CVS Pharmacy Consumer Reviews - Page 2

CAPE COAL, FLORIDA -- On Friday 30th 2009 around 6:30 pm I was a witness to unbelievable unprofessionalism at CVS Pharmacy store located at 1003 Santa Barbara Blvd Cape Coral Fl, 33991. I would like to stay anonymous due to a fact that I am one of the regular customers at above mentioned store. Like I already mentioned, I use CVS Pharmacy for all my prescriptions and I've been using CVS Pharmacy for many years.

On Friday 30th 2009 I went into a CVS Pharmacy at above address just like I did many times before, but this time it was very different. I was extremely shocked to hear and see what I did. I was a witness to something unbelievable. I was hoping just to walk in and walk out with my prescriptions like I did many times before, but this time I had to wait in front of the register since no one was there to help me out.

While I was waiting for someone to help me out I heard very vulgar language, I couldn't believe my ears so I looked around to see what is going on. To my shock I saw pharmacist **, (I found his name on my receipt) yelling on top of his lungs to two technicians, I wasn't sure what was going on so I just kept listening and looking with absolute shock.

At one point, I saw above mentioned pharmacist grabbed what it looked to me a stack of papers and threw them all over the place while using a very foul language. This went on for good 5 to 10 minutes, at this point there was a line behind me and everyone one of us was very shocked in disbelieve what we are seeing and hearing. Finally, technician came over with a very sad face, it was very hard to ignore the tears on her face, but yet she was very apologetic for the wait and very helpful.

I don't know what was going on, but there is a place and time to deal with employees and I will tell you that was not a place or time. I am very disappointed with above mentioned pharmacist who was very rude to me and absolutely unapologetic for his conduct or the wait. I am sure that he was aware of all of us waiting in line, at one point he made eye contact with me but went on to proceed with yelling and throwing stuff.

I like CVS store, it's very convenient for me to shop there, but I am not sure if I can continue to do so. I left a store very upset, I felt for the lady with tears on her face, this is the same person that I've seen many times before who was always cheerful, with huge smile on her face and I absolutely adore her accent. I will tell you one more thing. In many years of shopping at CVS I've never witness anything like this before.

I also don't like the fact that every other day there is a new Pharmacist and new faces at the register, this guy must be new, because I only saw him in a past one month, but never the less he was very unprofessional and I definitely don't look forward seeing him again. I truly miss **, and staff that used to work there before. Sincerely, Very upset customer.

VIRGINIA -- After looking at all the complaints on here, I want to make clear that despite what many people seem to think, pharmacy staff usually try their best to help all customers out. However working in an environment like CVS can drive anyone into a horrible mood.

Techs receive little to no training and they're expected to learn to locate and recognize drugs starting off first thing. They must generate prescriptions, take phone calls, fill prescriptions, and ring up customers and receive and enter prescriptions into the computer, but worst of all, CALL INSURANCE COMPANIES EVERY 20 MINUTES; and are usually doing two or three of these simultaneously. In addition, corporate heads purposely keep pharmacies short-staffed to lower costs, so there are never enough people working.

Usually we try to juggle everything and multi-task (which is the cause for some unintentional mistakes) but if even one problem comes up, everything is delayed. Most problems I've seen are due to insurance, but some people cannot seem to grasp that fact. I've had people scream at me because their insurance doesn't cover the drug their doctor wrote. In fact one lady accused me of trying to change her prescription so that I'll make more money. Newsflash!! I will make the measly $8.00 an hour no matter how much money CVS makes, so it makes no difference to me!

I think a lot of people don't even understand some basic things about insurance companies that may cause their prescriptions to be delayed. Insurance will not cover certain drugs that are not on their approved list, instead they will give you an alternative which you can switch to. You will need a new prescription by your doctor for the other drug. You should probably take a look at that list someday. It comes in your mail. It'll save you the high blood pressure and us the headache.

