CVS
Reviews and Complaints

There is one factor that I don't think most people understand about insurance. If you have a prescription drug plan through your employer, you EMPLOYER designs your plan, NOT the insurance company.When you call Aetna, CVSCAREMARK, MEDCO, WHI, they are only doing what the employer has advised based on the way the coverage is designed by the employer. Believe it or not, there are prescriptions drug plans that do not have quantity limitations, day supply limits, step therapy or prior authorization. To that end, it is not fair to yell or blame the pharmacy or the customer service representative. TALK TO THE EMPLOYER they are one that dictate your plan coverage.

Educated Consumer likes to defend those who can't seem to figure things out for themselves.

Oh, btw... this general listing is for 'drugstores'.

NOT 'insurance companies', you illiterate ###.

tnpowerman, take a look at these:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/rx/caremark.html

http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1523_caremarkcomplaint.pdf
http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?id=19122
http://www.oregoncrimevictimsrights.info/releases/pdf/caremark_complaint.pdf

Only a few of the complaints against the Caremark/CVS Insurance company.

I too work for AT&T and am dealing with this fraudulent insurance company. They are trying to talk my doctor into prescribing something other than Celebrex. I've been on this medication for 6 years and it works with no side effects. I overheard my doctor talking with them to authorize the prescription refill. I could hear him telling them no to a multitude of different drugs they wanted to prescribe instead of what he, my treating physician, is prescribing. Being that Celebrex costs $148.50 for 30 pills of 200mg, cost just might be a factor. There is no generic for it either.

When I said something to the Caremark representative about being out of my medication for 11 days she suggested I go and get a few days supply to hold me over, of course without being covered by insurance. Considering the AT&T Disability Insurance folks are arguing about my disability (cervical spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis resulting in numb hands and extreme pain in shoulders and both arms) and it is sitting in an appeal at the moment, I haven't got the money for a few days supply to then have to pay another copay if they approve of it. Not to mention I had to pay $300 for a cervical MRI out of my pocket due to Cigna denying it until I had 6 weeks of physical therapy which I could not tolerate for more than 3 weeks. Without the MRI diagnosis, no chance of disability pay. See the vicious tight greedy hands all washing one another?

Great benefits, until you need to use them.

Welcome to the United Corporations Of America.

ConnorsMommy... try finding out that CAREMARK/CVS IS an INSURANCE COMPANY, you pompous idiot.

UM, blame your insurance, not your pharmacy.

Your pharmacy dictates the quantity that can be filled for any given time period.
STOP whining about your pharmacy and get on the phone about your insurance.
If your doctor contacts your insurance, you can get him or her to ask so you can get MORE than 2 at at a time.

You're welcome.

A FEW WEEKS AGO KROGER STORE TERRE HAUTE IN HAD AN AD PAGES SAYING AT THE TOP>FREE 25 $ GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR YOUR PRESCRIPTION TRANSFER. GREAT I THOUGHT, BUT TOO UNMENTIONED THE REQUIREMENT WAS TO BUY THE MEDICINE TOO, TRANSFER IS TRANSFER, RIGHT? AND THE 25$ GIFT CARD WAS TO BE PUT ON YOUR PREFERED CUSTOMER CARD. THEY DON'T LOOSE ANYTHING THEY MAKE IT SPENDABLE ONLY AT KROGER. AND TOO, SINCE THEIR PROFIT WAS 18 BILLION THEY COULD HAVE GIVEN IT AWAY NO PRESCRIPTION. AND TOO, MOST PAY 25$ ON ANY PRESCRIPTION. LOST ZIP TO THEM. AND WHAT BETTER WHEN PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING. KEN NEWLIN TERRE HAUTE IN

gotta agree that it's your fault. You are the one that's supposed to know what your insurance is not the pharmacy. You mist be pretty stupid to pay for your prescriptions when it's supposed to be covered by workers compensation.

Richard,

Google Caremark complaint and check all the links to the complaints filed by the Attorney Generals of multiple states against Caremark. The complaints include Medicare fraud by Caremark in 2008.

