Complaint Review: Walgreens - Manchester New Hampshire

The employee should NEVER have treated you that way.  I work in the photo lab at a different Walgreens.  While it is customary to not copy copyrighted photos, there is a paper that you are required to sign.  It basically says you either have permission to have the picture copied, or that you have made every attempt to reach the photographer.  Basically your signature on that paper releases Walgreens from any liability.

I honestly don't see why that employee was so rude about it, and I'm really sorry you were treated so badly.  Had you come into my store, you most certainly would have been treated with the utmost respect. 

You mentioned being assaulted and many witnessess around. You could have filed a police report.

While I will agree that whoever was handling your photos was definetly rude and unprofessional, it is true that we can not copy photos that look professionally done because we have no way of telling if they are indeed from your grandfather or some other photographer. Walgreens company gets in BIG trouble if they find that we are copying professional photographs and we have to be super picky about it. What he could've done is printed the photos and held them and gave you a release form of some sort for your grandfather to sign stating that you have full rights to use those photographs he took, if anything, but I don't know if that would've suited your situation based on your time constraint. You definetly got a bad case of customer service.

I've been an ex-employee of Walgreens for about six months now and, while I can completely emphathize with your problem, I also have to say that this will happen at many places. Naturally, I'm sorry it happened to you - while I don't care for the incident that ended in my putting in my two weeks notice, I do still hold a lot of pride for Walgreens as a whole. I was the Head Photo Technician at my Walgreens here in Alabama (I'm not Southern, so don't go there with me) and I'm proud to say that nearly every customer that came to the photo counter would deal with only me unless they were simply picking up photos. All of our employees were trained by me, including ones that worked in Cosmetics and at the front end but my customers preferred to deal with me based on my knowledge of the Frontier (that's the machine that prints the photos) The technician in this instance was completely out of line for doing this. For one, he should have been wearing gloves before even thinking of handleing any photos at all, especially ones as old as yours. The copyright in this instancewould still be in effect, if I'm not mistake, but as one person commented the best thing to do would have been to have you simply sign a waiver that would essentially absolve Walgreens of any legal issues regarding the photographer and the copyright infringement or, since yourgrandfather took the photos, lack thereof. However, there will be good employees and bad employees no matter where you go and no matter what company you work for. I'm nineteen years old since May and have been working since I was sixteen - two and a half of those years I spent at Walgreens, but I've worked at Brunos', Rack Room Shoes, and currently work at IHOP. At all of those places I've found good and bad employees. I'm very proud to be one of the few teens who take great pride in everything I do - and for the person that took six months to learn everything, that is by no means the norm. It took me only a week and a half to be able to competently run the lab on my own, and only a month after to learn how to service and maintenance the Frontier printer, the film processor, and the Ink-O-Dem inkjet refill. In this instance it's absolutely true that you, my lady, should have certainly asked for a manager - though it might have been best in this instance to go to another employee and have the manager paged rather than continue to be belittled by the employee you spoke of. There are plenty of managers who would be extremely willing to help out - I know my store manager, while shrewd, would have been on your side in an instant. As to the managers' knowledge of the photo lab... As much as I hate to slurr anyone, that's absoultely true as well. Very few store managers are as capable as I was at running the lab. In fact, very few technicians in general knew as much as I did. It was one of the reasons I received phone calls from other stores in the district for assistance, as well as calls when I was at home. If you think about it, though, who spends more time in the lab? A photo technician or a store manager? If anything, the manager must be everywhere. The stock room on warehouse days, the pharmacy when it's shorthanded, the floor to build displays and check on outs. If you truly think about it, even a manager that started in the lab is bound to fall behind, especially when they roll out updates like Picture Care. While it hurts me deeply that something like this happened to your photos, it was not an instance of being ripped off - like someone mentioned, very few posts here are truly about being ripped off and more are simply complaints. Things happen. In a perfect world all employees would be, in all modesty, like me: Willing to help and willing to sacrifice a little profit to make sure our customer is satisfied.

