Hy-Vee Pharmacy — Local services in Altoona

*Update 11/8/2022

The store manager called me to follow up. He offered honesty and no double talk or spin, as many do these days in any brand of customer service. He explained that he's short staffed and they have some bottle necks in processing they're trying to resolve.

What this really means to me, is simply, that I can give them more time to process scripts as my end of the relationship. If I can give them 4 days or more, they are likely to have worked through the backlog when I come to pick up. ...And frankly that isn't an unrealistic ask at all. I can call in scripts a week in advance if that helps.

We spoke briefly about other options to serve customers more efficiently as well. I'm happy about the dialogue and the follow up. I changed my rating from two stars to four. I can't give five because there are still problems that aren't related to the customer, but the effort, communication, and offers to serve the customer count towards the experience, and that adds value for me.

The attitude I got from staff, was probably due to having a long hard day full of people like me that were short on patience and understanding. ...And I'm quite willing to forgive that, as I seek forgiveness for the same, myself.

I'll continue to shop at Hy-Vee Pharmacy Altoona and we'll see how things go.

*Update 11/6/2022

I spoke with the store manager and things are being investigated. My review is subject to change.*

*Original Review - Two Stars - I've been getting the prescriptions there for over a decade. They've gotten so bad now, that a script for a common med that is called in on Tuesday first thing in the morning IS NOT ready for pick up by Friday at the end of the day.

I've had to drive an hour round trip now several times for this and it happening routinely. Not just an isolated incident.

Poor service. No pleasures when they interact with you. They don't answer the phone any longer. They don't return your voicemails any longer.

I suppose it is time to look into a pharmacy elsewhere or begin one of the mail delivery services.

...And that has nothing to say about ridiculous lines I wait in each time I go.

Hy-Vee isn't value priced. They're often higher on their average shelf product costs, but I go there because I can get what I need and go. Now I can't, the costs are rising, and the service no longer is present.

"A helpful smile in every aisle" has devolved into "A reluctant and terse quip in the...

I have used this pharmacy for the past year and before that over the past 15. It's a catastrophic disaster. I have to call 20-25 times and still get no answer. I will order a refill and days after it was to be ready, it's not. I have to physically go into the location to be told I'll have to wait another 30 minutes because it's not ready even though I submitted for it to be ready 2 days earlier. I just tried calling 10 times in a row. No answer. I don't leave vm anymore because they will never return them. If they don't have your medicine in stock, they will never call you. You will show up to pick up, wait in the line of ten people only to be told it's not filled and won't be because they're out. Then you've to call your Dr to get a different script called out. The Dr's office even asked me what is up with this pharmacy, they can't ever get someone on the line. I've hoped over the last year it would get better and stayed. I am now losing 4-6 hours a week on trying to get medications filled. That's outrageous. I will be leaving. I have grave concerns about why they're accepting new patients if they're unable to provide for the ones they have. I will be contacting the Iowa Board of...

If you want to wait in the line to pick up your medication (that is ready for pick up) for 1+ hour then this is the place for you! Just moved to Altoona from Waukee and switching to this HyVee was a big mistake. It’s faster to drive to the Waukee HyVee and pick up my medication and drive back than it is to pick up in this store! I don’t know if the whole town of Altoona uses only HyVee or if their method is just that slow, but when we get a notification on the app that the meds are ready I should not have to stand in a line for 1hr and then be told to take a seat for approximately 30min while the order is filled. After the first time this happened I figured I would call ahead to see if the med was actually ready. After attempting to call 12 times with no answer I drove up there… guess what, it wasn’t ready! It’s not hard to answer the phone, it’s not hard to not say the meds ready when they clearly...