Again, ConnorsMommy has her wise ### comment about people who have disabilities. Looks like you're too busy on this site with your ugly assuming comments. I feel sorry for Connor if you are his mommy. God be with him.

UM, that would be YOUR fault for NOT letting your pharmacy know that it should have gone under workman's comp.
You got the meds for free, what are you whining about anyway?

So yeah. the pharmacy is NOT PSYCHIC and does not know if you have workman's comp UNLESS YOU TELL THEM.
if you tell them, YOU MUST ALSO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON the workman's comp policy carrier, date of injury, etc.

Looks like you were too busy sitting on your butt getting free medications to do any leg work on this. ugh.

I just read " a dozen ways to lose customers"(copyright2004-2010 CVS Caremark) and these apply#6 "surly employees", #8"Poor response", #9"Not listening".#11-"Arrogance"-"Treating the customer as an idiot!"My 74 year old friend and I arrived to pick up his recent prescription at 10am-November28th, 2010 and the pharmacy was not open.The security grates were all closed and two women were waiting for service-they were together.Ten minutes later the pharmacy was open and my friend Donald Holmes was waiting in line six feet or so behind the woman picking up her prescription> after waiting at least 15 more minutes patiently in line my friend was told-rudely to stand further back by the pharmacist.I was sitting on a chair watching and hearing this>I asked" what did he say to you?" to my friend and the man said loudly and arrogantly that "I am only enforcing the Law"Now I ask "What Law?"We are in this pharmacy once a month(since 2009) and this was news to us!If there is such a law then a line should be on the floor where you stand behind it and/or signs posted to this effect!I complained to the Wonderfully pleasant Manager-Hillary Lucky about the rudeness of this employee and he said he would take care of it!I am writing this email to alert you to the bad behavior and unhappiness that permeates the back of this CVS store from almost every employee that works at the pharmacy.Also, I have complained about this on the phone surveys twice before!I do not understand why they are so miserable there but they are and I and my friend are tired of it>The front of the store has wonderful employees(Leslie, Mogali, Clare, Melody, Marie and of course Hillary Lucky!) that go out of their way to be nice but the pharmacy is another world altogether-Why?I think it is important to not reward "bad behavior" and i am encouraging my friend to try Walgreens' Pharmacy !I certainly would not give my money to employees such as these!sincerely Devon Marlin Henderson

If you don't think it would do any good to complain to the manager, I would say call 1-800-shop-cvs... which will definitely get results! They tell employees not to give customers that number because it goes through the top and filters to the bottom.. which means their pharmacy supervisor (of the district) and EVERY OTHER supervisor will know of it! I am employed by CVS but that kind of behavior from Cathy is ridiculous! Good luck!

CVS HAS THE MOST RUDESSEST AND DISRISPECTFUL TECH EVER! I HAVE BEEN TAKING MY SONS PRESCRIPTIONS TO THEM FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS AND EVERY TIME I GO TO DROP OFF A NEW PRESCRIPTION THEY ALWAYS TELL ME THE SAME STORY." oH SORRY WE DONT HAVE YOUR SON MEDICAID NUMBER, OR HE DOESNT HAVE INSURANCE". I HATE GOING THERE . I SWEAR I M GOING TO WALGREENS. THEY HAVE 100 PERCENT MORE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING. CVS SERIOUSLY NEEDS TO KNOW WHO THEY ARE HIRING. ITS VERY INCONVEINIENT.

I entered your CVS Survey and at the end was given a choice of gift. The only charge was "shipping" and I gave my Charge Card(foolishly). I got billed the following month for shipping and received the watch. My next billing had a $99.89 charge and several days later another watch arrived. I had to cancel my card and am "disputing" that charge How can CVS not monitor these ?

I am officially done with the mail-in prescription service from CVS Caremark. They have lied to me and treated me like dirt for the last time.

My husband takes medication for seizures. We have used the CVS Caremark mail-in service for over a year now for the same medication. We have had a few problems with them in the past, but none compare to the outrageous situation I now find myself in, just trying to get my husband his medication so he doesn't end up in the hospital with seizures this weekend!

