Walgreens

Boooo. This place sucks. From the pharmacy to the main counter. Was denied hohos for some reason even though the package said expires in July. Guy shows the screen saying. Look. I can’t ring them up. Screen says. Inform manager. Ok so call the manager! He didn’t call the manager though. So I can HSVE my damn hoho! Or give them to me. Hwon’t get started on the pharmacy. I avoid it as much as possible BC people.

Worst pharmacy ever. Short staffed and customer service is last on their list. They should hire a few more people to keep up with the demand. How can the staff handle Online, phone, and face-​to-​face customer service all at the same time? Please, improve the wait time.

This place is terrible. I thought it’d be smart getting my prescriptions here because it has drive through and it’s 24 hours. However the wait times to pick up are always ridiculous. I’ve averaged 20 – 25 minutes every time I need to pick up a script. Last time I waited 15 min in line at the drive through, and didn’t move, so just gave up.
I’ve also had numerous issues with getting prescriptions filled properly here. If you can, use a different pharmacy.

Great pharmacy, open late hours which is is a huge plus for us people who work later/​longer days.

According to my partner who is a manager in the Look Boutique, the reason the pharmacy sucks so bad is it’s *way* under budgeted! Go figure. I’ve waited 30 minutes just to purchase some Sudafed. I take pity on anyone who just got back from urgent care and needs their medication. I’m happy to say that my local Walgreens in Palo Alto 4 blocks away from my house is a lot faster — they have my ‘scripts ready about 15 – 30 minutes after I leave the doctor’s office, and if there’s ever a line, it moves through quickly!
The non-​pharmacy areas of the store are okay. Staff is friendly enough. The expanded cosmetics department and look boutique, one of three walgreens in the bay to have the boutique, is pretty nice if that strikes your fancy (Steven is awesome!). The mini-​plaza is located on El Camino near Brittan Ave, with nothing else more than a TJ’s, so it’s definitely not a fun place to chill with your squad while buying $ 8 worth of candy. Good luck parking on the weekends, though, as the lot that’s shared with Trader Joe’s is nearly as hellish as going to a costco on a weekend. Usually some weirdos outside asking for money (or, in one case, some guy asked if he could come to my house and use my shower), but if you complain to management they’ll usually do something about it or call the police.
I’d go here if I was in the area or it was late night (since this store is open ²⁴⁄₇), but honestly the Belmont location just a little further down El Camino is a lot nicer.

Don’t go to the pharmacy. I’m begging you. If you have your head on straight you will avoid this place at all cost. I’ve never in my life been to a pharmacy so disorganized and ridiculous it sincerely amazed me. You have a line of people that is always 10+ people and the staff is not adequately trained to help you.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I frequently have issues with their pharmacy, who, despite my having been married for 4 years, can’t seem to understand the concept of a maiden name, and tell me my Rx isn’t ready (although I’ve been called to retrieve it).
I placed a photo order with them today and came back to pick up about an hour after the order was supposed to be ready (per the time on my ticket). I waited in line for 15 minutes, waiting for someone — anyone! — to get to to photo dept. Walgreens provides a button at the counter to request service to the photo dept, so the whole time I was waiting I got to listen to the soundtrack of this ineffectual recording letting everyone know over the loud-​speaker that someone at photos needed assistance.
When an employee finally did arrive, she bore the news that my photos weren’t actually ready and asked me to come back in a half hour… I looked around for a camera, pinched myself to see if I was dreaming, but alas, this was real life.
I called late in the evening to see if maybe my photos were ready now, not wanting to run an errand in vain yet again. I was kept on hold for 5 minutes, as they kept cycling through departments who weren’t available because they were «on the phone with other customers.» I was elated when a human finally picked up the phone… only to be quickly deflated when he then yelled at me to move my car. For all the time I spent on hold I knew I had the right number, so I tried to look past the yelling and ask again for confirmation on my completed order. He repeated his enthusiastic plea (read: he kept yelling) for me to move my car and then HUNG UP ON ME.
I had this while thing on speaker phone b/​c my husband was skeptical of their incompetence. After hearing the click of the hang up, he takes it like a pro and produces a belly laugh fit for a Greek deity after a fine feast.
I try one more time over the phone, the phone tells me everyone at the photo dept is busy on e more, and finally transfers me to someone who isn’t screaming.
Me: Hi I’m trying to check on the completion of my photo order?
Walgreens: Oh then you need to be transferred to the photo dept.
She never hear what I said b/​c the click was essentially instantaneous — it seems the single thing this store does quickly is hang up on you.
…more hold music later…
Walgreens: Photo Dept.
Me: Hi, I’m trying to get confirmation that my photo order is complete?
Walgreens: Let me check… oh yeah, that order has been done for a long time.
OH THE LOST IRONY.
In short, if you have time to kill, hate efficiency, love getting hung up on, or have a terrible work meeting to go to and are looking to blame other’s incompetencies in place of your own — look no further. If, however, you’d like to remotely resemble a productive member of society, RUN.

