Posts Tagged ‘CVS’

CVS FAIL: Reusable bag promotion doesn’t work if clerks have no clue

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

green_tagAs The Consumerist recently reported, CVS is now selling “Green Bag Tags” at the register.  Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

  1. You buy a tag for 99¢ and attach it to your reusable shopping bag.
  2. Every time you give that bag to the checkout clerk to use instead of a plastic bag, the clerk scans the bar code on the tag, which rings up as a special free purchase on your receipt.
  3. Every fourth time you use the tag, you get $1 in ExtraBucks (obviously, this means that you have to be a member of the CVS ExtraCare rewards program).

Wow, 25¢ each time you reuse a bag sounds like a really great deal, right?  It’s much better than the comparable deal offered by our local Stop & Shop (5¢ per bag) or Whole Foods (10¢).  Only here’s what actually happened when I tried to buy and use a couple of the tags for the first time at my neighborhood CVS:

  1. Since I was planning on buying about two bags worth of stuff, I brought two reusable shopping bags with me to CVS.
  2. At the checkout, I took two of the Green Bag Tags off of the display rack and asked the clerk to ring them up first.
  3. I removed them from their cardboard backing, put them onto the handles of my bags, handed the bags to the clerk, and asked her to scan the tags and use those bags instead of plastic ones.
  4. Pandemonium ensued.

(more…)

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CVS hits it out of the park

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

We go through a lot of Pampers diapers, so we buy them in large-count packs to save money.  At CVS, we always buy the larger “Jumbo” size.

At least, we did until recently, when the Jumbo packs suddenly disappeared from the shelves, leaving only the smaller “Mega” size, whose per-diaper cost is 11% higher.

After noticing that there were no Jumbo packs in two separate visits to CVS, I asked the night supervisor what was up.  She said that if there were still prices for the Jumbo packs on the shelf, then they were just out of stock, but if the prices had been removed from the shelf, then they’d been discontinued.  I went back to the shelf and checked, and indeed the prices of the Jumbo packs were gone from the shelf.

I went home and sent a complaint to CVS through their Web site.  I explained that we buy the larger packs to save money, that we spend over $500 per year on diapers, and that if they don’t bring back the Mega packs, we’ll have no choice but to stop buying diapers from CVS.

 Today, I got back this incredible response from a CVS district manager:

Mr. Kamens,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us in regards to the availability of the “Mega” pack size of diapers. We have in fact discontinued the “Mega” pack size of diapers however; they are being replaced by the box count diapers which is an even better value than the Mega size. Unfortunately this product will not be available until the beginning of October. In the mean time I would like to offer you the Jumbo Pack size diaper for the same per diaper price you were paying when purchasing the Mega size package. This would bring the price for the Jumbo pack to $10.79.

I will contact the store to make them aware of this. I would also suggest that you bring a copy of this email to authorize the sale price.

Also as a token of my apologies for the inconvenience I will be sending you out a $10.00 CVS Gift card and you should be receiving this in the next 7 – 10 days.

Nicely played, CVS!

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CVS response to complaint about unshoveled sidewalk

Monday, December 29th, 2008

I received on December 26 this response to the complaint I sent on December 22:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the Brighton, MA CVS/pharmacy location. I am able to help you with this matter.

Please accept my apology for the condition of our Exterior Grounds. I have contacted [name elided], District Manager and made him aware of your comments. He will address your concerns with the Store Manager and Staff to correct this from recurring. I hope that you will give CVS/pharmacy another chance to prove that we are dedicated to customer service.

Thank you once again for bringing this matter to our attention. Please contact me via email if you would like to speak with [name elided] directly. I look forward to hearing from you.

That’s a pretty good response!  What remains to be seen is if the sidewalk actually gets shoveled after the next snowfall.

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CVS drops the ball on shoveling its sidewalk yet again

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Just sent this to CVS through their Web site:

Getting you folks to shovel the sidewalk next to your parking lot along Foster Street is like pulling teeth every single winter.  It shouldn’t be.  The sidewalk doesn’t move, or change, or grow, or shrink from year to year.  It’s going to be there every winter, which means that you’re going to have to shovel it every winter.  Stop violating Boston city ordinances and insulting your neighbors who have to use that sidewalk on a daily basis.  Shovel the damn sidewalk!

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