I Should Have Shopped at Drugstore.com. They’re Pricier but Have Good Customer Service —
Unlike Walgreens.
Walgreens
The Walgreens brick and mortar store left my area years ago. In fact, I don’t even remember shopping at a brick and mortar Walgreens. I shopped on the site recently when I saw good prices on Vital Radiance products.
Things went smoothly until we hit a snag and now I am convinced I will never get the problem resolved and I know I won’t go back there to shop no matter what the prices or sales are.
What the Site Sells
Typical drugstore fare — prescriptions, health and beauty products, personal care, electronics, photos, contact lenses, baby items and toys, all the usual stuff you find at drugstores online.
Navigation
Navigation the site is simple. There are tabs to the main categories and loads of links within those categories. You can search by keyword or brand as well.
The site is well laid out and the photos and descriptions are ample.
Add items to your cart as you shop.
When you are finished shopping, you will go to the checkout area. You can register or checkout as a guest. You will supply your shipping details and email and move on to the final phase of the checkout process.
They accept major credit cards and Paypal. Tax is charged in most states.
Shipping is free with some exclusions for orders over $50.00.
You will get a detailed confirmation email and then one when your order ships.
The order should arrive within a week, complete, and packed well.
Should, but doesn’t always…
My Experience
I mentioned in my Vital Radiance review that I ordered the whole line of Vital Radiance cosmetics because my sister, who is in the ICU area of the hospital, insisted that I help her put make up on and she had a Vital Radiance compact. I was blown away by the quality so I ordered both my sister and I almost everything that was made by Vital Radiance.
Prices were good and shipping was free because my order was well over $50.00.
I had no problem finding what I wanted and checking out. I was charged and got my order quite quickly.
The box had the items in it but no packing materials at all. They were just stuffed in a box. Luckily, nothing was ruined. I noticed the foundation I bought my sister (The one she had was a shade light for her so I wanted to get her the right shade) was missing. I counted and searched the small box but it wasn’t there. The invoice said it was, however.
I called customer service immediately.
After explaining everything, I was put on hold to talk to a supervisor and promptly disconnected. I called back and was told that someone would call me about the missing item. I have no idea what they were going to call me about but I agreed.
No one called me.
I called back after a few days and said I was waiting for a replacement and time was of the essence. Were they sending me the foundation or what? The rep said they were very behind and busy but they were "working on" my case and would get to it soon. She said I would either get a refund or a replacement. I needed to know which it was. If I was getting a replacement, I would wait. Otherwise, I would get the foundation elsewhere.
No one contacted me by phone or email and it’s been many days. I have written, called, and threatened. I figure they took my money and forgot I existed.
Naturally I won’t let them get away with that. I don’t care how busy they are or how behind they are, I spent well over $100.00 on their site and I deserve a timely resolution to their packing error.
I will never shop at Walgreens again no matter what happens.
Customer Service is key and they proved they don’t pay attention to what they are packing and they don’t care enough about their customers to right their wrongs.
Shipping and Returns
Shipping is confusing. Some items are based on weight starting at $5.49. Other items have a flat shipping fee. Items marked with a green truck are free to ship if you have enough of them to go over $50.00.
Contact lenses and prescriptions have their own shipping rates which can be found on the site.
You can return many items to a Walgreens store for a refund or exchange. You can also mail items back within 30 days to the site for credit. If you got free shipping and the return causes the amount to dip below the free shipping threshold, you will be charged whatever shipping would have been.
Prescriptions and contact lenses have different returns policies so be sure to check before you purchase those items.
Conclusion
It all sounds so simple and it was. Ordering from the site was simple, I got free shipping, and my order arrived quickly.
However, I was missing an item which started my bad experience with Walgreens. I was disappointed that an item was missing but, in general, a reputable site will make things right. Unfortunately, the customer service department seems ill equipped to deal with such a simple problem. I was promised repeatedly that someone would take care of my issue and they haven’t. I don’t think they will. The item was only $16.00 and tax but why should I toss that money out due to Walgreens’ incompetence?
Walgreens has been around forever it seems and I am sure many people have good experiences shopping on the site. But what happens if there is a problem with an order? They fall apart. If my missing item has been more costly, I would be livid at the blasé attitude that customer service has taken. They made an error. It would take a moment to correct that error by sending me what was missing. I was willing to send back everything, weigh the box, sign a freakin’ affidavit, whatever they needed to prove that the item was missing.
They believed me but they simply are "too busy" to fix their error.
I give this site 2 stars and I am being very generous. I would go with 1 but I am hoping my case is an isolated one and that this isn’t how problems are "solved" all the time.
Walgreens should know better. They’ve been around for many years and they have stiff competition online. They lost me as a customer. I wonder how many more people they will lose because they’re too busy to right their wrongs?
Recommended:
No
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