. I am in complete disbelief that a manager too incompetent to run his own store can hold a position as community leader - the district office better show better discretion than to hand this issue back over to David, or I will evalate this complaint to the authorities, as I believe there is theft occuring by an employee, or just complete and utter incompetency from management down in that store, and either way, this Walgreens needs to be investigated!!!