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Today, I have to get the word out about my wife and I's experience at Walgreens. We have not talked about this much because we don't like to focus on negative things, but I feel that people need to know about our experiences using WalGreens before we left on our trip to Africa.

The short of the story:

Our doctor told us we needed to get vaccinations before we went to Africa, so I made efforts to find a place that could accommodate.

The email I sent to Walgreens over Memorial Day Weekend after we got back from our trip details our experience.

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Dear Walgreens Associate;

I felt it was important to relate my experience at your WalGreens Health Clinic on the date of May 3'rd, 2014.

My wife and I were preparing for a trip to South Africa, and on Monday, her doctor called and suggested we get Typhoid and Hep A vaccines before we went. I went to the CVS minute clinic website and they did not do Typhoid, so I started searching and found out Walgreens would do both Hep A and Typhoid. I made an appointment at the location near my house for 9AM on Saturday morning. I knew the Typhoid takes a week to take effect, but we were travelling around cities for the first half of our trip and hitting a safari the last few days of the trip so this was OK by us.

We showed up to our 9AM appointment (At 2850 State Avenue) on Saturday and were told yes we were expected, but nobody actually bothered to order our vaccines. So sorry.

I repeat "Nobody bothered to order our vaccines for our scheduled appointment". There was no explanation given beyond this, and not even much of an apology.

They also indicated there would need to be a doctor to write a prescription (This was not mentioned when I registered on the website that this would be needed). It being Saturday before we left we were in a bit of a bind. They called around and eventually said that Lees' Summit's location (40 minutes from us) was the international travel location and would have everything we needed for sure. I mentioned that if we were to drive that way it would take a large chunk of our days plans, but she assured me they would have everything we needed there including a clinic that could write a prescription. We asked if we needed to make an appointment and they said it was just walk in, but they couldn't see it taking more than an hour to get our shots.

We drove to the Lee's Summit location and when we arrived the line was over 3.5 hours long. We talked to a Pharmacist who stated that he was so sorry, but they had given out their Typhoid vaccines supply a few days ago. "If someone had called I would have confirmed this for them". This means that when we were told to come here they never actually spoke to anyone at this location.

I called back to our original store, and spoke to the pharmacist who originally helped us and explained that she sent us here for nothing, and she gave an explanation that she called the Raytown store, which looked at it's inventory and said that Lee's Summit would be OK. I didn't realize nobody made contact with this location. I explained she wasted our morning, gas, money and time. Again, she didn't have much to say.

They were not expecting us, they had no idea who we were, and we were told we would be waiting in a 3.5 hour line to be seen. All of this to address your failure to sufficiently order supplies. The pharmacist indicated he did have Hep A in stock, but we would have to see the clinic first to get the injection (I think, this part got fuzzy in my mind). We were able to stop a lady in the clinic and ask if they would be able to help us before we waited in line and she said that she didn't have Hep A in stock and couldn't help. We indicated that the pharmacist said that he did, and she was like "Oh, well I'm not the pharmacist, I'm the clinic". To be honest with you, this is a distinction that I as a customer do not care about. I just wanted my vaccine.

So that was where we ended our relationship with WalGreens. You screwed up our appointment, made me drive 40 minutes across town, could only fulfill half of my request, and for that I would have to stay approximately 4 hours.

My wife and I had been to Singapore 5 years ago, which we believed was about the life of the Hep A vaccine, but we decided at that point we would take our chances with disease and left your store at 11:30am. This was about the worst experience any company has ever performed for me. You have:

Inventory (Form Length Cut me off).

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This was sent over Memorial day weekend 2014.

After no response we called them last weekend (Saturday 5/31) and they assured us someone would get back to us within 2 business days.

To date I have had no response from any associate of Walgreens (Counting 5 business days). Walgreens has failed us in this transaction in so many ways. The anger has subsided for us, but the disappointment has not.

Vanessa and I have personally decided not to support or purchase from any more Walgreens again. I guess this will be a life long boycott for better or worse. They have consistently refused to take any responsibility for this experience and we have yet to receive an apology.

I am wondering now if the only way to get their attention is through social media. I guess the most ironic part was that I was going to inform them of the ways they could improve our experience but their form length cut me off.

Location: Kansas City, Kansas

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Guest

I had a similar experience. Made an appointment for shingles vaccine.

There was no urgency, so I made the appointment several days in advance. When I arrived, the vaccine was unavailable -- and had been unavailable for weeks. The pharmacist observed that they had a waiting list of about 30-40 customers who were waiting for the vaccine. Walgreens appointment system is not connected in any way with their system for tracking inventory.

This suggests a simple disregard for the convenience of their customers.

I spoke to a very gracious customer service representative who assured me that I would hear back within three days. I'll post again if they undertake to establish a systematic link between their reservation system and their system for tracking inventory.

Guest

The only thing I see wrong here is that YOU waited until the very last second to get your vaccines before your trip, including a vaccine (typhoid) that is extremely rare and unlikely to be available anywhere other than at an Infectious Disease specialist. So cry me a river!

Call in the wahhhh-mbulance!

This falls completely on you pal! Maybe next time you'll plan better and not blame others for your shortcomings!