Sometimes, as I write these stories, I chuckle because they almost sound made up. Fortunately for me but unfortunately for Rite Aid, I have the emails and the websites to back this up.
I only have one prescription and I take it to Rite Aid for filling. Their prices are very competitive and I love their website refill service (at least until today).
Each month, when my bottle gets near the bottom, I go online to www.riteaid.com, login, select the prescription I want, and boom, two hours later, I can pickup it up. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.
Today, after logging in, I was greeted with an unmovable page saying “wellness+® ONLINE ENROLLMENT IS NOW REQUIRED TO ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT. IT’S FREE AND EASY TO ENROLL.” in big red letters. If you don’t know, wellness+ is their loyalty program. It is obvious that someone at corporate thought it would be a good idea to force customers into its loyalty program and what better way to do it than its many prescription customers.
I did not want to take the time to find my wellness+ number and enter it so I started clicking everywhere. No good. Same screen every time forcing me to enter the number. Sensing that this was not going to go my way, I decided to contact the company.
Under Contact Us, I was told I would be getting terrific customer service and noticed the big CHAT NOW button. (Boy that guys looks friendly).
So I begin the chat. I have a choice Wellness Program or Customer Service. I think this is a problem with the website, so I choose Customer Service. A nice counter says I have 30 seconds so while waiting, I get my wellness+ card and try to input the number. When I click submit, it comes back and asks me to “Correct the error below and resubmit.” Problem is, there is no indication of what the error was. So, I recheck the number and resubmit.
I try 5 times before I give up, but the chat is ready so I start there. As with most chat sessions, I try to explain quickly. “I cannot enter my wellness+ number.” Within a second, a response “I will transfer you to a wellness representative”. Before I can respond I see another 30 second countdown, so I try the website again. 5 more times, no success.
The rep from wellness+ comes on and I repeat my problem. Very quickly, they say “That is a customer service issue” and transfer me back. I closed the window.
This post is getting long, so I will speed up. I called the 800 number thinking it might be faster. LOL. I get a 10 second recording on their latest coupons that I cannot bypass. Finally an automated phone tree. First option is whether I want to talk to the pharmacy about a prescription. Second is if I want to subscribe to the newsletter. I punch 0(zero) a few times and it repeats that it cannot understand my option. I hang up.
Finally, I decide to send a nice email explaining my problem and telling them that I am leaving. I cannot believe the response so I am posting the whole thing.
Dear Donald Noble,
Thank you for contacting the Rite Aid Wellness+ Customer Support. I do apologize for any inconvenience to you. The error message that you are receiving is due to the web browser that you are currently using. Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox and Safari are all having difficulties in loading the page correctly. I suggest using an earlier version of Internet Explorer 9 or Google Chrome. If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to email us back or give us a call at 1-800-RITE-AID. We thank you for your business at Rite Aid and have a wonderful day!
First of all I was using Chrome. But REALLY? Downgrade to an earlier version of my internet browser so I can bypass a restriction that you put in that keeps me from buying a product from your company. I cannot stop laughing. On this one, I really could not stop laughing.
Here we have a complete disconnect between management, marketing, technical support and just about every other connected department at Rite Aid. What started with a good idea (drive membership in our loyalty program) ends up a complete failure which will lose sales and lose customers.
How often does this happen at other companies? How many customers choose a competitor because of frustrating restrictions like this? Probably a lot.
Lesson #1 in retail: Treat each and every customer as gold. Once they know you are using them, they will leave you in a heartbeat.
Final Thoughts with Don Noble.