If you only want that particular drug, your doctor will have to provide paperwork to your insurance saying that that drug is MEDICALLY NECESSARY and no substitute can be taken.This is called a Prior Authorization. The pharmacy will contact your doctor initially but after that it is your responsibility to follow up after 2-3 days. We get literally hundreds of these a day, and we always try calling you to let you know, if only you could give us the right phone number or pick up when we call, or maybe even listen to your voicemail.

Even if you are 1 day too early, your insurance may not cover your prescription until the supply you have at home (and what's entered into the computer) is finished. We know it's stupid, but there's nothing we can do about that. Sometimes the doctor writes the prescription for 90 days but the insurance will only approve a 30 day supply at a time. You will have to pay a copay each 30 days. The pharmacy has nothing to do with that. Take your anger out at your insurance, not us poor souls.

Also, if you are a person who only wants or needs brand name drugs, make sure you make it crystal clear to your doctor or the pharmacist since many state laws require that unless the doctor has written on the prescription that you need brand name, you must be given generic. If you want to fill more than 3 prescriptions, be prepared to wait more than 20 minutes. And please do not come in 5 minutes before closing time to fill your prescriptions RIGHT THEN.

If you are getting narcotics or controlled drugs, it will be x-rayed to ensure its authenticity. We can lose our licenses over these since there are many many people who 'shop around' or even write fake prescriptions! It's happened at least 10 times in the last year in pharmacies I know! And if your doctor made a mistake on your prescription, we can't fill it. Blame it on the person who deserves it please.

Finally, remember that we are also human beings like you with lives and feelings and the ability to get tired or frustrated after (many of us) attending college for half the day and then coming straight to a pharmacy full of irritated customers to spend the other half, without a break, trying very hard to take all the bad attitudes, insults, and hissy-fits in stride without showing any emotion. Customers want the individualized care and attention to their particular situation and problems but they want it on demand. With 200 people, this creates all the problems.

MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK -- Today April 1, 2008, I drove to the drive in window to drop off my prescription. I gave the technician or cashier Kim my insurance card and prescription after. She never said hello, good morning or the most positive customer service greeting a smile. She took my card and prescription and said, "One moment" then walked away, she came back a few minutes later and asked me, "Have you been here before?" and I replied yes and she asked me my date of birth then said "30 minutes". I asked her for my card back because I had to go to the doctor and she just handed it to me then I drove off.

I got back ten minutes shy of two hours, and Kim said "I asked you if you been here before and you never was here because you're not in the system". So at that point I realized my prescription was not filled and I was pissed. I told her perhaps when I gave you my information you should have looked it up in the system because I was there before and have been filling a different prescription every other week. Then the pharmacist ** rudely interrupted and told me "...look we are busy and we deal with over 200 customers..." then I interrupted him because I am one of CVS's customers and I will not tolerate being talked to or treated in that manner.

I advised him the problem is when I handed Kim, who refused her last name, my insurance card and prescription she should have checked in the system to see if I was updated because if I was not in there. It could have been corrected before I drove off.

Because yes I was there at the pharmacy before and have filled my prescriptions in the past there but everything was in my maiden name. So if she would have checked the information (insurance card, prescription and CVS computer system) while I was at the drive up window and told me she didn't see me then that would have flagged my memory to advise her it was under my maiden name and this whole thing could have been avoided if she performed her job function. I am sick and that was the last thing on my mind, my name change, I just needed to drop off my prescription so I could go back to the doctor.

What was the purpose of me giving her my insurance card and her walking away for five minutes then coming back telling me thirty minutes allowing me to drive away, because as the customer I was left with the impression she checked everything and my prescription would be filled. Or perhaps the pharmacy should not ask you an open ended question like "have you been here before?" perhaps they should ask "are you new to CVS pharmacy?"

