What Does CVS Stand For?

 So I KNOW that CVS is supposed to stand for: Consumer Value Stores (yes, I had to Google that) and MAYBE with insurance there is some value for the consumer.  However, based on my experience(s) I'm thinking it really should stand for Caring:  Void (of) Service or Customers Values Shafted.  As you may have guessed I'm not real thrilled with CVS.  (I'm not talking about employees...I'm talking about stupidity which is most likely the result of corporate BS.)

There is no CVS in my town in NJ. (There is one in my town in PA.  However, we can't seem to get our prescriptions switched over to that store. That's a whole other issue that is frustrating my husband.  I'm not going to talk about that today?  Or am I?)  CVS is my "preferred" pharmacy for prescriptions due to insurance.  (So it really has nothing to do with MY choice, but with what my insurance wants me to do, and which I will admit probably saves me some money.  Although I do miss the days of small independent pharmacies which no longer seem to exist.  Sigh.)  While there is not one in my town, there are TWO in the town next to me.  One of which is open 24 hours. (But that's just the store, not the pharmacy.  Which I can kind of understand.  Not completely, but kind of.)  The actual pharmacy is open from 9-1:30 and then 2-10.  (I get the whole need for a lunch break.  EVERYONE needs a break, but shouldn't it be staggered or am I making too much sense?  Am I not making sense at all?  Let me know!)  It seems that there are always a lot of employees behind the pharmacy counter and they are always busy.  Every time I go to wait I can hear an automated voice saying,"one pharmacy call," or "two pharmacy calls."  I'm guessing there are too many calls and not enough staff to handle them.  (Employees feel free to chime in.)

CVS has their own app (like everyone else) where you can check on your prescriptions and refill them.  It's truly an awful app.  (Are there any good apps?  I'm currently using the Disney app to try and modify a reservation and I had to have a friend help me find the chat button...I'm sounding old here, aren't I?  I am old!) I can say no more other than it's difficult to navigate; especially if you are trying to consolidate prescriptions for your whole family.  (I have managed to get myself AND my son under one account and if you asked me how I managed to pull it off, I'd have to say, "I have no clue, but somehow it happened so let's not talk about it any more because I don't want to jinx it."  My husband and his prescriptions are a whole other story and I'm not going to get into that because it's REALLY messy.)

I take medication to control my blood pressure.  It works rather well.  Many years ago I started off with 20 mg of the prescription every day.  I lost weight (and then I gained some of it back, but I'm still better off than where I started) and I exercise regularly.  Now I'm down to 10 mg every other day.  When I get my prescription (for the 10 mg dosage) for 90 days, it actually lasts me quite a long time.  So I really only refill it twice a year, even though CVS is after me every other month to fill it.  (And the script says to take every other day.)  They've hounded me with text messages and I've pretty much ignored them.  But when I finally went to refill it the other day it took more than 24 hours for them to go from "working on it" to "hey you can pick it up."  It's a pretty generic drug, so I'm not sure why it took so long, but... (or why it stopped allowing me to log in using biometrics.)

Meanwhile, before my son went back to college (in a different state) he went to the dermatologist who gave him several topical prescriptions and one oral.  He was running low and asked me to refill it.  When he asked, I couldn't...and that's not CVS' fault; the insurance said it was "too soon."  I kind of get that, but...

The earliest it could be filled was the 9th, so I managed to set it up so that it would automatically fill on that day.  Since I wasn't required to be in my office that day, I figured I'd pick it up in the afternoon and mail it to him.  Even though the order was "processing" on the 9th, it wasn't ready until late in the afternoon on the 10th.  That happened to be a day where I needed to be in the office.  So I had to rush home from the office (and with school back in session, traffic is a bitch), pick it up and get it to the post office before they closed.  Somehow, I managed to pull it off.


Of course MY prescription (for the generic blood pressure medication) which I had also asked to be filled on the 9th was NOT ready.  I was okay with that.  I still had plenty to tide me over, but...

Two hours AFTER I picked up (and sent out) my son's prescription I got a notification that my prescription is ready.  REALLY?  REALLY????

And yes, I went BACK to the store and picked it up.  (I was hoping if I did that, my husband's prescription, which is apparently back ordered, would come in an hour or so later...spoiler, it didn't).

I don't get why both prescriptions weren't ready at the same time.  I don't get why the app works only half the time.  Where is the value for the consumer?  (And again, I realize it isn't the people who work there, but the crazy bureaucracy that is behind this mess.)

Maybe it's time for CVS to change their name.  How about SVC:  Service versus customers? Stinky value (for) consumers? (Feel free to share your own suggestions)

P.S  Yesterday, as we were on our way to the Poconos, my husband got a text that HIS prescription (the one that he wanted to get filled here, but when that didn't seem to work, requested it be filled at our "regular" location) was ready for pick up.  All three prescriptions were submitted on the same day.  Explain that one to me? 


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