My husband has been told by his neurologist and our family doctor that he needs to take the name brand medication, not the generic. It is noted on his chart and has always been noted on the scripts. For some reason, even though he's gotten the same medication for over a year, CVS Caremark decided to send him the generic this last time. They claim the doctor's office wrote it that way - maybe that's the truth, we'll never know. However, when I called to get it resolved, I was told by a representative named David that they would send a replacement overnight along with a prepaid label to send back the incorrect generic medicine. The next day came and went with no medication. Of course it was Thanksgiving and we were going out of town, so in the meantime, I had to call the doctor, get a week's supply written, fill and pay full price for the medication at a local pharmacy. I call back to CVS Caremark and get Sharice (sp?). Sharice clearly is uninformed of the basics tenets of customer service and decides to leave me on hold for 12 minutes without checking back. When she finally gets back on the line, she informs me that she is speaking with her supervisor because she can't see my order on her screen, but somehow he can see it. After holding another few minutes, she informs me the prescription was never sent out and that she "truly apologizes for any miscommunication on behalf of the prior rep" and ASSURES me that the prescription will be sent overnight and I will have it on Friday. Today is Friday. No medication. I call again and get Lori. I am again informed that the medication hasn't shipped. Now I'm really upset. Apparently they don't understand that I'm not asking for a replacement part for my leaky faucet, I'm in need of medication that is going to ensure my husband doesn't have a seizure and end up in a life-threatening situation. I am told that I can get the prescription transferred to a local pharmacy, but not only will it be for the generic medication, since they are claiming that is the prescription they have written, but I will have to pay for it! I'm quickly moving past upset and into livid mode now. I inform Lori that if she cannot make that happen, she needs to connect me to someone who can.

Several minutes later I am connected to Slade, who informs me that he is a customer service supervisor. I have to explain the entire situation to him and he then informs me that there is nothing he can do. He also informs me that if the prescription is transferred to the local pharmacy that they can only fill it with a generic and I will have to pay for it. Furthermore, I am informed that it's not their fault that I got the generic medication and so I cannot return it and cannot get a refund. Excuse me? I am going to have to pay for a medication my husband can't use PLUS go to a pharmacy and pay for the correct medication, which I should have had in hand one week ago? I have been lied to by two different reps and still don't have the correct medication. Slade also informed me that they would not guarantee an overnight reshipment, confirming that the two reps had lied to me. He didn't seem too concerned with that, which being a customer service supervisor myself, strikes me as a bit odd. Furthermore, he said that if they transfer the prescription, the local pharmacy can legally only fill it with the generic because they are stating that our doctor signed off on it for generic. I don't know about anyone else, but I have seen prescription pads. There are two options - "dispense as written" or "can substitute." "CAN substitute..." not YOU MUST substitute. I told Slade I didn't believe that was true, which he disputed with me. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. Luckily I have a super nice local pharmacist who is willing to give us a weekends' worth of the correct medication. Monday I will be getting a new prescription from the doctor and going to my local pharmacy. I'll have to pay more monthly because the mail-in is cheaper, but it's not worth the headache.

Bottom line, CVS Caremark lies and does not care about the customer at all. s

I have used Caremark's mail in pharmacy for a year or so with no serious issues until this month. I received email confirmation the order had been received and then email confirmation they had been shipped and would arrive in 5-7 days. Over 2 weeks ago this order was shipped but I have not received the prescriptions. The mistake apparently happened at the US Postal Service. I have received no answers or communication from CVS except the automatically generated emails informing me I should receive my order in 15 days. After submitting a customer care ticket with the Postal Service, an employee from my local Post Office contacted me to inform the package is lost and they are trying to track it down.The Post Office contacted me by phone the morning after I submitted the ticket. I have received nothing from CVS but auto reply form emails which makes me think they have not touched my complaint nor are they interested in customer service. This is the last order I will trust with CVS. I would not have received such terrible customer service from my local pharmacy and will be using them from now on. My total displeasure is not that the prescription package was lost because I realize things happen and sometimes go wrong. My displeasure is with the service I have received or rather not received from CVS.

