When I got home I was starving and just
wanted to eat the still somewhat warm dinner I had brought home. My wife, on the other hand, wanted to look
through our yearly photobook that she had just spent the last week putting
together online. Walgreens’ website is
not the easiest thing to maneuver. Every
year we scroll through our phones, computer, and Facebook accounts for our best
pictures of the year to assemble a family photobook that we get for ourselves,
our parents, and Amie’s grandparents.
One less book this year, we just lost my dad. We also lost Amie’s grandfather but he always
shared a book with Mummu (“Moo Moo”).
That’s Finnish for great-grandmother.
Anyway, Amie wanted to see all the great pictures of our son Clay and
our daughter Daphne, who, because she is not yet one-year old, is making her
first appearance in the photobook.
I eat quickly, but before I finished my
dinner (that’s right, I didn’t wait for her or the kids), Amie discovered that
all four photobooks were missing pages.
They all ended at the same place but it was not the end we
remembered. The last photo in the book
that I remembered was from late 2014. It
was a picture of a Post-It Note that was left on my wife’s desk, “16 hours to
get your tax deduction.” That picture,
like my 2014 tax deduction, didn’t make it.
Daphne will never live that down.
So, now that I was done with dinner, I knew what my next job would be.
“These books are missing pages,” I told
Ricky, a different clerk at Walgreens than the guy that waited on me hours
earlier. “I have an email receipt right
here on my phone and you can see that I was charged for two extra pages.” Another employee at the photo center
overheard me and asked, “How many pages do you have there?” “Fifteen.” I counted. “They are only supposed to have twelve, so
you got extra pages,” she said. I looked
at Ricky and said, “I know this was not the last page.” “One minute,”
Ricky said. He moved to another
computer and started typing, “I’ll print it again and see what happens.” Minutes later we had another printout of the
book that stopped in the same place. The
female clerk seemed convinced that she had proved me a liar. Ricky was unsure. “Can I login to Walgreens.com and show you?” I
asked. “Sure,” he said.
I had to call my wife for her login
info. Then I had to call her again and
have her forward me an email that Walgreens.com had just sent her with a
security code because Walgreens.com did not recognize the computer I was
logging in from as one associated with her account. That’s right. Walgreens did not trust its own computer. Anyway, after finally getting logged in, I
was able to show Ricky and the other clerk that I was not lying and that I was indeed
missing two pages. I also noticed that
in addition to listing my wife’s last name as Gardipee it also listed an
address for her that we had not lived at since 2012. We still owned the place but it’s in another
state and is now a rental. Ricky started
working the phones with Walgreens Corporate and the skeptical clerk eventually
wandered off to another department.
Ricky was told that the reason the whole
book was not sent to the store’s printer is that you have to have large order
books, books with extra pages, sent directly to your house. You cannot get in-store pickup for such
orders because the binding equipment in the store will not work for large
books. Strangely, my wife was able to
order the books for in-store pickup without being told that bit of information. I reminded Ricky that we were talking about a
single extra sheet with two sides. He
then proceeded to convince Walgreens Corporate, and it took convincing, to
resend him the order. “We are open until
midnight. Can I call you when we receive
it?” he asked. “I have young children
that I need to put to bed. Could you
could text me?” I asked. “Sure, I’ll text you,” he responded. I really
appreciated that because I understood he would be texting me from his personal
cell phone. He also asked me if I would
like a refund for my photobooks. “Not yet because my complaint will be that I
want what I paid for.” I said. Ricky let
me know that he understood my frustration, and back home I went.
Not long later I got a text message from
Ricky with a number to call. I called
him, and he let me know that the new order had the same issue. He told me I could refund my purchase of the
books in-store and that if I ordered the books online that I should call the
1-800 number on the screen right before I checked-out and that customer service
would give another 50% off code. He told
me that I would not be able to use the coupon or the rewards points though and
that I would have to talk with customer service about paying for the shipping. I thanked him, said goodbye, had a beer and
went to bed.
The next morning while getting ourselves
and our monsters ready to go shopping my wife said, “You still have to call
Walgreens about the photobooks.” So, I
went online and did just like Ricky said.
I started to order the books and just before checking out I called the
1-800 number on the screen.
I explained my situation to customer
service and told them, “Here is what I think should happen. I have not been
refunded yet, so you should just overnight me the books,” I said sternly. “What I can do for you is this: I can give
you a 50% off code, and refund your shipping after you order,” the gentleman
calmly told me. “What about the coupon
and the rewards?” I asked. “You’ll have
to ask about that in the store when you get a refund for the other books.” “Can we do this right now?” I asked. “Yes.
I just need to order the 50% off code,” he said. “Sure, I need to update my address first
anyway.”
So while on the phone he ordered the 50%
off code and I updated Amie’s address.
Then I proceed to check-out, chose billing address same as shipping
address, typed in the 50% off code, and looked at my shipping options. I was already irritated because I could see
that this was about $15 more expensive than before and then I saw that there
was no “over-night” option. The quickest
delivery option was a “rush order” that was estimated to be here on December
28th. It was the 19th and
there were no options to ensure that I would have the books before
Christmas. Being that the books were
Christmas presents I was now even madder.
The gentleman from customer service told
me he needed my order number so he could refund the $30 I was being charged for
the “rushed” delivery. The total price
was now over $98. I gave him the order
number and then noticed the other information on the confirmation page. “WTF.
F*** Walgreens this lists the shipping address as the old address I just
changed… Can you fix that?” I said
furiously. “No I can’t.” He said. “So this is being shipped after Christmas to
my tenant in Green Bay. Please have your
supervisor, or someone that can actually do something call me back. And you better tell them to wait awhile
because I am pretty pissed.”