I'm a professional artist soon to have my BFA. I've studied art marketing and the law is that a person has intellectual copyright of their work for a hundred years after death. This copyright starts the moment the item is finished by the artist or photographer. You do not always have to file with the government for copyright like some people think. Patents are like that. Different thing. However there are expections to the rules of copyright. Some include use in education purposes. instructors who want to post a picture of Claude Monets waterlillies as they teach Art History to class is acceptable. Also relating to this situation, generally the family of the person who holds copyright are able to freely use the work unless it has other wise been stated they could not. So Even if your grandfather had passed away it is still generally acceptable that you, his family could use it. Esp because its a gift for his daughter and not being sold or money being made from said copy. Basicly you had every right to what you were doing by law. Not that it helps you now, after the fact. I have two segestons on what you can do now. A.Like the fellow above said, you can get photograph cleaner that is designed to clean greesy prints off of photos. I can't imagine it would be hard to find. and like he said, the sooner the beter. B.If it has been too long sence the ape pawed the pictures and the greese didnt come off you can find a profeshional photo editer. We specialize in saving old damaged pictures. removing cracks, smugges,greese or rips. You would be suprised what can be saved. The only picture I have yet to save is one of my uncle where the spill stain was directly on his face with no other photos to refferance to know what to clean up. But most things can be fixed. Last but not least, I don't think you should completely blame Wal-greens. The guy was an a-hole for sure. I've had to battle my fair share of assholes who thought they knew the copyright laws when taking my artwork and its a horrible frustrating experiance because they are making s**t up as they go to justify their actions and its the smug "i know it all" additude I hate the most. not even the stolen art. its when they act like they know everything about the situation when they dont. he had no right to touch those pictures regardless of copyright. And that is a horrible thing that happened. but lets blame the guy who ruined the pictures. Like the employee said, If any of the persons who work at my Walgreens did what that jerk did to you, they would have chewed him a new one. That said, I've had a lot of good experiances with Walgreens. I tend to prefer it compared to other places like Wa-mart where its just a huge ball of caos But yeah. I'm sorry this happened to you but I don't think Wal-greens is the one to blame. I hope you get your pictures fixed! -Marikay

I'm a professional artist soon to have my BFA. I've studied art marketing and the law is that a person has intellectual copyright of their work for a hundred years after death. This copyright starts the moment the item is finished by the artist or photographer. You do not always have to file with the government for copyright like some people think. Patents are like that. Different thing. However there are expections to the rules of copyright. Some include use in education purposes. instructors who want to post a picture of Claude Monets waterlillies as they teach Art History to class is acceptable. Also relating to this situation, generally the family of the person who holds copyright are able to freely use the work unless it has other wise been stated they could not. So Even if your grandfather had passed away it is still generally acceptable that you, his family could use it. Esp because its a gift for his daughter and not being sold or money being made from said copy. Basicly you had every right to what you were doing by law. Not that it helps you now, after the fact. I have two segestons on what you can do now. A.Like the fellow above said, you can get photograph cleaner that is designed to clean greesy prints off of photos. I can't imagine it would be hard to find. and like he said, the sooner the beter. B.If it has been too long sence the ape pawed the pictures and the greese didnt come off you can find a profeshional photo editer. We specialize in saving old damaged pictures. removing cracks, smugges,greese or rips. You would be suprised what can be saved. The only picture I have yet to save is one of my uncle where the spill stain was directly on his face with no other photos to refferance to know what to clean up. But most things can be fixed. Last but not least, I don't think you should completely blame Wal-greens. The guy was an a-hole for sure. I've had to battle my fair share of assholes who thought they knew the copyright laws when taking my artwork and its a horrible frustrating experiance because they are making s**t up as they go to justify their actions and its the smug "i know it all" additude I hate the most. not even the stolen art. its when they act like they know everything about the situation when they dont. he had no right to touch those pictures regardless of copyright. And that is a horrible thing that happened. but lets blame the guy who ruined the pictures. Like the employee said, If any of the persons who work at my Walgreens did what that jerk did to you, they would have chewed him a new one. That said, I've had a lot of good experiances with Walgreens. I tend to prefer it compared to other places like Wa-mart where its just a huge ball of caos But yeah. I'm sorry this happened to you but I don't think Wal-greens is the one to blame. I hope you get your pictures fixed! -Marikay

