James H F.
CVS—Consistently Valueless Service
Last year, I made to changes to my Medicare Part D supplemental insurance. First, I switched from United Healthcare to Silverscript (Aetna). My premiums went down significantly—almost $500 annually. Then I transferred my prescriptions from Walgreen’s to CVS. My co-pays all but disappeared—another savings of nearly $800 As a result, I was saving over $1200 a year. While the move to Silverscript has been great, it turns out I’m not certain that the savings of having CVS as my preferred pharmacy has been worth it. I now know that CVS stands for consistently valueless service. Most recently, I went to refill my six prescriptions. I went to the store at 4309 Connecticut Avenue in DC to try, once again to get them all on the same schedule. I was told that 5 of the 6 were ready to be refilled but one needed to be renewed. My physician called that in the same day. Three days later I went back to get all 6 refilled and was now being told that 5 of the refills were denied as being too early—contrary to what I was told three days before. The pharmacist told me to come back the following Friday to pick up all of my medications. I waited an extra day. When I arrived, only 4 of the medications were ready. I was told the other two were out of stock. In disbelief, I asked the clerk to recheck the shelves. He found one of the medications but said the other would have to be ordered and would be available on Monday. As I was leaving to pick up the medication on Monday afternoon, I received a message that the medication was not available and that the prescription had been transferred to another store. I had not asked that this be done nor did I approve doing so. Nonetheless, I went to the other store, having been told the prescription would be ready. When I went to the counter, I was told there were no prescriptions for me. I was incredulous. Someone finally said they had taken a call from the other store, but had not yet entered the prescription into the system. I was told it would be ready within 15 minutes. That time passed. Finally, I learned that there was some technical issue and they had to wait for the pharmacist to resolve it. That took another 30 minutes. In all, I had to wait nearly an hour to get my medication. At both store, there were several other customers with similar issues—having been told their prescriptions were ready only to find that some were not. Or that individuals had appointments for vaccinations, with confirmation numbers, only to be told there was no record of their appointments. The staff at both stores were not just incompetent, but also uncaring and rude. When I asked for the contact information of the district/regional/area pharmacy manager, my request was refused. I was told to call an 800 number. CVS makes billions from seniors. They treat us like nothing more than an ATM. We deserve better