If yes complete everything in the system. If it's no then the follow-up question should be "has anything changed with your insurance since the last time you filled a prescription?" then I could have told her to update my maiden name to my married name and they should definitely check the computer system before the customer is told 30 minutes to an 1 hour and leaves. Or the most important thing is don't skip looking up the customer in the CVS database and whatever prerequisites are required prior to the customer leaving.

It is not my problem that they are dealing with over 200 customers and the last I checked it should not be a problem but a privilege for CVS Pharmacy store #2361 to be dealing with 200 customers and they should not make their customers feel like it's a problem to deal with customers. When I brought up my concern to the pharmacist ** he told me that it was my opinion and although I didn't tell him it is not an opinion it's a fact that Kim did not perform her job correctly because she was too busy trying to rush a customer out of her face instead of dealing with me, the customer, correctly during our first point of contact.

This isn't the first time this has happened at CVS pharmacy. They have a habit of filling prescriptions incorrectly and not completing the correct dosage of pills as prescribed by the doctor. Enough is enough and they need to slow down and do things right and I am tired of being the silent angry customer.

PORT CHARLOTTE 33948, FLORIDA -- I should have learned my lessons from a few years ago when this pharmacy gave me a wrong prescription and then shrugged it off like no big deal. I had a RX called in for my husband when he had oral surgery. So I gave them our insurance card since my husband never gets anything filled. 40 minutes of phone calls and the pharmacists says we are not covered. I am speechless. I know we are covered.

I just got statements in the mail so it just didn't make sense. He hurried me along saying that he was done contacting them and I need to make a decision of either buying the medicine or going elsewhere. Now I have my husband bleeding profusely from the mouth in the Jeep. God only knows what he is doing since I walked into the store so I sucked it up, say I know that I am covered and that I would be back to get a refund once I got it straightened out.

I first call the job's insurance specialist to see what's up, they get back to me in 20 minutes saying there is nothing wrong, he is in the system, they double verified it and everything. So I am like OK, I call the company 2 times and both reps said "'ya you are covered and oh by the way that pharmacy never filed anything" (they keep record of every attempted claim instantly). Oh OK, so now I am a bit upset to say the least because I stood at CVS for 40 minutes thinking that they were calling my insurance but obviously they weren't.

Well I go in and get the store manager because I felt that when I had left I was more of a bother to the pharmacist than anything so I wanted to have her deal with it. So she shook her head saying that I am the 4th complaint of the day (this was at 10:30 am). OK so we go back, I tell the guy what my insurance said, and you know what he said? I was lying and asked if he got them on speakerphone would they say the same thing to him??? What? I really attract the crazies lately. Where did that come from?

So well after him being upset and the manager thinking that I am full of crap, they get the company on the phone, so embarrassing since he was speaking really loud saying things like, "you are not right about this" and having me give info in front of everyone like a social security number. I felt humiliated.

Finally he got them on and they said I wasn't covered, he is all happy and said tell this customer this. So I get on, this is Tricare I am speaking with. WHAT??!!! I don't have Tricare! It says Evolutions right on the card. CCSO not US ARMY???!!! He was calling the wrong company and he was giving them the wrong information. Of course I wasn't covered, it's not my insurance! So I really felt that I didn't do anything wrong, I still don't but this is how it ended.

He "DID ME A FAVOR" and credited me for what I have to pay for over my co-pay. No apology but I did get this: "I'll take responsibility. The customer is never wrong, the doctor is never wrong, it is always the pharmacist who is wrong!" He said it so loudly twice that customers were rolling their eyes and the tech was too.

To top it off, in January I had a Rx filled there that was new. They told me my insurance didn't cover it, come to find out they do and I have spent in the last 7 months $400 over what I should have spent. So now I have to file a claim to my insurance company. So this isn't the first time they messed this up, it's just the last time they told me a lie. It's so bad with CVS in general that my insurance company told me one of the gazillion times I called them that they are thinking about removing CVS from their network in 2008 because this is a nationwide issue...go figure.

By the way when I went to Sams Club this afternoon to input a prescription, it took them no more than 5 minutes to get my insurance approved and I asked if they had issues and explained what happened. She laughed and said "FIGURES!"