I'm a professional artist soon to have my BFA. I've studied art marketing and the law is that a person has intellectual copyright of their work for a hundred years after death. This copyright starts the moment the item is finished by the artist or photographer. You do not always have to file with the government for copyright like some people think. Patents are like that. Different thing. However there are expections to the rules of copyright. Some include use in education purposes. instructors who want to post a picture of Claude Monets waterlillies as they teach Art History to class is acceptable. Also relating to this situation, generally the family of the person who holds copyright are able to freely use the work unless it has other wise been stated they could not. So Even if your grandfather had passed away it is still generally acceptable that you, his family could use it. Esp because its a gift for his daughter and not being sold or money being made from said copy. Basicly you had every right to what you were doing by law. Not that it helps you now, after the fact. I have two segestons on what you can do now. A.Like the fellow above said, you can get photograph cleaner that is designed to clean greesy prints off of photos. I can't imagine it would be hard to find. and like he said, the sooner the beter. B.If it has been too long sence the ape pawed the pictures and the greese didnt come off you can find a profeshional photo editer. We specialize in saving old damaged pictures. removing cracks, smugges,greese or rips. You would be suprised what can be saved. The only picture I have yet to save is one of my uncle where the spill stain was directly on his face with no other photos to refferance to know what to clean up. But most things can be fixed. Last but not least, I don't think you should completely blame Wal-greens. The guy was an a-hole for sure. I've had to battle my fair share of assholes who thought they knew the copyright laws when taking my artwork and its a horrible frustrating experiance because they are making s**t up as they go to justify their actions and its the smug "i know it all" additude I hate the most. not even the stolen art. its when they act like they know everything about the situation when they dont. he had no right to touch those pictures regardless of copyright. And that is a horrible thing that happened. but lets blame the guy who ruined the pictures. Like the employee said, If any of the persons who work at my Walgreens did what that jerk did to you, they would have chewed him a new one. That said, I've had a lot of good experiances with Walgreens. I tend to prefer it compared to other places like Wa-mart where its just a huge ball of caos But yeah. I'm sorry this happened to you but I don't think Wal-greens is the one to blame. I hope you get your pictures fixed! -Marikay

I'm a professional artist soon to have my BFA. I've studied art marketing and the law is that a person has intellectual copyright of their work for a hundred years after death. This copyright starts the moment the item is finished by the artist or photographer. You do not always have to file with the government for copyright like some people think. Patents are like that. Different thing. However there are expections to the rules of copyright. Some include use in education purposes. instructors who want to post a picture of Claude Monets waterlillies as they teach Art History to class is acceptable. Also relating to this situation, generally the family of the person who holds copyright are able to freely use the work unless it has other wise been stated they could not. So Even if your grandfather had passed away it is still generally acceptable that you, his family could use it. Esp because its a gift for his daughter and not being sold or money being made from said copy. Basicly you had every right to what you were doing by law. Not that it helps you now, after the fact. I have two segestons on what you can do now. A.Like the fellow above said, you can get photograph cleaner that is designed to clean greesy prints off of photos. I can't imagine it would be hard to find. and like he said, the sooner the beter. B.If it has been too long sence the ape pawed the pictures and the greese didnt come off you can find a profeshional photo editer. We specialize in saving old damaged pictures. removing cracks, smugges,greese or rips. You would be suprised what can be saved. The only picture I have yet to save is one of my uncle where the spill stain was directly on his face with no other photos to refferance to know what to clean up. But most things can be fixed. Last but not least, I don't think you should completely blame Wal-greens. The guy was an a-hole for sure. I've had to battle my fair share of assholes who thought they knew the copyright laws when taking my artwork and its a horrible frustrating experiance because they are making s**t up as they go to justify their actions and its the smug "i know it all" additude I hate the most. not even the stolen art. its when they act like they know everything about the situation when they dont. he had no right to touch those pictures regardless of copyright. And that is a horrible thing that happened. but lets blame the guy who ruined the pictures. Like the employee said, If any of the persons who work at my Walgreens did what that jerk did to you, they would have chewed him a new one. That said, I've had a lot of good experiances with Walgreens. I tend to prefer it compared to other places like Wa-mart where its just a huge ball of caos But yeah. I'm sorry this happened to you but I don't think Wal-greens is the one to blame. I hope you get your pictures fixed! -Marikay