I'm going to have to say that for the most part you are incorrect, but I will have to agree you are right in the fact that they treated the situation in a bad manor. The first rep should have contacted the doctors office right off to correct the whole thing from turning into an even worse fiasco, which did happen. Doctors do make mistakes and I believe that Caremark would not lie about a doctor writing the prescription for the name brand and only wrote it for generic, caremark could not just change it without the doctors authorization. I work at CVS and deal with Caremark all the time, they don't seem as thrilled to be dealing with customers as I would be. I'm very energetic in my job and I like it very much so dealing with customers comes naturally to me, I can hardly comprehend that someone could possibly be so careless for someone who needs their medication as soon as possible. I feel your anger for the mistakes they made. I'm sorry you had to switch pharmacies and have to pay more each month. Its not fair and I wish the best for you next time. Hopefully that wont happen again.

Last time I was in here, I heard a man in the pharmacy (who was either a pharmacist or something else back there) yelling at the others that worked there. It made my shopping experience horrible and I do not know that I will go back.

I have used CVS pharmacy for 15 years but after today we will be transfering all of our perscriptions to Walgreens. I work for a large Pharmaceutical Company and as long as we use brand names our perscriptions are free. For several months I have had constant problems getting my perscriptions. I have had to return to the store as much as three times to get what I need. This morning I called in four perscriptions and when I got there to pick them up only three were ready, after waiting in line for fifteen minutes I was told that it would be twenty more minutes. After telling them that I would come back the pharmacist finally told me that once again they did not have what I needed. I told him that I was going to have to transfer my perscriptions because I have difficulties with them every month. He said O.K., that is fine where do you want me to transfer them to. I was appalled by his attitude, like he did not care weather I was acustomer there or not. After he realized that he had upset me he tried to smooth things over by stating that most people use generics and unless they order brand names they dont have them. Come on! When you have customers that use the same medications month after month, some of them for years I feel that you need to keep them in stock. If this only happened on occasion it would be different but it is an on going problem for myself and my husband. If you could get your perscriptions free for brand names what would you use?

So you don't think a supervisor should yell at his/her employees?

You're not going to get a response from CVS by posting on here. This is merely a forum and nothing posted reaches the company about which you're complaining.

Its their parking lot, of course you can't just leave your car there while you go do other stuff. What happens when the lot is full of non-customers and no new customers can park anymore? In big cities (like this one, chicago) parking is a big deal..there isn't a lot to go around.

Absolutelly agree. I have same bad expirience as yours with them in Broolkyn NY. Hope they will get out of the business sooner or later

that's a very unfortunate event that you had. But, this does not in any way, shape, or form qualify as fraud. The meds not getting shipped to that location has nothing to do with the company. They may have ordered it, they may have been told that it would be their thursday but if it did not arrive then, than it's not CVS' fault. It has to do with the company that shipped the meds out, or even the middle man company that was supposed to deliver it.

Sometimes our supplies do not include things that we have ordered in our shipment and we at the Pharmacy will not know this until we receive and put away the order. While we do everything possible to get the medication, it is out of our hands if the supplies makes a mistake.

Found some rude pharmacy employees at a CVS in Indianapolis, and to no surprise ... the wait area had a book shelf chocked full of anti-gay books and guides. I plan on going out of my way to avoid CVS.

You are not alone. You are a prime example of how horrible CVS employees are to customers. I was a CVS customer for over 10 years until recently my partner & I were victims of a hate crime initiate by the manager of our local CVS. The only reason we filled our prescriptions at CVS was the location was right beside our home. Over the past 10 years we have had repeated, negative comments and attitudes directed at us. Our local KC CVS has had at least 10 pharmacists, only 1 of them have been somewhat kind to us ~ that took over 1 year to gain his kindness. The pharmacists repeatedly mess up our medications and repeatedly neglect to order prescription (on auto fill) that we need monthly. When we call for help the pharmacists & pharmacist assistants are rude and are ALWAYS too busy to help. If they are out of our medications (the ones we order each month, same time), they refuse to call around to find the medication at other pharmacies.

The store manager has made direct hate comments against us, calling us '[censor]' and 'queers'. The same manager has gone out of his way to harass us and attack us. I will file a formal complaint online soon, after we file our law suite against the manager, assistant manager and CVS Caremark Corporation.