I will admit, I use Walgreens for my prescriptions for precisely two reasons: they’re open 24/​7, and since they’re a chain, if I’m traveling I still have access to my refills. I feel like I’ve sold my soul for those two privileges.
I’ve never ever once had a script sent in by my doctor and not had to wait an hour. I’ve never once gone to the pharmacy counter and not been on line for 15 minutes. Hell, I’ve been robocalled by them at least five times to tell me my prescription is ready *after* I’ve picked it up. As others have observed, often the wait at Urgent Care is less than the wait at Walgreens.
But it’s Walgreens. There’s an entire cosmetics *department* which is larger than the entire pharmacy. There’s a wine aisle. Two seasonal aisles. At least six food aisles, a complete «office supplies» aisle, and an aisle, that near as I can tell, is fully dedicated to selling you things you may have seen in an infomercial.
But if you’re looking for baby wipes that are actually flushable? Nope. 4×4 Gauze? Nope. Sterile Cotton Applicators? Nope. Nebulizer tubing/​masks? Nope. 99 Percent Isopropyl Alcohol? Nope.
But note these guys and their ilk have put the *good* local pharmacies out of business. Go compare the reviews for Jefferson Plaza Pharmacy (now closed) to what’s here.
It shares its parking lot with a Trader Joes, which means it’s near-​impossible on a weekend to find a spot. (Trader Joes, as a whole, seems to thrive on crowded parking).
Their broken register system means that I have to enter the last four digits of my phone number to acknowledge that I’m picking up a narcotic, but then enter my full ten-​digit phone number to accumulate points (oh, and then you need my zip code to actually REDEEM those points) — when I already gave the pharmacist my name and date-​of-​birth, with my phone number on file. My ID gets checked less to get on a plane than it does in 30 seconds at Walgreens.
There’s always someone sitting outside the door asking for your money — right opposite the sign that says Walgreens doesn’t endorse any outside solicitors. (So then — they’re trespassing and harassing your customers? Call the cops!)
If someone wants to make a really great business model — find a way to partner with Walgreens or Rite-​Aid so you can share their computer system, but go into the business of being *just* a no-​nonsense 24-​hour pharmacy, again, instead of trying to be Safeway/Officemax/Bevmo/7−11/coincidentally a pharmacy dance.

Always long waits in the pharmacy dept and poor customer service.
Every time I go to drop of a prescription, the drop off window is closed, have to wait 15 to 20 minutes in line to drop off and another 30 minutes to get it filled. The cashier could care less.

Extremely slow pharmacy service! It does not matter if you go through the drive thru or walk in. This has to be one of the worst pharmacies to come pick up or drop off your medications! Been standing in line for over 20 minutes with only two people in front of me! The cashier works very slow and leaves who knows where while the line keeps getting longer. Upon looking at her, it seems in my opinion she does not like her job.

If you ever have a few hours to kill — fear not! There is your friendly Walgreens right around the corner! Here, you can waste hours of your precious time, waiting for your medication to be found when it was «ready» half an hour before you showed up. Then you can waste a little more of your precious time, all while coughing your lungs out, while the pharmacist leisurely informs you that your insurance card doesn’t work! Sure, it worked two hours ago at your doctors office, but a tragic malfunction occurred in this short time period, so the card stopped working at this specific location. They’ll charge you an arm and a leg for your medication. Unless you’d like to come back when your card is working, if you don’t die in the next couple of days?
Here, you’ll have the pleasure of driving a piece of offense called «shopping cart,» which is equipped with a special anti-​theft brake. Because, let’s face it, everyone tries to hijack these bad boys in San Carlos. This special brake is very, very good at hurting legs while braking in swift, unpredictable, uncontrollable bursts.
As a bonus, you will have a marvelous opportunity to meet the general manager, who acts as if he is on heavy drugs. He might even issue an «oh,» where normal people issue apologies for the inconveniences caused by the business they work for.
So, enjoy the time as hours pass by, and try to relax and reflect on your wrongdoings, for which you are paying with this experience. Alternatively, you might want to look for a close by pharmacy where the words «customer service» are more than empty sound.

I often use the pharmacy drive thru at this Walgreens because I hope that it will be faster than going into another pharmacy. Beyond the waiting and the request for updates that are frequent (and I am sure a bit unneeded), I would like to share my most recent experience. I drove through and picked up my prescription last week. I paid with my credit card and the prescription was given to me in the bag with the receipt stapled to the top. I assumed that my card was in the bag (as it always is). When I went to open my prescription bag the following day and realized that my card was not in it, I called the Walgreens to see if it was accidentally left out. The manager told me it was not there. I then called my credit card company to ensure that no new charges were made. Oh! but there were! Charges were made at San Carlos Best Buy, TJMaxx and a couple of other stores. I told my credit card company these were fraudulent and I called Walgreens again to tell them. I even said, «I think someone from there took the card because the timing of the charges corresponds to when someone would leave their shift». Anyway, I called the stores to gather as much information as possible and gave that to the sheriff. I got a call from the sheriff a couple of days ago that they did find that the person had been a pharmacy technician at Walgreens who stole my card. I waited to hear from someone at Walgreens with an apology, maybe a store credit for my trouble… anything! When I called Walgreens this morning to tell the manager that I was really disappointed that someone who works for them stole my card and, more importantly, that they didn’t reach out to me to apologize or reassure me that my information was safe, her initial response was defensive. She explained that she had been working a lot and was going to call me today. The manager said, «this is being addressed by our loss prevention» and the sheriff. I guess what I wanted was a sincere apology and a reassurance that this would not happen again because they cared about me as a person, and respect how much of my personal information their employees have access to. I now have charges to dispute on my credit card, no new card (still waiting for the new one) and a less than stellar confidence in the security procedures for hiring at Walgreens, San Carlos. I am not saying that everyone there is responsible for the actions of one employee, but I would expect that the managerial staff would take greater steps to reassure me, and my community that they are doing something to ensure that their hiring process avoids such incidents in the future.

