I don’t mind saying since Walgreens started shipping from stores, I’ve had some nightmare orders! So now when you order something online, and it spills on the way to your house, they cannot ship you a replacement. They can only refund you. For us, this is disastrous because maybe we ordered that shampoo to reach $25 and get our cash rewards with our booster coupon OR we need that shampoo to earn those $4 or $3 or whatever the cash rewards offer is when you buy two or three, etc. So then the cash rewards we earned, will be deducted when we make a return, as it will be done if the item is refunded. So one of these times I was able to convince the agent to ask her supervisor if it would be OK to be refunded the item price (after coupons) in cash rewards, and she agreed. You’re welcome to try this but will depend on the agent/supervisor you get.
Another very important thing I would like to stress is that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you leave that checkmark on “Yes, deliver items early if possible.” BE sure to UNCHECK IT; it is checked by default. Sure it reads nicely, but I’ve had no luck with this one. They just don’t make an effort. I think it’s just your local store, and if the stuff is out of stock (which is why I’m ordering online in the first place), they cancel the item. Once I had 9 out of 10 items be out of stock. Literally they were going to ship me just one bar of soap (which was my filler to reach a threshold) The order was $50xx dollars. Thankfully I noticed right away and called to cancel the soap. That as only my filler to reach a threshold!
It sounds OK when it reads that some of the items may be delivered early, so it makes us think that if it’s in stock at your store, they’ll send you those items early, and ship the rest. BUT they won’t do that. They don’t want to ship the rest. They say some of the items, as in only the ones your store down the street has in stock.
So the way I was able to check this is an hour later I tried to place the order again with some of the same items, and unchecked the box, and they shipped! Like 5 of the items that were out of stock an hour ago were shipped. I could not get all of the items again because my coupons did not come back to my account immediately. They are supposed to when you cancel an order or a transaction in-store but it just didn’t happen yet.
Another thing is these are stores shipping the orders, so just a couple of weeks ago when I managed to order the Complete Home bags when they were B1G2, they sent the wrong size. I could not complain since they would only refund if I did which would not have been good since I had a booster coupon to earn some cash rewards. However I decided to call the store and tell them to be more careful. I called to ask which store sent it to me, but they said they did not know. So luckily the shipping box was still outside. I had not even broken it apart to put in the recycling it yet, so I was able to see the label and for me, it had an address on it. I googled it and it was a Walgreens store clear across the country, so I phoned them. The manager told me they just probably had decided to replace the bags since they are a great seller since the size I wanted was probably out of stock. SO for this instance, it did work for me because the total was not changed on my order and all bags are good, I just happened to be out of that other size they didn’t send. I still had some of the ones they did send from the last sale. Also the item shipped read the item that I had selected but another one was shipped, unlike when they substitute same day delivery orders. However if one day they decide to replace a toothpaste that does not issue the rewards and change out the item in the actual order, then I won’t earn my rewards. Ughh.
So be aware that of these things when and if you ever want to again, make deals online. If you have had issues, do leave a comment. Maybe only I’ve been super unlucky. I suggest not making lots of complicated orders that I used to love grabbing!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve noticed that they are shipping from stores as well. So far no issues but think what you have pointed out is inevitable problems. Still I don’t live very close to a physical store so in store shopping is hard. Do you know if or when Walgreens will resume any free ship to store? That option was so nice. Also off topic but maybe of interest I received a Catalina in the store for 10x WC during my birthday month. Walgreens hasn’t done birthday rewards like that in years for me.
I forgot to add that if you want to know what store sent you your order to look in your “view rewards activity” part of the app Not oddly enough the order history section. It gives you the Walgreens store number and the State. From there just type in Walgreens store # _____ in a Google search and the full address and phone pops right up. I hope the information is useful.
Yay, thanks for sharing, JD.!
I have experienced these EXACT scenarios and more at Walgreens and CVS. I try only to buy at the stores now which are usually out of everything. Anything liquid will leak and nothing will be packed well; I’ve had dishwasher pods break, leak everywhere and ruin the whole box. Also, if you apply Rewards towards your online payment, you will not receive Rewards on the items you are purchasing…frustrating!
You’ll earn cash rewards if you pay with cash rewards for any item quantity requirement deals. E.g. Earn $1 cash rewards for buying ONE shampoo X. You can pay with cash rewards and earn that $1. If you want to earn $5 for spending $20 on Shampoo X and you want to pay with cash rewards, you won’t earn them if you just buy $20. However if you buy $30 worth of shampoo X and pay with $10 cash rewards, you’ll still earn $5 cash rewards for spending $20. So Walgreens Cash rewards act much like a Walgreens coupon. Whatever cash reward amount you used to pay for the transaction/order won’t count towards the threshold. However beause of this nonsense of not shipping everything, it messes up our orders, especially ones that have lots and lots of products. There is more potential for it to be out of stock.
So this happened to me today. So I called the Walgreens rewards number right away. The lady was nice enough to add the $20 rewards I would have gotten if they would have fulfilled my whole order.
I guess this will happen a lot moving forward since their main distribution site closed a month ago. Smh
I placed a big order today online to take advantage of the 30% off deal and just noticed in the app that it says they cancelled each shipment (I think it was like 5 separate shipments). I know it’s not a payment issue….. Have you experienced anything like this lately (them cancelling the whole order for some reason)? The odd thing is, that it says cancelled in the app but I haven’t received an email saying it’s cancelled…..