Over the past 10 years my partner has filled over $1.4 Million dollars (retail costs) of prescriptions via this CVS pharmacy. I have filled around $800K with my prescriptions. Additionally we spend about $300-$400 per month on miscellaneous items at this CVS store. I promise you that I will not ever spend 1 penny of our money at CVS again. Additionally, I believe others need to know of CVS's negative anti-gay sentiment. I plan to communicate our horror story on every potential Internet site/blog possible. Gay & Lesbian (GBLT) spend a LOT of money on medications... I would love to see all GLBT persons transition their prescriptions to other pharmacies that are kind to GLBT customers & support our iniatives. I plan to do my part to make this happen!

Are customers important? If you work retail and think that your customers don't deserve the best service possible, then you need to quit. You represent CVS, but you should be kind and helpful to customers just because it is the right thing to do. Sam Walton always said "Rule #1 - Our customers are always right, and when in doubt, refer back to rule #1!"

Customers are your business, they generate your revenue. You have lost our prescriptions, our other purchases, and ALL of our business (Revenue). In my opinion, CVS represents the worst customer care associates in business today. It is my hope that any CVS customer who is mistreated or discriminated against will take their business elsewhere.

The best way to impact organizations like CVS Caremark is to QUIT doing business with them. If you are gay/lesbian (GLBT) and still doing business with CVS, I encourage you to take your business elsewhere.

CVS touts Corporate Diversity training, and brags about hiring GLBT employees, but at the end of the day some CVS associates have no problem neglecting and hating customers. We have to stop the hate.

To any CVS associate who finds it hard to help other or finds it amusing to make fun of customers….. some people require more attention than others! Some customers have problems walking, reading, or just finding items in your CVS. It is indeed your job to help each customers to the fullest extent of your capability! Would it hurt you to walk an elderly lady through your store and assist them with their shopping? For you, I assume that would be beneath you. You are the example of horrible world of 'retail' we live in today.

IMO, CVS is the [censor] of the retail pharmacy earth. Why? Well, from what I've seen many CVS associates are underpaid, under trained in customer care, lacking in diversity training, and finally lack the motivation to find their job at CVS to be rewarding.

We all want kindness... just remember, if you seek kindness you must first start by helping others and being kind to others!

I'm sorry to hear of your situation and I'm sorry the previous commenter thinks nothing of your being teased about being diabetic : (
I am a 21 year type 1 Diabetic and was refused my diabetic supplies by a gentleman at a CVS Pharmacy after 1/2 hour of conversation with him where he tried repeatedly to "bait" me to say something offensive, which I finally did. He then told me to leave the store... I called 911 and the police escorted me into the Pharmacy where the "foul" gentleman ( I use the word gentleman loosely here ) ended up selling me the supplies I'd run out of. I called some attorneys and discussed suing but as had happened many, many times before, the attorneys all tried to talk me out of suing based on the assumption that I wouldn't be able to prove a "loss". I'm now taking steps against yet another pharmacy where the Pharmacist told me, "I can't sell you the supplies you need because corporate said I can't"... so, I called the corporate office and the confirmed that they'd never told the Pharmacist he couldn't sell me my supplies, but said they had to back his decision to not sell them to me. I ended up going to another location of the same franchise and after answering several questions, the kind hearted Pharmacist and his assistant politely and courteously sold me my supplies. I wrote them both positive feedback on the store survey and will take steps to right this wrong... yes, ( to the previous commenter ) I will be suing.. so I guess now you'd believe me?!?!

Yeah right if you were really innocent you would be suing them.