unfortunate that u went thru this. But this is why I went digital more than 10+ years ago with my photos. I have yet to need anybody other than my pc & printer except for major large pics &/or framing. If it was anything less than the above, you likely could have done it yourself as cheaply. Btw, digital cameras are often as cheap as others. Its the extras that cost $$, u can easily get digital cameras cheap.

I'm a photo specialist at Walgreens. Not all photo techs are like that jerk. However, I do agree that most managers have limited photo knowledge unless they started out in photo. First and foremost, Walgreens' training is subpar. It took me a good 6 months before I knew ALL the basics. After a year, I know pretty much all I need to know to work in photo. Poorly trained photo techs are horrible to work with (as an coworker and a customer). It's even worse when they don't have common sense, don't pay attention to detail, incompetent, or have no desire to make a difference. More than one is a recipie for disaster. With that said, the guy should have had clean hands, good hygiene, and be able to tell the difference between a professional photograph and a personal photograph. Personally, if it looks professional but the customer says otherwise, I take their word for it. If you find a good photo lab with great service, stick with them (whether it's Walgreens, CVS, or whoever else). I have seen some horrible service when I shop other Walgreens. It's quite unfortunate because those people who were not properly trained or don't care give good employees like me a bad name just because we work for the same company.

I'm a photo specialist at Walgreens. Not all photo techs are like that jerk. However, I do agree that most managers have limited photo knowledge unless they started out in photo. First and foremost, Walgreens' training is subpar. It took me a good 6 months before I knew ALL the basics. After a year, I know pretty much all I need to know to work in photo. Poorly trained photo techs are horrible to work with (as an coworker and a customer). It's even worse when they don't have common sense, don't pay attention to detail, incompetent, or have no desire to make a difference. More than one is a recipie for disaster. With that said, the guy should have had clean hands, good hygiene, and be able to tell the difference between a professional photograph and a personal photograph. Personally, if it looks professional but the customer says otherwise, I take their word for it. If you find a good photo lab with great service, stick with them (whether it's Walgreens, CVS, or whoever else). I have seen some horrible service when I shop other Walgreens. It's quite unfortunate because those people who were not properly trained or don't care give good employees like me a bad name just because we work for the same company.

I'm a photo specialist at Walgreens. Not all photo techs are like that jerk. However, I do agree that most managers have limited photo knowledge unless they started out in photo. First and foremost, Walgreens' training is subpar. It took me a good 6 months before I knew ALL the basics. After a year, I know pretty much all I need to know to work in photo. Poorly trained photo techs are horrible to work with (as an coworker and a customer). It's even worse when they don't have common sense, don't pay attention to detail, incompetent, or have no desire to make a difference. More than one is a recipie for disaster. With that said, the guy should have had clean hands, good hygiene, and be able to tell the difference between a professional photograph and a personal photograph. Personally, if it looks professional but the customer says otherwise, I take their word for it. If you find a good photo lab with great service, stick with them (whether it's Walgreens, CVS, or whoever else). I have seen some horrible service when I shop other Walgreens. It's quite unfortunate because those people who were not properly trained or don't care give good employees like me a bad name just because we work for the same company.

I'm a photo specialist at Walgreens. Not all photo techs are like that jerk. However, I do agree that most managers have limited photo knowledge unless they started out in photo. First and foremost, Walgreens' training is subpar. It took me a good 6 months before I knew ALL the basics. After a year, I know pretty much all I need to know to work in photo. Poorly trained photo techs are horrible to work with (as an coworker and a customer). It's even worse when they don't have common sense, don't pay attention to detail, incompetent, or have no desire to make a difference. More than one is a recipie for disaster. With that said, the guy should have had clean hands, good hygiene, and be able to tell the difference between a professional photograph and a personal photograph. Personally, if it looks professional but the customer says otherwise, I take their word for it. If you find a good photo lab with great service, stick with them (whether it's Walgreens, CVS, or whoever else). I have seen some horrible service when I shop other Walgreens. It's quite unfortunate because those people who were not properly trained or don't care give good employees like me a bad name just because we work for the same company.

