Walgreens — Local services in Issaquah

I had the worst experience of taking passport photos. I got two printed photos, and I requested an electronic photo to upload to the official website. They said OK but I had to buy their USB drive and they would put two electronic photos to it. I did so. So far so good.

After I got home, I was totally speechless. As a common sense, you would expect your electronic photo look identical to your printed version - clean and official. However, here's what they gave me in that $7 USB.

Are you kidding me? Messy background, tilted angle and completely wrong size, do you think I can upload this to official website to get approved? I could take a photo with much better quality at home, why would I drive a long way to your store, spend money of the photos and a USB drive and get this low-quality photo?

I got back with the printed copy and the USB, and requested the original electronic copy. Their manager was there to handle this problem. He said: "This is what it is. We always give raw photos. We can't crop it on our computer..." in a very cold tone. He looked so impatient. I suppressed my anger because I wanted to get things addressed, despite his cold face. BTW, do you call this photo raw photo? Don't you think it's too RAW for a formal purpose?

He then started to scan my photo with a scanner and agreed to send that scanned image to me. BUT, he placed another order of a new USB drive. "Wait." I stopped him, "I have the USB drive I got from you one hour ago, I don't need another one. Can you put it in my USB?" He refused immediately with raised voice: "No we only put photos in OUR image this is the policy blah blah..." Come on, why do I pay for your mistakes? Then he walked around, leaving me standing there, like saying "if you don't accept it you'd better go".

I left the store, totally upset. The people here is so unprofessional and rude. They treat customers with very bad attitude. They think themselves as emperor, and customers should give them money no matter how rude and cold they are.

Just don't go to this store. Otherwise your good mood will be...

I would give zero stars. My third experience in the past 6 months where I’m told and promised my prescription will be ready at 8am and then I call to make sure for them to tell me come in an hour and a half. I get there and not even a surprise, they tell me my prescription is not ready and to go back in the line. I’m suffering with an ulcer and trying to pick up my ulcer medication and I asked the girl who is notorious for saying it’ll be ready in 20 minutes only for it to be a lie ask me who promised me the time. Excuse me! Then, she gets the pharmacy manager who proceeds to talk over me instead of hear me out and understand what I’ve gone through with their lies and empty promises to again ask me who I spoke to because none of their employees would have said that. Umm..she’s standing right beside you. To think that they will argue with any patient, and myself who is in a lot of pain from an ulcer and to tell me to come into the store and she will hand it to me inside. Wow! What great customer service! Tell a patient suffering with an ulcer to come into the store and abuse her power to make herself feel good that she treated someone poorly. I only go to the drive thru if I’m severely sick which I am and I can’t believe the way they treat people once again. They need some major customer service training; not to include going back and taking pharmacology. Instead of arguing with the patient, maybe use your time wisely and get the prescription ready. Makes me wonder how they prioritize prescriptions. I can understand being short staffed but don’t make empty promises and don’t argue with the customer. If you can’t have it ready, I’m sure people would appreciate the truth more and go somewhere else. There was another medication that they had run out of and didn’t have the courtesy to tell me so I could find another pharmacy who had them in stock. This particular medication could have given me seizures if I skipped my dose. So, if that doesn’t explain their customer service. The only reason we go to Walgreens is because...

Absolute worst pharmacy experience of my life – and that’s saying something.

I transferred an urgent prescription from Amazon (who could’ve delivered same day!) to the Issaquah Walgreens simply because it’s the only 24-hour location nearby. I called to confirm they received it, only to be told it might take 72 hours to process. For an urgent, severe pain medication. Great start.

The one bright spot? Someone offered to have the pharmacist discuss alternative remedies. Compassion! Humanity! I held for 35 minutes, only to find out they did in fact receive my prescription… four hours earlier. Good news: it could be ready in 20 minutes. Bad news: I was about to discover the true meaning of regret.

Two hours later, I drove from South Seattle in agony, only to find a 15-car drive-thru line wrapped around the building. I waited 30 minutes, reached the window, and was immediately told it would be 2–3 more hours. When I reminded them of the “20 minutes” from the phone call, it became “another 20 minutes, but you need to come inside.” I explained (while writhing) that walking was the whole reason for the prescription.

After more back and forth, the clerk disappeared again… only to return and tell me they didn’t have the medication in stock. My soul briefly left my body. I had just driven an hour, waited another hour, and been told twice to “come back later” for something that didn’t exist.

When I asked if they could check which store did have it in stock, I was told to “just call around.” Perfect.

As a business owner, I understand customer frustration happens. But when you have a permanent sign at your window reminding customers the person they’re talking to is “someone’s loved one,” that’s not a good sign (pun intended). That’s what you put up when the volume of angry customers becomes unbearable – which tells me everything I need to know about this location’s operations.

I will never return to this store. After I finally get this medication from another Walgreens, I will never spend another dollar with...