So then I went shopping with my wife and
two kids on the last Saturday before Christmas.
You can guess how fun that was and what my mood was like. They were shopping and I was plotting my revenge. I am going to blast Walgreens on the
internet, I thought. I’ll blog about
this experience, and boy is someone going to get an earful in the store. I was not pleasant to be around that
afternoon and, sadly, I was crabby and short with my family. I eventually realized this and apologized but
my mood was still not good.
Hours later I walked into Walgreens, went
up to the photo center counter, and asked, “Is your store manager here?” “Yes, he’s right over there in the gray vest
and white shirt,” the clerk said pointing.
I walked over to him. Joel was
his name, and I proceed to tell him the whole story. I was calm.
I told him that Ricky did a great job but that I needed to speak with
someone that could actually do something.
I admitted that I was rude to customer service and that I swore, though
not at them. “I don’t blame you,” he
said. I showed him an email confirming
that my address was changed from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Marquette, Michigan at
11:00 am and an email six minutes later, at 11:06 am, showing that my order was
being sent to the old address in Green Bay.
While we were talking some other customer
who appeared to be either drunk or on drugs crashed onto the floor. At first, I thought the guy passed out, but
then I realized he was trying to see under a display because part of his now shattered
phone had slid under the display. Joel
got someone else to help that customer and then took me back to the photo lab. “Just another day a Walgreens,” he remarked.
Joel was great, and considering dealing
with Walgreens Corporate, random intoxicated customers, and ones like me, I’m
glad I don’t have his job. He worked the
phone with customer service and told me that he would take care of me in the
store after we cancelled the online order before it was shipped off to Green
Bay. I told him that I have a blog and
that he was killing my idea to rant about Walgreens on the internet. After a lengthy phone call, Joel was told my
online order had been cancelled. The $98
would be refunded to my card.
Once he was off the phone, I suggested
that I reorder the books, he reimburse my shipping and handling and the
difference in cost due to the coupon and rewards and that he give me the books
with less pages so that I have something before Christmas. He said, “How about I refund everything and
just give you these books.” All things
considered, I decided that made sense and I was happy with the result. For my troubles my $50 was refunded and I got
free books albeit they were missing two pages, converted a $10 coupon into $10
of cash, retained my Walgreens reward points, and didn’t have to deal with
Walgreens Corporate.
Joel joked, “Do you want a free bottle of
wine?” “Yeah, that would be great,” I
said. “It does not surprise me that Ricky texted you at home. He’s a great employee,” Joel said. “Give him the bottle of wine,” I replied. When we were done he said, “Thanks for not
blogging about us.” I laughed and was on
my way.
So why am I writing this post you
ask? Well, the next day, my wife got an
email from Walgreens Corporate that said they were not able to cancel her
order, and that we would have to return it for a refund. They provided a prepaid return label in the
email. Of course, the problem is that the
order is not coming to us. It’s going to
our rental in Green Bay. Plus, Walgreens
is just going to throw the books away anyway, so paying for additional shipping
is stupid not to mention bad customer service.
Why withhold my $98 until Walgreens gets its garbage back? Do you think that this is some elaborate plan
on my part to get free books?
I may just have to sue Walgreens to get a
refund. I am not a litigious
person. I have never personally been a
plaintiff even though I am a litigation attorney by trade but, frankly, a
lawsuit might be easier than calling 1-800 Walgreens again. So if you are reading this Walgreens,
consider this my demand letter and refund my card or we may end up in small
claims court. And oh yeah, fix your damn
website and give Joel and Ricky a raise for having to put up with me and you.
That’s My Argument.
© December 2015 Brandon J. Evans
That’s My Argument.
That’s My Argument.
© December 2015 Brandon J. Evans
UPDATE: I published this post on December 21,
2015. That same day it appeared in the
daily Non-Sequiturs published by Above
the Law. If you don’t know, Above the Law is one of the most popular
legal blogs in the United States. Today
(December 23, 2015), my wife received an email that let her know her “photo
book order will be sent via Rush shipping, and we estimate it will be delivered
to [GREEN BAY] by 12/24/15.” So at least
it will get to the wrong address before Christmas! Apparently, Walgreens online has not yet
caught wind of my blog… well, I take that back.
Even if they knew of my blog, you can’t expect Walgreens to be able to
stop an email from sending right? Just
in case they are not aware of my blog, I have decided to print that prepaid
shipping label that they sent to my wife and, instead of using it to return to
books that I don’t have, I am going to send them a printed copy of this
blog. We’ll see what happens. Happy Holidays!
That’s My Argument.
© December 2015 Brandon J. Evans
UPDATE: On December 23, 2015, Joel left a message on
my cell phone asking me to return his call.
When I told this to my wife she said, “that poor guy.” My thoughts exactly. I called Joel back, and immediately started
apologizing for having to deal with this matter. He told me not to worry about that and that
he got my cell phone number from Ricky. Joel
told me that a mutual friend called him laughing, told him about my blog, and
sent him the link. He told me that he
talked to a supervisor from Walgreens online and told them, “the thing is, he
(meaning me) is not wrong.” He convinced
the supervisor to immediately refund my card, and he told me that if we get the
books we can keep him. Damn you Joel for
again killing my blogging plans.
I was going to start emailing my blog to executives from Walgreens.
After each email, I could update my blog and we could see how long it
took for Walgreens online to act reasonably.
Oh well, good work Joel. But I’ll
warn you now, I already told my wife that next year we are going to order our
photobooks from Walgreens... I have to
have something to write about. Happy
Holidays!
© December 2015 Brandon J. Evans
