Duane Reade

Incompetent manager named Tanya working, can’t even speak, It was like pulling teeth over trying to use a coupon Duane reade had given me, I will use my money elsewhere and not here

I was on the subway heading into NYC and suddenly felt ill. I was at the Court St station and knew Duane Reade was right above. As a loyal customer of Duane Reade, I exited the train to quickly head upstairs to the store to use their restroom. I implored a few store employees to direct me to the restroom, as it was an emergency. I was emphatically told NO. Not only do I find this «policy» ridiculous, but I couldn’t believe that not one person could treat me with a modicum of consideration and humanness. I wonder, if I had passed out from being so ill would any employee have helped me or is that not policy either? One would think that a family-​focused business would treat people with consideration.

Aw yes, once again this pharmacy failed at any basic sort of competency test. This time around they couldn’t «figure out» my insurance so they asked if I wanted to pay out of pocket. No. I have insurance for the very reason that I don’t want to pay out of pocket. I gave up and decided to come back the next day and had to deal with an entirely fresh batch of clueless clerks. They «put back» my prescription, meaning the pharmacist threw it away when he couldn’t figure out my insurance d situation. Then they tried to give me someone else’s meds and never once looked at the name on the meds they were thrusting at me. If I were an old lady with poor eyesight, they surely would’ve murdered me with their incompetency. And finally, for the icing on the cake, after 30+ minutes of waiting for them to try once again to fill my prescription, the lady behind the counter sees me sitting there, her eyes go wide, and she asks, «what’re you still doing here?» Me? The person you told to «wait» and then promptly forgot about? I’m still sitting here because I want MY meds, not someone else’s that you’ve been trying to pan off to me because you’re an absolute moron at your jobs. With that, she finally «found» my meds and rang me up and smiled as if nothing had happened and this type of idiocy is no big deal. I really am at a loss for how a whole team of people could be so profoundly inept at their jobs.

I had my doctor put in a prescription on a Tuesday. I was told they were out of stock but they would be ordering it. By the following Monday, the prescription still had not arrived. I was told to wait another day. I came back the next day and the pharmacist said that they don’t make that product anymore. When I called my doctor, they informed me that the prescribe 100 or more of that product every week and that it is one of their most popular medications! I called another pharmacy and they had it.
Thanks for wasting my time Duane Reade.

Incompetent! They refused to sell my an item that you needed ID for because HEAR THIS: they’ve never seen an ID like mine, they havent heard of my country! Are you kidding me?!?
I need to send an urgent telegram to my government. Please. STOP. SEND. STOP. ID. STOP. that is more acceptable at this Duane Reade branch. STOP.
NB I’ve had no problems using my ID at other branches.
I guess «tourist» cannot shop at this branch. Moving along.
To be honest they looked on some computer I’m guessing to locate the country of my birth but they were not successful I can only assume. Shame on you Trinidad and Tobago!
Oh yeah… WILL NOT BE BACK!
DEFINITELY The End

WORST DUANE READE EVER
the cashier was extremely nasty even when I was asking how are you today.
She was ringing my stuff and I kept asking her to allow the pinpad to enter my phone number for rewards. before that even happened I noticed that something showed up 13.99. I knew that couldn’t be correct. The sponge I bought was 3.99 so I was like hmmm. Is the one a mistake. I told her and she said no its the Ambi cream (amazing for complexions and not harmful) I informed her it was 7.99 and it wasn’t in the wrong location because there were 2. She insisted I was wrong. I insisted it was listed at that price so therefore I should get it for that price and I can show her where I got it.
FINALLY she called someone to check and he comes with me to the aisle and the label says ambi 7.49 so he comes and tells the cashier. She still is questioning what to do. Finally the nasty manager tells her to give it to me for the listed price
FINALLY SHE LET ME PUT MY PHONE NUMBER IN FOR REWARDS. Then I swipe my card and as I’m waiting for the next prompt she says «what are you doing»? And turns the keypad. I responded «trying to pay and waiting what else» because at this point I’m angry. To top it off she states your card is declined. NO IT IS NOT STOP PRESSING BUTTONS so I said no see, swiped again and of course it worked.
Then the lady had the audacity to tell me after being rude nasty and yelling at me about prices «you don’t have go get upset»; is she kidding
I WILL NEVER RETURN TO THIS LOCATION.

