1
cvs
cvs
If CVS Sells You Something Expired, It's Your Own Damn Fault
By Laura Northrup on January 6, 2012 9:30 AM
113 Comments
Reader Andy noticed this sign in near the breakfast foods in a local CVS. It instructs customers to check the expiration dates of the items they choose before taking them up to the cash register. It's an innovative idea: maybe they're aiming to crowdsource stock rotation. More »
CVS Sells Customer Expired Prepaid Debit Card, Shrugs
By Laura Northrup on January 5, 2012 9:30 AM
63 Comments
Last year, Mike bought a Vanilla Visa prepaid debit card at CVS as a gift for a friend, who promptly forgot that the card existed until about a year later. The card doesn't work, but not because it's been dormant for the last year and had its balance eaten up in fees. No, the problem is that this card expired in July 2010, before it was even purchased. CVS never should have sold him this card. Now neither CVS nor Vanilla Visa will take responsibility for the problem, and are even accusing Mike of being a scammer. More »
CVS Makes Mistake, Robocalls Me Incessantly For Their 3 Bucks
By Laura Northrup on November 10, 2011 8:00 AM
89 Comments
Sarah noticed after a visit to the pharmacy that the technician had failed to charge her for one of her prescriptions. It's difficult for her to get into town from her college campus, so she figured because it's the store's error, she'd let it go. Karma does not agree, and has sent swift and annoying punishment down for Sarah. She must pay for the prescription, or the CVS system will robocall her several times per day reminding her to pick up the prescription. More »
CVS Refuses To Put ExtraCare Rewards On Your Card Because Super-Long Receipts Are "Exciting" To Customers
By Chris Morran on July 28, 2011 3:15 PM
73 Comments
The CVS ExtraCare program lets customers get Extra Bucks rewards, but instead of putting those rewards on your ExtraCare card, they are printed at the bottom of CVS' infamously long checkout receipts. A year ago, the company's chief marketing officer told L.A. Times reporter David Lazarus that this would soon change and Extra Bucks would be placed directly on your card. But now CVS is saying just the opposite — that it deliberately wants those Bucks on the receipt because it's a real thrill to the consumer. More »
If I Hadn't Checked, CVS Would Have Charged $228 For A $28 Generic
By Ben Popken on June 22, 2011 4:00 PM
92 Comments
Had David's wife not probed closely, she could have ended up paying $228 for generic Fosamax that could have been easily gotten for $24. He's sharing the story as a cautionary tale so that other people who are getting their maintenance prescriptions covered by their employer's insurance don't end up overpaying for generics. More »
You Shall Not Question The Holy CVS Price Scanner
By Laura Northrup on April 12, 2011 4:00 PM
166 Comments
Aaron didn't want to be a jerk, but he also didn't want to pay $5.79 for a twelve-pack of Dr Pepper when the sign on the store shelf clearly said that it was $5.19. Instead of overriding the price and acknowledging the store's own sign, the cashier entered a battle of obstinate wills, from which there emerged no clear victor. More »
CVS Doubles Down, Surpasses Rite Aid With 41" Receipt
By Laura Northrup on March 29, 2011 10:00 AM
61 Comments
A mere twenty-one inch long receipt? CVS isn't about to sit back and let competitor Rite Aid soak up all of the ridicule from the Internet for comically long receipts. No way. The retailer brought its A game when reader Chris stopped by recently to pick up some things for his upset stomach, showering him with a 41-inch long receipt consisting mostly of coupons for junk food, cosmetics, and vitamins. More »
Caremark Switches My Prescription To Name-Brand For No Particular Reason
By Laura Northrup on March 24, 2011 9:05 AM
65 Comments
Many people expressed surprise that drug retailer CVS is a participant in our Worst Company in America tournament. In addition to the everyday issues that a pharmacy/drugstore creates for consumers, though, CVS also owns prescription benefits administrator Caremark. Brandon is a Caremark customer who takes a venerable but still useful medication called Synthroid. He recently ran into a weird situation with his refill, where he was switched to the name-brand medication for no discernible reason. Twice. More »
Worst Company In America Round One: CVS Vs. Johnson & Johnson
By consumerist.com on March 22, 2011 3:00 PM
48 Comments