Amjad is in the pharmacy and I can’t say enough for his friendly, patient, understanding and truly wonderful and sincere attitude. For some reason he’s the one who usually helps me and I do have to say he is a real joy. THANK YOU Amjad… I really appreciate you and I’m sure many others do as well!

Slowest pharmacy around. Go somewhere else. It consistently takes 15 – 20 minutes just to pick up a prescription that is already filled and ready to be picked up.

«What’s your current birth date?»
… Same as the other 31 times it happened?
And other head-​scratching conversation pieces. Contrary to other reviews, I don’t think this place is understaffed. I personally felt like there were too many staff members, running around all confused. This review is specifically for the pharmacy part of the store. I’ve been here previously without problems but that was a year ago and an odd time of day, so I’m guessing the congestion at this place is more characteristic of the lunch /​after 5 hours.
I came in here to pick up a prescription that was filled a while ago, so it wasn’t something they were handling on the spot. From the get go, there was a hella long line. Apparently the waits are bad enough they need a flat screen telling everyone when things are filled /​how much longer it’ll take. I had just switched insurance policies, and the script got billed to my old carrier so I asked them to change over the info to my new carrier to avoid conflicts or rejection of coverage. Turns out my insurance hadn’t fully loaded into Blue Shield’s system, so we had some issues with getting the script covered. But that’s not the point. I spent a total of 2 hours at this place b/​c I was passed from one pharmacist to another (including interns at some points) who were all somewhat confused about what had happened with the last person I talked to. Also the wait between each person was extraordinarily long, and the attitude I got from some of the people working there was really unnecessary — yes, I get that your job is clearly frustrating. Not getting meds that are time sensitive is also frustrating. The second hour I was there, they already had my prescription ready and I asked for a couple minutes to call my carrier to see if they could do something about it, and if not, I would just take it and pay out of pocket. After my call, I was asked to sit down and wait for assistance. I waited for over half an hour, until my phone battery was almost dead. Finally, I got back into their eternally present queue and they gave me my meds when I finally made it back to the front of the line. Unreal and a complete waste of a day. Glad I wasn’t here during, you know, like a real illness that needed the meds ASAP.
PS – If you thought that their «drive-​thru» pharmacy pickup was any better, it’s not. I spent half an hour here with the ignition off because it was THAT slow (weekday, during regular work hours — imagine 5−7PM in this line!!). I was also quizzed by 2 different staff members on the same info over and over (what med was it, what’s your address, what’s your address again, what med — we forgot what you just said, etc etc). AAARRGHH! Get your crap together!

I like the fact that this walgreen’s is open 24hrs. Meaning, I don’t really have to wait in line for an extended period of time. The convenience of knowing that if I ever need any kind of meds, first aid, toys, or just something to munch on… this is the place

No matter when I go here to pick up prescriptions there is usually a wait time. It varies but I feel like the place here is understaffed all the time.
It’s to the point where people actually go to the drive through and turn off their cars since the wait can be like upwards of 20 minutes.
The location of the Walgreen is in an interesting place. I always see a random vagrant or too loitering around this area.

It took us less time to be seen at PAMF Urgent Care San Carlos than get the prescription filled at this Walgreen’s — the very same prescription the physician had called in hours prior. Wait time at urgent care: 25 minutes. Wait time in the car line — with only ONE car ahead of us – 35 minutes.

Worst pharmacy I have ever had! The lines are ALWAYS long, both inside and out and they move very slowly. Their staff is horrible. They are the least friendliest people, very poor customer service skills. They weren’t billing my insurance for several months and charging me full price for the prescription and made me feel like that was my fault. I can walk hers which I like but after 3 years, I need to really switch.
Get your pharmacy together, Walgreens-you’re here to help people!

The line is always long in the Pharmacy department so I switched to another drugstore. I think they are understaffed and I don’t have the patience to stand there forever just to get to the window and be told to wait another 20+ minutes.
However, I still frequent this location because of the Look Boutique. They carry my beloved La Roche Posay skin care line that I have been buying online and paying outrageous shipping fees for. They also carry Vera Moore Cosmetics (a new brand created by an African-​American soap opera makeup artist), the Balm, Klorane, Vichy, 100% Pure and much more. The Beauty Advisors are helpful as well and don’t ignore you *cough* ULTA *cough*
;)