Drogerie — hier hab ich IbuProfen gekauft und eine große Auswahl an Energy-​Shots. Die waren zwar alle ekelhaft aber die Flaschen sahen gut aus :-)

After the remodel the place looks fabulous, and I’m really appreciating the Starbucks coffee maker and fresh baked goods. Sometimes I go into Starbucks in the morning and the line is ridiculously long, so now if I don’t want anything too complicated, I can head over to Duane Reade and grab a Starbucks coffee without standing on a long line.
A coffee and bagel with cream cheese is about $ 2.91, probably the cheapest breakfast anyone could get in the entire area, including from a cart. On a broke day, it’s a lifesaver. On an ordinary day– it’s still great coffee and a tasty, fresh bagel.
Apart from the new additions, the staff is awesome. I really like the team working at this particular Duane Reade location. They are all very pleasant, helpful and even when they look tired, they are friendly. They all greet me when I come to pay and handle the transactions smoothly. This means A LOT to me because I get discouraged /​turned off by moody clerks /​staffers when I come into an establishment. Whoever is managing or doing the hiring at this Duane Reades is doing an excellent job.
The isles are tidy, shelves are well stocked, there are always staffers on the floor for help, and though once in a while the line to pay may become a bit long, over all the this Duane Reade runs efficiently.
My one gripe would be with the pharmacy, not for bad service but for lack of attention or passion /​interest I guess. I use to come here to get my prescriptions but didn’t like that lines were so poorly monitored. People are picking up their private medications /​prescriptions and while doing so on any given day can have other customers, breathing down their necks on the line. In my experience, a pharmacy has a line on the floor or some sort of sign stating where customers should stop and stand until they are «summoned» to the register. I would just say that the pharmacy staff needs better training in respects to speaking at a decent level and handling medication and prescriptions with a bit more care and discretion. I notice this is the case in a lot of pharmacy settings.
Overall though, this Duane Reades has got it going on.

This is one of the more interesting shaped Duane Reades in the city. It’s convenient to me and the staff has become much more helpful and friendlier than in the past.

Convenient and the pharmacy people are nice. Cashiers are a little cold and the stockers appear to make homophobic remarks occasionally. So that’s annoying.

Cons:
Some goods are expired
The building lacks an ac
The staff ignores customers
Management is dismissive
Inventory is always low
Prices could be lower
Lines are always long
Pros:
Centralized location
Easy access to store
Atms right by the door
Pharmacy in the back
Pet friendly
Accept all forms of payment
If you can help it I suggest you take a stroll to the other location on Court and Montague… it will be worth the walk.

Going to this pharmacy is consistently a most frustrating experience. If they made one mistake, once in a while, I wouldn’t bother writing a review. But over the five month period I’ve been at this pharmacy, I’ve been able to get a prescription correctly filled only once out of ten visits.
When I go to pick up my meds on the same day I called it in, more than half the time they won’t be filled yet, even six or seven hours after being called in (although on the phone, again, they will tell you that you can come get it in an hour). I once visited their pharmacy four times over the course of three days, desperately trying to get my prescription filled before going on vacation, and each time there was a hang up. I went on vacation without my medicine.
Every time it’s a different story: their prescription refill phone system tells you that the pharmacy will contact your doctor when your prescription runs out, and then you show up only to be told that «the phone system says that but it doesn’t notify us». Okay, why did it make me believe that my prescription is being filled when it’s not?
Today, I went to pick up a prescription that my doctor called in the first time two weeks ago. They said he didn’t call that time. I called my doctor again, asking him to call the meds in again. First it took them fifteen minutes of scurrying behind the counter because they couldn’t find the prescription at all, and then I suspect the pharmacy tech asked the pharmacist to fill it on the spot when he couldn’t find it in their unorganized stack. Then they say that my doctor only called in ONE of the TWO antibiotics he prescribed me. Really? He only called in one of the two meds he prescribed?