I recently worked for Walgreens in the photo lab. I have seen good employees/photo techs come through there but more often than not I've seen bad ones. At the store I was just at I was proised head photo specialist for months and then they gave it to someone who can't even perform his job propery and on top of that he's colorblind. I have nothing against people who are colorblind, but if you're working with photos then you really need to be able to see the colors. I've had to redo so many of orders he has messed up and of everyone he's trained. I had people come in and request I do their photos because they had been ruined/messed up in the past by other people. The stores even have their managers working th photo machines fairly often. They are some of the worst people to be anywhere near those machines. Even more orders have been ruined, late, and/or missing by them as well. The sad thing is it's all management. The stores are horribly run. The management in those stores are the worst I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, there are some amazingly good photo techs working at Walgreens. If you actually find one of the good ones then stick with them because they will be the ones to bend over backwards for you to get you what you want and so much more. And if you find a bad one then demand to see a manager. If that doesn't work then go the district.

I used to be a Executive assistant manager with Walgreens. It was the first job I had right after I received my degree in business finance. All i can say bad customer service is bad customer service. The rip off report is for people ripping you off and poor customer service issues in which you were ripped off by a company. Eventhough you received bad customer service this is not a rip off. I honestly think that you were treated poorly and humiliated and the employee should be reprimanded, but I do not see how this is a rip off. The Walgreens I worked in had very good customer service for the most part and we would price match and managers would drive to other stores to get produce that was in ads if the store was out of stock. Walgreens does this for a lot of people and just because you received poor service does not mean that all employees are like that. Plus I am kind of upset that someone stated the managers are basically poor white trash. I guarantee that individual that thanks to walgreens and their managers training program I have a job that I am making more money than he is. But personal issues aside I feel bad you had that kind of service and also sorry that it reflects the company so poorly. i hope the store took care of that issue.

Let me start by saying that I am a manager at a walgreens, andthis incident should never have happened. If I were to be called about an incident like this and I had determined that you had been treated this badly, which other customers I'm sure would have supported your claims, I would have sent that employee home and would have taken extreme disciplinary action. As for the gentleman that said that the management is also trash, Walgreens is very selective about the people they choose to hire as management and most of us have college degrees. Assistant managers do make significantly more money, usually double an employees salary, because of the rigorous selection process that we go through. You have the right to call one of us over at any time and you may be surprised at the level of care you get. Unfortunately we do have some bad seeds and sometimes that does stem from poor management but you have the right to our district office telephone numbers as well as corporate, and you are even able to write a letter or call our C.E.O. Jeff Rein directly. Please try these things and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results you get.

Thanks for the last response AND for the info on where I can get cloths to clean his gross prints off of my pictures. To the gentleman who responded with the fact that I never called for a manager - good point - however when you are in the middle of a store with a small line of people and are being made to feel humiliated and getting yelled at by this gross person, maybe you would feel differently. All that was on my mind was getting OUT of that place. And by the way, they just opened a CVS not too far from this Walgreens on South Main Street and I go there at least 1-2 times a week, the employees are friendly, helpful, curteous, and guess what else, they don't stink, and actually have social skills and are not inept a-holes.

Joan, I had to respond to this report, as this same thing happened to me and my wife like 7 years ago at a Walgreen's. She went in to make a 5x7 of a photo of her mom and dad from the early 50s, Again a fat and nasty guy came from behind the counter and told her the same thing as you. Pulled the photo out of the scanner and threw it on the counter. Let me just say I made my opinion of him and the store known, and ill leave it at that. Now I understand about copyright infringement, but this photo was from Eastern Europe in 1952. I'm sure it would be easy to find the Photographer and get a release. A poster here said you should have spoken to the manager? Don't waste your time. A Walgreen Manager is someone who makes 50 cents more and hour. Besides, don't you think they know this guy is a slob, and unprofessional jerk? Also the stink must be evident as well. Most likely the management is low rent trash as well. Now for your photos, I am an amateur Photographer and I also have treasured family photos. As for the fingerprints, they make special cleaning cloths that are available from Professional Camera supply places that clean fingerprints from negatives, run a goggle search! Try it on an ordinary photo first to see how it works. The sooner you can remove that oil the better. Now go out and buy a flatbed scanner. They are cheap now. Scan your old photos and put em on CD and make all the copies you want.