Okay... You have to understand that when a person drops of a prescription at the pharmacy, the technicians will do pretty much ANYTHING to avoid problems with the customers. I am a tech at another CVS and this seems to be the problem I deal with every single day. The process includes, taking your prescription, typing it in, filling it for you, and then selling it to you. We bill the insurance and the INSURANCE tells us what the copay is or that a medication is not covered. I hope you dont honestly believe the tech was telling you that your insurance didnt cover your medicine just because they wanted to make your life difficult? We want to fill your crap, and get you out of our faces, that is the plan. The computer screen will say: NCD/PRODUCT/SERVICE IS NOT COVERED. which is your insurance letting us know, Sorry, we're not paying for this. So instead of being a ### to the pharmacy team, call your INSURANCE and ### at them if you think the information is wrong. We don't choose whether or not YOUR INSURANCE covers a medication, they do. CALL THEM and be responsible enough to deal with your own crap. Its not the CVS Employee's job to call and argue with YOUR insurance compnay about the plan YOU are on. If you think it should be covered, go ahead and make yourself useful and call your insurance company. Its seriosuly people like you that make me HATE my job. Its a shame I never get to speak my mind to people like you... My blood pressure would probably be spared. Dumb ###.

If we dont have your prescription and the doctor claims it was called in, it was probably called in elsewhere. You should be asking your doctor where it was phoned into.

When I went into CVS and asked for a water cup the sales clerk said do you want a cup like the two that you have on your chest? I tried to see a manger who wasn't at work and the assistant manager wasn't there either. I plan to hire an attorney

The employees in CVS follow me around from aisle to aisle, one in particular leaves the cash register to follow me around until I check out then he goes back to the cash register; How would they feel if they were treated this way?

CVS corporate doesn't care. Why bother, they have so much going on under their noses that they aren NOT going to "get It" untill all of us stand up together. Loss Prevention for CVS is a joke. The don't know [censor] from shirlock. SOme stores have the employees with what it takes to carry the name, but theres other stores that DONT. Yet no one cares to listen or invest the TIME to investigate CORRECTLY so what do we do but write it off as one HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE WE'D RATHER FORGET?

Why does everyone think that the pharmacies come up with the prices? Unless your are paying with NO insurance, then that price is coming straight from your insurance company. They dont give a reason why they're charging the price, they just send that price back and thats what the store will need to collect for the co-pay. If you want a reason as to why you have to pay so much, then you need to contact Your insurance company. That is Your responsibility. If you don't like it, have your doctor switch it to something that's prefered.

You must be confused, CVS does not put your insurance companies name and phone number on your prescription bottle. LMFAO. You either (a) went to another pharmacy and you think its CVS (b) are seeing things (c) making up the whole thing

These are the same people that wear foil on their heads because they are afraid that someone can scan their brain and know everything they think.

We do NOT set your co-pay. This is the one thing that really gets on my nerves sometimes. A claim is billed to your insurance company, and they send us a co-pay back. There is no way for us to change your co-pay, nor is there a way for us to know if there is a cheaper alternative (i.e. mail0order) without calling the insurance company. Most insurance companies will charge more for retail pharmacies versus mail order. Please be sure to understand this and check with your insurance company prior to accusing employees of scamming you out of money.

If you have insurance, the pharmacy does not set the copay. The pharmacy bills your insurance, and your insurance decides how much of the charge they want to pick up and how much you have to pay. Insurance companies do have lower copays for generic medications and for using mail order pharmacies.

Also @Jack416, all those medicines you listed are brand name and have no generics, your insurance is going to set a higher copay for those unless you switch to generic medicines.

As a matter of routine my local CVC pharmacy in Harrisburg PA adds as much as 20% to any prescription order I place with them. i.e Actos, Avandia, Vytorin, Benicar Moreover CVS does that AFTER I had asked them for the price. Since my prescriptions are very expensive I ask why it is done. Every single time I get one of two answers: either the price is changed or the portion of deductible is applied on this very day. And yet, the stress of dealing with the pharmacy and insurance causes to aggravate the dieabetic conditions from which the medicines are prescribed.

CVS doesn't set your co-pay. Yes it might be cheaper to use mail order with your insurance, but when we bill a claim to your insurance in the pharmacy, we bill directly online. What that means is we send the info to your insurance and they automatically accept or reject the claim. If they accept the claim then they give us your copay. Whenever you see the name of your insurance (i.e. Aetna) that means we billed your insurance. We as pharmacist do not have any way of knowing that it would be cheaper for you to use mail order, unless you specifically ask us to call your insurance to see why the co-pay is so high.