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS -- My wife and I just wasted over an hour at the CVS pharmacy store # 8602 this evening. At 9:25 p.m. my wife presented her paper prescription to the "in" section of the pharmacy. The "info taker" typed into her computer something and informed us that her prescription would be ready in "30 minutes". My wife's paper prescription was then LOST by the pharmacy. We waited over 30 minutes before I had to go to the restroom. I was informed that the store was being "remodeled" and I was not allowed to use a "public" restroom. The pharmacy assistant suggested that we go to the gas station across the street.

There is NO evidence of any remodeling going on anywhere at this CVS. We had to leave the CVS and travel to a nearby grocery store to use a restroom. When we returned to CVS the pharmacy still had not found the prescription. I finally located a "supervisor" and told him the situation. He went back to the pharmacy and informed us that "they (the pharmacy) were looking for it".

Over an hour passed and we finally gave up. We left the building and were entering our car when one of the young pharmacy assistants called to us in the parking lot. It seems that the prescription was found "under the keyboard". My wife went back into the store and retrieved her paper prescription and we went across the street to Walgreen's. The prescription was filled at Walgreen's and the price was 1/2 the $60.00 quoted by the pharmacy at CVS. BOTH prices were for the generic; same quantity, same 500mg dose.

The CVS "supervisor" NEVER apologized for the time we wasted at CVS, nor did ANY of the pharmacists. Only the young assistant apologized to us. None of this had been his fault, yet he had the decency to say he was sorry. All the while we were waiting for the prescription to be filled at CVS I kept asking why the paper prescription isn't scanned into the computer, or at least copied or typed into the computer to verify and double-check just in case the paper prescription is lost by the incompetent pharmacy.

I was informed that their procedure does NOT include ANY type of scanning, copying or backup of the original paper prescription. Instead, they stand up the paper prescription in a cheap plastic letter tray and then the next one in the tray is the one that gets filled... unless they lose it. Are you aware that the rest of the world uses scanning devices and computers to record important documents? If the pharmacy had completely lost or destroyed the prescription my wife would have had to have gone all night long IN PAIN until she could have reached her physician to phone-in ANOTHER prescription the next day.

At the very least, it would have been nice to have had a competent "supervisor" apologize and offer to deliver the prescription to us as soon as they found it, or to call the physician as soon as possible and admit to the physician that they had lost the paper prescription.

BURTONSVILLE, MARYLAND -- On 12/12/19 went through the CVS drive-through to pick up prescriptions. Their contracted power washers started working with my car there. The power washing fluid and debris hit my car, damaging it, and hit me inside of my car. Notified CVS manager who would not stop the workers.

DUNDALK, MARYLAND -- Never rely on this pharmacy to fill prescriptions in a reasonable time frame, you could wait days until it is filled unless you physically go in and they “expedite” filling and even then, be prepared to wait even more than an hour.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- My insurance company chose CVS as the preferred pharmacy and just about every month they don't have my pain meds in stock but I've been getting the meds since January. They make me drive from one CVS to another to find my meds every month. I never had this issue with Walgreens pharmacy. If AETNA picks CVS this year, I'm picking another insurance company, which is a shame because I like AETNA but I will not deal with CVS again! They are rude & nasty and don't care about anyone!

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA -- My order #** was released on 02/29/2016. The website informs that the products were shipped on 03/02/2016. But I did not receive them yet. They sent me an e-mail (signed by Brayan **, Customer Care Department) apologizing and asking me if I want a refund or the reshipment of the products. I chose the refund because I've already bought the products in another pharmacy. But until now, I have no products, no money, no more answers. I would like to advise the online consumers to take care.

APPLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA -- For the 4th time I've tried to fill a prescription at CVS - and incredibly they managed to make every single attempt more frustrating than the last. There won't be a fifth attempt. Incompetent. Rude. Untruthful.