Len noticed this sign at CVS. It seems pretty straightforward: the summer clearance items are all 50% off. Except for the fans. And the items that don’t scan at 50% off. The more you think about this sign, the more confusing it gets, because it means walking up to the counter or using a self-scan machine to determine whether items are on clearance sale. Why do you need a sign telling you to do that? [More]
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Spot The Problem With This CVS Coupon
By 8.16.12
Reader SaberTail got a pretty average receipt on a recent trip to CVS: a trailing banner that could, in a pinch, be mistaken for an unspooled roll of toilet paper. We exaggerate only a little. It had three coupons, one of which just contradicts itself out of existence. [More]
Why Did CVS Customer Keep Returning Used Enemas To The Store?
By 7.30.12
It was an observant CVS cashier who brought a Florida man’s reign of fecal contamination to a close. The customer would allegedly buy saline enema kits, use them, clumsily reseal the boxes, and return the kits to the store. The enema kits went right back on store shelves to be sold to unsuspecting customers. The bottles contained some fluid, but had fecal matter on them. This purchase and return cycle began in April and continued until June. [More]
CVS Sale Flyer Redefines ‘Slashed’
By 7.26.12
Fair warning from last week’s CVS circular: if you come by to take advantage of this amazing deal on Tide or Gain detergent, there’s a limit. You can only buy three bottles, for a total savings of fifteen cents. [More]
Sale At CVS Means You Pay Double
By 7.2.12
Shopping at CVS, Ajay noticed this odd sale on a seasonal item (sandals). Okay, it’s fine to charge more for seasonal items during the season when they’re used: that’s basic retail. But there’s something terribly wrong when employees put up a sign doubling the price on a sale item without batting an eye. [More]
At CVS, These Are Probably Not The Spring Savings You’re Looking For
By 6.8.12
Shopping for some cool Star Wars figurines at CVS? Well you should’ve bought them before Spring Savings went into effect at the store. David saw some funny dealings at his local store and sent in a photo of with the Consumerist Tipster app. While time’s used to be you could nab some “Movie Legends Figurines” for $13.79, now they’re $14.79. [More]
Woman Spends Night In Jail For Picking Up Prescription Refill
By 5.7.12
Police in Dallas added insult to injury when they arrested a woman in a leg brace for a shattered knee on charges of forging her painkiller prescription, even though her doctor says no one ever checked with him to see if the ‘scrip was legitimate. [More]
Whatever This CVS Has Planned Tonight, Count Us Out
By 4.24.12
It makes sense for a store to place small impulse-buy items on the shelf next to related merchandise. Say, cereal and bananas. Beer and Ping-Pong balls. Cold medicine and tissues. Tampons and chocolate. Those choices all make sense, but this impulse buy found at a New England CVS left us, and tipster Jena, scratching our heads. [More]
Cops Say CVS Employee Planted iPhone In The Bathroom To Film Women
By 4.10.12
Looking back on it all, perhaps it was a bit suspicious to have a male CVS employee insist on checking out a bathroom to make sure it was “all clear” before a female customer used it. Cops say a man working the pharmacy counter used that excuse to plant an iPhone in between rolls of toilet paper, and subsequently film dozens of women. [More]
DEA Searches Six Florida Walgreens Pharmacies
By 4.5.12
As part of its investigation into whether chain drug stores with higher than usual sales of prescription painkillers are actually feeding those drugs to the black market, the DEA has served administrative inspection warrants at six Walgreens stores and one of the chain’s warehouses, all in Florida. [More]
CVS Hands Kids Breast Cancer Drugs Instead Of Fluoride Pills
By 3.5.12
For almost two months, some children in New Jersey were taking breast cancer drugs instead of fluoride pills for their teeth. CVS made a big whoopsie, as parents were picking up tamoxifen unbeknownst to them, and handing it out to their kids at home. [More]
If CVS Sells You Something Expired, It's Your Own Damn Fault
By 1.6.12
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 1.5.12
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 11.10.11
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 7.28.11
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 6.22.11
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 4.12.11
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 3.29.11
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]
