Walgreens — Local services in City of Utica

“This is Walgreens calling for *. You have a medication that you're trying to fill that is a narcotic. And in New York State It's very stringent with our laws I don't know what they do in Virginia But I'm not gonna be able to fill this here Even with the doctors note on her saying you left it at home The only wiggle room I have in New York State is saying 7 days they allow A total of seven days of early fills on a life of prescriptions , but you've used these, Well exceeded the use of that. On getting it filled early and on every single field by several days. I'm seeing in the PMP history so I'm not gonna be able to fill this I can't say specifically what the name of the medication is on the voice message . We are extremely short staffed so I'm not able to answer most phone calls coming in right now so that's why I wanted to make sure I left you a voice message . Because if you tried calling , you might not have to get someone picking up in a timely matter Will probably talk to you soon take care…”

Visiting from out of state, my doctor sends a 4 day script for a controlled substance, not a narcotic. (ADHD) meds. Was denied the fill by the pharmacist without a proper, legal, reason. Travel overrides and doctors notes on scripts are written for reason- not for a random pharmacist to make a decision on your mental state of health without knowing a single thing about you. Pharmacist leaves this lovely voicemail that I copied and pasted here. Making a blind assumption that I must be drug seeking. I pick up scripts when I get a text from the pharmacy saying ready for pick up. Must have well exceeded these days and the pharmacy I usually go to doesn’t see it or care right? I go in person today just to see the rational behind not filling it and the same pharmacist that left that vm told me to ask my doctor to change the prescription a little in order to get it filled. So asking my doctor to write a script that in fact is not what I take seems more morally appropriate and lawful than filling the 4 day script? But they are short staffed so good luck if you try calling back! If I could give a negative 2 I would. As a healthcare provider myself- never make assumptions, the patient is in fact a paying customer, the line “we are extremely short staffed” is the most cringing line you can...

Calling the pharmacy is useless unless you want to sit on hold for 3 hours and be disconnected. Drive thru is useless as well. Every time i go through, my meds are never ready, and today 7/23/25 , ive been told 4 times to "drive back around and get back into the drive thru. Theres a situation inside and the pharmacist isnt able to fill anything right now". Theres always a situation here. I got a text at 5 stating i could pick up my meds any time before 9 pm. Ive been in the drive thru for over an hour, still trying to get what i need, explaining to these people that i can not miss a dose at all and the only response i get is a shrug of the shoulder. This place is ridiculous, no one knows what they are doing and the pharmacist has terrible manners and a highschool attitude. No one should be forced to go without their medically necessary medications because of a "situation" the pharmacist got herself into once again. The pharmacy part of the store needs to hire someone with better customer service skills, someone who actually cares about the people she is supposed to be serving and maybe better help all around. The people that work the counter/register and windows do what they want because they dont care either. Last month it took 7 hours to find my medication because the woman at the window cancelled the script and sent it to a pharmacy an hour away and didnt want to get in trouble, so instead said " your insurance wont fill it". Terrible people in the pharmacy. Front end store is great, eveeyone is great in the front end. Not the pharmacy. Find another place to fill you medication, i know i will be looking for a new pharmacy...

I have to say I have never had an actual bad experience with any of there locations from the one in Washington Mills that we frequent often, 2 the location on Mohawk Street in Utica here & there but I have never ever experienced a situation or better yet a person in charge of an establishment act in such a disrespectful, unprofessional intimidating manner like i did when I visited the Genesee Street store on 5/24/22.I was there for a simple pickup of medication from their Pharmacy 4my girlfriend who already called & had everything arranged so it should have been a simple matter. But instead it turned into a very bizarre event that had no reason 2occur had the store manager Act &/or think on a professional level as such a person in charge should. I walked into this Walgreens location in Utica, NY & I can remember my actual path because I was literally in the store for 30 seconds before what had happened occurred.. After walking through the big double glass doors & around the cashier station layout they have in most of their stores, I went down the seasonal aisle towards the back where the pharmacy is located , halfway down the aisle a bin of character themed socks caught my eye. I picked up one pair of spiderman socks to see if it could be a possible resell item for my E-commerce business I have &before I even got a chance to put the item, a very tall brut man came around the front of aisle verbally assaulting me shouting to" leave the store now!" Obviously I was taken back & caught off guard because I responded politely " Excuse me? Who are you talking to?" And this unprofessional fellow was the store manager...