Here's an interesting battle between a drugstore chain and the drug company whose products line the chain's shelves — or at least they used to before they were all recalled. More »
At CVS, The Word 'Clearance' Is Essentially Meaningless
More »
By Laura Northrup on March 15, 2011 1:00 PM
40 Comments
Reader Juhgail noticed "clearance" tags on an item that she was planning to buy anyway. Since "clearance" nearly always also means "sale" in retail, it's nice when that happens. Except in CVS's reality vortex, "clearance" actually means "we stuck a shelf tag on it, but left it at the same price." Makes sense.More »
(cavale)
Reader Crafts Effective Complaint Letter, Scores 50% Refund From CVS
By Ben Popken on December 29, 2010 5:00 PM
42 Comments
Reader CMM was able to score a partial refund from CVS after they flubbed up her gift photobook order. Instead of bound and ready books, they handed her husband a pile of loose pages and covers and said "go to town." Some of the pages had minor ink spots on them too. More »
(zipsonic)
I Do Not Appreciate Your Drug-Pushing Calls, CVS
By Laura Northrup on October 27, 2010 9:30 AM
87 Comments
Josh used to get his prescriptions at CVS. He stopped when the company kept calling him, pushing more drugs, and refused to stop calling no matter who he asked. CVS seems to believe that they can annoy customers into purchasing more drugs. More »
Should CVS Have Sold $21 Inhaler To Asthma Sufferer Who Only Had $20?
By Chris Morran on October 15, 2010 12:45 PM
301 Comments
A woman in New Jersey suffering from an asthma attack had to call a paramedic when her local CVS wouldn't sell her a $21 inhaler for $20. More »
FDA Does Spit-Take Over Mouthwash Labels Saying They Fight Gum Disease
By Ben Popken on September 29, 2010 11:00 AM
37 Comments
The FDA just smacked the taste out of the mouths of Johnson & Johnson, Walgreens and CVS over advertising that their mouthwash fights gum disease, without having science to prove it. More »
Get A Free Flu Shot At CVS After Spending $30 On P&G Stuff
By Ben Popken on August 30, 2010 12:00 PM
24 Comments
CVS is doing a deal now where you can get a free flu shot after you spend $30 on qualifying P&G products like Bounty, Tide, and Pampers. Sorry, MA, NY, NJ, HI and Puerto Rico, the offer is not valid in your states. Check your local store for details. More »
CVS Stores To Get Redbox Kiosks
By Chris Morran on August 5, 2010 2:15 PM
37 Comments
In an attempt to spread their retail footprint even further, Redbox has made a deal with pharmacy chain CVS to begin rolling out their video rental kiosks at stores across the country. More »
10 Stores With Cheap Generic Drugs
By Meg Marco on July 20, 2010 1:00 PM
51 Comments
Cheap generic drugs are good for when you're between jobs, between insurance, or if you've just got a prescription drug plan that is costing you too much money. You might find, as Wise Bread did, that a generic version of your medication actually causes fewer side effects in addition to being more cost-effective. More »
(zipsonic)
NYC CVS Caught Dumping Old Prescriptions On Sidewalk
By Chris Morran on June 13, 2010 11:00 AM
49 Comments
One would think that, after paying out over $2 million in 2009 for improperly disposing customers' prescription info, CVS would have a tighter lid on how they handle this sensitive information. If so, someone at a CVS pharmacy in Manhattan didn't get the news. More »
CVS Misprices Meds, Offers Refunds If You Say Please
By Marc Perton on May 28, 2010 2:11 PM
8 Comments
When CVS discovered that prices listed for brand-name drugs on its SilverScript Medicare site were mistakenly displayed at about 4% less than the drugs were actually being sold for, the company quickly fixed the glitch, according to a report in today's Wall Street Journal. But what happened to customers who saw the "low" prices and ended up paying more at retail? According to The Journal, CVS cut a deal with the government, allowing the company to offer refunds only to customers who asked for them. CVS then sent letters to the customers that said they could call and discuss "your options," and made no mention of the possibility of a refund. More »
Take Your Recalled Drugs To Walgreens, CVS For Refund
By Meg Marco on May 7, 2010 2:35 PM
7 Comments
Got recalled Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl? Want a refund? Don't want to deal with the online form? CVS and Walgreens have told the media that consumers can bring recalled medicines to their stores for a refund. More »
