No Aid at Rite Aid

Bad customer service is probably my greatest pet peeve since it is part of my profession to provide excellent customer service. I know it is not difficult, which is why it pisses me off when others provide crappy service to me. Who is at fault this time? That would be Rite Aid.

It was a dark and stormy night...no, not really...this is San Diego! Anyway, I have several pictures that I've been meaning to print for my photo album and framing, etc. Since I used Rite Aid in the past for prints, I thought "hey, why not use them again?" So, I went online to their website where they have ironically changed the name of the photo center to "My Photos, My Way" (the irony will be made clear in a bit).

I uploaded what turned out to be over 150 photos. Yes, it's been a while since I last printed (6 months or so!). After waiting FOREVER for these to be uploaded to Rite Aid's site, I proceeded to Buy Prints. Everything was going so smoothly at this point...the red flags should've been waving in my face. So, a price was quoted..fine, fine...then, I selected the pick-up store. Voila! All I had to do was wait for the store to call me, right?

Well, not quite. I received an e-mail from Rite Aid the next day saying my prints were ready! Woohoo!! I called the store just to make sure, and guess what? No prints! The person I spoke with said they hadn't arrived yet and to try back later. So, I called the next day. STILL no prints - but my 5x7 prints were available (only 3 of my photos were 5x7's). The manager offered to knock $5 off my price...but I couldn't pay until all my 4x6's were in. lol The NEXT day, I called again, and FINALLY, someone admitted the damn machine they use for 4x6's was broken and that only pics bigger than 4x6's were printed off-site. So, I was told to try another store after getting my 5x7's.

Now, for my "same day" photos, I was on Day 4. I went back to the website and had to re-do the order and then change the location to another Rite Aid. I got another "your photos are ready" e-mail the next day. More of a cautiously optimistic attitude on my part this time around. So, I called the store, and the rep told me Rite Aid doesn't do online prints any more. Color me flabbergasted...excuse me??? The site boasts about "My Photos, My Way"...no online prints??? Are ya fucking kidding me?!?! I told the rep the other store told me no such thing, and she said that her store's machine was broken and that most likely, it would never be fixed. I began to wonder: am I the only person on the planet who uploads pictures online and picks them up in-store?? REALLY??? In this day and age? lol

So, I basically told her I would take my business elsewhere and never buy from Rite Aid again, period. I figure if 2 stores cannot honor my request, why keep trying stores? Horrible, horrible service. And borderline false advertisement as well. I am now trying Target. Fortunately, I do not NEED these pictures NOW, but if I did, I would be beyond livid at the "same day" service Rite Aid did not honor.

Rest assured, I filed a complaint on Rite Aid's website, I called about my service (since the receipt asked for my input lol), and I will probably file complaints with certain agencies. This is hardly the time that a company would want to lose customers, let alone have news of its bad service spread. And when I receive bad service, I spread the news as far as I can. Tales of bad service spread like a virus compared to tales of good service.

And hey, I get a chance to see some nice eye candy at Target as a result of all this...so there's one positive! We'll see how Target's service goes...based on the past, I'm expecting it to be much better than Rite Aid's - I should've used them in the first place! Lesson learned.