I think my title for the response says it all. I am a former employee of Walgreens and CVS and personally, I find the customer service is much better at a Walgreens. I left CVS because the people who come into their store, had ONE bad experience with a Walgreens so CVS will do whatever they can to appease the customer. 95% of the time, the customer will leave CVS because they realize how shabby they really are as a company. In regards to this situation, a manager should of been called over or asked for. Did she do any of this? No. A manager would of come over and adressed this issue and explained the situation. He would of listened to your complaint about the employee smelling bad or the customer service you were experiencing. Also, every single person's sense of smell is different. Some people like the smell of garlic, others do not. The point is, you never asked for a manager.

I think my title for the response says it all. I am a former employee of Walgreens and CVS and personally, I find the customer service is much better at a Walgreens. I left CVS because the people who come into their store, had ONE bad experience with a Walgreens so CVS will do whatever they can to appease the customer. 95% of the time, the customer will leave CVS because they realize how shabby they really are as a company. In regards to this situation, a manager should of been called over or asked for. Did she do any of this? No. A manager would of come over and adressed this issue and explained the situation. He would of listened to your complaint about the employee smelling bad or the customer service you were experiencing. Also, every single person's sense of smell is different. Some people like the smell of garlic, others do not. The point is, you never asked for a manager.

I think my title for the response says it all. I am a former employee of Walgreens and CVS and personally, I find the customer service is much better at a Walgreens. I left CVS because the people who come into their store, had ONE bad experience with a Walgreens so CVS will do whatever they can to appease the customer. 95% of the time, the customer will leave CVS because they realize how shabby they really are as a company. In regards to this situation, a manager should of been called over or asked for. Did she do any of this? No. A manager would of come over and adressed this issue and explained the situation. He would of listened to your complaint about the employee smelling bad or the customer service you were experiencing. Also, every single person's sense of smell is different. Some people like the smell of garlic, others do not. The point is, you never asked for a manager.

I think my title for the response says it all. I am a former employee of Walgreens and CVS and personally, I find the customer service is much better at a Walgreens. I left CVS because the people who come into their store, had ONE bad experience with a Walgreens so CVS will do whatever they can to appease the customer. 95% of the time, the customer will leave CVS because they realize how shabby they really are as a company. In regards to this situation, a manager should of been called over or asked for. Did she do any of this? No. A manager would of come over and adressed this issue and explained the situation. He would of listened to your complaint about the employee smelling bad or the customer service you were experiencing. Also, every single person's sense of smell is different. Some people like the smell of garlic, others do not. The point is, you never asked for a manager.

Thanks Daniel -- I read some of your other Walgreens postings after I posted this one. This store is a JOKE to say the least and rest assured I will NEVER shop there EVER again -- even if I need something badly and the next nearest store is an hour away!

Sir, As a former employee of now this disgraced company, This is the culture of WALGREENS NOW! Now, if I would have dealt with you, I would be saying that YES, copying Professional Pictures are illegal. But here is how I would have handled it. I would have given you a number to contact where they would have tracked down the photographer or the company that took the pictures. Even then at that point, if they would have not found the photographer, I would have ask you to sign a waiver form, and then proceed to copy the pictures. Other than that, you have the right to take you business elsewhere, because that is the only way to teach Walgreens a lesson. That and posting your complaint to RIPOFFREPORT.COM I knew about this culture because I tried to do what is right for the customer and try to tell the truth about management not doing their job. What happened to me, I lost my job. I was ask to defend the undefenseable! I refuse and I am now speaking out and speaking up. You know what the best way to ruin business, tell a friend. Start Telling People to STOP SHOPPING AT WALGREENS.